384 PACKING BUTTER 



that the butter is of good quality and uniform flavor, salt, and 

 color, while butter sold in crocks, carton boxes, pails, etc., loses 

 its identity when it leaves the farm and before it reaches the 

 consumer. In the choice of cartons for the prints, paper cartons 

 should be given preference over wooden cartons. Wooden car- 

 tons such as are frequently used, lend the butter a woody flavor 

 which is objectionable. 



Packing for Parcel Post Shipments. Farm butter or cream- 

 ery butter, to be shipped by parcel post, is best put up in pound 

 prints, wrapped in water-proof parchment and sealed in paraf- 

 fined cartons. The cartons are best inserted into corrugated 

 pasteboard containers suitable for accommodating the different 

 amounts to be shipped, and wrapped with good wrapping paper. 

 Brand 1 of the U. S.. Department of Agriculture, Office of Markets, 

 conducted an extensive study of the possibilities and limitations 

 of shipping butter by parcel post. This investigation showed 

 that under ordinary weather conditions practically no difficulty 

 was experienced. The chief problem in shipping butter by parcel 

 post is to prevent the butter from melting, mere softening did 

 not prove injurious. While the difficulty is somewhat greater 

 in summer than in winter, the fact that mail cars must be heated 

 in winter, does not entirely remove the danger of overheating 

 the butter during cold weather. Brand points out, however, that 

 the regulations of the Post Office Department on this subject 

 are of such a nature that it is possible to obviate this trouble to 

 a considerable extent in cold weather by marking butter parcels 

 as follows : "Perishable Keep away from heating apparatus/' 



He further offers the suggestions that over ordinary dis- 

 tances and under average conditions butter wrapped as above 

 directed, can be shipped without deterioration ; that it should 

 always be chilled before shipment and chilled again immediately 

 upon receipt by the consumer ; that it should be dispatched with, 

 attention to the mail schedule so that it will be on the road as 

 short a time as possible, and that shipments preferably should 

 be timed to make the greater part of their journey at night, when 

 temperatures are materially lower than during the day. 



One of the obstacles that has retarded the development of 



1 Brand, "Marketing by Parcel Post." U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Farmers' 

 Bulletin 611, 1914, pp. 16 to 21. 



