FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 253, 1 December 1909, Page 1

FARM AND DAIRY.

INSTRUCTION" IX DE.S.MARK. Writes 11. T. fi. Drew in the Dominion:—Denmark docs not cull llie men who go about the country trying 10 help, and keep dairymen and creameries ! on the right track, "inspectors" and ••instructors," but ''councillors." The word | has a better sound, and implies happier relationship. There are many of these | councillors. Sonic arc directly liuder i the State, but several are engaged ty ' the co-operative association with Stale aid. Though this money is voted bv the Government, the direct payment to these men and institutions is made through the itoyal Agricultural Society, which, in Denmark, is apparently a very live and useful concern. For instance, a i creamery or dairymen's association may desire to engage an instructor or conn- I ciltor for cheese-making; the Govern- | ment will pay part of his salary. Even I slaughter-houses have a councillor to I advise them sometimes. Recently, one was engaged to advise in a difficulty that arose over selling. For the services of a State councillor, associations ibave to pay about 8s lid a day ajirti travelling expenses. A creamery rnmagcr may find, for instance, on going through the .published statistics, that he is using 20 per cent, more fuel than his neighbor. What is the cause? He sends for an expert, and learns, perhaps, that his smoke-stack Should be a few ieflt higher to alter the draught. There are special councilor, also, in matters oi firing and boilers. I deal briefly with what is a vexed question in Denmark just now; the question of the butter quotations to suppliers. Butter manufactured in Denmark is "Danish" butter. All is treated as 'one quality. You never see factory brands' or private marks. The butter quotation is made by a committee ot four persons representing the farmers, and four representing the merchants, and a chairman not interested in butter. . The average price received for the week is established by the creamery butterprice statistics as sent in to the committee in a sealed envelope; and when the committee has decided on the fluctuation cipher according to the conu.*ii7i of the market in England and the gen- ■ eral supply, then the cipher is deducted from the -previous' week's quotation, un-' leas the butter-price statistics show an advance of 1 kroner per cwt. Tne statistics are obtained, it should be explained, by a member of the creameries sending in their actual payments for the previous week. Danish butter is supposed to be Urst grade right through, and no doubt, state experts, u, is all pretty even. But dissatisfaction is rife at there not being "quality" payments, because such a system would ensure a continual improvement in tile butter. Of course one cannot deny that it is the universal even grade of the '"Danish" article—tradesmen arc not also puzzled with multitudinous factory names that keeps its popular on the market. You learn this in England. And perhaps if there were grades the name "Danish" would sutler right up tile grades. The whole question, however, is a large rnd complicated one. The creameries each have a registered number known only lo themselves and the Government, and if too much miii.-'.iii';. is discovered in the lnitter in England, the Danish Government can sheet the matter home. Contracts are formed 'with English and Scottish houses much the same as they are in the case of the Xew Zealand butter.

A supplier to the Kapuni factory is sending in 33201bs of milk daily from Oli cows—machine milked.

"Blmstoiie" writes regarding potato blight, and ridicule* the idea of the dockroot dccoetion being of any use. His own idea, based un experience, is that it is best to buy good seed of the blightresisting sorts, eschewing the inferior varieties, and spraying with Milestone. The following list gives the results nrf his experience with various sort*':—-El-dorado, a complete failure, not the size of marble-, no flavor, but sound; iloyal Kidney, a little better; Dalnicnev Beauty, extraordinary growth and crop, good flavor, fairly sound; Coronation, similar; Northern Star, excellent for two years, but then 110 good; Dakota Lied, improved, reliable; Sutton's Discovery, on trial, not a great cropper; Sutton's Supreme, excellent in every way, a most desirable kind of potato, main crop; Jersey Snowllake, improved, second early, good sort.. (These iwo hiN't-nnmed sorts and Dakota Ked are the best he knows ol at present). Up-to-date, not crop enough, but oth-u--wise good, sound potatoes, and with the imported ones lasting until new 'ones eome again. Oil these potatoes for three years he lias used no preventative except planting in a sheltered position away from the force of winds.

Efforts are being made to encourage the dairy industry in Uruguay, and satisfactory moults arc confidently anticipated. There are in ttuit country, according to official estimates, between 2,000,000 and head of cows, and if the milk of one-tenth part of those, with an average yield [ of six litres daily, were properly used, it would give basis for an exportation exceeding that of the agricultural products. To achieve that object, however, it would first be necessary to improve the breed of the cows and the conditions wider "which they are tended. At present the cattle arc mainly bred for slaughter, the fact being! overlooked that a live cow is a constant source of income—a good milch cow pays' its own value in two years, The State cannot intervene directly in this matter, but it can do so indirectly by offering facilities and inducements. A great drought in Uruguay lias lately caused much trouble, and cattle have lost seriously in condition. Still, they are free from disease, and the heavy losses which have been suffered are Que entirelv to want of food and water.

With about seventeen millions worth of exports per annum, taken directly from the *«>il. we have no agricultural colleges, but as a set-off every village hiis its i';H'"<'"ui\se (says the Dairyman) What a eunimentary! In New Zealand, too. the pveatcr number ( of men on t,lnland i* made up of settlers who have not been trained as farmers, mid this it is thai makes the necessity for col leges' of thi - *ort more urgent. Mr. Toster Eraser (in speaking on the matter) made an exception in favor of I/m----roln. l»ut v.e i've afraid that as far as the Xorth Island is concerned this college is of very little value. ]:t.s sphere of usefu!ne>* is exceedingly limited, and after a forty-seven years' residence ill New Zealand we are unable to pui our linger <ni one new truth in agriculture for which we are indebted to this' so.U -of learning. That some of the youn; men that do attend get some practical information wo are willing to admit, hut for a nation «»f farmers such as New Zeahinders must necessarily be, the amount of good done is infinitesimal. When will the powers that be wake j): to the fact that it is the man on the laud that wants the technical education, or in the race for the markets of the world we shall goon be crowded out?