OUR DAIRIES.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 672, 22 December 1882, Page 2

OUR DAIRIES.

We have waited rather late this season before go in:; en with .in acco.int of tho various dairies on the Peninsula, but we are now resolved to renew them, as our sub•i.'iibers tell us that, they exeito very general interest amongst the dairy'people, who may fairly bo called "' The backbone of the PouiusuU." Our endeavor this season will be to try more of iho Bays than were visited last year, and toextnet all possible in formation on the great subject of cheese

m iking. Experience teaches us that there is some. Utile diilvruneo in the way every dairy is managed, nnd that whilst none are perfect, tliere are hardly any where some little "wrinkle" may not be learned. Whil.st visiting the dairies we shall not neglect looking round and endeavoring to gain other information, and lay it before our readers, for every dairy more particularly the raising of pigs, and necessarily gives rise to other industries, we must say that wo think that in this particular branch of fanning we are far behind our friends on the plains. This should not be, for with the whey to give to the pigs, till they are ready for fattening off, our fanners have a very great advantage, and n very little hard food when a pig is well grown and ready to profit by it, will make him as good bacon as those who have tasted nothing lmt corn and vegetable food from the time they left their mother. It appears to us that it is in the treatment of the pork after slaughtering that our farmers fail, more than anything. They are but too apt to jag to pieces with out any attempt at symmetry. People may say that the bacon is as good however it is cut up, but this is an error, for neatness makes it far more saleable. In fact, there is as much difference between a well cut pig and one hacked to pieces, as there is between a piece of cloth made into a good coat by a professional tailor and one stitched together anyhow by an unskilled person. But we will say more on the subject later. At present we will return- to our main subject, the dairies, and record our first visit this season, which was to MR WILLIAM MCKAY'S, WAIXUI. Mr W. McKay's beautiful homestead is called Hopefield. On Tuesday last, after a pleasant passage in the launch, our company being swelled by friends who were going to take part in the marriage of Mr Joseph Wright, we reached the Wainui wharf, which is now in good repair, and is, we hear, to be still further improved by the erection of a crane for the haulage of goods. As usual, a num - her of our kindiy Wainui friends were waiting for the mail, and gave us a hearty welcome. Mr McKay had kindly sent a horse for us, and we had a pleasant ride along Rhodes' flat, that road that is so celebrated in the annals of the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board ! Hopefi Id nestles snugly in a warm valley, and is reached almost before it is seen. In front spreads a broad sheet of bonny grass, in which many a tall fern tree ?isea its shapely he; d in a luxuriance they rarely attain out of the shelter of loftier foliage. The course of the main creek which 1 uns down the valley is marked with dense scrub, which at this season of the year is white with blossoms of the wild convolvolus. There is one peculiarity in the 700 acres that form the estate, and that is, that wherever the other bush has been cleared away, the fern trees have been left standing. Many of them have died and are now useless except as rubbing posts for the cattle, but a great many have survived. A brother of Mr McKay's was so fond of these trees that when the bush was cleared he would not let one more be destroyed than could be helped, and it is owing to him that the place is so beautiful. The land stretches on both sides of the gully right up the stony steeps of Mount Bossu, and many is the picturesque waterfall and beautiful view that greets the traveller on his journey to the summit. Hopefield contains, as before stated, some 700 acres, of which 600 are freehold, and on it some 100 head of cattle and 700 or 800 sheep are depastuted. The house is a most picturesque one, having a verandah covered with creepers and a ptetty (lower garden in front. Mere live Mr McKiy, with his mother, his brother, his sisters, and chidren, in the same patriarchal simplicity that marked the habits of his fathers in the distant north. From grandmamma, 72 years of age, to the little children, all lend their mite of aid to the J general good, and to see them together awakens many in 'modes in those who have read Burns and Allan Ramsay. The dairy is close to the back of the' house, and in the yards some 45 cows aae now milked, and there will be 50 in, in another day or two. There is good drainage from the yards, which are clean and dry, and the dairy, which, is attached to the back of the house, is cool and roomy, well fitted with apparatus, and with its windows and doors so arranged that a cool current of air is always passing through. Miss Barbara McKay presides here, the cheese making being her special department. The Cheddar system is pursued. The milk is set at night with a tin of cold water hanging in the centre, to keep down the temperature. In tills sultry weather the milk is set at 82deg, but when it is cooler at 84deg. Miss McKay adds sour whey when required, and brings the temperature to 100 deg. but she never beats any whey she is adding, to more than 130deg. as she believes it scalds the curd if she does, After it is raised 1o lOOdeg it is stirred till dry, and then the curd is allowed to settle, and the whey drained off till the curd is as dry as possible. The blocks of curd when cut are separated, plenty of room being given for the air to get round all of them, some of it being removed from the vat to the cooling table to give more room. After an interval it is heaped ia the centre of the vat, and we ght applied to squeeze out rmre of the whey, When it has undergone tliH pres • sure long enough it is out small, and put on the table to cool, and saltei. When put in the chessets (which hold about 501b or 52lbs) it ia allowed to stop in 48 hours, the cloths being changed twice a day. It is then taken out, rubbed with lard, and bound. It then spends another 24 hours more in the cliass-itts, and is afterwards stored. They are now making 120 ibs of cheese a day, and will do more when the other cows come in. Besides this cheese, 25 calves have been-reared, to which milk is given tlie first two months", after which they hive two months on whey before depjn ling on tin p.stnra alone. We had a pleasant trip hom<j, and cannot conclude without thanking Mr McKay, Mrs McKay, and the family for the kind welcome afforded to our reporter.