THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1340, 18 January 1912, Page 8

THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.

U __ \ INTERVIEW. WITH THE MINISTER. « A number of matters of interest to (lie it farming ccniiuunily were dealt with by- % tho Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister tor f .Agriculture, during the course of an in--3 terview with n representative of the 1 Tiiuaru "Herald." !■_ The Forward Policy. [■ ' Referring to his suggested forward pols icy in rcgi\r(l to the Dopartuieut, tile * Minister said he intended to be as good f j as his word. He had really been worki ing up to a paint (luring tlie past I tires j. years for n much wider sphere of action. i. About eight weeks before J'arliaiuent rose n ha called six others of the Department 3 together, and discussed with them fully { the lines of action that. h<j purposed tak- | ing, and invited "their co-operation, 'fliey ; : entered with spirit" into tlie whole of the ; proposals, and together they prepared ;i '[ policy which he desired, through- the j Farmers' Union in Ta.ranaki, to deal with at one of their gatherings Tho Union, however, through its delegates, thought ho was seeking some political advantage for himself, and declined to hear his iro- : posals until after the election. I way | say, added the Minister, that (ho deliver- ; ance would have been entirely non-politi-I cal, and need not have been given in the j district for which 1 was standing. Up to t tho present we have not been doing much > more than scratching the surface, and S there is a vast field for wider usefnlne-s ! in connection with agriculhire. And it is t to be hoped that politicil diderences will ! not prevent a wirier sphere of usefulness '• being entered upon for the benefit of r farmers and the Dominion in general.' _ Tha Fruit Industry. S3 Referring to fruit, growing, the Minis- ? ter said they had demonstrated that the i poor gum lands made excellent, orchards, j and produced fruit of very high quality I— tetter fruit for ship.nent than that grown on richer lands, as it wa.s firmer in texture. So for as the finding of ;narkcts for fruit was concerned, he was very hopeful this year that the fruit would be [ landed in London free from the draw- ; backs which attended the two previous f experimental shipments. The Dc-p.u-l----l ment had brought from Tasmania a quali- | lied fruit packer, .and they had purch.isj cd n machine for grading,the fruit. In I i addition to this they wen going to give j? a bonus of .£SO to the officers of the ship , M>n which the fruit was carried if they landed it at Home in a sound condition, and a Ijonus of one penny per lb. would be given to the shippers, the idea being to get tho best fruit for shipment and to •havo it handled in the best possible way. This was small, the Minister said, com pared with whnt the Department did at the start for the dairying,' industry. Concerning Dairying. At present «£IO,OOO a year was being ;spent on the dairy division. Thero were the cow-testing associations and tho Department was sending officers out to take . note of the milk records of the cows. These demonstrated to the settlers that they were in many cases feeding cows which wero not paying their board and lodging. It had been shown that one- j third of the cows were not paving for their keep. Mr. Cuddie. the head of the dairying division, said that wo could increase our exports of dairy produce now jl by ono million and a half pounds' worth without adding a heof to existing herdsall this as a result of culling and proper attention. The Minister mentionrd that the Department had tho herd of Holsteins at the Wereroa experiment farm up to a pretty good state of perfection. Ono of the cows averaged IOOIb. weight of milk per day for a time, her biggest yield in one day being 11,11b., with a test . of 3.(i. The Minister said that he could niako as much profit (and ho had made it) from the sale of the progeny of one cow as would pay for the whole herd ho had bought. One calf of this cow was sold for 74 guineas, and he had refused 300 guineas for the cow, though he had paid less than .£2O fcr her. He had fold another calf for .£llO, and had refused the snmo pries for another one. From the llilsteins which ho bought he I had mado profit t enough to purchase j, .£I2OO worth of the best stock available r in America. This new stock—a Holsteiu bull and some heifers—had recently been landed at Wellington. Experience had I proved, that (ho Holsteins were better I 'milkers than the Shorthorns bv reason ' of the fact that the latter had been bred so long for beef. The Department had established a sterS llising plant for the skim milk and whev i which eamo from the factories, and was [ fed' to calvos and pigs. It was through the skim milk and whey that tuberculosis was spread, and it was so prevalent in some districts as to almost' destroy the value of the dairying industry. 'Now, I however, the spread of tho disease would (• be checked, and in addition the DepartI ment would be enabled to start an cxH port trade in pork, ham, and bacon.