FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 143, 14 July 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

EXPERIMENT STATIONS. RECOGNITION OF THEIR VALUE. In almost every foreign exchange which comes to hand some reference is made to increasing activity in experimental station work, and to the need of scientific investigation in regard to local needs' of agriculture. The latest news in regard to experiment station activity comes from Canada. The seven excellent stations in that country are proving quite inadequate, and the central government has announced its intention to establish more. One nr two provincial governments have offered to present experiment farms to the Dominion Government, and these oilers will be accepted. Speaking recently of experiment station work, the Minister for Agriculture of Canada, declared that the money spent on the seven stations already in their being had ibeen given back to the farmer twenty times over. WATER-LOGGING. DISQUIETING INFORMATION. Private advices by the English mail state that a meeting of the London Chamlber of Commerce was held on 13th May, at which the matter of excessive moisture in New Zealand and Australian butter was dealt with. Serious complaints were made by some members of the chamber who belonged to the provision trade. They stated that the trouble occurred more especially, with New Zealand butter, which, they alleged, showed moisture to the extent of 1!) to 20 per cent,, a great increase as compared with the butter marketed in previous years. They also pointed out that this was doing great harm to the sale of colonial butter. It is regrettable (says the Australasian) that a charge of this kind should .be made in connection with a valuable export trade, and it is to be hoped that the matter will be fully investigated. Writing of the manner in ' !:, matter .was dealt .with, at th L ton .dairy conference, "Drover, t .ic "Wjitness," who has an intimate acquaintance with the industry, says:— ''Mr. Foreman, chairman of the National Dairy Association, tried to make light of this moisture-in-tatter question. It may be a policy conducing to popularity to gloss over or make little of faults found in our exported produce, but it is bad policy. There is' no question that the eflorts of dairy factories to incorporate more moisture in our butter has done much harm. The facts are too well known to ibe hidden even were it wise to do so. The Minister Of Agriculture, speaking at Palmcrston North, said that butter had gone Home ''from New Zealand containing 25 per cent of moisture, but the most reliable testimony is that of Mr. diaries Mackie. who has just returned from London, where for two years be has been paid by the North Island factories, to watch their interests and report to them. \ hat Mr. Mackie had to say should bo studied by all interested. Of course all New Zealand butter factories do not water-log their butter, but evidently there is a sufficient number of them to ruin our reputation unless thev are stopped."-

It has been decided to erect a cheese! factory at the Douglas Estate, Clydevale (says the Mataura Ensign). At a meeting of farmers interested, Mr Mackrell, the representative for Messrs. .). U. MacEwan and Co., stated that his . company was prepared to erect an up-' to-date two-vat cheese factory, fitted with the latest automatic curd agitators, and completed in running order and with a Government certificate, for the sum of £OB9. The prospect is viewed with much enthusiasm in the district. Settlers on the Otekaike Government settlement have made a vast difference in their holdings (reports the Timaru t™} I th ! ou '° h the improvements which they have put-in. A big area of the settlement is under wheat this year that gown in the autumn now lookin" larticularly well. The fine, open winter has kept the sheep in good condition; there is plenty of feed for the winter months, ~„d thc prospects no . n . ahead or the settlers have never been brighter It is a mistaken policy to attempt to make young pigs convert a large quantity of coarse and innutritious food into suflicient sustenance to keep the pi» ho .Id rather be to so feed the pig from t» birth that it :hecomes fit for slaughter ,n the quickest possible time, as not onlyVil the cost be Jess, but the meat will realise a higher price on th( , trn,,i i i SVS i ,°" l s . lm l''- v monns a little roible when the pig is-young, hut .unfortunately, this taking of special pains lias not generally descended to the feeding of pigs. u The remarkable thing about the big display of butter at the Dunedin Winter • how was (states an exchange) that all he winning exhibits were made from pasteurised cream. TliSt the quality was exceptional- is undoubted, as we have the word „f the Dairy Coraniis.onerfor, that it was the finest display of but er he has seen in Dunedin. The principle of pasteurised clean, fo huttei-making has certainly come to "'aj. Jlv ,t s m( ,. ins x Zo.ilhml makers will be able to occupy a strong"' position than ever on the' 110,,,,, mar--1'" ! s ' l»'Oviding they do not connue to imperil .tueir reputation bv water-loggmg. •They tell wonderful stories on the New South Wales north coast as to what .butter has done. A man, for ev £nplc, who worked on the roads for 20s or 3l)s a week decided to go in for la nig. He went first as a farm 1. boier so as to pick up. a . knowledge «i the 'business; then he took up a farm on shares, and now he is earning £4O ' month The huge factory at Byron fay, wild to he one of the largest in Ihe «■„,■!«-the distinction of .being actually the largest is claimed for one somewhere m New Zealand-distributes about .f.i(l.000 a .month to its suppliers, this simple fad is sufficient to demonstrate what the daily cow .means in the fcheine of things just now.-Australian Meat Review.