1917] DAIRY PAEMING DAIRYING. 377 



is sold to creamery patrons, 15 per cent is sold locally, and about 80 per cent 

 is shipped. About two-thirds of the butter shipped from Wisconsin is marketed 

 in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The remainder goes direct 

 to at least 10 other States. Of 136 creameries 106 sell on prices fixed by the 

 Elgin board of trade, 25 on the Chicago basis, and 5 on the basis of New York 

 prices. 



The average shrinkage of 160 tubs in 5.77 days in 18 shipments of butter 

 from Wisconsin to Chicago was 0.399 lb. per tub. The average loss to the 

 creamery through market methods of weighing was 0.549 lb. per tub. The 

 average loss due to shrinkage of 46 tubs of butter shipped from Wisconsin to 

 New York was 0.418 lb. per tub. These shipments averaged 7.7 days from 

 creamery to market and were held at the creamery an average of 49 hours. 

 The effect of storage on the price o5 butter is discussed. 



Of 258 farmers giving reasons for making dairy butter instead of patronizing 

 the creamery 24.42 per cent reported that the former is more profitable, 37.2 per 

 cent objected to the disadvantages in hauling milk, 5.04 per cent were dissatisfied 

 with the creamery, 16.63 per cent on account of more and better by-products, 

 8.54 per cent had no milk market, and 8.17 per cent made butter for family 

 use and sold the surplus. The average prices per pound received by farmers 

 for dairy butter in 1914 were 30.8 cts. in winter, 27.7 cts. in spring, 25.5 cts. in 

 summer, and 28.7 cts. in fall. One-half of the dairy butter is sold direct from 

 producer to consumer and the remainder largely to grocers and retail mer- 

 chants. Of 583.000 lbs. of dairy butter handled by about 400 merchants 104,000 

 lbs. were sold to wholesale butter houses and renovators, the remainder being 

 sold at retail. The demand for farm-made butter is said to be weakening. 



In order to ascertain the relation of quality to retail price 94 samples of 

 butter were purchased from as many different retail merchants in Chicago, 

 care being taken to select samples that would be representative of the quality 

 of butter consumed in that city. Fifty-six of these samples were in the form 

 of prints, including 24 brands, and 38 samples were in the bulk. The butter 

 was scored by an expert butter judge. It ranged in quality from 82 to 92 

 points, with an average of S8.3, and in price from 28 to 40 cts. a pound. Al- 

 though the quality of the bulk and print butter was the same the former sold 

 at an average of 34.2 cts. and the latter 36.8 cts. a pound. It was found that 

 there was no marked relationship between quality and price of these samples. 

 Where the samples scored 85 or less the price was lower, but higher prices were 

 charged for some butter scoring 86 than for that scoring 92. In order to test 

 this relationship further, 117 Chicago retail stores were visited in April and 

 IMay. 1915, and information as to quality, dealer's margin, and price to the 

 consumer was secured for 271 samples of butter and 54 samples of oleomargarine. 

 The retailers' margin and the prices to the consumer varied as much between 

 lots of the same grade as between butter of the poorer and better grades. The 

 average price of extra butter to the consumer was 0.9 ct. less than that of 

 firsts and extra firsts, and that of extra firsts was 0.1 ct. less than that of 

 firsts. The retailer's average price for seconds was 2 cts. less than firsts. The 

 retailer's margin on oleomargarine was larger than on all the grades of butter. 

 Approximately 75 per cent of the butter was in the form of cartoned prints. 



Brief notes are given on how butter quotations are made by the Elgin board 

 of trade and by the Chicago market. 



At the time of this investigation butter was selling at an average retail 

 price of 34.55 cts. a pound. Based on returns from cooperative creameries, the 

 farmer was getting 23.33 cts. or 67.7 per cent of this amount, the remainder 

 being distributed as follows : Cost of hauling the cream to the creamery and the 



