Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27,1912. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 38, 27 January 1912, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27,1912. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

The special correspondent of ”Dalgcty’s Review” referring to the Dairy Industry in New Zealand says while the dairymen of the Dominion are delighted with the high prices ruling for both butter and cheese in the London markets, there is a dark side to the picture. The weather has been extremely disappointing, and although it is now midsummer, up to the present thore has been no real spring weather and no summer. Probably for the last fifteen years there has been no spring similar to that experienced this year. Throughout the dairying districts of the southern portion of the North Island, | and to a great extent in the South Island also, the climatic conditions have been wot, cold, and boisterous. The pastures have suffered in consequence and the growth has been retarded. Nauinllly tbejipijk supply shows a consicletable shrinkage,- and this, is confirmed by the total exports to the 'United Kingdom. .' Taking this season’s exports, and- comparing them with the corresponding period of last year, .ffm .decrease, is 56,000 boxes..of 'Sutter, equal to 1400 tons. From this shrinkage there must, of course, be deducted the quantity sent to the West Coast of America, but even when that is taken into account it does! not materially affect, .the point at issue. Cheespj on • :tho--' other .hand;. has increased by nearly 15,000 crates. Another point, the. same .writer deals with, is the mortality amongst dairy herds coming, into profit, which this year has been far above the average. Cows have perished by hundreds, he points out, through sheer inability to fulfil the demands required of them, if nature unassisted failed to provide sufficient nutriment at a critical period to keep the machinery working then the .owner should have provided, under such conditions, ample food to give him a profit and not a dead loss. The question of providing winter feed for cows becomes, year by year, one of paramount importance to the'dairy farmer. Not only is it incumbent upon him to provide a plentiful supply of food to carry bis herd through the winter in good condition, but also a reserve stock to tide over that period of the year, such as we have had this season, viz., an early growth with a set back, until the grass comes forward in ample supply to meet all demands. The above advice is, wo are pleased to note, being more generally acted upon in Taranaki, and our farmers have awakened to the stern necessity of assisting nature by providin g some reserve supplies of food for their stock. In the same letter this correspondent deals with the much-vexed dual purpose cow question and remarks that many dairy farmers are alive to the necessity of keeping the real dairy cow type;—i.e., hue in front, with a deep body,, a well-sprung rib, and a good business nid—as -compared with the animal that has a tendency to beefiness. The Department’s test figures showed a typical case. The difference in production between these two' classes of cows—the dairy type having produced 35-11 h. of fat and the dual purpose cow only 1361 b. of fat—reckoned at Is per lb., shows a difference of £lO lbs. The writer concludes Instating that the dairyman’s aim should ho to breed a special-purpose cow, not necessarily a pure-bred, solely for dairy purposes. There is no reason whatever why a typical dairy ■ow should not possess a hardy constitution and considerable size, and withstand any winter likely to he experienced in New Zealand provided plenty of feed and shelter are provided.

“JUBILEE JUGGINS.” A London correspondent, referring to tlic death of Ernest Benzon, which occurred last month, says:—The mark \v!jich Mr Ernest Benzon made on the sporting world of live-and-twcnty years ago can ho measured by the fact that even after all that time his wild career of a couple of years is freshly remembered. It is not less visible

iii ihi- fact that when the smash came his performances were commemorated in a grave paragraph in the “dimes" headed by his nickname, live “.Jubilee Plunger” lie liked to be called, but the “Jubilee Juggins” was more really his nickname. He was strictly brought up, and bis lather, a hard-working, thrilty .Midland merchant, left him a fortune of £250,000 in 1885. Young Ernest promptly kicked over the traces, and set out with bulging pockets and a cheerful countenance to make a million out oi it or lose the lot—he didn’t seem to ears which. He began his experiments in Australia at a time when keener and shrewder men than he wore playing at the same game, but not with the same recklessness. The Australian racecourse did not exactly pan out, so he hurried back to London, and by his incongruities, his vanities, the abnormal “stripe” of his clothes, and his overwhelming passion for anything with a hazard in it immediately became famous —a blight and blazing star in a somewhat smoky Bohemia. .He had a handsome suite of rooms in Bond-street, he entertained regally, and his slim, saturnine figure, most marvellously clothed and wondrously hatted, was one of the familiar sights if. Piccadilly and that corner of the world somewhat vaguely known as “up West.” He would bet madly on anything, from two flies racing up a window-pane to two thoroughbreds in a match' at Alexandra Park or Kempton. His favourite after-luncheon recreation was tossing for sovereigns, and taking long odds about any fancy that happened to come into his head. It was a Jubilee year that his metoor blazed the fiercest, and hence his nickname. His fancy waistcoats with sovereigns for buttons were the admiration of a wide circle of “bloods.” For two years this absurd young man frolicked in the indulgent eye of London—“a good sort” ; and when the inevitable crash' .came Benzon, “game” to end, tossed his last sovereign into the air, and said that after all, the run had bean worth the money. He wrote a book on “How I Lost £250,000 in Two Years”—or, rather, somebody else wrote it for him, —and it had a tremendous sale. The last that was heard of the “Plunger” was that he was in a nursing home in a London ■suburb, suffering from brain fever. But brain fever he probably , always had.