Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-08-08
TO TELL GOOD BUTTER.
THINGS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT
THAT SREAT STAPLE.

FNsihct vastly Added to by the Adop-
zion of scientific Methods-The West
So~ the Great Butter Making District.
Denmark is the great butter pro
ducfng country in the world,
but the United States is a
good second, and the cream
cry industry which declined few
years ago on account Of fall in but
ter prices is once more booming.
Twenty years ago the United States
kney very little about scientific but
ter making. The New York butter
supply came from the small dairies of
the farmers throughout the state. and
Its quality, depending largely upon
the mood and skill of the farmers
wives and daughters, was as variable
as March weather. Anything like Il
uniform quality was practically an
impossibility.
Occasionally" said the butter buy
er for one of New York's largest re.
tail grocery firms to Sun reporter,
"a man-the same man who
talks about the pies his mother
used to makc-bewails the pass
Ing of the good old purple tubs
OF country butter. Now, the fact is
that we couldn't to-day dispose of the
kind of butter we used to sell. Our
customers wouldn't have it. They
are used to uniformly good butter, and
they will not put up with any lower
ing of the quality. OF course, there is
bad butter on the market Some of
the creameries tIrn out an inferior
article. So much depends upon the
breeding of the COWS and their care,
the kind of pasture, the skill of the
workers; and those things vary. A
short time ago competition in the
creamery business was so great and
profit so small that good many
creaneries tried to cut down expenses
by hiring cheap workmen. The effect
was seen Immediately in the quality
of the butter. Just at this season
there's fault in much of the butter
that Is result of carelessness or false
economy on the part of the farmers.
The pasturage is still very scanty; but
in order to save heavy feeding and to
Improve the color of the butter the
cows are turned out to grass. There's
very little grass, but there's plenty of
wild garlic, and the cows like it. The
people who use the milk and cream
and butter don't. There's the diff
Guilty. Much of the butter in the mar
ket has more or less what we call the
onion flavor and is Objectionable on
that account Either the farmers
should have the pasture examined
carefully and the wild garlic rooted
out or the cows should he fed until the
pasture is more luxuriant After the
clover and thick grass comes the COW
will turn up her nose at the garlic.
'June is the best butter month, be-
| cause the pasture is at its best then:
and, as n consequeAce, the butter made
then has better keeping qualities than
any other. Almost all the butter
stored for winter use and for purposes
OF speculation is June butter. Or
course, the price is low in June: that's
another reason why June butter is
bought for speculation. There are Il
good many kinds of fancy butter on
the maket-hutter put up in small pats
by certain creameries and supposed to
be extra good. The cows used by these
dealers are fed with special care on
clover hay, Indian meal, etc; and the
buIttar Is put up in attractive shape
and sold mt a fancy price. 'don't
know that, as a rule, it is any better
than the regular creamery butter;
but some of our customers will
have it. Most of it comes from
Pennsylvania farmers. AS Il genera!
thing, though, the individual farmer
can't compete with the creamery.
"Butter making is an exact science
now and the farmers wife who thought
she knew all about it isn't in it with
the centrifugal machine, and the
weighing machines, and the Pasteur-
izing apparatus. It's II good COW that
can produce pound of butter n day
for nine months out of the year Now
take the cost of keeping and feeding
the COW, the cost OF making the butter,
the cost of the tubs the cost of ship
ping, and the profits of the wholesale
and retail dealers. Add all those items
together, and remember that butter is
selling for 25 cents pound. Where
are you going TO figure out any profit
butter making must be done on large
scale and by scientific methods in
order to be profitable"
The West is the home of the creamery
industry to-day. Illionis, Iowa, Min
nesota, Nebraska and neighboring
states produce s. per cent. of the but
ter on the market and the market
price is determined by the Chicago
board of trade, although New York
city is the greatest distributing centre.
The Eastern farmers, who originally
had control of the industry, We're too
conservative to adopt the scientific
methods introduced with admirable
results in Denmark. The West saw its
opportunity. Large creameries were
established in the Mississippi states,
Denmark methods were closely
copied, and the Eastern farmer find