READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



NORMANDY BUTTER 

 BY EMMETT K. CARVER 



The province of Normandy, in the northwestern part of France, 

 is the richest grazing district of the country. Butter and cheese 

 are its chief products, although beef, milk, and cream arc also 

 exported. A great many horses are also raised there. The rich- 

 ness of the land can be well shown by its price. Average pas- 

 ture land sold for about 4500 francs a hectare or $360 an acre. 

 Land planted in orchards was worth very much more, say $600 

 to $700 an acre. Most of the farms were of about a hundred 

 acres. The prosperity of the country is almost proverbial in 

 France. It is not at all uncommon for a farmer to rent a farm 

 worth $30,000 or $40,000 and to buy it after ten or fifteen 

 years. About half the farms are cultivated by their owners and 

 half are rented. 



There are various methods of making butter in Normandy. 

 About half of it is made by the farmers, but there are quite a 

 few cooperative creameries, and a few creameries called coopera- 

 tive-industrial, that is, owned by private persons but operated on 

 a more or less cooperative basis. As these methods are carried 

 on side by side, there can be little difference in the profit to the 

 farmer by the different methods or he would change to the most 

 profitable method. 



DAIRY BUTTER 



The marketing of dairy butter in Normandy may be roughly 

 outlined as follows, (i) The butter is made on the farms by the 

 women, (2) sold at the public markets to men who buy for a 

 butter "factory" or packing house, (3) shipped to those estab- 

 lishments by cart or rail, (4) graded and packed, (5) sold to 

 wholesalers or retailers. We made a fairly detailed study of the 

 various steps. 



As before mentioned, most of the farms are fairly large, sup- 

 porting twenty to forty cows each. These cows are all of the 

 Normandy race, yielding good beef and veal. Their milk, 



