THE CREAMERY SYSTEM. 143 



•root feeding in this State. But what is gained in the winter 

 is lost in the summer, and more too, because four pounds 

 are sent to market in the summer months to three pounds 

 at any other season. The Boston butter-merchants consider 

 the summer butter sent from this section as poorer in quali- 

 ty than it used to be, and think this due to carelessness in 

 making, a lack of proper facilities on the farms, and unneces- 

 sary exposure to heat between the farm and the railroad, as 

 well as the want of suitable cars. 



But, even when Massachusetts butter stands at its best in 

 the market, New- York and Western creamery stands still 

 higher. Taking the year through, the average price of the 

 second grade of creamery butter — whether it be from New 

 Hampshire or Connecticut, New York, Illinois, or Iowa — is 

 higher than that of the best "Western Massachusetts butter, 

 and the creamery is easier to dispose of in our large markets. 



This is not a pleasing condition of affairs ; and it is well 

 worth inquiry as to why it is so. Why does creamery butter 

 stand at the top of the market, as it has done without excep- 

 tion for the last three years ? 



This raises the whole question of the relative merits of 

 the factory or creamery system of dairying as opposed to 

 the old method of every farm working up its own milk. 



The time allotted for this paper has nearly expired, and 

 this is a broad question, too broad to be fully considered 

 here. I will therefore only present the leading points, 

 leaving the rest of the subject for the discussion which is 

 expected to follow. 



The first important fact we have to meet is that creamery 

 butter has established a reputation for uniform good quali- 

 ty. Here is a double merit, — a good reputation as to quali- 

 ty, which, once established, makes a good market for almost 

 any thing, and uniformity in the product, an evenness of 

 quality in large quantities from the same source, made at 

 the same or different times. This uniformity is a great 

 point, attractive alike to the merchant and to the consumer. 

 For example, when a car-load of butter from the farms of 

 Massachusetts or Vermont reaches Boston, there are usually 

 from a thousand to fifteen hundred different boxes or pack- 

 ages ; and every one of these has to be examined, tested, to 

 determine its grade. Very few makers of small quantities 



