The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-11
AMERICAN BUTTER.
to Export 1t to England
British Prejudices.

of the Bureau of Animal Industry for the
year 1898 gives an interesting account by
Mr. Henry f. Alvord Of a series of expert
ments officially made in 1897 to export Amer
lean butter to England. During that year
Great Britain imported butter to the value
of $77,OOOOOo from various parts of the
world-Denmark, Finland, Holland. France,
New Zealand, Australia. Canada. etc. The
recent rapid extension of the creamery sys-
tenn in the United States having raised the
average quality of the butter, and there
having been indications for year or two
that the supply of high-grade butter would
soon exceed the demand, 1t was decided to
make a number Of trial shipments to Lon
don creamery butter of the grade known
commercially as extras" being selected
from creameries in eleven different States,
| in order to further demonstrate that this
production is not confined to any particu-
lar and limited portion OF the United
States.
Thanks to the excellent transportation
facilities for pershable commodities, in
| Guiding various lines of refrigerator cars
| from the Western producing centers to the
| Eastern seaboard, 1t has been easy Tor
some years to carry butter two thousand
miles or more to market, and to deliver IL
| in as good condition as at the starting
point. Some difficulty was experienced in
| with steamers, and still more In securing
proper refrigerating space on them. Where
| as in Canada, under the fostering care or
| the Dominion government, which bore a
large part of the expense of the initial
| equipment, seventeen steamers sailing from
| Montreal have in one season been fitted
| with refrigerators, the demand on our own
| steamers has not been large enough to in
| sure a supply except on the part Of meat
exporters, who usually monopolize what
space there is Some trouble was also
caused by the lack Of cold-storage facilities
on wharves, both here and in England, ow-
| ing to which the butter was exposed at the
| points of transfer to the fatal danger of
| change in temperature. Nevertheless. most
| of Ii arrived in good condition, and was
| disposed of at fair rates, though the price
| paid was not always as high as it should
have been, considering the quality of the
butter, and for this there was abundant
| reason.
For more than a century the annual ex-
| port Of butter from the United States has
exceeded 100000 pounds. and has reached
| 49, 900 and 10000, 600. But the fact that
| most Of this butter has been Of an inferior
grade, and shipped without special care as
ordinary ocean freight, resulted in gradu-
| ally convincing British merchants and con-
sumers that good butter could not be OBJ
| tanned in the United States. One report
J declares: $50 much inferior butter from
| the United States has been sent to Eng
land that some Of the dealers laugh at us
| as soon as we mention United States but
| ter to them. Consequently We have had
| much difficulty in getting some dealers TO
| handle the butter at ALL" Some or those
| who did handle it thought it best, on ac-
| count of the prejudice among consumers,
| not to label it as American butter. Even
| when advertised as selected country put
| ter from the United States IL mad 10 De
| sold for "a cents while other butter. adj
mitted to be better sold for 20. After a
| while, however, some consumers began TO
ask specifically for American butter, and
at least two of the creameries representeo
tn, fhe
since made direct shipments TO England
| upon orders received.
On the whole, the report expresses the
| opinion that the operations of the year
may be regarded as reasonably satisfac-
| tory In business way, indicating tnat sys-
tematic efforts would yield encouraging
results. One difficulty lay in the fact that.
before the end Of September, American
| creamery butter was worth as much in
| New York as it would bring in London.
wherefore exports ceased, III pelnS pam
| enough in advance that butter which dur
ing the summer was in active demand at
90 % and 25 cents pound at the creamery
door could not be exported at pront 10
| city where the choicest Danish butter
| varied from 201z in May to only 20 In jan
uary Indeed, taking all the circumstances
into account, one may be permitted 10
doubt whether the report is not too OPP
timistic regarding the export question:
and whether our producers OF hrst-class
butter would not find more profit in the at
tempt to supply the home market with
choice product at lower rate than the
consumer now has to pay for IL. IL would
be foolish to doubt that as good butter can
be made in this country as anywhere. one
of the London experts declared about one
of the American samples; "Ihere was d
brightness Of flavor. a certain bouquet.
about the American butter which assured
me ii had been churned-may i say the
milk set and churned?-in an atmosphere
pure and wholesome, and fmparttng to IL a
dewy freshness not always found in the
very highest-priced buffers. But such but
ter is rare here. and costs from 80 cents TO
| V. a pound at retail. 1t could be made much
cheaper If all the farmers and dairymen
followed the fifty dairy rules" printed in
the volume under consideration, and OF
which tens of thousands of copies. printed
on large cardboards, have been distributed.
By way of final hint to dairymen II
may be remarked that undoubtedly Ameri-
cans would consume much more butter IL
they could be taught to eat IL unsalted.
The French and Germans would consider IL
as great a barbarism TO salt butter as TO
salt honey or wine. In England, too the
taste for unsalted butter Is growing. IL
comes mostly from France. and brings 80
cents. when the best sailed butter costs
only 25. In New York IL is served at n few
leading restaurants. of good quality, but
the samples on sale in the markets are not.
as a rule, OF a kind to encourage consum-
ers. Those whose taste has been educated