Dairy Skimmings.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 423, 27 November 1889, Page 5

Dairy Skimmings.

The Victorian Butter Business. —lt is perhaps no wonder that the Victorian farmers should be hopeless of being able to compete with New Zealand in butter production without a heavy protective duty on imported butter. At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the Thoona (Vie.) butter factory, the director's repot b showed that the factory could not give more tha > 2£d per gallon for milk on account of ibe butter market in Melbourne. .Since tho spring the yield of en am had decreased surprisingly, the percentage running down to as low as 5 per cent. A long discussion followed this statement, some shareholders nffirminer it was impossible by the appliances in the factory to really test the milk. The directors were soiry that tho financial position of the factory was not better as during the last two months £50 had been lost. It was ultimately resolved that a penny a cr^Hon be paid on delivery of the milk at the factory and that the butter be shipped home. We should like to hear the remarks of a New Zealand factory manager who was asked to pay 2£d per gallon for 5 per cent, milk.

A "Good Milker."— A wonderful milk yield i& recorded on behalf of the Guernsey cow Pretty Dairymaid, which won for her owner, Mr 7). O. Le Patourel, of Guernsey, the champion cup for the best female of her breed at the recent Windsor show. In a test carried out by the Royal Guernsey Association during three days fche cow was milked four times daily — at five a.m., eleven a.m., four p.m., and ten p.m. - and gave 611b 2oz on the first day, 621b on the second, and 521b 9oz on the third, when she was not in good health. The milk of the last two days was churned, and yielded 51b of butter, which is at the rate of 17£lb a week. There was no special feeding^ and the weather during the testing was unfavourable.

Creameries. — Until such time afc least as ever) body who keeps cows shall become perfectly familiar with the art of making a superior article of butter the creamery will be a benefit to the community. We do not say that it will not be afterwards. But it is sufficient for our present purpose to say that it will be until then. Perhaps, however, it would be more proper to say, that it can be. For various reasons the factory has not proved a benefit to milk suppliers in some individual instances, or at least not as much benefit as it might have proved. Sometimes this has been caused by improper management of the factory, and sometimes it has been caused by the milk suppliers themselves. There is a community of interest between the factory and thefarmei. This will be readily acknowledged, and yet it is a tact that is not always acted upon. ,

Stilton v. Gorgonzola Cheese. —Stilton is a more wholesome cheese than Gorgonzola, as anyone may see from a very interest- j ing comparison of Engli-h and foreign cheese-making systems, contributed by Mr Joseph Rigby to the new number of the British Dairy^ Farmers' Association Journal. , In the making of Gorgonzola, there is nothing to check the acidity developed in tho cheese, except the slow action of salt applied to the outside ; and, as several days must elapse before the salt can penetiate to the interior, any excess in the heafc of the sailing-room causes putrefaction to begin in the centre of the cheese. In the manufacture of Stilton, on the other hand, the curd is partially cured and entirely salted before the cheese is formed.

Adultkkatiox Upox Adulteration.— The Agricultural Department published a report, last year showing that American cheese is, extensively adulterated with lard and cottonseed oil. It was shown that the cheeses are " filled " with these substitutes for their natural and pyoper constib vents. It appears now from a report just published by the United States Department of Agriculture, and prepared under the direction of the chemist at the hea,d of the division of chemistry, that lard is very largely adulterated with, cottonseed oil and fat from animals other pigs. An interesting leaflet is issued by the Agricultural Department dealing with this subject and detailing the process of adulteration.

The Wrong and the Right Way With Cows.— Five per cent, and perhaps ten can be added to the amount of milk obtained from the cows of this country, if the following rules are faithfully followed :— l. Never hurry cows, in driving to and from the pasture. 2. Milk as near at equal intervals as possible. Half-past five in the morning and six ab night are good hours, 3N3 N Be especially tender to the cow at milking time. 4. When seated, draw the milk as rapidly as possible, being certain to always get all. 5. Never talk or think of anything beades what you are doing while milking. 6. OHer some caress and always a soothing word, when you approach a cow and when you leave her. The better she loves you, the more free and complete will be her abandon, as you sifc at her side. We append the, not uncommon practice : (1) Lett «ome' boy turn the cows away and gefe one who is fond of throwing stones and switching the hind ones every chance he gets. (2) Milk early in th« morning, and late at night, dividing the day into two portions, one.' pi fifteen hours and the other nine^ (3) Whack the cow orer the ba^cfc w.ith th 0 stool, or speak sharply t$ her if she does not "so"- or •' hoisf." (4) Milk slowly and carelessly, and stop at the slacking of the fluid. (5) Keep the animal in a fjrepjble all the time you are milking, a,nd when done, give her a yigorous k.^