Comparison of Woods for Butter Boxes

by Grover Dean Turnbow

TABLE 1 Influence of Various Woods on Cube Butter in Storage[2]
No. of sample	Kind of wood	How treated	First score	Lowest score	Average of all scores	Average score of butter in same kind of box
1	White Fir	Unseasoned No Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	89	90.857
2	Cottonwood	Unseasoned No Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	86	89.214
3	Spruce	Unseasoned No Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	88	90.785
4	Spruce	Seasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	89	90.642
6	White Fir	Seasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	90	90.857
7	Cottonwood	Seasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	87	89.571
5	Cottonwood	Unseasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	88	89.857
8	Spruce	Unseasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	90	90.928
9	White Fir	Unseasoned Paraffin No Parchment	92.5	89	90.571
10	Cottonwood	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	91.0	91.714
11	Cottonwood	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	89.0	90.571	91.142
18	Cottonwood	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	89.0	91.142
12	Spruce	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.5	91.5
13	Spruce	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	91.0	91.571	91.333
14	Spruce	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.0	90.928
15	White Fir	Unseasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	89.0	90.928	91.107
16	White Fir	Unseasoned	92.5	90.0	91.285
17	White Fir	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	89.0	90.857	91.142
20	White Fir	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.5	91.428
19	Cottonwood	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.5	91.571
21	Spruce	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.0	91.214
22	Spruce	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	90.0	91.571	91.523
23	Spruce	Seasoned Paraffin Parchment	92.5	91.0	91.785

SIXTY-POUND BOXES PACKED FOR MARKET

The butter for market was cut into two-pound squares, wrapped and packed in 60-pound containers, made of white fir, cottonwood and spruce (figs. 2, 3 and 4). The butter was stored in a cold room, the temperature of which ranged from 48° to 50° F. It was held in storage twenty-eight days, which is within two days of the maximum time butter may be held and still sold as fresh butter. Butter held over thirty days must be labeled “storage butter.” The butter was scored four times during the storage period. The butter used was all from the same churning which scored 93 after being chilled for twenty-four hours at 50° F.

[Table 2] gives a summary of the scores showing the effect upon butter in containers with varying treatments. When paraffined, the inside of the boxes was painted with the paraffin at 240° F.

TABLE 2 Influence of Various Woods on Butter Packed in 60-Lb. Boxes[3]
No. of sample	Kind of wood	How treated	Highest score	Lowest score	Average of all scores
1	White Fir	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
3	Cottonwood	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
7	Spruce	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
1-a	White Fir	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	—	—	—
3-a	Cottonwood	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93
7-a	Spruce	Unseasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93
2	White Fir	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
9	Cottonwood	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
8	Spruce	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
2-a	White Fir	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93
9-a	Cottonwood	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	90	91.175
8-a	Spruce	Seasoned, Not Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93
4	Cottonwood	Seasoned, Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
5	White Fir	Seasoned, Box Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
6	Spruce	Seasoned, Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, Cartons Box Lined with Wrapping Paper	93	93	93
4-a	Cottonwood	Seasoned, Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93
5-a	White Fir	Seasoned, Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	92.75	92.562
6-a	Spruce	Seasoned, Paraffined Parchment Wrapped, No Cartons Box Lined with Parchment	93	93	93

NAILING OF BOXES

Five-penny cement-coated nails were used in making the boxes. Practically no splitting was caused by the nails in unseasoned white fir, spruce, or cottonwood. There was very little splitting in seasoned cottonwood. The nails, however, caused a slight splitting in the seasoned spruce and quite a noticeable splitting in the white fir, but not enough in either to cause an appreciable loss.