400 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



would flood the market were there no laws in existence. If 

 this 470,000 pounds is valued at the average price for the 

 past year of 22.4 cents, we have $105,280 to the credit of 

 the law and its execution ; but if we have exaggerated to the 

 great extent of doubling the amount, the figures $52,000 

 would still show a material saving. 



Samples of butter have been submitted to this department 

 during the past year w^hich have had amounts of moisture 

 varying from 7 to 33 per cent. These are extreme, and yet 

 the samples of butter were taken from goods in possession 

 of dealers in the ordinary course of commerce, and show 

 what is possible. Analyses of many samples of butter show 

 that the usual amount of moisture is from 15 to 20 per cent. 

 When butter contains an abnormal amount of water, it 

 appears to us to be a case of adulteration so far as the moral 

 aspects, of the case go, even though there is no violation of 

 any statute. 



Massachusetts Creameries. 



It is difficult to get at the exact number of creameries in 

 the State, as in a number of cases city milk dealers have a 

 butter plant for working up their surplus milk, and it is 

 a question whether such an establishment can be fairly called 

 a creamery. Furthermore, in several cases where cream- 

 eries have been built business has been suspended tempo- 

 rarily, but with a possibility of revival. 



We estimate that there are 46 butter factories in the State. 

 Thirty-three of these, mostly co-operative, reported to the 

 agent of the Bureau, Professor Cooley, that in 1898 the}^ 

 made 3,750,000 pounds of butter and sold 110,000 gallons 

 of cream. The raw material was received from 2,700 

 farmers, who represented 23,000 cows. The value of the 

 product was $842,000. 



Of these co-operative creameries 5 were incorporated as 

 far back as 1886, but the average age of those now in ex- 

 istence is only nine years. Most of these that have gone out 

 of existence — West Dudley, Rutland, Leominster, Ipswich, 

 Hampden and others — have been forced out from the com- 

 petition of the sale milk business. The value of milk to sell 

 as milk is usually in excess of its butter value ; and where 

 creameries have been located near large towns or along the 



