CANTERBURY RAM FAIR.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20491, 9 March 1932, Page 4

CANTERBURY RAM FAIR.

1.~~ " ~~ there is room for considerable regional work in improvement by selection and inspection and ultimately registration. This is already in force with Montgomery red clover and wild white. In suitable localities- there is little doubt that considerable checks could be given to the vast tonnage of foreign seed which enters Scotland very year, and the Professor efen visualises a future export trade if the problem were courageously tackled. The lesson that practical farmers learn from, the article under review is that too much credence should not be given to boosted . indigenous foreign "stocks unless they have proved themselves in the neighbourhood. If there are good pedigree native "stocks to be tad thejr sbottld be pireferifld. Further,

REDUCTION IN CORRIEDALES. \ .INCREASE IN SOUTHDOWNS. Entries- for the annual Earn Fair of the Canterbury A. and P. Association, to be held on Thursday and Friday, March 17th and 18th, show a decrease on last year of 500 iiock rams and 94 studs. The most notable decline is in the Corriedale section, in which 348 fewer flocks are entered. Should this mean a reduction an the "tail" that has been evident these last few years, the decline will not be any loss, as there have been too many of the breed forward in the past for the market to absorb. Border Leicesters also show a reduction of and halfbred of 83. Southdowns hove improved by 283, and Shropshire' by 23, but Ey elands, the other lamb-pro-ducing breed, show a surprising reduction from 82 to 20. Corriedale studs show a decline from 44 to 31, English Leicester from 95 to 71, and merino from 75 to 36. The following are the entries over the last three years:—

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER EXPERIMENTS WITH A '"STARTER." (TEOM OUB OWTS COBRESPONDENT.) LONDON, February 2. In a recent issue of the "Grocer," a strange paragraph appeared stating that "after years of experimental work, New Zealand had succeeded in producing a special : kind of butter for Yorkshire and the North of England." Mr H. E. Davis (London manager of the New Zealand Dairy Board) wrote denying this statement. ■ His unpublished opinion was that the idea had

I been inspired by certain experiments I carried out in New Zealand with a "starter." TJie statement, he maintained, looked as if New Zealand was trying to imitate Danish butter, and l>.v so doing admitting inferiority in the New Zealand produce. ; * This week a correspondent in the "Grocer" refers to the statement and to Mr Davis's correction. He says: "It most certainly is a fact that a culture, or starter, has been made, we understand, by a Gertnan chemist. Experiments were made with it in this country by mixing.it with New Zealand butter, with the result that it imparted, a ' distinct 'Danish' flavour to the- portion of the box which was treated. Shipments of this substance were made to New Zealand some time ago." /

! The dry season which has been gen- ■ eral throughout the east coast of both Islands has caused a heavy increase in ' the sheep and lamb killings compared , with previous years. Excepting -the 1030-31 season, which is not a guide on account of the dislocation caused by the earthquake, the heaviest killing season in the past at the Whakatu Works (Hawke's Bay) was in 1929-30, when 248,755 sheep and 325,861 lambs were put through To the end of February this season, the totals are 183,272 sheep and 370,774 lambs, the gross number ot carcases being: 1929-30, 574,616; 193132, 554,046. With still two months of the season to go, the previous best total will be substantially exceeded.

lowest cows. Milk. Test. -Butler-fat. tb. lb. 450 2.1 9.00 a' lioo 3.0 9.00 3' son 4,:t 3 3.00 4' 480 3.0 14.00 Higlii-'S' individual' test, 7.0; lowest individual test, 21. Group Average—Xuinber of cows tested, 450- milk average, 569.861b; test average, 4.14; butter-fat average, 23.631b. Mr James Xewby, of School Farm, Blackpool, England, who is 100 years old has never been in a theatre or cinema, and has never-heard wireless or a gramophone.

Flock Bains. 1932. 1931. 1930. English Leicester 1515 1588 1105 Southdown 1390 1113 1108 Shropshire 10." 82 .147 Suffolks 5 *"• — Rycland 20 82 36 Border Leicester 362 459 303;Merino 5 10 — Lincoln 1 40 — Halfbred 247 430 203 Romney Marsh .. 340 347 405 Corriedale 1003 1351 2099 5005 5505 5524 Stud Bams. Eoniney Marsh .. 8 ' 13 13 .. 1.0 14 9 15 o refer Leicester' ; "si $7 ••""'S3 Halfbred — — 1 Lincoln r> 8 3 87 Merino 30 75 Corriedale 31 44 70 English Leicester 71 95 98 194 288 314