THE MILK TRADE_Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Dagupan" to "David" Volume 7, Slice 9

The term "milk trade" has come to signify the great traffic in country

milk for the supply of dwellers in urban districts. Prior to 1860 this

traffic was comparatively small or in its infancy. Thirty years earlier

it could not have been brought into existence, for it is an outcome of

the great network of railways which was spread over the face of the

country in the latter half of the 19th century. It affords an

instructive illustration of the process of commercial evolution which

has been fostered by the vast increase of urban population within the

period indicated. It is a tribute to the spirit of sanitary reform

which--as an example in one special direction--has brought about the

disestablishment of urban cow-sheds and the consequent demand for milk

produced in the shires. London, in fact, is now being regularly supplied

with fresh milk from places anywhere within 150 m., and the milk traffic

on the railways, not only to London but to other great centres, is an

important item. A factor in the development of the milk trade must no

doubt be sought in the outbreak of cattle plague in 1865, for it was

then that the dairymen of the metropolis were compelled to seek milk all

over England, and the capillary refrigerator being invented soon after,

the production of milk has remained ever since in the hands of dairymen

living mainly at a distance from the towns supplied.

This great change in country dairying, involving the continuous export

of enormous quantities of milk from the farms, has been accompanied by

subsidiary changes in the management of dairy-farms, and has

necessitated the extensive purchase of feeding-stuffs for the production

of milk, especially in winter-time. It is probable that, in this way, a

gradual improvement of the soil on such farms has been effected, and the

corn-growing soils of distant countries are adding to the store of

fertility of soils in the British Isles. Country roads, exposed to the

wear and tear of a comparatively new traffic, are lively at morn and eve

with the rattle of vehicles conveying fresh milk from the farms to the

railway stations. Most of these changes were brought about within the

limits of the last third of the 19th century.

In the case of London the daily supply of a perishable article such as

milk, which must be delivered to the consumer within a few hours of its

production, to a population of five millions, is an undertaking of very

great magnitude, especially when it is considered that only a

comparatively minute proportion of the supply is produced in the

metropolitan area itself. To meet the demand of the London consumer some

5000 dairies proper exist, as well as a large number of businesses where

milk is sold in conjunction with other commodities. It has been computed

that some 12,000 traders are engaged in the business of milk-selling in

the metropolis, and the number of persons employed in its distribution,

&c., cannot be fewer than 25,000. The amount of capital involved is very

great, and it may be mentioned that the paid-up capital of six of the

principal distributing and retail dairy companies amounts to upwards of

one million sterling. The most significant feature in connexion with the

milk-supply of the metropolis at the beginning of the 20th century is

the gradual extinction of the town "cowkeeper"--the retailer who

produces the milk he sells. The facilities afforded by the railway

companies, the favourable rates which have been secured for the

transport of milk, and the more enlightened methods of its treatment

after production, have made it possible for milk produced under more

favourable conditions to be brought from considerable distances and

delivered to the retailer at a price lower than that at which it has

been possible to produce it in the metropolis itself. As a result, the

number of milk cows in the county of London diminished from 10,000 in

1889 to 5144 in 1900, the latter, on an estimated production of 700

gallons per cow--the average production of stall-fed town

cows--representing a yearly milk yield of 3,600,000 gallons. How small a

proportion this is of the total supply will be gathered from the fact

that the annual quantity of milk delivered in London on the Great

Western line amounts to some 11,000,000 gallons, whilst the London &

North-Western railway delivers 9,000,000, and the Midland railway at St

Pancras 5,000,000, and at others of its London stations about 1,000,000,

making 6,000,000 in all. The London & South-Western railway brings

upwards of 8,000,000 gallons to London, a quantity of 7,500,000 gallons

is carried by the Great Northern railway, and the Great Eastern railway

is responsible for 7,000,000. The London, Brighton & South Coast railway

delivers 1,000,000 gallons, and the South-Eastern & Chatham and the

London & Tilbury railways carry approximately 1,000,000 gallons between

them. A large quantity of milk is also carried in by local lines from

farms in the vicinity of London and delivered at the local stations, and

a quantity is also brought by the Great Central railway. In addition to

this, milk is taken into London by carts from farms in the neighbourhood

of the metropolis. A computation of the total milk-supply of the

metropolis reveals a quantity approximating to 60,000,000 gallons per

annum, or rather more than a million gallons per week, which, taking 500

gallons as the average yearly production of the cows contributing to

this supply, represents the yield of at least 120,000 cows. The growth

of the supply of country milk to London may be judged from the figures

given by Mr George Barham, chairman of the Express Dairy Co. Ltd., in an

article on "The Milk Trade" contributed to Professor Sheldon's work on

_The Farm and Dairy_. The quantities carried by the respective railways

in 1889 are therein stated in gallons as:--Great Western, 9,000,000;

London & North-Western, 7,000,000; Midland, 7,000,000; London &

South-Western, 6,000,000; Great Northern, 3,000,000; Great Eastern,

3,000,000; the southern lines, 2,000,000. The increase, therefore, on

these lines amounted to no less than 13,500,000 gallons per annum, or

36%. The diminished production in the metropolis itself amounted

approximately only to 3,000,000 gallons, and it follows, therefore, that

the consumption largely increased.

Previously to 1864 it was only possible to bring milk into London from

short distances, but the introduction of the refrigerator has enabled

milk to be brought from places as far removed from the metropolis as

North Staffordshire, and it has even been received from Scotland.

Practically the whole of the milk supplied to the metropolis is produced

in England. Attempts have been made to introduce foreign milk, and in

1898 a company was formed to promote the sale of fresh milk from

Normandy, but the enterprise did not succeed. The trade subsequently

showed signs of reviving, owing probably to the increased cost of the

home produced article, and during the winter season of 1900-1901 the

largest quantity received into the kingdom in one week amounted to

10,000 gallons. Of recent years a large demand has sprung up for

sterilized milk in bottles, and a considerable trade is also done in

humanized milk, which is a milk preparation approximating in its

chemical composition to human milk.

Estimating the average yield of milk of each country cow at 500 gallons

per annum, and assuming an average of 28 cows to each farm, as many as

4300 farmers are engaged in supplying London with milk; allotting ten

cows to each milker, it needs 12 battalions of 1000 men each for this

work alone. Some 3500 horses are required to convey the milk from the

farms to the country railway stations. The chief sources of supply are

in the counties of Derby, Stafford, Leicester, Northampton, Notts,

Warwick, Bucks, Oxford, Gloucester, Berks, Wilts, Hants, Dorset, Essex,

and Cambridge. It is not entirely owing to the railways that London's

enormous supply of milk has been rendered possible, for the milk must

still have been produced in the immediate neighbourhood of the

metropolis had not the method of reducing the temperature of the product

by means of the refrigerator been devised. There are probably 5700

horses engaged in the delivery of milk in London, and more people are

employed in this work than in milking the cows. One of the great

difficulties the London dairyman has to contend with, and a cause of

frequent anxiety to him, is associated with the rise and fall of the

thermometer, for a movement to the extent of ten degrees one way or the

other may diminish or increase the supply in an inverse ratio to the

demand. Thus, at periods of extreme cold, the cows shrink in their yield

of milk, while from the same cause the Londoner is demanding more, in an

extra cup of coffee, &c. Again, at periods of extreme heat, which has

the same effect on the cow's production as extreme cold, the customer

also demands an increased quantity of milk. Ten degrees fall of

temperature in the summer will result in a lessened demand and an

enlarged supply--to such an extent, indeed, that a single firm has been

known to have had returned by its carriers some 600 gallons in one day.

In such cases the cream separator is capable of rendering invaluable

assistance. To make cheese in London in large quantities and at

uncertain intervals has been found to be impracticable, while to set for

cream a great bulk of milk is almost equally so. But now a considerable

portion of what would otherwise be lost is saved by passing the milk

through separators, and churning the cream into butter.

Previously to the enormous development of the urban trade in country

milk, dairy farms were in the main self-sustaining in the matter of

manures and feeding-stuffs, and the cropping of arable land was governed

by routine. To-day, on the contrary, many dairy farms are run at high

pressure by the help of purchased materials,--corn, cake, and

manure,--and the land is cropped regardless of routine and independent

of courses. Such crops, moreover, are grown--white straw crops, green

crops, root crops--as are deemed likely to be most needed at the time

when they are ready. Green crops,--"soiling" crops, as they are termed

in North America,--consisting largely of vetches or tares (held up by

stalks of oat plants grown amongst them), cabbages, and in some

districts green maize, are used to supplement the failing grass-lands at

the fall of the year, and root crops, especially mangel, are

advantageously grown for the same purpose. For winter feeding the farm

is made to yield what it will in the shape of meadow and clover hay, and

of course root crops of the several kinds. This provision is

supplemented by the purchase of, for example, brewers' grains as a bulky

food, and of oilcake and corn of many sorts as concentrated food.

TABLE XI.--_Estimated Annual Production of Milk, Butter and Cheese in

the United Kingdom for the Ten Years ended 31st December 1899._

+-------+-----------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+

+-------+-----------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+

| | No. | No. | No. | % | Tons. | Tons. | Tons. |

| 1890 | 3,956,220 | 105.5 | 2,967,165 | +3.0 | 7,487,640 | 85,572 | 147,078 |

| 1891 | 4,117,707 | 108.9 | 3,088,281 | Average. | 7,566,288 | 86,472 | 148,624 |

| 1892 | 4,120,451 | 108.1 | 3,090,339 | -5.6 | 7,147,337 | 81,684 | 140,394 |

| 1893 | 4,014,055 | 104.4 | 3,010,542 | -9.0 | 6,712,004 | 76,709 | 131,843 |

| 1894 | 3,925,486 | 101.2 | 2,944,115 | +6.3 | 7,667,505 | 87,628 | 150,611 |

| 1895 | 3,937,590 | 100.5 | 2,953,193 | -3.5 | 6,982,087 | 79,652 | 137,148 |

| 1896 | 3,958,762 | 100.0 | 2,969,387 | -4.0 | 6,983,999 | 79,817 | 130,000 |

| 1897 | 3,984,167 | 99.7 | 2,988,126 | +3.1 | 7,547,856 | 86,261 | 148,260 |

| 1898 | 4,035,501 | 100.0 | 3,025,526 | +3.2 | 7,645,105 | 87,372 | 150,171 |

| 1899 | 4,133,249 | 101.9 | 3,099,937 | -3.5 | 7,329,027 | 83,760 | 130,020 |

+-------+-----------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+

| 10 | | | | | | | |

| Years'| 4,018,318 | 103.0 | 3,013,660 | -0.7 | 7,906,874 | 83,992 | 141,412 |

+-------+-----------+-------+-----------+----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+

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