190 



THE BOOK OF BUTTER 



and the butter was selling in the same grades as the 

 goods from the West. Later the word " creamery " was 

 omitted, and now this grade is known as " extras." 

 There have been a number of similar changes in the 

 evolution of the grades of butter on the various mar- 

 kets. The grading has been a natural outgrowth of sell- 

 ing on the basis of quality. 



SCORING 



In the last few years of the nineteenth century, butter 

 and other dairy products were first placed on exhibition 

 in this country at various agricultural fairs and at the 

 conventions of dairy-men's associations. These were 

 judged and given a numerical score. 



140. Score-card. — The score-card now in general 

 use, and which is the outgrowth of many years of butter- 

 judging, is itemized as follows : 



Flavor 

 Body. 

 Color 

 Salt . 

 Package 

 Total 



45 points 

 25 points 

 15 points 

 10 points 

 5 points 

 100 points 



If the score-card were to be revised, probably a greater 

 proportion of the valuation would be placed on flavor. 



In the first few years of grading, "there was not 

 much sympathy in the general trade for placing a score 

 on butter. Possibly the main reason was that the dealers 

 did not feel competent to grade butter in this way. Never- 

 theless, the time came when numerical values were as- 

 signed to the different grades. As an example, the follow- 

 ing grades of the New York Mercantile Exchange are 

 given with their valuations : 



