359] GRADING AND JUDGING BUTTER ^5 



with educational contests. In 1901 there was as yet no 

 agreement among the American dairy associations as to the 

 importance of the various characteristics of butter, and in 

 a letter l to the Iowa State Dairy Association held during 

 that year, Maj. Henry E. Alvord, then Chief of the Dairy 

 Division of the Department of Agriculture, argued that 

 body was as important as flavor, and proposed that the 

 weights to be assigned to these two elements should be 40 

 for each. Of course there were differences of opinion as 

 to the importance of the different grade elements. By 1904 

 it had become customary x to allow 45 points to flavor, but 

 even at this time there was considerable variation in this 

 matter at butter contests over the country. By 1905, how- 

 ever, the trade was generally in accord as to the relative 

 importance of the grade elements. 



PHILOSOPHY OF GRADES 



The 'number of grades depends upon the range of quality. 

 The consumer must recognize an appreciable difference in 

 passing from one grade to the next. This principle is ap- 

 plied in assigning a total score of not less than 91 points to 

 the grade, Extras, and then making a difference of 4, 5, and 

 7 points in the successive grades of Firsts, Seconds, and 

 Thirds. 



The New York Mercantile Exchange makes use of a slid- 

 ing scale of three points to meet changes in the quality of 

 the supply caused by changes in the seasons. Butter to 

 grade Extras in the summer must score 93 points, but to 

 grade Extras during the winter need score only 91 points. 

 When the minimum score of Extras is changed, there is a 

 corresponding change in the total score of the successive 



1 Published in the New York Produce Review and American Cream- 

 ery under date of Nov. 6. 1901, pp. 12-13. 

 * Agricultural Yearbook -for 1904, p. 418. 



