2 BULLETIN 682, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to obtain higher market rettirhs, the Department of Agriculture 

 made investigation of the sources of butter supply of various cities 

 of the United States, the prevailing grade or quality of butter sold in 

 different markets, and the prices paid for different grades. The 

 investigations were begun in the spring of 1914 and continued until 

 the fall of 1915. During that time over 1,000 creameries in all sec- 

 tions of the United States were visited by representatives of the 

 department. The grade of butter they produced was determined, 

 and additional information was obtained relative to their market 

 outlets, the methods by which their outputs were marketed, and the 

 prices obtained for various lots of different grades of butter shipped 

 to different merchants within the same and different markets. 



The sources of supply, the quality of butter demanded by different 

 classes of trade, and the methods of market distribution were studied 

 in more than 50 of the largest cities in every part of the United 

 States. Various representatives of the department were engaged in 

 this work, but all comparisons of quality between different cream- 

 eries and different markets were based on the scorings of a single 

 expert judge in the commercial grading of creamery butter.^ 



WHOLESALE QUOTATIONS ON V/HICH CREAMERY BUTTER 

 PRICES ARE BASED. 



Creamery butter, which is properly made from a good grade of 

 cream, will retain its desirable qualities for a sufficient time to per- 

 mit it to be marketed at any season in practically any domestic or 

 foreign market. Refrigeration and transportation facilities in the 

 United States are such that it is possible to ship butter to practically 

 every city in the country. Creamery men, however, like factory 

 managers in other industries, generally have sought to sell their 

 product in local markets as much as possible. ISTumerous cities in 

 New England offer the best market outlets for the creameries in that 

 section of the country. Likewise, the creameries of New York, and 

 of Pennsylvania, as well as those of most of the Southern and 

 Western States, have found satisfactory market outlets in the same 

 regions in which they are located. 



The production of creameries located in some sections of the coun- 

 try, particularly the North Central States, is greatly out of proportion 

 to the local market demands of those regions. The great majority of 

 creameries in that territory are located in rural districts where they 

 have practically no local trade to supply, nor are there any neigh- 



^ This investigation was made with the assistance of the Dairy Division, Bureau of 

 Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. M. P. A. Sondergaard, dairy 

 manufacturing specialist of that bureau, inspected and scored the various lots of butter 

 on which he was able to obtain first-hand knowledge regarding both buying and selling 

 prices. 



