FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 90, 11 September 1914, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

» ! NORTH TARANAKI FACTORIES.'" ; ' PROPOSED AMALGAMATION ■ ; At the annual meeting of the Waitara ! Jum.l Dairy Company., the question of amalgamating North Taranaki, Tiko- ; riingi, Waitara Road, Lepperton and iiell j Jilock factories, which has been mooted , lor some time, was discussed. It was .: pointed out that if an up-to-dat» fac- : JfJ' ) v . l ' r '' t ' l '«' tl -'l at Waitara Road and i Hie other factories were converted into I creameries, butter could be manufactur- , ed and put on the market at less cxI lH'nse. It was stated that North Tara- . nala, winch would shortly b e manufac- | tiinng 500 tons annually, was favorable ■to the suggestion. Some of those prc- , sent favored the introduction of home , separation in certain districts as a«ainst ; creameries, pointing out that this would .' mean a great saving in the upkeep of , roads, and would have to he faced sooner \ ?' i-' ! '■"•- „ Aftw Ro; "« discussion—the j j feeling of the meeting favored amal«a- I , matmn-it was decided to let the mat- I tor drop at present, owing to the war • but the matter will probably be con- / sidered by each factory and discussed I at a meeting of delegates.

THE CASEIN' MARKET. f At the meeting, of the Waitara Road , iJa-ir.v Company on Tuesday, Mr. Vickerman, manager of the Xew Zealand Casein . t-0., was present. Discussing the prospects for the coining season, Mr. Vickersaid, as they all knew, the market ' for casein was in Germany, which had hitherto bought most of 'the supplies. . Although manufactured fairly largely on' the Continent, the war would probably [have upset the production, as all the :-skim-milk would be used for the troops. A'cw Zealand casein was not known on . the London market, but they were going to get it known. The company propose ed sending five or six tons there for quotations, but until they received the quotations they were moving more or ' less in the dark. Eirst-da.ts casein , would pay the same as last year -with- i out any trouble, and there would be no difficulty in making the usual advance .' on the clue date. The company had ' £7OO worth of casein on the Nerehana, [ which arrived in Loudon in the middle ■'. of July, but the draft from the German | firm had been dishonored. A second i shipment was on a German ship, which \ had not been heard of since (he outbreak . of war. There was every reason for .' t!ie belief that casein would be readily j' saleable at Home. Buyers at the other ! end would offer as liltl'c as possible, but ! tlie sellers at this end would require as '• much as possible. The natural short- , age in supplies would be -the ducidiir ) factor, and for this reason the producer / would win. Accordingly, he, asked them ( to continue until they could sec what / would happen, and the suppliers would then be consulted. He thought they , would get lGd for their butter, and fo'r ( the same reason they would get more / for their casein. / The chairman said that everyone was ;. well satisfied with the casein. He. ad- ' vised them to go on with it until they /. ascertained exactly how they stood. <<

SKIMMIXIiS. Mr (',. It. Sykes, M.P. for Mastcrton, speaking at the meeting of farmers at Carterton, said that he knew of one firm in Mastcrton which had in one week disposed of 3(i() sacks of seed wheat —a thing unprecedented in the Wairarnpa. This showed that the. farmers were alive, to the situation. "With reference to sowing wheat late in the spring, Mr. I>. Keid states that some years ago, on the Taratahi, he sowed wheat on the last day of September, and got -1j bushels t,o the acre. On strong land sown in August he. had 18 bushels to the acre, in each case without manures.

The old lady from the country and her small son were driving to town when if.huge motor bore down upon them. The horse was badly frightened, and he began to prance, whereupon the old lady leaped down ami waved wildly to the chall'eur, screaming at the her voice; Tile, chall'eur stopped the car to help get the horse past. "That's all right," said tho boy, who remained composedly in the carriage, "I can manage the horse, you just lead mother past.'' At a meeting of farmers held at Carterton. Mr. D. M'Gregor, acting chairman of the Farmers' Union, stated that good sowing wheat could be purchased for os Cd per bushel, hut he rather thought that next year would be the time when the want of wheat would bo felt keenest. If the farmers had land ready, then plough it and sow turnips and rape, and keep their flocks up in view of the time when there, would be a rush of meat from the Dominion. Next year, grow all the meat they possibly could, for it would be wanted very seriously.

Discussing the effect of the war on trade, tlio Mercantile Gazette says:— { "Tlie New Zealand fanners, and especially the wheat growers have now the chance of their lives. Every aero that ' can be spared for the growth of wheat I should be sown as early as possible, and I a larger production of other cereals such as oats, rye, and maize would pay handsomely. Potatoes also seem likely to he in good demand. Europe will want a vast amount of foodstuffs when the war 13 over, because apart from the : waste that is inevitable in war, the, ab- ; sence of the agriculturists from their : farms will stop most or all of the farm I work and therefore if even there is sufficient to carry on until the end of ! the year, there will he great scarcity in 1915, for Europe will have had no liarvest. Producing an increased amount of food stud's will he profitable, and at>ove all it would he humanitarian j work.''

I An electrolytic process how serves to : extract casein from milk, according to a French authority. This is carried out . in the following way: In the centre of a large tank of skimmed milk and heated to SOdcg. Cent, plaeo a porous vessel .containing a 00 per cent solution of caustic soda, dipping into the porous vessel an iron cathode. For the anode, a carbon plate is immersed in the tank. The current causes the casein to lie thrown down from the milk, and it is 'claimed that the new process is much more economical than those used hitherto; because the use of acids or rennet was necessary, liesides, casein thus prepared contains no foreign substances and 'is very pure. It serves, amongst others, to manufacture a galalith, - ' which is a hairy white material intended to replace celluloid, ivory, and the like. . In a case at Feilding on Wednesday, Mr. J. Gordon Elliot (formerly of Masterton) was put in the box by the defence as an expert with stock. In his , evidence he said if a man waved a whip in front of a bullock it would probably excite the animal and cause it to charge him. The Magistrate did not agree with ■him. "Cut this witness has had twenty years' experience with stock," protested Mr Graham, (who appeared, for defendant in the,case,). 'II don't care if

would probably make it charge is ridicu.ous. Whips are made to frighten an- , I imals, and they are presumed to know I -it. Otherwise, it « a s a stupendous act of folly on the part of th» human race .to invent whips." A short time the Hon. Thos, Mackenzie , ivaa in conversation with some of the i" leading seed growers of Great Britain, ; i who made enquiries regarding the possi- , bility of growing seeds in the Dominion l'for Home requirements. Mr Mackenzie j described the nature of the soils and her s .elimate, and said that undoubtedly New ''Zealand could produce excellent' seeds. .'One prominent seed merchant said that {lie had already tried seeds grown in | .Xew Zea'and, and had found "them exi' cellent. He explained' that the growing .of seeds in England—a very extensive \ not . suitable to their trade requirements as they could wish, jlf the season were late -they had to hmrry with the reaping and sorting, and preparing of the seeds, which had to be ready by December. In some instances it was impossible to carry this | out; hut if they could grow their seeds ! ( in Xew Zealand there would be ample j/time between summer in the Dominion ! and the. spring in England to enable \ tlicm to get their seeds into proper condition for their sale at Home, lie then | detailed what he contemplated doing lif he received sufficient assurance of success. He purposed sending some exipert seed growers to Xew Zealand with -.the object of instructing Xew Zcalanderu '■in the best process for securing what I .was wanted in the trade. Mr.. Mackenzie is making further investigations into I 'this matter, in the hope that he may die of some assistance in establishing a new industry in New Zealand.