I2 4 THE BUTTER INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES [348 



truly characterize the supply. Conditions in the field of 

 production, including transportation and cold storage, al- 

 ways determine the class terms used in the trade. "Grades" 

 are not as closely related to production as "classifications", 

 but are nevertheless largely conditioned by it, because it is 

 the range of quality in the supply that determines the num- 

 ber of " grades " and the range of points to be assigned 

 each grade. 



THE EVOLUTION OF CLASSIFICATIONS 



An historical study of the trading rules adopted from 

 time to time by produce exchanges, and a review of press 

 quotations, reveal changes in class terms that are almost 

 parallel with changes in production. Of course the change 

 in production necessarily always precedes the change of the 

 class terms in the trading rules of exchanges. The press x 

 in many parts of the country, however, is frequently delin- 

 quent as to the adoption of the terms used officially. There 

 is great variation in the use of grade terms in the daily 

 press, and a study of press quotations alone shows only 

 vaguely the intimate relation of " classifications " to the 

 history of production. 



The history of " classifying " butter may be divided into 

 three periods. In the first period butter was classified with 

 regard to its maker; in the second with regard to geo- 

 graphical producing areas — first, a small locality, then, a 

 state, and after this, groups of states, as Eastern or West- 

 ern ; in the third with regard to its process of manufacture. 



Before the days of the big markets that have developed 

 concurrently with our big cities, classifying and grading 

 butter was a very simple process, and indeed of little con- 



1 This cannot apply to publications of the type of the New York 

 Produce Review and American Creamery, published by the Urner- 

 Barry Co. 



