OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 255, 5 January 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

| RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER I REVIEW t ' Xo. 11. (By R. J. EAMES). [All Rights Reserved.] AUCKLAND: A PROVINCE OF PROMISE. IX THE WATKATO. Wtten crossing the railway line .at Whangarata I met "the oldest inhabitant." He pointed out a spot close liamiv which, 30 years ago, was "a capital place for wild pigs." 1 asked' him if there wire any dairying thereabouts just now. "Dairying!" he answered, with surprised eyebrows, ''it is ALL dairying. It is the only thing farmers can make a living out of. ''And what do you pay for your land?" I asked. "It runs up to .■€3o an acre," he said, and added with that familiar touch of regret and lost opportunity: "And 1 could have got it all at £1 iin acre."

Mercer is the first sizeable township on the railway line which the beautiful and serviceable Waikato river touches, iAt the Churchill-Mercer dairy factory, not long since started, 'there are 12 suppliers and it is expected that in the flush of the season 4cwt. of cheese will be turned out daily. Here, also, more grass is being put down, and every year there is heavier milking. Jerseys, again, aro the predominating cross on the side of the sire. About Mercer there are a lot of swamp and flat lands and in the back country some really good territory has yet to be opened. There are big areas of swamp, the drainage of which is now being considered. If the efforts are successful the -hundreds of acres made available will give another fillip to the butter-fat business. From £8 to £l4 per acre is about the price of land, and so far th'.re is no evidence of the cultivation which is so essential if the productivity of the soil is to be largely increased. It if a promising place., because the littleswamps and river flats can be used -in the summer, saving the hill-sides for winter feeding.

HOME SEPARATION. Op;;- is differ very widely concerning the m. 's of home 'separation. Those who f:)vi>v the system declare that it is bound to come into general use. They argue, and with reason, several good points in its favor. Where me,tal is scarce, and the country is porous, as in Taranaki, th:' 'heavy wear and tear caused by milk traffic creates a'-roading problem "which nothing .but correspondingly heavy bank accounts can solve. That, say the home se.parationists, is the first great gain by the avoidance of carting the loads of" milk to the factory and the "skim" back to the farm. To carry the cream—and only one way—is a much easier and less costly proposition. There is not needed so much outlay in horses, carts and harness, and the local rates, due to the lessened road traffic, arc not nearly so high. The next consideration of value is that the skim milk is always sweet and ready for the calves. But there are potent claims for separation at the creamery and the factory. There is always the danger, it is urged, that in the busiest part of the season, when cows and crops and pigs and calves are all clamoring for attention, the separator may be neglected. And with the sc-p----aralor, as with the milking-machine, scrupulous cleanliness is essential. And, ask the advocates of creamery separation, is not the cost of the separator and the work attached to it, as heavy as the expense incidental to the haulage of the milk itself to the nearest creamery? The force of that rejoinder would depend, of course, on the element of distance. Then, again, it is contended that separation is not so simple a process as some migttt suppose. To do the work thoroughly the milk requires to be at a certain temperature, ami the closest attention must be given to the exact adjustment of the separator so as to secure the required speed. After hearing many views the writer cannot conclude that these details, mechanical or chemical, are too difficult for even the average farmer, although it seems incontrovertible that the factory employee, whose special b.usi« ness is to separate milk (the batter-fat in. the skim being subsequently tested) is less liable to err than the 'farmer, to whom the separation is only a minor part of the day's work. An instance of this kind recently came under my notice. A Waikato farmer, milking between 70 and 80 cows, had a b*-»ak-down with his separator and for a short time, was compelled to take his miik to the factory he was supplying. Comparative tests were taken on both sides of the break-down, and it was shown that this particular supplier was losing albs of butter-fat per day when separating for himself. This may have been caused by individual carelessness, but the incident has been noted as a warning. Lately the Department in charge appears to hav? been preparing the country for the acceptance of the principle of compulsory sterilisation of all by-products before feeding to pigs, with a view to preventing the spread of tuberculosis. If a regulation embodying that principle were brought into force it would necessarily have an important beai'ing on the question of home separation.

1 ngakuaJ vahia to rotoruaif" i 'could, i *;™ w like , to &\ ™™l from cows for the But right along this run, even to the 7°" d^, anfl itself, it is the same story , ot / lc cow : There are sheep, and dry Civ.™ e ' . ana crops, but the inarch of Her K a .l eb y still remains the outstanding' fos\tw re - One of the New Zealaird Dairy AlWcitf' tion's factories is at Ngarnawahia, domg 10 tons of butter, which, if expressed if) convenient figures at £IOO per ton, represents £IOOO per day. Figures like these become an obsession. The ready cash each month, resulting from co-opera-tive effort, is rapidly shifting the centre of commercial gravity from wool and, beef to butter-fat, and as the areas become smaller, farmers everywhere will tell you tliat the money is in millo Within 2y> miles of Hamilton as much as £4O per acre has been paid for land, but the compactness and favorable situation of the farm were the cause of that price being obtained. The land in this locality, unlike the pasture land of Taranaki, needs turning. Land on the market, described as two-acre-to-the-eow country, is under offer at £2O, but the average value would not be so high. The land is patchy in quality and the manuring necessities must still bo borne in mind. Around Cambridge there are many more evidences of careful farming than at Hamilton. There is a co-operative dairy factory at Cambridge and its growth will serve to illustrate the general advance of the industry. There are now 170 suppliers, of whom 12 separate for themselves. Nine years ago the output of butter was 90 tons; this year it will be 500 tons. The most popular cross is the Jersey, and it will interest suppliers in other parts of New Zealand to learn that the test for October was 3.025, individual tests ranging from 3.4 to 4.2. A considerable amount of topdressing is necessary—basic slag, superphosphates and guano being principally used. In the matter of top-dressing it is apparent that throughout the Dominion generally the services of the analysts attached to the Agricultural Department I are not availed of as extensively as they' ought to be. The purpose of manuring is to supply the constituents absent from particular soils and a larmier's first busines should be to ascertain the sort of food hia soil needs ralostv Experiipenis

that have hern brought un 'er mv notice show how easily good money may'be wasted through using the -.vi-o'iig kind of manure. Here is an instav.ee of Cambridge productivity. Tt is a o'l-acro. farm. 30 acres in r.v.-s and th.j rest cropped variously. There are 10 cows running and the milk cheque for October, at lOd per lb for butter-fat, was £32 As Cd. The land cost £24 per acre three months ago. Last year, from milk alone, the cows averaged £l3 per head. Allowing that the farm were devoted entirely to dairying, it is estimated that it would carry well 23 or 25 cows. It might be well to say. however, that in discussing this particular place with an experienced farmer, he said: "It is good, very good. But do you know that there are as good or better propositions than this in Nelson, Otago and SouthlandV" Xew Zealand, surely, is blest abundantly.

At Tirau (Oxford), where land is selling at £l3 per acre, it is claimed that two acres will carry a cow, but from 3 to 4cwt. of manure is required every year.

if the country towards Rotoura wears a poverty-stricken appearance, it must be acknowledged that even .here the science of agricultural chemistry will some day change the face of the country. Even now the more fertile patches are being worked. On the shores of Lake Rotorua turnips have been grown which have won championships, in show competition, and clovers and paspalmn grass flourish even to the basin of the quiescent Waimangu geyser itself. Already a dairy factory has been established at Rotorua, which is a rather amazing instance of the march of the Golden Cow.