AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

It is not generally considered likely that there will be any satisfactory outcome of j th© petition to have the embargo lifted off Xew Zealand potatoes as far as Australia" is concerned, states the Auckland correspondent of the Lyttelton Times. It is 1 pointed out that the prohibition regulations have only beer in force for 12 months, and ' that when drastic steps are now being taken to keep out Tasmanian potatoes ( which may possibly be affected it is hardly I likely that any exemption will be made I in favour of New Zealand tubers, since blight is still prevalent, though not so rampant as in previous eeasons. An Auck- ! land merchant, speaking on the subject, said that it was not considered the leufet bit likely that the embargo would be rernovad, since j southern potatoes arriving in Auckland at the present time are often found to be blighted, despite the fact that tl;ey have been picked over and declared exempt. , Another indication that no removal of the 1 exemption is considsre-d possible is the

fact that potatoes are easier in price than. they were a week ago. Despite the fact thait the Auckland market is absolutely bare, southern potatoes are quoted at 70s f.0.b., as against 75s last week. If tho Australian embargo is lifted, the price in Auckland would go up to £10 per ton, but in view of the fact that the new season's crop ia New South Wales will be available in & few weeks it is not considered at all .probable that fche prohibitory regulations on New Zealand tubers will be removed A shareholder in the New Zealand Dairy Association referred a* Tuesday's meeting at Auckland to a cheque of £40 or £50 which he had mislaid for over 18 months, and he asked if the association, upon finding that it had not been presented for payment, should not have forwarded hkn a reminder. The managing director (Mr Wesley Spragg) replied that the duty of the association ceased wnen' the, suppliers received their cheques. " "On one occasion," he said,, "a shareholder Lrought along a bundle of cheques, which had accumulated during a period of two yeare. He said he had retained them because they were about as sound as anything he could keep, untri: such time as he was- prepared to pay off his private- mortgage. Why,*' : continued Mr Spragg, amidsfc laughter, • "some of our cheques have actually been ' framed." "That is so," rejoined a person. ' from the body of the hall - " I have one ' for od." : j " The mysterious advertisement about New Zealand lambs, to which I alluded in my last letter," writes the London corresporrtiezifc of the IPastoralists' Hevte-w, " YkSLSagain appeared, but without the ■' Dreadnoughts ' this time. No one seems to. . know who paid for it. Who has funds for 1 the purpose but the Government? Yet Mr Cameron, the Produce Commissioner, distinctly tells me that neither he nor any , other agent of the New Zealand "Government inserted the advertisement or author- . ised its insertion." I Notice has been given that at the Con- ! gress of Chambers of Commerce of the j Empire to be held in Sydney next month the following resolutions will be moved by the Association of Chambers of ComJ merce of South Africa :— " Whereas aj practice obtains in Australia of shippingwheat in bags limited in size to 42in by ( 24in, with a capacity of 1851b, and whereas I such bags (containing wheat) when Ira's ported into South Africa are useless for j local purposes., as, when subsequently used they are found to contain only 801b of bran- or 1751b of flour (the practice of South Africa fixes the respective quantities i.t> ■ 1601b " and 2001b) ; and whereas ink . constitutes a severe monetary loss to importers' of wheat from Australia, and whereas thepractice complained, of is only a recent innovation, and is "at variance with therecognised usage of the world's markets, ; this congress resolves that, in its opinion, i it is necessary to change the size of the- . bag used for the export trade in wheat, and considers that it should be in size 44ia by 26£ in, and be capable of containing 2001b. This congress further resolves that representations be made immediately to the Australian Government concerned for the amendment of the present law as her© recommended." A supplier of the Te Aroha Dairying Company, who keeps a careful record, find* that his 50 cows returned in butter 13,0001b for the past 10 months, a return of 2601b per cow. ' The maize sent by the Agricultural Department to the ' Maeterton A. and P. Association is being gown by a number of farmers in the district, in some cases for making ensilage and in others to be used as green feed for dairy cows with a view to obtaining a better milk yield, j What 4s claimed to be a record shipment . of Marlborough -grown barley for London j was taken by the steamer Tongariro last 1 week from Picton. The shinpers wereMessrs P. P. Corry and Co., and the quantity SOOO sacks (36,000 bushels). The private, offer" of £1000 towards the; . purchase of land for establishing an ex- ' perim-enial farm in the Wair&rapa, and anadditional £1000 for a milking herd; wiir t be tire subject of a deputation- from the - Wairarepa Agricultural and Pastoral As- ' sociation to the Hon. T. Mackenzie, ! Minister of Agriculture, next week. I The blight in the Tasmanian potato cropfr j is province a good thing for the growers in j New South Wales. OriP farmer in that , State expects to get £2500 for his crop, , although the farm itself is not worth rnoro- . than tJiat amount. f Mr Donald Macdonald, who purchased thej homestead block of the BcJpnclale Estatewhen it wa6 cut up and sold, has decided ; to sell by private treaty, through Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co., 1100 acre*. The land is immediately adjoining the railway station and rownehip, and ie so weJF known that there should be a keen demand* for the property. Many stock-breeders throughout Australasia will regret, to learn of the death afc i his resklonce, FJcmington, Melbourne, of i Mr George A. Brown, known as "Brtm'V*' tof the Australasian. Born in Tasmania 75 I years ago, he engaged in pastoral pursuits in Victoria, being part-holder with his t brother of Mount Emu Station. He was ' in Paris on a holiday tour when what is- | known as the Grant Land Act of 1£64 was I passed by the Victorian Parliament. Ifr ! gave the right of selection within a c-srtairt ; distance of c ofoldfieM. but the Ml effect ' of the measure was only realised when the- ■ whol© of Victoria was proclaimed a goldfield, which practically threw all land that* 1 was not held in fe^-shnpie- open to selec* , tion. Mount Emu disappeared almost in a.. single niprM . and Mr Brown afterwards took ' up a second holding near 800-rt, but b*«P luck «*ill followed him. A long drought-; practically rained him, and aimost on. theinstant that he gavf up possession of the run aburOant rains fell. Mr Brown took to

Officials, dajrv inspectors, experts, instructors, manager* dairy farmer*, and medical { men advocate / the Hartnett milkinjp ' t machine.— Xinun^ and Blair.

journalism, first as. a reporter on the staff -of tiie -Argus, and later on the Australasian. A keen lover of he made a, Kfe- - study of stock-breeding, and his opinion was much valued. At the annual meeting of the Oturi Dairy Company; Taranaici, a novel point wa% raised by~Mr<Exley,^w.ho drew, attention to what looked like a paradox- in milk production and -cheese-making. •= Up to a, certain lest — 3.9 — milk was perfect *br cheese-mak-ing. If milk was richer- than this the company received no better return. As good cheese could b» made with the one quality as with the other and as much. The consequence was that that portion of butterfat over the test 3.9 jwewt away in whey. Further, tbis anomaly ded not encourage the keeping of good cows. He himself had several Jersey cows, but h* was of the opinion that it would be better for him to get cows that- gave a plentitude of milk rather than keep those cows that gate less, though infinitely richer quality. He had spoken to their manager, who was of a mind that the company -should get a separator for the purpose of separating that butter-fat in- excess of the required test. and to make /butter with it. He himself favoured the scheme that supplier whose milk was richer than the test n-seded should be allowed to skim off for himself the surplus rich fat, with which he could make batter for home use. The meeting, though fully realising the point, did not care about interfering in the meantime, and. the matter dropped. It has been alleged by Mr Goodland, of 4h3 Normanby Dairy Factory, that in some factories tricks are played with the milk test. This is a serious allegation, and it k 1o be hoped Mr Goodland fully weighted his words ' before be disturbed the confidence which miik - suppliers have habberto had in the tests of the manager. The gist of Mr Goodiand's statement was that in some dairy companies the suppliers received what was really -a fictitious price for their butterfat. He alleged that in certain cases mon*s<e*B kepi down the test, so that the suppliers were paid for. less butter-fat tha» ' they Aci-uaily supplied. By this meats the company was enabled to pay , a greater price for its raw material." The question, has baen vigorously diseuss-ed in the Tai'anaki papers. The Taranaki Daily News asks: "Should this bs allowed 1 ? Is it honest? If it is honest, >s it justifiable even in commercial competition? Few people like to be. told they are not honest. Few admit they are dishonest. But those directors who instruct" the managers to ' read down ' the test can hardly lay claim to a spotless honesty-; neither, for that matter, can' the managers who lend themselves to the deception. The suggested remedy is independent testing of the milk. Managers object to anything of the kind. The honest manager opposes the -*dea because it looks like an aspersion upon bis ©haracter. The other class of dairy factory managers will fight the proposal to the death. Mr Goodland's indictment may be taken as the word of a man wiho knows what he is talking about, so there oan be little, doubt of the existence of malpractice in the past." At the annual meeting of the N.Z. Dairy Association (Ltd.), beld at Waikato, Mr "Wesley Spragg, managing director, who presided, epoke at great . length in moving Ihe "adoption of the report and balance -sheet. Among other tiring? he spoke at lengfb concerning the recent prosecution of the company. He pointed out tbat occasionally creamery managers received small quantities' of milk that was off-flavoured. Instead of being bulked with --sound cream it was put* apart until the end of the day and then churned, the product b?ing sent to Aficldand care-fuHy distinguished, ,*«tthat it cannot be mistaken for anything but offflavoured butter. As ther-a was not much demand fchis year for pastry butter it was repacked for sbipment to England, where anything which has a commercial value at all will find a sale at some price. The quantity of this butter shipped for the wholeeoason was 169 boxes, whale the total of table butter shipped was 77.-971 boxes. Mr Spragg ihen went on to point out what he considered the unfairness of the present system. The local grader on \ rough test believed some of the boxes had an excess of moisture. It would have beer an easy matter to have communicated by telephone with the owners of the 10 boxes, when these would have been withdrawn from shipment. Instead the butter appears to have been allowed to go away without the company having bad an opportunity of talcing samples to have a test made. The 10 boxes •were withdrawn from sale wiien they reached England, so tbat jio one in England was ihe wiser because t<he 10 boxes had been inadvertently shipped, birl the story of these 10 boxes magnified into quite another story may be used to depreciate the value of eve.ry pound of butter tha* goes to England tbis year. Mr Spragg- considers it would hays been better for all parties and' for the industry if tike company had been advised by tho grader, when the butter would have been sent to the destructor. fEbe company TpouM "have been prosecuted Cor "attempting to export," co that the evident desire to prosecute migh* have been gratified. The grass grub is reported to have made its appearance in some of the early-sown wheat crops in the Ashburton district, and in a few instances the paddocks have been, v6nkM«hed. Except in this respect every-

'^-fchdng-in the district presents a most promising -Appearance, and all going well the -harvest r should be a record one. Lambing fc now fairK general throughout Canterbury, and with the favourable condir tions. prevailing—* mild -winter^ plenty of V ie©4, and ewes in splendid condition — « good percentage ;s; s confidently looked for. While the grass' grubs tire noticeable in many paddocks of oats, grass, etc., in the Killinchy, Dunsandel, and Ashburton -districts of Canterbury, farmers in North Canterbury are somewhat pessimistic as t« the caterpillar pest during the coming season. It is believed old straw stacks, many live fences, and collections of weeds and grassesharbour the eggs of the moth, which are only awaiting foi warmer weather to turn into caterpillars. / At the annual meeting of the Okain'a Bay Co-operative Dairy Factory Company the directors' report stated that tho company had bought 2,919,9121b of milk,, producing 108,6551b of butter-fat, for which suppliers bad been paid Is lid per lb, making a total 6um of £5998 llx lid. Sales of cheese had realised £7692 5e 3d; 27 tons had been Sold in the Dominion at a higix figure, and nearly 100 tons .bad been shipped Home, consigned through the Bank of Nev. Zealand *nd bad realised very satisfactory prices. The cost of making had been lees than £d pei lb. Both the. amount paid to suppliers and the total return from sales were far in advance of any previous season. ' It was resolved to make a further payment of 3-16 d per lb of butter-fat to the suppliers, and to declare a dividend of 5 per cent, on the paid-up shares.