The Washington times., 1906-09-16
Cows on Nine Hundred
Farms Contribute to
the City'S Needs.
$4,000 GALLONS DAILY
Some Ofit Comes Over Steel
Rails AS Far AS Four
Hundred Miles.

II requires 10 supply a city OF o-ttuy
souls, where IL all comes from. how
many cows and how much labor It takes
10 produce IT, and. lastly, how II Is
transported from the Iarm 10 the con-
sumner. are all question which seldom,
II ever. occur 10 the average city
dwelIer. Although this DEMONSTRATING
commodity. almost as vitally necessary
as water. enters perhaps every home,
restaurant, or hotel IN the city, the
hOusekeeper who supplies the table with
il. the father or mother who have thirsty
babies TO feed or the swain who buys
il for hts sweetheart IN the form OF a
refreshing milkshake. as a rule know
no more about the process by which IL
is obtained than they do OF the phenom-
ena seen on Mars through the Lick tele-
scope. They all know what il comes from
The farmers COW, and some still cling
10 the traditional notion that somehow
pretty milkmaids are concerned IN the
marketing. but the preparation and labor
involved In making this blood-building
white dIid flow ia steady stream from
the COW to the milk-thirsty consumer
concern them no more than does the
manufacture Of ''pulque" by the poems
of Mexico.
This VIII Surprise You.
Some conception Of the size OF this
industry may be had when. it is known
that approximately 800 grass farms
within a radius Of nifty miles of Wash
ington are required to pasture the
herds required I'm supplying the District
with MIX. besides twenty farms scat
tered Through Maryland. Pennsylvania,
and Soy Tr-', States. The most dis
tan. ft.u. Er.m which milk comes "a
leea-se -..T East Auro. n. Y, over 800
mile- pm Tho Capital
Feeding on this vast acreage OF farm
lands ere aU7rOzIm8teIy 1855 COWS.
from which are drawn the $500 odd
gallons OF the tactical fluid needed TO
queHch the local thirst. At the end OF
a single year the Washington con-
sumers' milk bills show that $50, 900 gal
Ions have been consumed. and this
milk drinking goes on, ever Increasing,
for only the farmers and the milk deal
ers know that the cows must be MIXED
and the product distributed every day IN
the year without a holiday for either.
One milk dealer has estimated that
25,oo0 quart milk jars, $4,000 pints, and
40.000 half pint jars are handled and re-
handled in distributing the Districts
milk supply in one day. This statement
the bottles are scattered over the whole
District and handled by the employees Of
III dairies, but to place them end to end
would stretch a distance Of 1908 miles,
OF from Washington to New Haven.
Conn. with few miles Of bottles 90
spare.
Local Production Small.
To show how the District depends
ply. it Is. known that only about 1900
gallons daily are produced by local
CONS although much of the seventy
Square miles OF territory hereabouJs is
adapted to grazing. District farmers
own 81 herds comprising go cows while
- cows. producing $50 gallons of milk
daily. are owned by private parties
The local production, IL may be said,
would not more than make one-third OF
the ice cream eaten here on a hot day.
District Chemist Lynch said in his
last annual report that about 10 per
cent Of the milk coming into the Dis
trict was lower in butter fat than is
accepted as standard, yet the figures
show that Washington milk drinkers
taboo the skinned article for the better
article. Only from 500 10 1000 gallons
OF the total product used is skinned,
and that, because OF being cheaper, finds
its way into the homes Of the poorer
classes. on the other hand. 900 gallons
of pure cream is used on fruit, cereals,
and TO enrich coffee. Buttermilk finds
Iavor 10 the extent of $50 gallons daily.
and 70 gallons Of condensed milk and
evaporated cream are consumed every
lwenty-four hours in the District.
How much of this last substitute sup
t.. % q Rea
5000 ba bies Of milk drinking age in the
District is yet a matter of conjecture,
but. according TO Health officer Wood
wards last estimate, a large number
of youngsters of tender age were be-
ing raised on this food
Comes Mainly by Rail.
When IL is known that only IL per
cent of the milk intended for local con-
sumption IS produced in the District,
some general idea OF the vastness Of
the labor involved I'm getting 1t from
the farms 20 the city may be obtained.
Two-thirds OF the supply comes by rail,
and the balance is brought into the city
10y wagons from the farms of the small
producers in Maryland and Virginia
Some of these farmers live as much as
an hours drive from the city, and it
means rising before sun-up, while the
city is yet deep in slumber, in order
that their customers breakfast tables
are supplied and babies bottles filed
The railroads. however, figure as the
most important factor I'm the transpor-
tatfon side of the milk Industry and
this is probably true of a majority OF
big cities throughout the country. over
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad alone
ia brought into the city daily $500 gal
Ions of milk. while the Pennsylvania
railroad and the Southern railroad COM
bined bring in more than 5000 gallons
a larger quantity of which comes in
over the Bluemont division Of the latter
road This immense quantity. a verita-
BILE lake in itself. is ali contained IN
800 ten-gallon cans. which, II stood
one on the other. would make a column
one-haH a mile in the air.
transportation also enters in deter
mining that question so vital 70 farm
ers and dealers alike-sDeed. From
EAsking dine in the morning or even.