TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IX 400 



once assessed have been practically useless. The year for which 

 the license runs expires June 30th of each year and the license is 

 demanded for the part of the year yet remaining at the rate of 

 }f!600.00. Crameries in this state and in surrounding states have 

 paid penalties ranging from several hundred dollars up to several 

 thousand dollars. It is the policy of the Internal Revenue Depart- 

 ment not to make public cases of this character but the Dairy 

 Commissioner has personally investigated the records in the office 

 of the Internal Revenue Collector at Dubuque and Burlington and 

 find there listed the names of eight creameries that have paid penal- 

 ties described above. 



As heretofore several times pointed out in reports of this depart- 

 ment and in circular letters, the only safe way for a creamery to 

 operate is for the buttermaker to test ever\' churning carefully and 

 accurately and know how much water th'ere is in it. The matter is 

 of such importance that if the buttermaker fails to so test every 

 churning his employer is warranted in discharging him without 

 further notice. 



The testing of butter for water is a matter that requires more 

 skill, more care and more time than the testing of milk and cream 

 with the Babcock test. The percentage of water in butter is not 

 uniform in the various parts of most churns, nor is it uniform in 

 all parts of a tub of butter. The government regulations for taking 

 a sample of butter under the Internal Revenue Act follows : 



Hereafter in procuring these samples the use of the "butter trier" will 

 be entirely abandoned. The quantity required from each package will be 

 obtained from the top and bottom or side of the butter contained in the 

 tubs by cutting a V or wedge shaped strip about two inches wide, one and 

 one-half inches deep, and of sufficient length to make up the required 

 weight of the sample, which must be approximately one pound. This 

 can be accomplished by removing the butter from the tub. A V shaped 

 strip of this character should be taken from each of opposite sides of the 

 package of butter, or from both the top and the bottom of same, but it is 

 regarded as sufficient if two such strips are obtained — that is, from the 

 top and bottom in one case and from the two sides in the other instance. 

 Butter put up in prints will be sampled by taking a one pound print from 

 the box. 



The foregoing is given to suggest a proper method of taking 

 sample of butter for testing before shipment of same upon the 

 market, in order to make sure that no butter leaves the creamery 

 which has as much as 16 per cent of water. 



