Calculating Dividends. 



207 



but the weight and the test of each patron's milk are as im- 

 portant as before. If it is agreed to pay 66 cents per 100 Ibs. 

 of 4 per cent, milk (i. e., milk containing 4 per cent, of butter 

 fat), the price of one pound of butter fat will be 66-J-4=16% 

 cents, and the amount due each patron is found' by multiplying 

 the total weight of butter fat in his milk by this price. To 

 facilitate this calculation, so-called Relative-Value Tables have 

 been constructed, the use of which is explained below (238). 



233. Third. If a creamery agrees to pay for butter fat, say 

 1% cents per pound below the average market price of butter 

 each month, the price of one pound of butter fat is found by 

 averaging the market quotations and subtracting 1% cents there- 

 from. If the four weekly market prices were 17%, 17, 16% and 

 19 cents, the average of these would be 17% cents, and this less 

 iy 2 gives 16 cents as the price per pound of fat to be paid to 

 the patrons; this price is then used in calculating the dividend 

 as in case of first method (231). 



234. II. If the creamery is owned by the farmers, the run- 

 ning expenses for a month are subtracted from the gross returns 

 received for the butter, and the price to be paid per pound of 

 butter fat is found by dividing the amount left by the total 

 number of pounds of butter fat delivered during the month. 

 This price is used for paying each patron for his milk according 

 to the amount of fat contained therein, as already explained un- 

 der Proprietary Creameries (231). 



The monthly running expenses of a co-operative creamery gen- 

 erally include such items as the wages of the butter maker (and 

 manager or secretary, if these officers are salaried), labor (haul- 

 ing, helper, etc.), cost of butter packages, coal or wood, salt 

 and other supplies, freight and commission on the butter sold, 

 repairs and insurance on buildings, etc. A certain amount is 

 also paid into a sinking fund (say, 5 cents per 100 Ibs. of milk), 



