18 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



Consul Piatt, in referring to this butter, says : 



In connection with the subject of canned butter, it may be well to direct the atten- 

 tion of those in the United States interested herein to the opportunity which I am told 

 exists for a large development of American enterprise with respect to this class of 

 butter. Within seven or eight years, France, Germany, and Denmark have, by the 

 adoption of the system of packing butter in hermetically sealed cans, each contain- 

 in^ 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, or 24 pounds of butter, secured the entire or about the entire trade 

 of supplying the ships of the world. I believe that the American creamery butter is 

 eminently suitable for this particular branch of the export butter trade. If this but- 

 ter were packed and sealed in cans similar to those exhibited by Mr. Clanchy, which 

 preserve the butter fresh and sweet for a long period in any climate, immediately on 

 being made at the creameries, nothing, so far as I can see, is to prevent its use in sup- 

 plying the immense foreign shipping trade of our country. Whereas, all vessels going 

 from Europe to America take with them a supply for the double voyage, it would be 

 quite practicable, if this enterprise were introduced in the United States, to secure 

 the entire trade for the American exporters. The United States ought tobe able to com- 

 pete most successfully with Europe for this trade, inasmuch as all dairy products can 

 be produced so much cheaper with us than on this side of the Atlantic. 



For the large passenger steamships the finest butter is utilized, and also for export 

 to countries where the consuming population require and can afford to pay for it, 

 such as India, Japan, China, Australia, and South America, and countries bordering 

 on the Mediterranean. 



For merchant shipping and for the poorer classes of the population in the above- 

 named countries, a second and third quality of butter is good enough, and it is for 

 the inferior qualities that the United States, as would appear from published market 

 reports, require a greater outlet than for the products of the best dairies, irasinnch 

 as the American markets are continually glutted with stock of this sort, chiefly owing 

 to the inroads which the improved manufacture of butterine has made upon the 

 markets hitherto available for the consumption of cheap genuine butter. Since 

 merchant vessels use chiefly butter of the third quality, it will be seen that the 

 markets for largo quantities of this class of butter might be found if the canning sys- 

 tem were adopted for the supply now furnished, for the most part, by European 

 exporters. 



From a statement, herewith submitted, showing our butter exports 

 for eleven years, 1874 to 1884, both inclusive, it appears that this ex- 

 port has increased nearly fivefold in quantity during that period. The 

 price per pound was, however, nearly 7 cents greater in 1874 than in 

 1884. On turning to the butter import into the United Kingdom for 

 those two years it is found that the average price per pound in 1874 was 

 24.24 cents, and for 1884 (omitting the import from Holland wherein 

 imitation butter predominated) the average price was 24.70 cents per 

 pound. Thus the decline in value in American butter during the 

 eleven years under consideration must have been wholly due to deteri- 

 oration in quality. In this connection it should be remembered, how- 

 ever, that our first-class butter finds as good a market at home as in any 

 foreign country, and it may be assumed that this fact alone accounts 

 for the decline in the price of American export butter in 1884, as com- 

 pared with the year 1874. 



Our exports of butter to Europe during the eleven years increased 

 nearly ninefold in quantity, this increase being wholly dominated by our 

 exports to the United Kingdom and to Germany. 



The export in 1884 of American butter to Denmark and Sweden 

 (421,377 and 370,371 pounds respectively) is worthy of attention, being 

 our first recorded butter exports to these countries. 



It would be interesting to ascertain whether this product was im- 

 ported into those butter-exporting countries for consumption or to be 

 worked over for the English market. As the latter was more than 

 likely the real purpose of import, it becomes a question for our dairy 

 farmers whether, if it pays the Banish and Swedish butter makers or 

 assorters to import American butter, manipulate it over and re-export 

 the same fo England at profitable prices, it would not pay them to so 



