PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF DAIRY PRODUCTS. 
15 
FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES OF BUTTER AND OF MARKET MILK. 
By comparing the prices for milk with those paid for butter on the 
same market, somewhat of a line of the influence of one upon the 
other can be obtained. By comparing the wholesale prices of milk 
and butter on the New York market for the last 35 years, it is noted 
that in only three years has there been a rise or a drop in the price 
of one without an accompanying change in the price of the other. 
In the three years mentioned, the price of butter dropped, but the 
price of milk did not. When a comparison is made of the number of 
quarts of milk it would require for a pound of butter, it is found that 
for the five years prior to 1895 it took 9.31 quarts to buy 1 pound of 
butter, and for the five years prior to 1910, 8.4 quarts. Even this 
is 0.15 below the average for 1885-1889, the lowest period being be- 
tween 1875 and 1895. It was about 1890 that the North Atlantic 
States were not producing as much butter as they were consuming, 
and the price began to rise. To obtain milk for consumption raw, 
milkmen had to pay above the factory prices, so that it took fewer 
quarts of milk to buy a pound of butter. 
Table 8. — Prices of milk and butter in New York City. 
Average price of— 
Amount of 
milk equal 
Year. 
Butter. 
Milk. 
in value to 
1 pound of 
butter. 
1901 
Cents. 
21.6 
24.8 
23.48 
21.75 
24.64 
24.67 
28.14 
27.00 
29.21 
30.13 
26.77 
31.38 
Cents. 
2.62 
2.88 
2.88 
2.75 
2.89 
3.01 
3.35 
3.29 
3.38 
3.68 
3.36 
3.68 
Quarts. 
8 24 
1902 
8 61 
1903 
8.15 
1904 
7.91 
1905 
8.53 
1906 
8 20 
1907 
8 40 
1908 
8 21 
1909 
8 64 
1910 
8.19 
1911 
7.97 
1912 
8.53 
Average: 
1S65-1869 
38.94 
32.96 
27. 56 
27.70 
23. 62 
24.94 
19.86 
22.81 
26.73 
5.12 
4.04 
3.03 
3.07 
2.76 
2.68 
2.42 
2.77 
3.18 
7.61 
1870-1874 
8.16 
187.5-1879 
9.10 
1880-1884 
9.02 
1885-1889 
8.56 
1890-1894 
9.31 
1895-1899 
8 21 
1900-1904 
8.23 
1905-1909 • 
8.41 
CHICAGO'S RECEIPTS AND SHIPMENTS OF BUTTER. 
Prior to 1875 the receipts of butter at Chicago were less than 
40,000,000 pounds. The average receipts for 1890 to 1894 were 
136,000,000 pounds, and 15 years later this quantity had more than 
doubled. A small proportion of this butter was consumed within 
the city. 
