A Co-operative Dairy Experiment.

Southland Times, Issue 9389, 1 December 1886, Page 4

A Co-operative Dairy Experiment.

A very interesting experiment was commenced at Mulhausen seven years ago— and is being carried on with conspicuous success. witn a view to insure the direct sale of dairy nrodnee, witbont having to pass itlhrongb tie hands of the middleman. An association, composed solely of landowners and cultirail )rs, and now numbering 125 members, was f landed at Mulhauien, the object, as defined by one of its statutes, being to sell all kinds of dairy produce, guaranteed pure, to the general, consumer. All persons forming the association are compelled to furnish not less tbau 4£ gallons of milk per diem, and to anbcribe a cum of £5 for every fire cows in their dairy. lach member makes a formal de« claraiion at the beginning of each year how many cows he intends to keep, and he is cot allowed to sell any milk or butter privately without special permission from the committee, wbich consists of five members, elected by tne association, at large, At the p-esent time the association is receiving from 2200 to 2600 gallons of milk daily, and the average price of this is now about lid per gallon. Any member who sends in milk wkich has been skimmed, mixed with water, or in any way adulterated, is expelled at once ; but only two such cases have occurred since the foundation of the society. The dairy, says' C.B.P.' in the Field, is situated upon the outskirts of Mulhausen, close to the workmen's dwelling-houses, wbich have been admirably built, and which are very largely supplied with milk and butter by the association. This building comprises, in addition to living rooms for the manager, a stop for retail sale, a large chamber where the milk is taken in, separate dairies for milk, butler, and cheese, very coo) cel)&*age, &nd An ice bouse. An engine of 12- horse power eupplies the motive force, hot and cold water, and generates the steam [used for cleansing the psna, utensils, &c. A staff of abmit twenty dairymen and dairymaids, an^ ■ f fourteen 'other persons, is employed upoii the pie nistp, the maintenance of which, togtiL.c. ..ah the wages of the staff, is covered by the sale of the skim milk < nd other m sceilaneoui prodace. The subscription of £5 per member and per five cows, has gone towards paying the cost of construction and of supplying the dairy with the necessary apparatus. This ban entailed a cost of about £13,500, the remainder of wbich has been raised upon interest-beariDg bond?. Some cf the miik sent into the association is received by its <Mr v men at the entrance to the town, and is di ->tribnted to customer! without coining to the dairy at all. Bat the greater part is delivered direct at the dairy in cans, wbich the in'pectoiß examine daily to see thit they fcav« not been tampered with, while the general manager examines the m-!k of each purveyor twice a month, and at various periods an inspector noes round to the farms and watches the cows being milke J. Various other tests are applied to co insure the purity of tbe milk supplied, and tbi* is all the more necessary, as tne astociation supplies neaily a third of tbe population of Mulhausen with milk from its two tboutand cows.

The milk, when it leaches the dairy, is raised by a lift to the first floor, and poured into large receptacles, being twice strained in th« pioceßS. It then flows into the reftigerant, which is composed of a series of hollow cylinder?, traversed by a small rivulet of cold water. The milk cools upou the surface of theee cylinders, and is then twice strained a-,'aif- before being put into smb.il band carts Great care i* taken to prevent the men who are tent ont wuh these « arts from adulterating the milk, and there are always one or two inspectors on the move at the hours of sale and delivery. The milk not sold in its natural state is converted into cream, butter, and cheese, and the association possesses three centrifugal churns, each of which can skim a hundred galluns of milk an hour. The butter IB made upon the - Danish system. A^good deal of this butter is sold in Paris, for it is cheaper than Normandy butter, costing only a shilling a pound in summer and fifteenpenc« in winter, while the Normandy butter i» quite 40 per cent, dearer. Moreover, if it in pcTcbasfa direct from the association, one may be quite «ure that it is pure butter. Borne idea of the importance of the business which this society conducts may be gathered-from the" fact ih»t during the first cix months of this year 330.0C0 gallons of miik were; ipld, wLile about 60,000 gallons were made into butter, a pound of butter be* icg i btained from 4 galjoas of milk. The skim milk Beivct to make cheese, which is sold in Mulhaasen and the neighbourhood at about 3d a pound, and is much appreciated by the working population. The following table 1 will show what the operations of the Dairy Association were lsßt year :— •.....•■ Price. ■ vMilfeS'ild ... 623,492 gala ... £26,247 Cream ... I? 1 " 100 do ••• 2,850 Butter* - - 26 tons ;.. V {1766 , ChgBBO „. 70 do ... J Total ' £29,862 AeaiDßt-thiß have, to be let the coat piice of the milfc'snd the other- expenie*, amounting inaltto^Jß'27i3t?s-,--*O'that -there-waß a nett profit- :p&£2.467:'.;, . ; . . /rln connectiou with tliis co-opera 1 ive dairy, M' Zweifel, formeily director of the Agricuiinr'al School at (ierrjey,imade the following eiperiufeuts thereas to the iuflaence of, the iemptrStiare op^n .ih« cr*»u>, {»iar in| from b«p«»t vb^f 4i?«^te*n?ewtureof 32^egree^ thf crH« Mf watei itfelt »l»9it

from the milk in about two hours.. He found that a hundred litres (about 22$ gallons) of milk gave the following proportion of oteim At the end At the end of 12 h'rs. of 24 h'rs, At a temperature of 35deg5...16 litres...l 4£ litres „ |7i',,...15 „ ...}*'» „ oit „ ...14 n •«»*ux » ■» s.»-"-Jsr -i?" :; s:=ti:.A:- --» j* »"•2, »"% fl7 » „ 68 „ ... 5J n ... 6* „ „ 78 „• .. V 5j r „ ... S „ , j j