Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 5 March 1932, Page 8

Farming Column

USES OF WOOL. \ LEATHER COATS AND FISHING / BOOTS.

A greatly increased use of wool as a . raw; material - ;j will follow the advances of science. , We are only beginning to understand how .w.ool can be exploited, apd.the Australian and New Zealand grower, will see .ap-,.ex-panding market for his prqdpct. .Theses are yjews. held by ope. of Britain's foremost authorities on wpol, Dr S. G. Barke» r pj.m . Dr Barker ,is . .director of reseqiftih at the Wool Industries Research Association at Torridon- near Leeds, England. He has collected all scientific knowledge available about wool quality in a book of 330 highly technicaT pages, many of which deal with the outstanding . scientific work now being done by the Commonwealth Council for scientific and Industrial Research in Australia. The work of tim New Zoaland Department of Scientific and Industrial Research which, bears on wool production is also reviewed. “Commercial conditions to-day are such that, in competition with artificial .fibres, there is no room for ignorance even of the ' minutest details of wool,” .he says. i Dr Barker’s latest discovery at the 'Torridon laboratories .is a, secret process. for ‘ making artificial leather oufj of wool. “When I visited Torridon this week, I was shown a dozen different ‘leathers,’ each of them soft and beautifully finished. Here,” said Dr; Barker, handling a thick brown:sheet of material, “ is a leather suitable for,fishing boots or suitcases.. Tests have shown it to be . exceedingly durable and. strong. Here is another, in all shades, for making into ladies’ golfing coats or gloves. This one,’’ he produced another roll, “is, as you see, a patent leather. But it is absolutely un-crackable,” He crumpled it up in his hands and, sure enough, no cracks could be seen when it was smoothed out.

These “leathers” are being made by a firm .near Leeds. Already one of the Railway Companies and one of the biggest motor-car manufacturers in the country have agreed to try out the wool “leather upholstery” and some is undergoing practical tests. Another material suitable for covering “fabric bodies” for motor-cars has been made. Experiments with other wool fabrics for wallpapers are nearing completion. Another new, use for wool discovered at Torridon is in the insulation of electric cables. Cotton, always used tot-bfet employed, but it-was,-of course inflammable. Now several big firms of . cable makers are using wool insulation, which gives a danger warning! by smouldering and which will not burn. •

NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE. : ,j j , ..'V V.: . ■■■„! ;; ■; I HIGH COMMISSIONER’S TOUR. J LONDON, Jan. 21. The High Commissioner (Sir Thomas Wilford) has returned from a 10 day’s tour of the south and south-west of England, during which he made a personal visit to, shops, in 21 towns .These included Basingstoke, Glastonbury, Somerton, Taunton, Exeter, Chagford, Moretonhampstead, ■ Travistock, TVuio,. Lothwithiel, Helston, Mu 1 lion, Hayle, St Ives, Camborne, Wadebridge, Calemford, Launceston, Crewkerne, Yeovil, and Sherborne. The towns mentioned are in the counties of Cornwall, Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Dorsetshire. The High Commissioner was able to call on about six of the principal stores of the towns each day, making inquiries in regard to mutton, lamb, pork, butter, cheese, honey and apples, “It found New Zealand meat and. butter being sold under the name of ‘Empire meat, and ‘Empire butter,’ said Sir Thomas, describing his tour. “In most cases the identity of the meat butter and cheese was hidden in the word ‘Empire’, though I found one shop at Basingstoke, and one al Camborne which depended exclusively on the name ‘New Zealand’ for successful trading.

“I had no experience of any complaint in regard to New Zealand meat or butter, except in one case when : manager of a store complained tbrJ the outside of the block of butter lax a slight taint of timber. I got Inin to show me the case and the brand and came to the conclusion that tile timber was not white pine. “ Practically no New Zealand honey was sold in these:, towns, except.!P; one oj' two shops that stocked the ‘Stag’ brand, yyhieh is, New Zealand honey made up under that name b> a firm in Bristol. The honeys, generally used are .the cheap Californian, home-grown, and Olivers. “The managers of some of th< shops which dealt exclusively in Now Zealand meat stated that they could depend on the quality and that the;, were never let down, and that the. wore getting an increased circle o cu tomors. One butcher said he sol no'hing but Now Zealand pork. H< su'd 20 loins a week. ‘New Zealand pork beats English pork,’ he said. “I found all the managers of tin stores delighted to meet me; the} made me very welcome and were most hospitable. I feel sure that good wil ...-nit from my visit; jn fact, the hea of one of the produce boards has al ready informed me, since my return, that' h e has got a number of new eus

torners who formerly were unknown to him.” ; , , • The High Commissioner took full notes regarding his visits, and is making a report to each of the produce j boards. : 'dt ■ ■ « _i PRICES AND VALUES OF STOCK FEEDS. aAfes,lit of the dry weather that i Has just been experienced, very little haj;, has been saved in Canterbury, and supplies of bats and oat-sheaf chaff arc befbw normal. Similarly, the turnip ei;b'hs“are very backward, and the question of feed supply for stock until next September requires more consideration than, it usually does. Stock that are kept' up to present numbers may require more hand feeding than usual, and in these circumstances it is worth while discussing prices and values of different ■stock feeds. ,

. To. most farmers the only method of comparing feeds is 'by the price they have to pay per ton for them, with •the reservations that anything over £lO per'ton is too dear and that straw is scfjipvorthiess that it is seldom used. The feeds that are commonly used—oats, hay, oat-sheaf chaff—are compared as being good, bad, ,or worse or .by some su.cih comparative terms. Obviously, such a way of comparing feeds is of very [little, use when it is necessary to kndw their value in cash, and in other countries this difficulty has been qVercome by having a standard feed, in ! terms of . which, all other feeds are valued. Thus we have, a hay standard | or equivalent,:...a barley standard, a jj mixed grain ; standard, and so on in '! different countries. : .

i ’Tu English-speaking countries, especially s«i of late years, the'.standard that is most' used is starch, and the starch equivalent of a feed is the number of ’ pounds of starch that have the same producing value (in live weight on steers) a s 1001 bof that feed has. A few minutes’ thinking will make it obvious that if the price per ton is divided by the starch equivalent of a .feed a. “unit” price of starch equivalent is obtained, and this can be used for comparing accurately the values of different feeds.

In ,thet following table, column 2 sets out a price per ton, column 3 the starch equivalent, and column 4 is the unit price, arrived at by dividing the shillings of column 2 by the figure in column 3as stated above. Tables such as these have appeared now for a number of years in English publications, so there is mo need for the shy reader to be afraid of “new-fangled” idea®.

, j-, Price per u unit n v-i Price .Starch starch per equiva- equiva■A r ;.i . Ton lent. lent. Feed £. s. d. ; ■Oats:- ••• 88 0 ', 60 2/10 •Barley ... 612 0 ~<■ 7.1. 1/8 ,Wheat ... 811 0 ~72. 2/5 ■ Peas ! ... 811 0, 69 2/7

Linseed ... 710 0 123 1/3 Mangolds 010 0 ~7 1/5 Hay ... 50 0 38 2/9 Oat.sheaf chaff 5 0 0 36 2/11 Bran ... 5 0 0 42 2/5 Pollard ... 6 0 0 60 2/Oat straw 1 0 0 20 . 1/Wheat straw 1 0 0 ,13 1/6 The table provides opportunity for comment from many angles. It will be seen that at these prices, oats, oat sheaf chaff, and hay are all the most costly •feeds that can be used at the: piesent time. They are the feeds that are produced in largest quantities, their use is well understood and there i§ apparently a .slight shortage that is causing people to pay for their prejudices and inexperience. VVheat offals constitute the next main source of supply, and these., at the ’above prices, are very much cheaper per unit than the more commonly used feeds. Bran can easily replace oats at ,tne rate of seven pounds of • bran to five of oats for horses and sheep. . Pollard can replace oats, pound for . pound. e Horses receiving .20 pounds of oat sheaf chaff should do as well on 12 jounds of straw, chaff and 10* pounds of bran at about half the cost of oat sheaf: chaff. Similarly., sheep that can be wintered on *lb of oat sheaf chuff per day could be wintered on a mixture of half bran and half straw! chaff at three-quarters the cost of oat sheaf chaff. Cow R that are milked during t.he winter do so profitably with straw chaff, oian, and meat meal with the same saving ias in the case of sheep and horses.

POTATO STATISTICS. The 1930-31 statistics, just published, shows that the area in potatoes in’ 1930-31 was 28,459 acres (in the preceding season 23,214) J and the total crop was 151,525 tons (130,107 fn the /rbi'edmg year). The value last season was set down at £‘842,858, as against £658,667. The figures of values scarcely coincide with the trend of the market in the two years. The price ruling for the greater part of last season suggests „o growers that the gross return was little better than half of that of the year, notwithstanding the much increased area. The area last season was 4000 larger than any in the decade, the next heaviest acreage being in 1926-27, when 24,616 acres ,vere cropped.