Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-12-23
sdHa5iiR;sey
ss'Hsi%sS%I''S
A LITTLE JOURNEY.
Among the Cows That Supply New York
with Milk.

Among tne lows Inat supply new hOrk
with Milk.
Much of New York's milk supply
comes from Orange, Sullivan, Ulster
and Duchess counties.
| made a little journey through this
region not long since and saw the cows,
the milk farmers, their milk wagons
ind the milk receiving stations along
the railroad and river. The stations are
here called creameries. By the word
creamery" a western person under
stands a factory where cream is deliv-
cred and made into butter. For infor-
nation and for many courtesies | am in
debted especially to Mr.. F. A. Willard,
of the Newburg Register; Mr.. j. w. F.
Ruttenber, of the Newburg Sunday
Telegram; Mr.. Frank Drake, of the
Goshen Independent Republican, and
Hon. Charles Sears, of Montgomery, for
merly a New York state milk inspector;
also to Mr.. HOFFMAN, of Sunnyside farm.
expected to see fat Inc fertile coun-
try, pastured by shining and picturesque
Jersey, Holstein and Dutch Belt cows.
Judge. then, of my disenchantment as /
passed mile after mile of my journey to
see great herds of dingy colored, long
horned, loose jointed animals, the word
'scrub" painted all over them in letters
of fire and lightning, no tospeak. never
saw SO many scrub cows in a Journey
of the same duration. There was sumo
good stock of course, but not enough to
save Sodom.
"Where are the good cowsY' Mark
the answer:
Farmers cannot afford to keep
blooded stock. When a COW goes dry
they sell her to the butcher. They say
they cannot afford to let a cow go dry
six weeks. The feed costs too much.
So they buy a fresh cow and go on.
They are under contract to supply just
so many quarts Of milk a day, and they
must do it."
"Where do they get these beasts | see
in the pastures ~hereabouts?"
"They call them Sullivan county cows.
Some breeders there make a speciality of
raising them for the milk farmers"
Under this unique system, by which
many a good scrub goes untimely to the
butcher, the farmer gets for the milk he
sells from ~ cents a quart in July up to
80 cents in midwinter. He works till 10
o'clock at night. Talk of slavery! When
the thermometer is 20 dogs. below zero
he must hustle out at 4 o'clock and take
the milk to the station. The man at the
receiving station sits by a warm stove
comfortably. and sees the cans put
aboard the car or boat. We pay in New
York never less than eight cents a quart
for this scrub COW milk. The irony of
the thing somehow amused me.
1.-The farmers are all getting rich of
course" | remarked. My informant
smiled grimly. He said:
81 suppose one farmer in five is pros
pering. The rest get poorer and poorer;
SO does their land. Four or five men
handle all the milk from this region and
|; ship it to New York to their retail sta.
tions. Every milk shipper is getting
rich. Land about here used to sell nj
$500 an acre. Now it is down to thirty
dollars. The farmers raise hay every
year on the same ground, and sell it so as
to get a little more ready money. They
. skim off the cream of the soil and put
nothing back. They have no time fol
. varied farming, they say. All theil
time goes to milking COWS and carrying
the milk to the shipper"
talked to the shipper, too, this mar
8 who owns the farmer soul and body; the
0 man who sits back and grows fat ant
; sneers at the farmer while he takes the
b lifeblood out of him, drop by drop.
do not blame this middle man. On tn,
D contrary, ! admire his cheek. There il
something approaching the sublim,
o about it. Ii the farmers, free American
citizens, are blessed fools enough t
o stand by and let themselves be robbed
they ought to be robbed; that is all.
d 1.-The trouble with the farmers" sal,
the milk shipper, lis that they are no
n willing to live as they used to. The,
g are extravaganza; their families want 8
many more things than they used to-"
Extravagant on a cent and a half
quart for milk! In that last remark
n see a CLEAN of hope. If the farmer
n have not been ground down to a homin
and bacon diet, perhaps they yet wi
lie rise. A worm sometimes turns. TIL
result of my Investigations was not Ell
re couraging to the future welfare of Me-
York babies. The farmers have no il
, ducement to furnish anything but quar-
!. tity in milk. The cheapest food thu
will produce the largest quantity of mil
they must have-brewers' grains or slol
it is and must be all one to them.
e.. the judgment of several gentlemen
N. whom | talked the present lactomet'
test required by the state law is too loy
es The per cent of cream in the milk
some of these COW is as low as 9. Wht
ne it is remembered that a Jersey COW
milk sometimes yields 80 per cent.
-. cream the difference will appear.
"Who would be free themselves mu
6 strike the blow" Inspector Sears sa,
that if even a dozen farmers would COL
bine and stand together they cou
. break the yoke that is crushing ther
They could establish a receiving static
int of their own on the railway and 1