NINTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII 343 
as he is confined to the creamery by his usual duties, are not ef- 
fective in most cases in improving the quality of the product sent 
to him. The experience of the assistant commissioners and others 
who habitually go among the creameries leads to the conclusion 
that the improvement in quality can only be secured by giving some 
attention to the farmer on his farm, by insisting that better practices 
be followed by him. Creamery patrons of this state are so numer- 
ous that it is impossible to imagine any such effort being adequately 
provided for by legislation at state expense. It is eminently proper 
that such work should devolve solely upon the creamery and the 
farmers to whom the direct monetary benefit is sure to go, and the 
commissioner urges that the successful plans adopted and followed 
by the condensed milk factories in other states and this state be 
considered seriously with a view to their adoption by numerous 
creameries of Iowa. 
PRICES PAID FOR BUTTERFAT. 
A very considerable number of complaints come to this office 
regarding the extremely high prices paid by various local creamer- 
ies, and the allegation is made by the complainants that such high 
prices per pound of butterfat are only possible when cutting of 
tests is generally practiced. All such complaints have been care- 
fully investigated, but in no case has there been any reasonable 
ground for suspicion of any irregularity in the matter of testing. 
As is well known, the co-operative creamery does not pay for but- 
terfat with relation to the market on the exact day that the but- 
terfat was received at the creamery. The prices paid by the co- 
operative creamery are dependent upon the prices received for the 
butter. For example, if the price of butter on the first day of 
May is thirty cents and on the tenth of May is only 25, it is quite 
evident that the co-operative creamery wiU be only able to pay on 
the basis of a twenty-five cent market rather than on a thirty cent 
market, because the butter could not get to market in time to gain 
the advantage of the higher price. Likewise on a rising market, 
the creamery will always receive more per pound than the market 
for the day upon which the butterfat was received, and this, by 
reason of the fact that approximately ten to fourteen days are nec- 
essary to ripen and churn the cream, get it to market, and sell it 
under present conditions. If there are cases where creameries 
have reduced the test in order to make the price for butterfat very 
high, this department has been unable to find them after a consid- 
