THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 71 



the balance, if any, less commission and expenses, 

 after the butter has been sold. This arrangement 

 is usually made with merchants iwho buy from the 

 peasants, and the amount of the advance varies from 

 thirty-four to forty-two roubles per cask, according 

 to the season of the year. 



There is another method of doing business which 

 is terttlfed the "buying agent" arrangement, which 

 consists in appointing agents to buy butter on the 

 spot. The majority of these agents are good, trust- 

 worthy buyers; but I have heard of cases where 

 the agent at the same time sold separators to |the 

 peasants, guaranteeing that with their aid the pea:sant 

 would be able to produce butter of the highest 

 quality, for which he undertopk to pay the best prices . 

 It would often happen that, in order to avoid any 

 injury to the sale of his separators through the 

 peasants talking to each' other, he would continue 

 to pay the full miarket price for very inferior butter, 

 while the peasant, being fully alive to the strength 

 of his position, never troubled him:self to improve 

 the quality of his product. This method of doing 

 business is, however, declining very rapidly, and the 

 buyer now rarely pays the highest ffiarket price for 

 anything but the very best quality of butter. English 

 ilrfSporters must make certain that they engage the 

 services of honest buyers, as otherwise the bribery 

 and sharp practice which are possible, and which 

 sometimes actually go on, between buyer and peasant, 

 are quite extraordinary. A recital of them would 

 fill a volume. It must be remembered that the 

 majority of the merchants are foreigners and not 

 Siberians, and that a fair percentage of them ^re 

 honest and trustworthy. The Danes in Siberia are 

 very reliable as a whole, and are, undoubtedly, the 

 best buying agents, as they are usually experts in 

 the trade. 



