FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 198, 25 September 1909, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

(THE BUTTER MARKET. RECENT TRANSACTIONS. The bargaining for butter factory outputs proceeds apace, but though a small army of agents is Hitting from one factory to another, the directorates aio very coy. One firm is baiting a few factories with a tempting proposal. It is offering a liigli advance, and this without recourse, or on a "A.W.R." basis, as it is called, on top of which it agrees to return a price equal to the'average price* named by the High Commissioner's cables. 'The advance without recourse being given by this firm is 10% d. This remarkable offer is being made by a firm which enjoys the reputation of being one of the largest speculating concerns on the London market. Consignment and speculating! A pretty combination. Another factory, Mangatoki, has'consigned at 10% d A.W.R. Many factories are being captivated with the A.W.R. and guarantee of an average of the High Commissioner';! cables. Genuine consignment firms cannot, however, offer such terms. Those factories which enter into such contracts -may come out all right, but it : s expecting au agent to play the role of philanthropist, and there is little philanthropy about the (Toolcy-slreet operator.

Factories are eagerly accepting tlv: good prices being offered for Septcmo'T and October outputs. Mangatoki, Midhirst, Moa Farmers, an I Elthnm have sold their September make at ll'/id. It is contended that certain firms are giving these prices merely to spoil business for their rivals. One 'or two small concerns have sold the whole season's output at 10% d to 10% d, but the butter is probably required for the local trade. Several of the best factories have been offered, but have refused, the latter price. Generally the factories are marking lime. Certainly in selling September and October outputs they arc parting with butter which, arriving before Christmas should make the best price of the season, so that if compelled to ship the balance of the output on consignment tie average for the season will suffer. It will probably prove in the end that a legitimate consignment business would have been much moro satisfactory.—New Zealand Times.

AUCKLAND BUTTER OUTPUT. BRINGING THE BUYERS TO REASON Last season Auckland exported 4293 tons of butter, to say nothing of the big quantities that went into the local or southern markets, and it is confidently expected that this season (given average climatic conditions) will 6ce a 20 per cent, increase on that total. A remarkably large number of fanners art, dairying this season for the first time, and some of them are gohg in on fairly big lines, and laying out money in the business. This, of course, will prove a hcaltly stimulus to the industry, because it will result in a boiler standard of dairy herds. From all parts of the country come the most favorable rtporls regarding the opening of the season, and in some of the oldersettled districts there are indications of the_ breeding of better stock. Naturally the butter • buyer was abroad bright «nd early to secure contracts, and his first offers to factories made it apparent that buyers were seeking to recoup themselves for losses on the latter part of last season. The factory companies, however, have learned a good den] in the past four years, and were not at all disposed lo chase the buyer with contracts for the season's output, not one sale being effected at the prices first offered. The buvc-.s started at lOd, then rose to lt)'/,d", u 10'/id, lo 10'/ 2 d, lo 10% d, lo 10-y,d, and up lo the present only a few ~.-\|.s ha.e been effected. These have been a I from lO'/ad to 10y,d.

The lirst offers having boo a refused, the factories generally decided to consign the butter on their own account, and comparatively few contracts have been signed. Last season the opening offers were at 10'/,d. and the price was lorced up lo Il'/,d, a.t which figuie many factories closed with the offers.

There is no reason why the highest grade of lniltir made in the world cau:ot be uroilueeil from cream separated on the farm, if (he farmer observes lire ordinary precaution of low temperatures and sanitary conditions in carine for his cream. b

Integrity requires that the milE or cream .received each day shall bo accurately weighed on accurate scales, ind 'he weights carefully and accurately re "'H'd il. Xo wonder so many farm.:!' •mtrc.ns have lost faith in their crca.n-

Tv managers in the past. Prcpnrenty is what .makes an oMisliiblisiied i'liiil of more value than a :i™ly-eslahlislr,.,| breed, other thin«.s opmi- equal. We see this in the case of ■arm foiv 1 ., more than elsewhere, for tlireason lh.it we havi' several breeds of poultrv thai have been recently cslao-•'-he.l am! arc able lo compare with other poultry breeds that have be-.m pureorail for centuries.

Amnysi- (if tin. lucerne plant shows i«ai ii_r,uiks anion;, the best animal food-lulls. When the plant was coming into bloom the analysis showed that it contained the following percentages:~ Protcin, 18.47; fat, 1.14; carbohydrate 64.04; water, 4.4; ash, 11.05. "it mav be stated tlmt the value of the feedin"> stud is measured by the quantity of protem, and thai an increase in carbohydrates generally indicates a dcten. oration in its feeding quality. There is n0 factor for tuc appreciation of land values (says the West Australian Minister for Agriculture) so magical as the dairy cow. Witness the land values of dairy country in New Zealand anil Victoria. There land has reached as high as £IOO per acre. Before the advent of the cow the same land was worth about £l. And all this has happened i n ten or fifteen years There are hundreds of thousands of acres of dairy | a nd available in Western Australia to-day. But a short ti'.ne /fcilanders and Victorians, who now lealisc that we have dairy land of the best, and a home market of the very best. J Clay possesses the property of fixing m the soil the nitrogenous and niineial mattes by which its fertility is determined. Tins is only a transitory fixation, for the clay readily yields the properties it has acquired to nourish vegetation. A cow renches her maximum yield of milk from six to eight weeks after cal,-. ing. If slip remains in milk three hundred days of the year she has (lone her 'inly well. As the yield of milk decreases Ihe ncrccnlnge of solids in the mil!-: gradually increases. A New Zealand farmer considers that one gallon „f skim-milk or bi.tter-niilk and three pounds of boiled potatoes or barley meal make an excellent dairy ration for pig, i„ process of fattening. Splendid remits faa BC obtained from thus diet.