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



the country creameries of Minnesota have found that their ship- 

 ments to Philadelphia and New York generally bring the highest 

 net market returns. On the other hand, a large number of Iowa and 

 Wisconsin creameries have found that their net price returns are 

 usually the highest in the Chicago market. The tastes of different 

 buyers vary, and, in the absence of uniform standards of quality, the 

 wholesale price quotations of various market centers are not entirely 

 reliable as guides for determining the most profitable market outlet 

 for the output of any particular creamery. The only way in which 

 a creamery man can determine the market in which his particular 

 "make" of goods will net the highest market return is by the ex- 

 periment of " splitting shipments " between different markets. It 

 is through such trial shipments that most country creameries have 

 selected their established market outlets. 



SEASONAL CHANGES IN MARKET STANDARDS. 



It is a well-recognized fact that the quality of output of most 

 creameries varies with the season of the year. If the market standard 

 were constant and inflexible, a large portion of the daily arrival 

 during the spring season would grade as Extras, but the market 

 standards are flexible and change somewhat in accordance with the 

 quality of the general run of the current market receipts. Accord- 

 ing to the rules and regulations of the New York Mercantile Ex- 

 change, Extras may score 91, 92, or 93, according to variations in 

 the quality of current receipts at different seasons of the year. The 

 exact standard which is to prevail from time to time is determined 

 by a committee of the exchange. None of the trade organizations 

 of other cities has adopted this " seasonal sliding scale of standards " ; 

 nominally they adhere to a constant standard requiring a score of 

 either 91 or 93 for Extras. (See Table 1.) A comparison of the 

 average scores of lots which were representative of goods regularly 

 accepted as Extras in both Chicago and New York showed, however, 

 that the actual standards of the trade in both of those markets varied 

 with the season of the year. In the winter of 191-^-15, according 

 to the scorings of current market receipts, the Chicago standard was 

 approximately one point lower than the New York standard, 

 although the nominal standard of the Chicago market was 93, as 

 compared with a 92 standard in New York. 



The difficulty of comparing Chicago quotations with those of New 

 York is further increased by the fact that at certain seasons its trade 

 demands change so that its standards are then practically the same 

 as those of the New York market. The reason for this is that during 

 the season of surplus production of creamery butter the demands of 

 storage operators dominate the market situation. Many creameries 

 in Minnesota which regularly ship to the New York market consign 



