The Globe-republican., 1899-10-12

The dairy and food commissioner Of
Minnesota has been making q visit to
the creameries In the western part Of
that state. and reports that . good
many Of them have closed their doors.
The farmers that have cows and were
sending their milk to the creamerles
are selling their butter, at low price.
to q process butter factory in Mime
apolis. The trouble seems to have
been that the people paid too much for
their factories in the first place. Then
the farmers around did not keep
enough COWS to make the business q
success. This demonstrates the absurd
ity Of starting into such enterprises
without due provision for tho require
ments of the business. It IN q mistake
to build creamery hoping that the
cows will come In afterward.
It Is reported from New York that
In the district including New York
city. Long Island and Staten Island
the sale Of oleomargarine during this
year has been to a large extent stopped.
and this Is due to the vigilance Of the
omcers in following up offenders and
enforcing the law. The butter sellers
Of the district have had much to do
with the success Of the law, as they
have found it to their interest to both
refuse to handle oleo themselves and
to do all in their power to prevent
others from selling it. This is the
proper light in which to view the mat
ter. The sellers of butter and the
grocers generally are destroying their
own trade in butter when they give
comfort to the sellers Of oleo. except in
those states where oleo is allowed to
be sold and is sold as oleo.
We hear a good deal Of complaint
about the kind of tubs that are being
put on the market. The scarcity of
suitable wood for the making Of butter
tubs causes the use of green stuff that
has not been properly seasoned. The
butter is packed in these tubs without
the use of parchment paper and with
out the tubs being properly soaked in
brine. When even the best butter is
put into such tubs it frequently arrives
at the commission house with mold on
the inside of the tub. The butter has
then to be taken out and the part that
is affected with mold scraped of. The
butter then has to be sold as quickly |
as possible, to get rid of the job of |
having again to remove the butter and
scrape the tubs. It does not pay to use |
poor tubs. but II they are used they |
should be soaked in brine long enough |
to make them safe for the carrying of |
the butter to market.
There has been a persistent rumor
that the amount of butter made this
summer was less than for some years,
taking the country as whole. 1t is
difficult to figure out just why there
should be any shortage over last year,
when We remember that during the
spring and early summer much of the
country has had good rains and con-
an abundance of pasturage.
Yet 1t is doubtless true that some Of
the grain-producing states that had
begun to do more dafrying while grain
was at very low price, this year to
some extent dropped dairying and
went back to raising wheat and other
grains. But this could have but q
slight influence on the total output Of
Dur creameries. Butter has been SELL
ing quite well this summer, and it is
reported that the butter that has gone
INTO cold storage has cost about cents
more on the pound than it did last
fear. It would naturally be supposed
hat II the supply was short, the
amount that would be put into cold
storage would be correspondingly
short, but such appears not to be the
:ase. A Chicago paper has figured out
hat the amount of butter in cold stor-
lge this year in Chicago is 234, 800 tubs
II 50 pounds each. It makes the total
AMOUNT Of butter in storage at the
principal storage points in the United
states S92. $50 tubs, against S45, 720 tubs
asst year. or gain of per cent. We
10 not pretend to say that these figures
re true. but If they are it indicates
hat the shortage of butter made this
ummer has been less than reported.
About the Poultry Yard.
Help the birds in their moulting, and
ho nr0ha hi1ifv {o <ho< ~,o,, ,.r;11 .~o< |