GENERAL FARM NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 10, 7 October 1907, Page 2

GENERAL FARM NEWS.

Mr. Scifcrt, President of tho Now Zealand Flaxmillors' Association, states that thore aro 15 llax-milis operating in Manawatu between Turakma anrl Paokakariki. and turning out a total of about 9000 tons of lla:: and 9000 tons of tow per. annum.. The wages paid in the industry av J erago £14 per ton of fibre produced. A New Zealand record is claimed to have been achieved by Granny's 'Girl, a pure-bred Jersey cow owned by Messrs. Griffiths ami Cornwall, of Nov." Plymouth. In the. 71 months following her calving date (February 14) sho has given 7711 pounds of milk, containing <18Hbs. 12ozs. of butter fat. The yield for an average Taranaki cow is only 150 pounds of butter fat for a whole year. Granny's Girl is improving with the warmer weather and better grass, and is now giving between 24 and 25 nounds of milk per

day. During September she gave 71(H pounds of milk, which tested at an average of seven. She has still t-lio best months of the year before her, and will, 110 doubt, finish up with a record that will mark her as an animal of immense value in a dairy herd. It would be interesting to know the exact money value which Messrs. Griffiths and Cornwall set upon Granny's Girl and her calves, which, no doubt, arc being got by the best sires obtainable. Mr. Seifert- suggests a law to compel owners of flax land to cut a fire line around their boundaries to prevent the spread of firo. Mr. James Sawers, cheese instructor, declares that the Cape Egmont factory is one that he would copy if he wero going to build a factory for himself. The cheese made in New Zealand, says Mr., Sawers (cheese instructor), is steadily improving, and if tho starters wore better prepared there would be still greater advances. The best cheese is being made where the curing rooms are underground. The trade at Home considers our choddar cheese should be deeper coloured, says Mr. Mackie, tho Home representative of tho National Dairy Association. Messrs. Abraham and Williams sold 1450 calf skins at Palmerst-on North on Friday. _ The families of agricultural labourers in England drink milk at tho rate of only one pint in ten days each, The families of mechanics drink twice that quantity, and those of the middle classes eight times as much. It appears that in England those who. live nearest to the source of supply drink the least. Here is a novel way of cleansing milk, adopted in several European cities. The milk is filtered through sand. Tho sand is placed in large vessels in throe layers, the coarsest sand occupying tho bottom layer, and tho finest sand the top. Tho milk enters at the bottom under -pressure, rises through tho sand, and' passes' off through a ipipo and a cooler into milk cans. It is said that all dirt, and slimy matter is thus removed, and tho number of bacteria is reduced to onethird. Tho loss of cream from, new milk is very small. A Hawera Press Association telegram states that tho stock in that locality is suffering from the continued wot weather. The milk supply is badly affected.