Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-10-18
HOLLANDS BUTTER SYSTEM.
How it conduces to Excellence Of
Product,

Perhaps no more happy meetings
between Dutch and English have
taken place for many a long year
than those of the agricultural editors
and Journalists from England on the
one hand and of the Dutch farmers
and other agricultural authorities and
experts on the other hand. The Brit
ishers wanted to see Holland, and
especially the agricultural districts.
They achieved their purpose.
In the country districts one notices
a complete absence of excitement;
the people occupy their farm houses,
places at intervals of about mile
or more apart, and, except for the
cattle on the pastures one sees very
little of the larmer. In Grsas Britain
we consume lot of Dutch butter,
but we are afraid the British public,
as well as the retailers and whole
salers, are unaware of the strides
which the Dutch people have taken
and are taking with view of plac-
ing the best possible article upon the
market. We desire, therefore, to say
word on the system of butter con-
troll as conducted in Holland. Any
farmer, or creamery, can decide to
come within the purview of this sys-
TEN. If he does, then he not only
obtains the advantages it offers, but
he is also liable to very heavy penal
ties if he makes attempt by fraud to
heneft himself, and by SO doing, to
injure the system. So perfect is tho
system of "butter CONTROL" that If a
farmer o. creamery sends out adul.
terated butter, such butter can be
traced to the individual farmer or
creamery which manufactured it, and
then, of course, the penalties would
come into force. So far those who
have leagued themselves together
have kept faith with the government,
under whose auspices the system has
been established. The system is
practically this: The government
supplies labels to, say, creamery.
Each label is, first of all, numbered
differently, and bears also a letter.
A register is kept by the government
of how many labels (and of what
number and letters they bear) are
sent to the creamery The labels are
so thin, and SO arranged that If, after
being placed on a package of butter,
one attempts to pull them off, they
will tear in all manner of ways, and
thus they are unable to be used again.
We gathered that no case of fraud
has yet been found out against any
farmer or creamery which had come
under the "butter control" system;
and we can only hope that more and
moe Dutch farmers will adopt this
system. Moreover, the cooperative
system is one which has raised the
price of dairy produce to the pro-
Queer, and although it is perfectly
true to say the Dutch creameries
were first started by private owners,
still in the competition of today CO.
operation, we believe, judging by
what we have seen in Holland and
in other parts of the world, is likely
to bring more money into the peck
cts of the producer, whether in Hol-
land or elsewhere, than any system
started by private owners. In Hoi-
land, and especially in Friesland, CO.
operation has increased by leaps and
bounds and, combined with the but
ter control system already referred
to, 1t is proving very successful to
the Dutch farming community. Con-
siderable attention is also paid in
Holland to the export of meat in the
carcass form, and this is rigidly in
spected, both before and after slaugh-
tering, by government authorities
Pail Mall Gazette.