594 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
CAUSES OF VARIATION IN THE PERCENT- 
AGES OF WATER IN BUTTER. 
By G. SurHertanp Tuomson, N.D.D., &c., Government 
Dairy Instructor, South Australia. 
TuE subject of water in butter and the fixing of a standard 
is now before a Commission in Great Britain. With a pre- 
cautionary measure about to be enforced, it is very grati- 
fying to find that the Australian product has won the repu- 
tation of being free from excess of water, and reports show 
that the percentages are below those of leading export 
countries. The differences in the degree of moisture in 
butter placed on the London market from Denmark, Canada, 
America, and Ireland are very pronounced. The latter 
country would appear to favour the manufacture of a moist 
product, as much as 25 per cent. of water having been 
found in samples analysed. In Denmark the average ex- 
ceeds 13 per cent., and in Canada and America the per- 
centages are equally high, while in Australia 12 per 
cent. is a good estimate of the proportion of water left in 
the factory-made article. But Australia may predict a 
drier consistency in her butter when pasteurisation becomes 
universally adopted throughout the States, and when the 
dangers in churning and working are more closely studied 
and avoided by the able class of butter-makers which Aus- 
tralia is proud to possess. In the extensive and fine dairy- 
ing-country of New Zealand, we are told that the dry 
texture of the butter is a marked feature in its value, and 
it will be accepted by practical and scientific men alike that 
the keeping properties of the product are extended by virtue 
of this great quality. How reasonable.it appears to us in 
these days of scientific dairying, that the more effectual are 
our methods of prevention against the invasion of destruc- 
tive germ-life, the more enhancing will the quality of our 
butter be; and the extended keeping-properties and com- 
manding price will make a combination worthy of our 
efforts. It is therefore to the interests of the dairying 
industry of Australia to supply the British consumer with 
a dry, choice flavoured butter, and that the water used 
in its manufacture should be -previously purified by filtration. 
Before proceeding with the principal subject of my paper, 
permit me to give a short criticism on the merits of the 
steel-trier. 
