No. 4.] UNITED STATES DAIRYING. ir>7 



line of goods known to the trade as '< ladles" arc every- 

 where sold without restriction, mixed in with pure f'ann 

 dairy and creamery butter. Under the deceptive title of 

 " imitation creamery," much of this stuft' is worked onto 

 retailers without distinguishing marks, and sold to the con- 

 sumer as fresh creamery butter. Ladled butter is not as 

 deserving of place among straight dairy products as good 

 butterine. The component parts of the former do not begin 

 to be as cleanly as that of the latter. It may usually be 

 justly claimed to contain only butter fat, but this must be 

 described as purified, rather than pure. The promiscuous 

 lots of poor farm butter which reach country storekeepers 

 in trade and unfit for local sales are indiscriminately dumped 

 into some convenient receptacle and absolutely neglected, 

 being often exposed to contamination in various ways, and 

 finally, when the package is filled, or its contents become so 

 offensive that it cannot be longer endured, it is sent as slow, 

 cheap freight, to the establishment of the " ladler." These 

 packages of grease, which by no stretch of courtesy can be 

 fairly called butter, often arrive at the factory, especially in 

 warm weather, in an indescribably corrupt and disgusting 

 condition. The material is then managed in various ways, 

 as the processes differ, but usually it is melted up, "ren- 

 dered " like low-grade lard, clarified, treated with chemicals 

 to remove the vile odors and tastes, and then cooled, 

 recrj'stalized as well as is possible, and churned with a little 

 new milk or buttermilk, to restore something of the long- 

 lost butter flavor. The resulting product is the "ladled 

 butter " of commerce, and, if it happens to turn out a little 

 better or more deceptive than the average, it takes place 

 in the market under the name of "imitation creamery." 

 Cleansed or renovated butter would l)e a reasonably honest 

 name for this article ; it should be marked by some such 

 distinctive title, and so as to identify it, all the way to the 

 consumer, like oleomargarine. 



This class of butter is in all our markets in immense 

 quantity. I lately gathered information indicating that ten 

 million pounds of it were made last year in three western 

 States ])ut sparsely settled, and this was only one of several 

 producing areas. I have described the poorer and most 



