The sea coast echo., 1908-03-14
e>o~o>o>O~o~e1eo>O>oeoeO~e
:COSTLIEST DAIRY I'M
/; ALL TIE WORLD !
/: TOBE CLOSED UP /
Howard Willetts Decides
That Selling Milk at 90
Cents a Gallon Doesn't
Pay When Total Cost is
$1,000.

Milk SO gallon.
Pork .$11S a pound.
Chickens $35 pair.
Cows $500 to $500 each.
After investing fully million dol
lars. to show the world just how
dairy ought to be conducted, Howard
Willetts, the famous sportsman and
White Plain millionaire, has decided
to quit fancy farming and dairylng.
Not only is he going to give up pur-
yeying milk to those who can AFFORD
to pay Is cents quart, to be sure IL
was MIXED by man in white duck
suit who has first washed hlmselt
and bathed the cow, but he is gong
out of the horse business, the prize
pig business, the fancy chicken ousi-
ness and all the other lines of breed
ing which have made the White
Plains farm noted.
Notice was served on the hundred
or more employees Of the Gedney
garms, as the Willetts place is known,
the first of this month that thei'
services would be required no longer
than Dec. 1. The high-priced super
intendents, the various assistants, the
farmers. foremen and all the other
men who have helped make the place
known the world around, will all go
Although Gedney farms was the
breeding station of Hetherbloom.
champion high-jumping horse of the
world, and of prize winning horses,
chickens, pigs and cattle without
number, it was the dairy farm which
made it famous.
Famous the World Over.
The farm has been visited by learn
ed bodies from all over the world.
Boards of Health the world around
have pointed to it as the model milk
producing establishment. Milk pro-
ducers have been urged to adopt Mr..
Willetts ideas, regardless of the fact
that few milk raisers are million
aires
Mr. Willetts is a millionaire a half
dozen times over. The Gedney farm
is one of the historic spots in this
neighborhood 1t was the headquar-
ters at different times of both the
American and British armies during
the Revolutionary war. Mr.. Willetts
owns about 800 acres of the original
land, which comprises a square mile
of the choicest land in Westchester
county.
1t is the highest land in the coun-
ty, and the magnificent colonial resi-
dence where the owner lives all the
year around stands on top of the
Westchester County watershed. From
the front porch may be seen the
waters of Long Island sound, where
the owners yachts have won as many
victories on sea as his prize stock
has won on land.
Several years ago Mr.. Willetts de-
cided to go into the dairy business,
believing that enough persons would
pay sufficiently high price for milk
to make it worth while
Models of Cleanliness.
The COW sheds are built entirely
of concrete and are in no wise con-
nected with the feed barns. They are
big and roomy, well lighted and the
walls, sides and ceilings are all ce.
ment plastered. The corners are
rounded, and every day, as soon as
the cows are turned out of them, the
walls, ceiling and floor are scrubbed
down. There is not a crack or crew
ice of any kind in which dust may
lodge
The dairy is always open to visit
ors, but one class of persons is strict
ly barred. That is, people afflicted
with tuberculosis in any stage Equal
care is taken to guard against the
milk product being contaminated with
the germs of any other disease.
When milking time comes a little
army of men in white duck suits
seize milking stools which have been
scrubbed and steamed Their white
duck suits are laundered every day
and are used only for milking. The
milkmen are provided with bathrooms
and must bathe before beginning to
milk. The cows have already been
curried and brushed until their coats
shine.
Immediately after the milk is milk
ed into patent buckets which will ad-
nit no dust it is taken to the pasteur-
izing department, where it is treated
and bottled ready for the consumer.
One of Mr.. Willett's employees
roughly figures that, counting in the
value of the dairy buildings, which
cost half million dollars, the cows,
which cost from $500 to $500 each
and all the labor and other expenses,
the milk he has sold has cost him
about $40 gallon.
The piggery has been as much of
model as the dairy and If Mr.. Will
let's could get about Sis a pound
for the pork he would come out even
on his pigs.
The chicken farm has been another
model one, but until the public be-
comes accustomed to paying about
$35 pair for its fricasseed spring
Mr.. Willett's chicken farm will not be
productive of profit.-From the New
York World
4