The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-08-09

1T a hard matter to have clean men. I mean men
hat are careful with their clothing and hands.
1t is difficult to make them understand that milk
is quickly contaminated by dirty environments.
White overalls are out of place in a COW barn.
Blue or brown are better, and if a man is clean.
he will always look tidy in blue or brown over
alls.
After milking, get milk out of barn at once.
run in over a good aerator, and put in cold
water or ice-box at once. IF the milking and
cooling are proper, and vessels sweet, the milk
will keep sweet forty-eight to sixty hours, gov
erned by the time of year.
Here I charge the milk to the delivery depart
ment at two and one-half cents in summer and
three cents in winter per quart. Up to this time
I am a producer, the milk is a farm product,
and now sold to the delivery department.
ALI accounts pertaining to farm and COWS are
separate from the accounts of delivery depart
ment.
If I could, I would sell all my product to one
man, for the trials and tribulations, of a retail
milk dealer are abundant. AS an Office man, I
have fnanciered some large business. 1t was
easy compared to managing retail milk routes.
l have found no way to check a dishonest driv-
er, ano no way to prevent dishonest customers
from cheating on milk tickets.
A GOOD DRIVER COUNTS.
11l1h 1S > WdSOuS WCd u
horses go lame, vessels are lost, broken or stolen.
[ expect to ask the next Legislature to pass a
law especially to punish people who buy and sell
milk vessels.
A route driver should be a man who can take
much abuse. The failure to reach a customer OH
time will often bring out a mad woman. I can
face a mad man, but an angry woman frightens
me. But the driver must handle her, but how?
He must learn how. l remember one cold morn
ing, when snow was on the streets, [ was late
because short of mixers, a lady came out of the
house. 0, she was hot; she lit into me lively
about delaying her breakfast, and the more she
said, the warmer she got. / was quiet and cold:
at last she hushed, and [ said, Mrs. Jones,
have you made your coffee? If so, kindly give
me a cup; I m very cold" I got it. That
lady is on my route yet. She has never scolded
since that day, and many a cold morning she has
met me at the door with a hot cup of coffee.
A driver must be prompt, polite, a judge of
folks and always in a good humor. He must
have good milk, serve it in a neat manner, know
when to take a sour jar back and give a sweet
one, and when not to do so. He must know
all the cooks, and make friends of them.
ADVERTISE,
I have-found it good pay to make friends Of
my competitors, do anything for them / can. If
they are short of milk [ will squeeze out some
wav to help them, and when I am short they will
help me. In building up a milk trade, shore,
spicy advertisements in the daily paper is a help.
All the ladies read the advertisements, and if a
milk man can get lady customers he will not
need to bother about the men.
PROFIT AND LOSS HANG ON SMALL ITEMS
What does it cost to produce a quart of milk?
No %dairyman has answered this question to my
satisfaction, nor have I answered it myself.
There are so manv costs to count, it seems i'm
possible to get to the exact cost.
Ny estimate is made by dividing the total out
lay for labor, feed bought, interest on invest
ment, taxes and depreciation, into the total milk
yield for one year, again for three years, and
again for five years. After trials of this kind,
I find that with forty or more COWS I can produce