THE NEW SEASON'S CHEESE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 58, 2 December 1907, Page 2

THE NEW SEASON'S CHEESE.

NOT UP TO STANDARD. Somo time ago, writes our Wairarapa correspondent, several of our cheese makers stated that tlm milk supply to tlio factories at. tlio beginning of the season .showed nil improvement on that of previous years. Other makers declared tlio opposito tviis the case. Grading reports which have just como to hand seem to confirm the opinion that either the milk or the manufacture was not what it might have been. In proof of this statement, two cheese factories nave received second-grade returns, and a grader mado a torn- of the factories past the Forty-Milo Bush, with tho result that somo suppliers have had their milk reacted, Tho oarJy

spring appears to. liiivo been very bad for tiie milk, owing to the wretched weather and the fact that some of the cows had not wintered too well. It is generally considered that the season was mainly responsible for the inferior quality of the milk, but some actio'e was considered nefassary bo that the troublo might not become too pronounced, with a gouoral lowering of tho standard. , WAiRARAPA NOTES. (FHOM OUR SrEOIAL COnRES^MDENT.) Somo. of the Government settlors on tho Nireaha Block, which provoked tho 1400 nnplications, have commenced felling their bush, and co-operative labourers aro making preparations for reading the sections. In putting cheese crates together it is advisable not to havo the grain of the ends or tho contre board running the same way, The grain of tho two ends should be diagonally opposite to each other, while that of tho centre should be straight up and down. This helps to reako a strong fixture, whereas, if the grains of all tho timbers wero- running the same way, the crate is more liable to break up in careless and rough handling. Tho system explained in the foregoing is prevalent at Belvedere and Gome other factories, but not all. The manager of the Tvireaha cheese factory is Mr. B. J. Chew, who sorved his apprenticeship .under Mr. J. Dawson, of the. Belvedere factory, and also under Mr. G. Williams, of the same institution. Mr. Chew has four assistants, olio to each vat, and .-arrangements are being made for another assistant, in order to take the fifth vat. ~ Choose- assistants are greatly in demand at present, and casual hands uro being picked up in all directions. In all portions of the Forty-Mile Bush the trail of the sawdust heaps and disused mills lead farther and fa-rther up into tho Tararuas as tho years roll on. Down in tho Wairarapa the sawmill is in the last throes of an existence which has.lasted over thirty years. In Carterton tho. other day timber which was being unloaded at the railway station, came from Bunnythorne, on the Main Trunk Line! Wood is said to bo.scarce in the Wairarapa district. There aro thousands and thousands of cord,s of it around Eketahuna, and tho settlers would be glad to get rid of the incubus, so that they could stock more heavily. It was raining heavily in the Fortv-Milo Bush on Tuesday and Thursday, while" there was no.rain at all in the Wairarapa. In the. Forty-Mile Bush the timber waggon drivers carry umbrellas, and use them in sunshine or rain. They are one of the sights of tho sawdust metropolis, whoro the dairy' factory follows fast on the old abandoned mill and tho pulled-up tram.