THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 161 



A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE COMPOSITION OF 



BUTTER. 



By 



Carl E. Lee, Formerly Assistant Chief Dairy Manufacturers, Nelson W. 



Hepburn, Assistant Dairy Manufactures, and Jessie M. Barnhart, 



Assistant Chemist Dairy Husbandry, University of Illinois. 



A study, of the factors influencing the composition of butter 

 is of importance, not alone on account of its relation to science, 

 but also because of the practical application the knowledge de- 

 rived from such a study, bears to the creamery industry. 



The control of the cornposition of butter is of great value 

 to the producer, manufacturer, and butter dealer. The dairy- 

 men who make and sell dairy butter are directly interested in 

 quality and they should be interested in composition in so far as 

 it might affect their net returns. 



All milk producers who are share-holders, or dispose of 

 their milk and cream to co-operative creameries, are interested 

 in both quality and composition, because the price paid for butter 

 fat by these concerns is largely regulated by these two factors. 

 Owners of stock or individual creameries should be interested 

 in the quality of butter yet the question of composition should 

 not be overlooked since both play a large part in making a plant 

 successful. As a rule the price these creameries pay the pro- 

 ducer is regulated by market butter quotations and not the net 

 returns for a given amount of butter fat made into butter.. It 

 is evident, therefore, that aside from quality ^ knowledge of the 

 control of th^ fait content in the finished butter involves a finan- 

 cial problem. Naturally the percent of salt in butter must be 

 regulated by the demand of the consumer, hence it is to the 



