FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 265, 16 December 1909, Page 1

FARM AND DAIRY.

BUTTKIt-MAKIXG OX TflE FARM. . A very useful bulletin is thai iu*t issued from the Dairying Division. ' It was wntteu by Mr. W . E. Uwilliin, and is entitled "Bntter-uiakiim on die farm.' Though the Dairying Division is known to be opposed tu tne honiemaking of butter where it can be avoided, it is doing good service to those who cannot command the advanletiuT ° £ * faCt ° ly by '*"'" g th ' 3 bul ' As to flavor and keeping quality, Mr liwillim points out that bad 'flavor comes from the ieetling of ,-ane lar . nips, sometimes rank clover, musty ;J----age, watercress, aromatic weeds like eapeweed, dandelion, penny royal, etc anu also bad water. After emphasising the need of good health in the cows, and scrupulous care and cleanliness on the part of the men, Mr. Gwiliini mentions these four essentials in the equipment:— | (a) A good place to make butter in; f (b) An abundant supply of pure 'old I •water;

e . G . ood fitter-making appliances; (a) And conveniences for cleaning appliances. ■ ' The principal Butter-making appliances wanted are:-Mcan s fo? obtaining cream from the milk; means for cooling and ripening cream; butter churn; butter-worker; thermometer, ihei sett.ug of milk for skimming in shallow dishes is fast becoming oW lete, and the modern separator has many great advantages including less loss of time and cream. Detailed r»ference is made to the various appliances, and to their use and to the processes of cooling; the regulation of temperature, the salting, the packing, and the exporting. The average composition of high-grade butter, says Mr Gwilim, should be fat 85 per cent.moisture, 12.50 to 13 per cent.; and curd, salt and ash, 2.50 to 3 per cent. Ihe cost of applianaces required in a butter dairy of 40 cows is given in two alternative tables, whose totals are £S6 ■l4s and £69 14s (with separator). The cost of building a dairy'is set down at xoo.

The dairy season in South Taranaki up to the present has been particularly good. In the curing-room of the Ha- 1 wera Dairy Company just now there are stored no fewer than 3000 801b cheese, representing a value of about £6OOO. About 170 cheese are r oeinT received daily from the company's °fac'orifß. whi'e 1200 cases are being railed to Palea fortnightly for export.—Stair. It is proposed to establish a dairy herds competition in the Plains district, towards which Dr. Noonan, of Manaia, has offered five guineas. The members of the Waimate West County Council talked the matter over the ;bther day at the conclusion of their 'monthly meeting, and it was suggested to the president of the Horticultural Society (Mr. Bridge) that such a competition be helu under the Society's an--pices. Some of the speakers thought that further prize-money should 'i e ■"'i. and eventually a committee was Appointed to further the project, another meeting to be held this week. The Buenos Ay res correspondent of the Ixmdon Times, in a recent letter, said: "Apart from wheat, maize \ud rattle. Argentina, sent to flreat Britiin in IDOB nearly as much frozen mutton as New Zealand and two and a-h'ilf times more than Australia. In vhmv nf 'he danger of the gradual absorption by the American trusts of the Argentine •;ffrigrrntin2 industry, British capital"'>ti «hould strengthen the hands of the independent refrigerating companies f s fhe Olovcrnmcnt did in the case of the • Ounard line against the shipping trust.' Writes a South Taranaki corrospomli ?nt to the Wellington Time*:—"An appropriate acquisition to this district, . and I venture to say a 'business novelty,

'''■ ■■"! cxnert in Manaia T-the testing of individual cows and herds for dairymen. This is a step in die right direction, and in thi> course if time businesses of a like kind will be general. What up-to-date dairy faruv.r would begrudge the small charge of M or 3d per cow to hnd out if she is worth keeping or not!" '1 he maize crops in the surrounding country district about Gisborne are saH to be suffering somewhat severely from the ravages of slugs and minahs. Pheasants are also making their presence felt in the gardens, and a settler from \aerengn-a-hika told a Times report ir that he had lost four rows of peas in two mornings by the unwelcome attention of those birds.

Mr. John lirigg, of Longbcach, says he has never seen a more luxuriant growth of white clover as that which prevails in tlvc country this year, and as !lie. feed is now hard, stock, more particularly lamlw, are thriving remarkably well. Rust need not trouble the grain growers. They are all, he told an Ashburton Guardian reporter, going to have r. thoroughly good season. It is rather an uuusual stale of nf;airs~ at this time in the season (says the Christehurch Press) fo have on'iv two of the many freezing works in the Scutji isianci doing tiiyiness, but that is tlie case at present. Work has teen comparatively slack, and since the opaning. on November 15th, the works at Belfast and IsKngtcn have only put through about 12,000 carcases between them. A draft of 104 .bullocks from Pihaina district, recently taken to the Waitara, fro King works, averaged 8511bs (ho; weight). Tl?e present season has been a good one for fattening as well as for dairying purpose-.