15G BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



practice of sending tliis article considerable distances by rail 

 to creameries is becoming more and more common, and 

 likely to ra})idly increase. These expenses incident to tlie 

 dairy business must be reduced at all possible points, and 

 the whole subject of transportation of milk and cream, butter 

 and cheese, in all ways and in all places, needs mature con- 

 sideration and the earnest efforts of all parties concerned. 



In like manner earnest work is needed to improve the 

 trade in all dairy products. The expediency of multiplying 

 small and attractive packages of both butter and cheese, in 

 order to suit the taste and convenience of consumers as well 

 as of retail dealers, has already been mentioned. The shape 

 of packages has a bearing on economy in transportation and 

 storage and in cutting up for retail trade. Popular taste 

 and prejudice are slow to change, but yield to convenience 

 and common sense. The brick-shaped " print " has largely 

 displaced the roll and round "pat" of butter, for manifest 

 reasons. The six-sided box is the coming shape for butter 

 packages, for domestic trade as well as for export, for simi- 

 lar reasons. The same general shape may be profitably 

 adopted for oheese. The necessity for cutting in the retail 

 cheese trade should be avoided as much as possible by small 

 sizes and fancy packages, and, for economy in sub-division, 

 square cheese have already been used enough to prove de- 

 cidedly advantageous. 



Some new provisions seemed to be called for in trade, and 

 possibly legal requirements will be necessary to create a more 

 distinct classification in dairy products, and enable the aver- 

 age buyer to discriminate better as to quality or grade than 

 he is now able to do. The old saying that "appearances are 

 deceitful," is particularly applicable in our dairy markets. 

 Much good has been accomplished in the prevention of im- 

 position and fraud by the national and State laws now in 

 force applicable to products of the dairy, but opportunities 

 still remain for deceiving purchasers in the wholesale trade 

 as well as the retail. 



Where existing laws are properly enforced, oleomargarine 

 and butterine are so well identified and their sale so well 

 guarded that it is difficult to impose upon buyers by sub- 

 stituting these articles for g-enuine butter. But the whole 



