FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 128, 21 May 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

-U a coiherenco of dairy managers it \vdncy recently, a Uo vel llU(1 Ming type ot butler-box was displayed. -U l,u.,e„t, the exhibitor e |i uiuwl I < xc> were made of New Zealand pine. J His was being exhausted, and ri ß j„'„ i„ I'H'-e. A \ Riorum syndicate has now eo.ne lorward to place on the market i. suitable substitute made from straw, the specimen produced was composed of barley straw. Jn its manufacture a mixture of kaolin and straw was used. It I'iiiild he produced and sold at Is. Al present S.UUII.IIUO boxes were used in Australia annually, costing £200,000. I 'lie new box would cost the dairy industry £40,000 a year. The material lor manufacturing the box coufd be grown in the same paddock that supported a cow. Straw wn s now practically a waste product, but could thus acquire a commercial value up to £2 per ton. The new type wiis in evenrespect equal to tllo old. It weighed, about lO'/jlb., was damp proof, and ntloiiriess. A company with a capital "I -WO.OOO in .CI share* was being lornied to develop the industry. A good deal of interest was aroused by the proposal.

'l'liere has been a good deal of speculation among dairy farmers—both those win, are already taking part in this industry and others who intend to tackle it in the spring-as to what the nriee of (bury cows will be at the begin ing ot iicM ,:eii-na. The Times' iluimwutu correspondent writes as follows, which (brows some light on the question so far as that district is concerned:—At the sale of dairy slock just outside the boundary of the borough of Palmerston a few weeks back, some of the cows made as high as £l(s. They were in good condition and exceedingly quiet, but of no special breed, and none too young. The question went around: What is sending these animals up like this? but no one seemed able to answer. At a sale in the Filzhorbcrt district a

few days since, the top price was £1 and the average for a herd of abou thirty-live (which included some ver

old beasts and several "empties"), was £f> 13s. I have made inquiries from several dealers, and also a number of dairymen, and the opinion expressed ua ri that good young cows in the spring would lie very dear. It. is anticipated that many small farmers who are at present running sheep, will again turn their attention to dairying. The humble llax plant is an asset of increasing value to Now Zealand. The export of phormium fibre during lilllii was valued at £77u",10(i, as against e1!).j,728 for 11)01 and £32,!)80 for 181)0. .New /calami phormium at present, however, is far from being a perfect plant for lla.vmilling purposes. " It is, in tact, probably the only example of a wild plant used commercially on a large scale. The neglected phormium tenax is now to be taken ill hand, and Dr. W. Cocka\iie, r.b.S., will in a few weeks' time visit the Ooverninent experimental stations in the Auckland province, in connection with a series of .experiments whose object i H . the production of forms 'of llax of a higher economic value than any now existing. At the present time, Dr. Cockayne states, nothing is accurately known about the varieties of pliorinium; in fact, the extremely important point as to whether the' wellmarked varieties come true from seed is (piite unsettled. Experiments will also be conducted in regard to the action of definite soils upon fibre-produc-tion and the like, and Dr. Cockayne hope, to publish in the spring an up-to-date account of phormium tenax, dealing with its wild and cultivated varieties aim its variations under natural conditions.