The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1906-04-27
The Making Of Market Milk.
[CoNCLUDED FROM LAST WEEK.


This tour under Director Amoss is in
tended to carry through the dairy farm
ing parts of Maryland the news that the
milk market of Baltimore is growing
stronger, and that times are ripe for the
milk producer to improve his methods
and extend his business.
Let US tell you briefly about the present
status of the Baltimore market There
are in round numbers 100000 people in
Baltimore, and the amount of milk con-
sumed per capita is thirty-nine one
hundredths of apint aday. Four-tenths
of pint of milk is the daily milk ration
for each of the 100000 people. Let us
see what use is made of this small
amount of milk. In every great city
many infants are fed on cows milk and
receive no other food so that the first
portion which is taken away from this
very small amount of milk goes to feed
very young children. Every child that
is fed in this way takes good deal more
than half pint of milk day, so that
the babies who are bottle fed get more
than their share of this milk One can
not say how many such babies there are
in Baltimore, but one-eighth of all the
people in the city are under the age of
five years, and that would be rs, 900 peo-
pie. A majority of these $4,000 peo-
pie are in the age of milk diet, so that
you see the number of infants in the city
who get good deal over one PERSONS
share of the milk belonging to this infant
class. Then the next big dip into this
amount of market milk is made by the
sick people and invalids. Many of these
are on milk diet, or on a diet which con-
sists mostly of milk, and of these, each
one gets very much more than his share
of the market milk. The bakers buy a
good deal of milk every day. The ice
cream makers buy considerable amount.
Hotels and restaurants buy considera-
BILE quantities of milk for cooking, and in
a city where the oyster stews are so
popular, one can easily see that every
person who takes an oyster stew gets on
that day very much more than his share
of the milk. Then a quantity of milk is
used every morning in conjunction with
cereals and fruits at breakfast. and GER
tain part of the milk goes into coffee. tea
and chocolate.
Now when each mans daily share is
only four of pint, and when this
four-tenths of pint is split into so many
parts, as have indicated, it seems pretty
clear that very few people in Baltimore
use milk as food of itself and by itself
Why is the milk ration of the average
citizen of Baltimore such small amount
as four of a pint? Because the
average housekeeper in Baltimore was
brought up in the tradition that milk is
luxury rather than necessity. She
has never been taught to use milk as a
staple food. The difficulties of economi-
cally feeding family in Baltimore have
steadily risen from year to year. The
prices of most of the staple foods have in
creased constantly, but the housewife has
not yet discovered that milk is cheap
and very superior food substance. She
does not know what to do with milk
either as ready made food, or as a
foundation for cooked foods, and she
wastes good deal of money in the pur-
chase of the expensive materials which
she believes to be necessary, and sticks
by her old tradition that milk is only
supplementary food material.
What is the source of the milk supply
of Baltimore? Three years ago much of
the milk consumed in Baltimore, was pro-
duced within a mile or so of the homes
where it was sold. Many dairy cattle
were kept within the city limits of Balti-
more, some of them in the crowded dis
tricts, and under conditions of housing,
lighting, feeding and ventilation which
were certainly injurious to the cattle, and
very bad, indeed, SO far as the milk is
concerned. An ordinance, introduced by
Mr.. Eisenbrandt, into the City Council,
became law, and restricted this business
of dairying in the city, so that the sources
of supply were pushed out toward the
farms. The restrictions of dairyinR
within the city limits did not however,
drive out all of the diaries which are
kept, under practically the same condi-
tons as those of Baltimore proper. Out
side the political limits of Baltimore, but
really in the city, there are still good
many dairy cattle kept under the most
unfavorable conditions, badly housed,
badly fed, without sufficient light or air,
stocked with inferior cattle in the first
place, and producing quantities of cheap
milk. Most of this is bad milk When
ever the people Of Baltimore realize the
extent and the influence of these city
diaries, they will go out of existence, and
the sources of milk supply for Baltimore
will be pushed back to the farms. Re-
member also that the city of Baltimore
is growing at the rate of Is per cent. in
every 10 years, and when you have a