90 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



to stand up well in all kinds of weather, should contain about 

 85 per cent of fat. and that is the factor usually made use of. 

 Therefore we assume that a pound of commercial butter contains 

 .85 of a pound of fat, consequently to find the price of butter fat 

 the market price of butter is divided by .85. For example, if 

 butter is 20 cents per pound, then .20-^.85=23.5 cents, the price 

 per pound of fat. 



The system of apportioning dividends to patrons just de- 

 scribed, namely, weighing the cream and fixing a price for 

 butter fat, seems to be the simplest and best yet suggested. It 

 is the method which is in general use in milk gathering fac- 

 tories in the West and in the gathered cream creameries of 

 Massachusetts and Connecticut, and there seems to be no 

 good reason why the creameries of Maine should not univer- 

 sally adopt it. The sooner this is done the sooner will the 

 patrons understand the methods of the creameries and gain 

 confidence in their management, but as long as several methods 

 are in use, nothing but confusion and distrust can be expected. 

 A few creameries in the State have already adopted and are 

 using this method satisfactorily. 



TESTING BUTTER. 



Butter is the most difficult of all dairy products to test accu- 

 rately for fat. The writer, however, has had fairly good suc- 

 cess by the following method. A bottle with a separable neck, 

 similar to the cream bottle Xo. 3, described in Bulletin 3 of this 

 Station, is used. The neck is a tube enlarged in the middle 

 like a pipette and having a total length of about 10 inches. 

 Above and below the enlarged portion, the tube is about the 

 size of the neck of the milk bottle and graduated the same, 

 the scale reading on the lower part being o to 10 per cent and 

 on the upper 80 to 90 per cent of fat. 



Method of Making the Test. Put the base portion of the bottle 

 on the scale and counterpoise it as directed in weighing cream. 

 About a half pound of the butter to be tested is put in a bottle 

 or small fruit jar and placed in water heated to no" to I20 c F. 

 until the butter is all melted. It is then taken and shaken 

 vigorously for a minute and the 18 cubic centimeter pipette 

 filled immediately, before the salt and water have a chance to 



