No. 4.] REPORT OF DAIRY BUREAU. 247 



product to be sold honestly, and, as a rule, deceive the con- 

 suming public as far as they can. 



It is also worthy of notice that, since the Massachusetts 

 laws were enacted, they have been copied by a number of 

 other States ; and this department is frequently requested to 

 furnish copies of our laws to legislative bodies, boards of 

 trade, dairymen's associations, etc., in other States. 



Process Butter. 

 The attention of the Bureau has been brought two or three 

 times during the year to various kinds of " process butter," 

 as it is called. This is butter which has been renovated and 

 reworked by some patent process. Analysis shows that it 

 is pure butter, but that it contains more than the normal 

 amount of moisture. One sample was found to contain: — 



Per Cent. 



Butter fat, 78.18 



Water, 17.18 



Suet, 2.32 



Cui'd and other solids not fat, 2.32 



100.00 



This fact, and the varying degrees of moisture reported in 

 butter exhibited at the State fair at Worcester, alluded to 

 later on, bring up again the suggestion whether or not there 

 should be a statute standard for butter ; and, while we do 

 not favor making our government paternal beyond proper 

 limits, yet there is a possibility of people being deceived 

 and defrauded in their purchases of even real butter. 



Milk Laws. 

 The Bureau has done more this year in the line of milk 

 inspection than heretofore, having taken and analyzed 158 

 samples. No cases have been taken into court, as this was 

 our first year of work in this line. A number of warnings, 

 however, were sent to persons whose milk was below stand- 

 ard. A prominent part of our work in this line this season 

 was in inspecting the milk supply at the various beaches in 

 the vicinity of Boston, including restaurants. The milk in 



