396 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



dealer says: "'Renovated' butter sounds hard, and it 

 would have a killing effect on the trade in this State. But 

 that is just what it is, and I see no reason why it should not 

 be branded that way. It is a legitimate article, all the com- 

 ponent parts except the salt and the coloring matter being 

 the product of the dairy ; but, in the interest of all con- 

 cerned, the goods must be sold for what they are." 



It is this selling of them for what they are not that de- 

 ceives, the consumer usually thinking that what he buys is 

 fresh creamery butter. This deceptive business also injures 

 the butter trade, for a dishonest dealer can undersell honest 

 goods 2 or 3 cents per pound, and yet make more than the 

 ordinary per cent of profit. These facts are causing an in- 

 creasing agitation of the policy and principle involved in 

 renovated butter, and a growing feeling in favor of the 

 necessity of branding it. 



Butter. 



Massachusetts consumes much more butter than is manu- 

 factured in the State. The statistics of all the consumption 

 cannot be readily secured, but the following table gives the 

 Boston chamber of commerce figures for the receipts and 

 sales in this one market : — 



This shows a reduction in receipts for 1898, occasioned by 

 a great falling off in the export business. But the consump- 

 tion is steadily increasing. 



