PREPARING THE BUTTER FOR MARKET 279 



moisture in printing, and in the amount of labor required. The 

 shape of the prints, if made by this kind of a mold, will depend 

 upon the condition of the butter; hard butter may be printed 

 into nice shaped prints, but softer butter will always produce a 

 print which is far from perfect in shape. 



This printer requires readjustment when changing to butter 

 of different body or of different firmness. By leaving the printer 

 without readjustment it may affect the weight of the prints to 

 the extent of from one to two pounds on fifty pounds of butter. 



The cost of printing butter by this system depends naturally 

 on cost of local labor. Two experienced men or women, one 

 printing and the other wrapping, can in ten hours print and 

 wrap from 4,000 to 5,000 prints. 



2. The Wire Cutter. — The butter for this form of printer is 

 packed in larger molds or boxes while in a pliable condition. 

 The butter is then placed in a refrigerator for hardening and it is 

 thereafter cut into prints with the wire cutters. Printers 

 representing this method are the Friday, the Challenge, the 

 Jumbo, etc. 



This latter method of printing may be considered as the best 

 and most economical. The prints are square and perfect. The 

 butter is packed when in such a condition that the minimxmi 

 amount of moisture is lost. The wire cutters cause the least 

 possible loss of moisture, and the prints, because the butter is 

 more uniformly packed, will be more uniform in weight. The 

 labor is somewhat reduced, as two men can produce more work 

 by this system. 



III. Wrapping the Butter Prints. — In order to protect 

 the butter a special wax paper is often used over the parchment 

 wrapper. The parchment wrapper itself does not afford much 

 protection from the absorption of flavors, but the wax paper 

 does and is of much value in that respect. When properly 

 wrapped around butter the wax paper forms practically an 

 air-tight covering which also prevents the moisture from 

 leaking out and penetrating the carton which is so common 

 when only the parchment wrapper and the carton are used. 



The butter carton has come into prominence during recent 



