1 82 BACTERIA IN BUTTER. 



flavor is quite lacking. The production of these flavors is the 

 chief reason why cream ripening has been almost universally 

 adopted in butter-making. 



The importance of flavor is greater than is frequently 

 recognized by the butter-makers themselves. Though the 

 market price of butter is not dependent directly upon the 

 flavor, it is largely controlled by it. Butter with a poor 

 flavor will command a very low price, or if the flavor is very 

 bad the butter may be quite unsalable, whereas butter with a 

 good flavor will command a higher price, and exceptionally 

 fine-flavored products bring very high prices as fancy butter. 

 Certainly the flavor counts for two or three cents a pound in 

 the price of butter. It is true that the condition of the butter 

 industry is not such as to allow each sample of butter to sell 

 upon its merits, for the " market price " of butter may be 

 obtained by products varying very widely in flavor. This is 

 one of the reasons why many butter-makers feel no stimulus 

 to produce a very highly flavored product. But, neverthe- 

 less, it is equally true that butter having poor flavor will not 

 bring market price, and especially good products will bring a 

 price above the market. In- concentrated dairying the suc- 

 cess or failure of a business depends very largely upon the 

 small differences in the price that may be obtained for the 

 product. A difference of a cent or even half a cent a pound 

 upon the yield of a large creamery may make the difference 

 between financial success and failure. A creamery that 

 makes great quantities of butter and fails to obtain a proper 

 ripening, so that the desired flavor is not obtained, must be 

 content with a price somewhat belo.w the market, whereas 

 another creamery in which the ripening is satisfactory will 

 obtain market price, or may be able to obtain even a fancy 

 price for the butter if the flavor is exceptionally good. While 

 other factors are concerned in the market price besides flavor, 

 there is no other one that is of more importance than this, 

 and no other one which is so liable to fluctuate with the con- 



