FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 8, 3 February 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

A COLONIAL DAIRY PRODUCE COMMITTEE. j London, December 11. ■ A meeting of persons interested ill colonial dairy produce was held this Week for the purpose of considering steps to be taken to promote, if possible, the better distribution and imiitlb" of colonial dairy produce on the markets of Great Britain.

The proceedings were of a private nature, no press repiisentauves being invited. The following brief statement was however handed to your London correspondent subsequently : "After discussion a, committee was appointed to draw up for submission to a luture meeting regulations which it was felt might be adopted for the benefit of the colonial trade. It was not considered desirable to attempt to lix pi ices, but it was recognised that by promoting a better understanding and closer co-operation amongst agents, values could be to some extent regulated, and the sudden lluctuiitious caused by speculation avoided.'

Let us hope this shy committee will be able to achieve more than the ill-fated Butler Com mil tee which Mr lleury Reynolds, sometime proprietor 01 the "Anchor Brand" broughl into being iu unite the early days ol tlie Australasian butter trade* That committee luet with commendable l-egulai-iiv once a week to commune together oil i|iicslions affecting the butler markets heiv, and to lix tile price of " t'i.jcsi " alter the fashion of the Danish butler folk. But, that the members as individuals ever really abided by the decisions arrived at when it came to a i]Uestiun of selling a decent •' line " is very questionable, and that the committee ever did any practical good m any direction, there was never any evidence to show. Mutual mistrust was so far as I could discover the only tie that bound the committee together. That was hardly a promising foundation whereon to build up an association designed to promote tho interests of the butter cxporteis of Australasia, who were of course, the people the agents forming tlie committee were so desirous to benefit. As a matter of lat-t 1 have no faith in associations 01 this kind, composed cliiefl.\ ot agvuts handling cutter on commission and themselves speculators. What is really required here in the producer's interests is someone to keep a dose eve upon the agents—a person quite independent of Tooley street, who has the authority of the shippers at his back, and " knows the ropes." The identity of the gentlemen who met iu solemn conclave this week has not been revealed to me, but I gathtr that a goodly proportion of them were agents of the ordinary Tooley street brand. If this was so 1 am quite sure they will see to it that they are fully represented oil the committee formed. 1 can quite understand their desire for privacy at present. The old Butter Committee—some members of which ivere doubtless present at the birth of the new organisation—was sadly misunderstood and misrepresented rn Australia and New Zealand. The committee was accused of being "a ring" formed for the mutual benefit of its members, and was called quite a lot of bad names. It was represented as in its essence an association inijuical to the interests of producers. I could never discover any evidence of this, and indeed, never, after the iirst weeks of this brief existence regarded it ad anything more than a futile and quite harmless association of mutually mistrustful butter men, most of whom joined it for fear they might miss something if they held aloof.—Wellington Times' correspondent.

Schuidewiml, tho tlernian expert, that the only practical means of reducing losses of nilrogen in a manureheap is to place a layer of old, wclllottcd farmyard manure as a basis for the new manure-heap. This has a distinctly beneficial ell'cct, and always results in smaller losses of nitrogen, possibly because of the constant evolution of carbonic acid from the layer of old manure.

(lentleiiess and good treatment arc as essential to the well-being of the dairy cow as proper feed. A cow that is kept in a state of fear and apprehension, is in no condition to do her natural beat work in the way of producing high-grade milk. Cows ami dogs arc not natural companions, cither. "ily hay is down and stacked, the milk cheque for last month topped £(10, and pigs fetched £ls, the potatoc patch shows a strong growth and is free from blight, whilst the cows are keeping up the milk supply in a pleasing manner,''' a Taranaki farmer said to a reporter of the Klthain Argus. "This looks satisfactory, and you would think one was coining; but I tell yon tlic landlord receives a rental of something over .CIO a month, the milk workers have to receive their wages and food, and the farm lias to lie kept in repair, so the credit balance gets a pretty big blimp, .lust now things are good, and in contrast to ■previous seasons, no we cannot growl at our present treatment.''

A few year-; ago the Danes tried a few Jerseys i>ays a writer hi the Live •Slock 'Journal), which evidently stood the te>t to their satisfaction, lor their numbers have steadily increased, and now the latest consignment (400 -Jerrys) on record has just been shipped fn»m the island to Denmark, The animals have been selected chiefly for their dairyjjualities. Xot show profits, but big yield* of butter are sought by the ■Danes. Kor the month of December the Edendale Dairy Factory paid nut a record sum fur milk received, the amount being '.C-VTUS; and these nm some of the highest individual cheques: £l7l. £l3!, 'CI:I4 t £133, £123, £IOB, ami £IOO. These splendid figures are- to be accounted for in this way: The high prices have induced dairymen to stock to the ut'most, and the highly favorable grass sca?on. ha-> contributed to an abundant •milk yield. In some of the early-sown oaU Uuit are now well "shot" and the grain beginning to harden (sava the Clutha 'Leader; the >nuill birds are doing a great amount of damage. lu a line crop of oats at Otanomomo a. strip along the fence Line is almost white, the birds having extracted 'all the grain. ".Skinles* barley'' i» described as yielding a heavy crop this year at the Wagga experimental farm, New South Wales. '.Mr. McKcowu, the principal, reports: ■"There are 42 acres under crop, and there is a ready .sale at lis per bushel 'for seed. It is in great request by 'coastal dairymen for fodder. It has a i 'beautiful straw, even after threshing. l that if serves a double purpose." The advice which the skilled agricultural writer in the London Times gave 'to the .British farmers as to tile disposal ol their superabundance of autumn grass, etc., will apply with singular aptness to New Zealand: fanners just now. lie said: "There is more grass than can 'be consumed, ami with some the question arises how the superfluous supplies l-an be>t bo utilised. 11 cannot, of 'course, be made into hay so late in the Season, and as it is scarcely desirable to leave the soft herbage to be cut by 'frost, the best plan would be to make it into silage. Ti is well suited for this "purpose, and well-made silage would come iu very convenient iu the event of roots running short in the spring. 11 is -not -often that silage is made so late in the year, hut this is due to lack of material rather than to inapplicability of the system, and the experiment would 'be well worth trying where there j's more grass than win be consumed as ■pasturage." The gad-fly, a parasite which appears to be on the increase, has been much in evidc7iee lately (writes the Buckland correspondent of the New Zealand Herald.) This species of insect, although known to existed here, iu previous seasons, is this summer attacking the cattle in large number*. Its presence among the herds h apparent by tile animals running about in a stale of great excitement. with head-* and necks extended, and tails erects. It is noticed that the catlli- m 0.4 alVeeted bv the pest ave growing heifers ami eow.s in good condition. The fly stings and. penetrates the skin, and deposits an egg, which is hatched out by the heat of the body. A small abscess forms, which later on bursts,and the egg, now in insect form, fail to the ground, where in due course it transforms into a fly. Jf the tumour is noticed before it bursts, however, a little pressure, will remove it, ami the insect life be destroyed.