FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1916, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

STRATFORD DAIRY CO,

The following report will be presented to the shareholders at the animal meet-

Season, 1014-15: No. suppliers, 240; lbs milk received. 33.1i(i2,!)(i31bs (cream, 9080); average test, 3.94; lbs butter-fat, l,:!31.3!lfi; lbs butter, 1.r>5(J,745; overrun, 10.0; cost of manufacture, l.Ofllb.

Season. HIIS-1U: Xo. suppliers, 24.1; lbs milk received, Si).4Ci" ~'>■>'.) (cream, S!V.IS); average, test, 3.!!3; lbs butterfat, 1,551,130, producing l,!113,32!)llis buttei; over-run, 10.0; cost of manufacture, lfl.OGd.

The working account shows n balance of £20,041 14s 7<l. This wi'll bring the average price paid for butcr-fat for the year to Hi.oJd per lb. The quality of the butter has been well-maintained, scoring the highest average grade for the season for factories consigning to Moturoa. On account of the increase in the output, the cost of manufacture per lb of butter is less than last year, notwithstanding the extra depreciation provided for, increased wages and higher cost of all requisites. AGRICULTURE IX FRAXCE. Mr. Harry Wright, son of Mr. J. C. Wright, of Matapu, who is with the Expeditionary Force, writing to his parents on May 7 from "somewhere in France," says that although the weather is cold it i-i getting warmer every day. "It is quite u. treat to be among green fields again," he says, "ami brings one. in mind of Taranaki. They have some good cattle in France—all red Shorthorns, hut some are very dark about the head and neck. They don't go in for very many of them, and stable them in (ho winter. The French go in mostly for agriculture. Going through the south of France one sees very small holdings, and it is a treat for anyone interested in agriculture to see the way the land is cultivated. They must manure very heavily in order to keep the land so good year after year. Every holding has its vineyard and orchard, and those must he a picture to loo.c at in the summer time. Those left to work the land are mostly boys, old men and the womenfolk, and they seem to do it all right, too. They let no manure go to waste. All the old straw and rubbish is put in a pit, with house, stable and strawshed built around it, and the liquid manure drains out through drains and works into the laud. It doesn't look a very good plan from a health point of view, but the French farmer is as keen on (he 'beans' as some of the old Taranaki 'cockatoos.' Another thing I noticed was that truckloads of waste paper and rubbish from the towns went out into Hie country as manure, so they do not let much go to waste. The implements here seem very old-fashioned compared with those in use in Xew Zealand. The plough has a molehoan! on both sides; they go straight up and turn the plough around, and come back down again the same way."

NEWS AXD XOTF.S Orchardists in Canterbury have tliis season used timber cut from pinns insignis trees for fruit-case making, and all who have used it prefer it to white pine. Potatoes are in good demand in Canterbury just now, anil reports from that province indicate that there will be a shortage before next crop can be gathered. Canterbury fruit growers, despite the dry spring and summer, have experienced a most successful season, and one orchardist alone says that from seven acres of apple and pear trees lie picked 70(11) bushel cases of clean marketable fruits.