THE PACKING OF BUTTEK. 323 



weight. Certain market-masters, or inspectors of 'but- 

 ter, are appointed, and watch that all the butter has its 

 proper weight. If too light, it is forfeited by the 

 seller, who is also punished for fraud. The butter 

 brought to market is generally covered with very clean 

 white cloths, and several sample lumps are put for 

 inspection in a large butter-bowl, basket, or shallow 

 box. 



Many dairymen are accustomed in spring, when the 

 first grass butter is made, to send their regular custom- 

 ers a few little lumps of fresh May or grass butter. 

 These presents generally have a peculiar form, and on 

 the specimens most carefully prepared some animal is 

 moulded, as a sheep lying down, a dog, <fcc., with a bunch 

 of green grass or buttercups in its mouth. The dairy- 

 woman herself usually presents this butter in a beauti- 

 ful milk-bowl adorned with grass and flowers, covered 

 with glittering white cloths. 



THE PACKING OF BUTTER IN FIRKINS AND BARRELS. 

 If the butter packed in firkins and barrels is to be kept 

 a long time, experience and knowledge are required to 

 pack it so that it will not be injured. The form and 

 size of these casks are different in different sections and 

 provinces. Where butter-making forms a chief branch 

 of dairy business, the particular form and size which 

 have been used for a long time are adhered to, because 

 dairymen know very well that the public recognizes 

 their choice butter by the form and size of the casks, 

 and buys it the more readily. The greatest anxiety of 

 the Dutch butter-maker is to keep up the old, well-earned 

 reputation which Dutch butter has in every foreign 

 country, both for its intrinsic good qualities, the result 

 of the process of manufacture, and for its extraordinary 

 appearance as an article of commerce. 



For the proper preservation of the good qualities of 



