349] GRADING AND JUDGING BUTTER ^5 



sequence. Then, butter was consumed where it was pro- 

 duced; and the distributing process, now of such tre- 

 mendous importance, was not a factor. For buying and 

 selling was among neighbors or through the grocer of the 

 town. In many cases the consumer knew the producer per- 

 sonally. He knew the habits and personal characteristics 

 of the dairywoman, and could form a close estimate as to 

 the type of butter that she would be likely to produce. And 

 of course a number of trials of her butter would stamp it 

 finally with its own peculiar quality. When this close rela- 

 tion between consumer and producer no longer existed by 

 reason of the growth of the town, there was still a tendency 

 to identify the butter with its maker. In New York City 

 as late as 1858, according to a statement made by the New 

 York Tribune and reprinted in the Ohio Agricultural Re- 

 port 1 for that year, butter in many cases was still asso- 

 ciated with the maker, " some dairies bringing two to eight 

 cents per pound more than others from the same neighbor- 

 hood " because of " the difference in quality resulting from 

 different degrees of skill and care in the makers ". And 

 even to-day the " classification ", known to the trade as 

 Known Marks, is based on the same idea. For instance, 

 the quality of the butter manufactured by the Strawberry 

 Pt. Creamery of Strawberry Pt, Iowa, is generally known 

 to the trade, and the name of the maker is synonymous 

 with a specific quality. There are a number of such manu- 

 facturers who have won a reputation for uniformity of a 

 specific quality ,and whose product is thus enabled to be sold 

 under a Known Mark. The basis of the identity of the 

 maker is still used in sections of the country remote from 

 towns of any size, and much of the farm-made butter, by 

 reason of the fact that it is largely consumed in local mar- 



1 P. 299. 



