402 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



An attempt was made to get at the annual butter yield per 

 cow, in which there is an element of uncertainty on account 

 of the varying- number of cows that supply a creamery during 

 the year, but the result obtained may be regarded as approx- 

 imately correct; it is an average of 175 pounds. The 

 highest return was made by Williamstown and Egremont 

 creameries, 204 pounds each ; and the lowest by Hinsdale, 

 127 pounds. Estimating the value of butter at 19 cents per 

 pound, the income per cow varied from $24.13 in the case 

 of Hinsdale creamery to $38.76 in the case of Williamstown 

 and Egremont. 



This showing of 175 pounds of butter per cow is very 

 creditable to Massachusetts dairymen, when looked at from 

 the stand-point of the fact that the census of 1885 makes the 

 estimate that 130 pounds is the average for the country. 

 On the other hand, it should be remembered that many 

 dairies average 300 pounds per cow, and more is not of 

 infrequent occurrence. In the competition under the aus- 

 pices '^of the Guernsey Cattle Club the herd of George C. 

 Hill & Son at Rosendale, Wis., averged 455 pounds of but- 

 ter per cow for the year; and that of L. P. Morton, Rhine- 

 cliffe, N. Y., averaged 450 pounds. Such variations — from 

 455 to 127 pounds of butter per cow per year — would be 

 hardly possible in any other kind of manufacturing. 



About 90 per cent of the butter produced in Massachusetts 

 creameries is marketed in cities and towns comparatively 

 near the creamery, and does not come into the large whole- 

 sale markets. The balance is sent to Boston and New York, 

 and is quite largely the surplus in seasons of largest amounts 

 made. About 85 per cent of the butter manufactured is 

 wrapped in prints, and about 5 per cent put into five-pound 

 boxes, showing that 90 per cent, or approximately about the 

 same as is sold near home, is for immediate consumption. 



At creamery institutes there is a general desire for some 

 mode of inspection of dairies, because poor cream from one 

 dairy will seriously affect the whole churning, and injure the 

 returns to every farmer supplying that creamery with cream. 

 But there are so many diflferent ideas among the different 

 creameries as to the methods to be pursued, that Professor 

 Cooley recommended that no general inspection be attempted, 



