276 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



butter, has been carried at too high a point, those who were 

 obliged to use lower-priced goods using a cheaper grade of 

 butter or oleomargarine instead. There is but one factory 

 license issued in this State. The number of cases in court 

 this year for violation of the renovated butter law was 79. 

 The output of the renovated butter factories of the United 

 States for the year ending June .30, 1907, was 62,919,998 

 pounds. 



Butter. 

 The price of butter has ruled higher than for many years, 

 which was natural, and in conformity with the general ad- 

 vance of prices and the advanced cost of milk production. 

 We believe that the quality of butter upon the market is 

 slowly but surely improving. A more intelligent care of 

 the dairy and more skill in the use of the starter by the 

 butter maker are undoubtedly to a large extent responsible 

 for this. High prices, however, are not conducive to the 

 increase of volume of business, and the Boston supply has 

 fallen considerably below that of 1906. This is apparently 

 largely due to the decrease in export trade, for there is still 

 a balance of 224,464 pounds, representing the increased 

 local consumption, — a figure much below that of last year. 



The winter meeting of the Massachusetts Creamery Asso- 

 ciation was the most enthusiastic and successful held for 

 some years. The quality of the butter exhibited showed 

 improvement. The association is harmonious, and pro- 

 gressive. 



The average price paid per pound of butter fat by the 

 local creameries to patrons, so far as reported, was 30.79-}- 

 cents. 



The following table shows the average quotation for the 

 best fresh creamery butter in a strictly wholesale way in 

 the Boston market for the last eiglit years : — 



