CHAPTER V 



Grading and Judging Butter 



standardization in general 



Standardization of goods offered for sale is a practice, 

 increasingly used by merchants and dealers, by which com- 

 modities are classified according to differences in quality. 

 The possibility of standardizing commodities depends upon 

 the presence of a common factor in reasonably large por- 

 tions of the supply. There must be considerable uniformity 

 of quality. Cotton, wheat, flour, oats, hay, pork, butter, 

 eggs, and cheese, are among the commodities that have al- 

 ready been standardized by produce exchanges. 



The purpose of the standardization of goods offered for 

 sale is to create a convenient and definite basis for trading. 

 It is an expedient that has become well-nigh indispensable 

 in all big markets where large quantities of supplies change 

 hands daily. It is serviceable in connection with the "spot" 

 trading that takes place on the floor of an exchange. It is 

 a prerequisite to " dealing in futures ". And it is of the 

 utmost importance to the mass of business deals that are 

 made outside of organized exchanges. The causes that 

 have contributed to the development of the grading system 

 are to be found partly in the desire for speculation, partly 

 in the fact that the method of selling by grade saves time 

 and labor, and partly in the fact that grades are funda- 

 mental in the process of arriving at a nicely adjusted market 

 price. 



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