The Farm.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 18

The Farm.

THE SUET BUTTER MANUFACTURE.

In spite of the prejudice which exists against suet butter, it is a fact that the manufacture has of late made great pro • gress ; and the quantity of the material vow consumed is certainly larger than ever before.

There is a large factory in Hamilton, Canada, from which some 2000 lbs per week of imitation butter are shipped to all parts of the world. Another and still larger establishment in Boston, Mass., turns out a very great product. In many cases, it is said, this butter finds its way directly to the butter producing districts of New York and New Jersey, and then it is sent to market as genuine spring butter. It is certain that immense quantities of the oleomargarin are sold by dealers as true butter, and that the protits of the trade are very large. We see it noted in a daily contemporary that the suet compound is in use in some of the principal hotels and restaurants in this city, and that the frequenters of these places have as yet not discovered the fact. We do not pretend to the skill of the professional butter taster ; but we have no difficulty in instantly recognizing the artificial compound. We may add that, not long ago, we discovered it on the table of one of our New York hotels ; and after satisfying ourselves as to its identity, we taxed the proprietor with its use. He strenuously denied the charge ; but at a subsequent meal, we found the "ox butter" (as the Harvard students have named it) replaced by " cow butter." We do not mean to say that the oleomargarin is uii savoury or unwholesome. On the contrary, it is made with the utmost nicety from the cleanest materials. Neither is it unpleasant in any marked degree to the palate, nor to the stomach. It certainly is infinitely better than the abomination sold by grocers under the name of "cooking butter." Still most persons have a prejudice against suet butter, and that feeling, so far from being weakened, has been strengthened by the knowledge that the reprehensible practice of selling the imitation as the genuine is so widely practised. If the material were advertised and sold uniformly for what it is and on its merits, we have no doubt but that the prejudice against it would in a great measure subside. For shipping to hot climates, it is, no doubt, far better than the butter usually sent to southern ports — Scientific American.