A FARMER ABROAD

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2606, 30 October 1915, Page 7

A FARMER ABROAD

IMPRESSIONS OF 'A WORLD TOUR. Mr. W. Orr, of Platform Farm, Greytown, who went to England early in the year for the benefit of his health, returned to New Zealand a few days ago,'and in the-course of an interview with our Greytown correspondent gave some interesting details of what he saw on his travels. Mr. Orr went to England via Australia, and arrived at the Albert Docks, London, on May 22, when he hired a motor-car and went through to Bristol, examining the best dairy herds on route. He found that in no cases did the cows give a- greater quantity of milk than our New Zealand herds at their best. The cheese factories he considered were some lo years behind this country. Remarking on the class of cows at Home, he said the milking strains in the South of England are Shorthorns mostly. There is wonderful grass country there that has/not been ploughed for over a century. This is the case in Somersetshire and Devonshire. Going to Scotland, he .said, he saw a field of 200 acres of potatoes (in Ayrshire). Seaweed and stable manure from Glasgow are chiefly used for manure. The manure bill runs into £1000 -per annum. The orop is sold in the ground at anything from £36 to £72 per acre. The buyer digs the potatoes, and tlie'.farmer carries them to the nearest station. Some of this laud has grown potatoes for 60 years on end. The tubers are all sprouted in boxes before; being • planted, and quickly grow after planting. _ As all Scotch, farmers need to be agricultural chemists, they stand .alone as against England. The latter he considers is the best grass country. Ireland, however, is an. ideal grass country, and hence a good dairying country, much_ like South Taranaki. Large quantities of creamery butter are turned out in Ireland, and Mr. Orr saw it sold side by side with New butter in London, but it did not bring the price of ours by two shillings.

He thinks the English Government greatly favours the Irish, as the farms are held on low rentals with right of purchase. A labourer's cottage'of five rooms (stone and slate) with half an acre of ground is let at Is. 7d. per week. He saw crops of oats and potatoes in a most excellent state, all over the country. Regarding Dublin and Belfast, Mr. Orr said the former was certainly the most favoured as a residential town, but Belfast took the lead commercially. From Great Britain Mr. Orr travelled in an American liner, and said these boats are considered immune from the German torpedo-boats. He crossed on the Philadelphia, which, before the war, carried only second-class passengers, but now had mostly first-class, and one had to book passage or get left behind, as she was always • full. The ship's name is painted in large letters on each side of tho bow, and at night strong electric lights aro thrown on to it while going through tho Channel (the danger zone). This boat was in mid-ocean when a wireloss came of the disaster to tho Arabic, and the German sympathisers on board had a very rough time of it. Mr. Orr spent a fortnight in New York, seeing all that could be seen. New York is supplied with milk from 250 miles around. The milk is carried in special trains packed with ice. It is sold at 14 to 16 cents per gallon by the fanners. ' Each farm has its special ice store. .There are ISO ico barns on tho Hudson. The New York farmers are chiefly Russian Poles, and grow tobacco, onions, and potatoes. Sheep seem an unknown quantity. In a long ride Mr. Orr saw only some 40 or 50 sheep in the whole State, although thoro are plenty of cattle Ho remarked on the strange sight of seeing miles of applo trees along the roads, and he stopped his motor and took what he wanted, the fruit being free to those who wanted it. _ In speakiup of .pasture in .the Eastern

States, Mr. Orr said the carrying capacity per acre is> much smaller than in New Zealand. They have to grow fodder to stall-feed the cattle'. The Holstein, Ayrshire, and Jersey breeds are vary much in evidence. In travelling through Canada he considered the stock looked very healthy and clean, and there are good dairies there, but most of the milking is done by hand, the machine not haviJig made much progress in Canada. In the American and Canadian Agricultural Colleges ,tho bulls are worked in the field, as ft is considered they produce stronger stock by being mora hardy. New Zealand cattle are fully equal to American and Canadian. . The Oaiiadian cheese is muck . like New Zealand, "and is packed only one in a case (Bolb. cheese) ; it is better to handle than our cases for_ transport. The barns are splendid buildings, and the houses are good and clean. He saw a great sight coming through the Canadian wheat belt. The wheat was in stook, and the late oats were then being cut. Comparing the horses, he places those in Glasgow easily first, Liverpool next, and Toronto third. The New York horses are of a Belgian strain, but too round in the bone and narrow in heels to please him.