FARM NOTES.

Otaki Mail, 21 April 1922, Page 1

FARM NOTES.

The Hiverdale factory has made the last of its cheese for the season, the plant having turned over to buttermaking. The Minister of Agriculture stated in Wellington that he did not consider it would be reasonable to ask Cabinet to agree to a further State-guaranteed price for wheat. He thought the Dominion could produce enough for its own use at a payable market price. Speaking to the Stratford visitors at the Mouijiahaki farm recently, Mr -J. W. Deem mentioned that he hoped to so improve the pigs on the farm that they would be second to none in tho North Island. Also, he hoped to build up a dairy herd that would be equal to anything in the district.

Lime plays an important part in the soil's fertility. Some soils contain all the necessary elements of plant-food, and yet fail to produce paying crops owing to the absence of lime. Not a direct plant-food, its value lies in the property which possesses of creating assimilable plant-foods out of various compounds in tho soil, which, but for its chemical action, would otherwise remain inert and unavailable for the use of plant-life. A new law to regulate the export of cheese from Denmark came into force on Ist August last, which provides that cheese of the Cheddar type must not be exported unless it is at least six weeks old. "Once again the Danish dairyman,’’ says Canada’s Dairy Commissioner. “shows his wisdom in taking the necessary steps to protect the reputation of the product which he exports. The reputation of Canadian cheese is suffering from the fact that much is exported in far too green a condition.

During tho war period numbers of factories were built in America and and Germany for converting potatoes into flour. Evidently the proposition was a satisfactory one then, but with large supplies of wheat on hand these factories have all closed down. This

method of dealing with potatoes is first to wash them thoroughly and then slice —this, of course, being done by machinery. They arc next placed in a kiln (similar to a hop-kiln) and dried. As soon as tho sliced potatoes are absolutely dry they are bagged, taken to an ordinary flourmill, and passed through, the skins being removed in the same way ns bran is removed from wheat. The flour contains a higher percentage of starch than wheaten flour, and the two mixed in the proper proportions make a wholesome bread. Potatoes treated in this way would return about £3 per ton, therefore industrial alcohol is a decidedly better proposition.