BOTTLES:MILK
I'm old enough to remember when butter was really butter and our milk supplies arrived early each morning, delivered to our front porch in two quart-sized clear-glass bottles.
Light sleepers heard the milk man when he made his deliveries around dawn and he was an important member of the community. The earlier ones represented a family, very often, who happened to own and few cows and operated a milk delivery route in the community. Later, large dairy plants were established and the milk man lost some of the finer things we associate with his place in our lives.
Prior to the l920's milk bottle were plain and bottle purchased by one dairy ended up being and re-used by others. To counteract that sometimes rather costly situation, many of even the smaller dairies had their own bottles made.. Some were very plain with just the simple name of the dairy either made into or printed upon he glass so they could not be confused with others. Others were elaborately marked. The idea was for them to be returned which we did simply by placing them on the front porch as “empties” to be picked up by the route man . They were used repeatedly until too badly chipped. Many disappeared because they were found to be convenient for storing may household and hobby liquids. It is thought that many of the bottles found by todays; collectors are from this general household use which set them apart in isolated areas and kept them intact.
Milk bottles were made of a thick, clear glass as a rule although some went for shades of blue and green and most were topped with a heavy, beveled ring at the top of the narrowed neck. Most dairies made regular deliveries in either pint or quart- sized bottles. Commercial dairy firms offered cottage cheese in large-mouthed bottles, as well and those ,too, have become collector's items.
In those days when you allowed a bottle of milk to set still a while a layer of thick cream formed on the upper surface. Some dairy firms offered what they called “cream bottle” which sported what looked like a small glass cup pinched into the upper two inches of the bottle neck. That made it easier for the homemaker to “skim off” the cream with a spoon or small ladle..
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We liked to shake the bottles to re-mix the contents..
That was before homogenization was discovered and the quality of the product was, most often measured by the amount of cream which came to the top. One learned, I recall, to hold a hand over the upper opening because the cardboard cap inserted in the beveled edge was not always that secure when a bottle was shaken. It was best to take that precaution
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In winter months a different approach was needed.. Milk, placed on the porch in the early dawn hours of a really cold night, presented a weird sight in the morning. The cardboard caps were raised out of the neck of the bottles on a inch or two plug of frozen milk, at least, the watery portion thereof. The bottles had to be decapitated with a knife and stirred a bit before they were ready to flow well – even then, with small flakes of ice in the contents.
Next came square bottles for better packaging and handling Then we went to non-returnable plastic and cardboard containers such as we now use.
If you have a few “worthless” milk bottles among your belongings, give them a second look. If you happen to have bottles a collector wants, he will pay real money for them.
A.L.M. March 27, 2003 [c615wds]
