New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1915-07-23
(Ofice Of Information, U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture.

] (Of1ce Of Information, U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture
| Washington, d. c., July 23.-Milk-
wagon routes in large cities retrace
and "crisscross' one another, thus
adding to the cost Of distribution;
this duplication of effort has direct
bearing on the retail price Of milk
as it increases the expenses of the
milk dealers. On the other hand it
is also a tax upon the farmer, for
[ it tends to keep down the price paid
for fnilk on the farm IL must be uns.
derstood, however, that much of
the waste in milk delivery, under the
present system, can not be entirely
prevented, because there are so many
dealers in each locality, and compe
tition is keen. According to the
dairy experts of the United States
department of agriculture, efforts
should be made, nevertheless, by
the dealers, to concentrate their
business as much as possible SO as
to lessent the distasce travelled by the
wagon for each quart of milk deliver
ed by securing a large number Of
customers in a small area.
The accompanying. table presents
now being prepared by the Depart
ment on the distribution of milk in
some of the large cities. In the Dis
trlct OF Columbia SO routes were
measured. The shortest distance
travelled by any wagon was 10.4
miles, and the longest assoc, show
ing a considerable variation The
average distance for the 50 wagons
was 1871 miles. When these measure
nnents were made there were APP
proximately 510 miles of streets in
the District and $50 wagons were
making. The retail deliveries Of milk
Figuring that each of these wagons
Travelled 19.1 miles, they all covered
Ats miles each day, or 93 times
the sum of all the streets in the dis
trict. Thus the time OF about OF
every wagons was used unecono-
nomically More than so dealers were
making the deliveries. 49,
Milk Route Survey 81 1eSS1dr Cities.
Number of wagons, PHtsharg Al;
District of Columbia 5-s IS IA fillmore
Il; Boston %. Number sofssdealers.
Z Pittsburgh l; District. OF columbia
"a; Baltimore /; Boston L.: average
miles Travelled, Pittshurg II4.2; Dis
trict Of Columbia III - .SE Baltimore
49, bOSLoH 1U.o0. .Vary1Hg4.frO1n to
Pittsburgh 5.5-S0.7; District IF Colun-
tia 104-30.0; Baltimore 9.9L305;
Boston 7.7-43.6. Average load per
wagon in quarts, >P1ttsburg 327;
District of, Columbia 3018; Baltimore
z15; Boston 245. Varying from to in
quarts, Pittsburgh 1S3-44s; District
of Columbia 140-64s; Baltimore 112-
SIC; Boston 180-290. Average number
! OF quarts delivered per mile, Pitts
burgh 23.07; District OF Columbia
1b.2; Baltimore 1915, Boston 1900.
Varying from to in quarts, pittsburgh
2.7-59.3; District of Columbia 6.s-44.0;l
Baltimore 3.9-22.2; Boston 41-35.S.
The table shown above. II pr esents
study of aafew wagons IN each city
sndfdoes not Indicate the total n UNI Der
OF wagons or the total amount Of
milk handled in each city
Toward Small Package.
The present trendrin retail business
seems to be toward the small pack
age. A few years ago many kinds of
food were sold in bulk which at pres
ent are purchased. to large extent,
in small packages. The same trend is
noticeable in thesretail milk business
there being a greater demand for pint
bottles than for quart, in the five
large cities recently studied by the de-
partment- oston, Washington, Pitts
burg, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Seventy-four dealers in these cities
handled daily about $50 900 quart
bottles and 81 600 pint bottles. "A bout 1
forty-one per cent. of the total bottled