FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1916, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

THE QUALITY 01 OUR PRODUCE,

A NOTE OF WARNING*

In his report ju the directors the manager of the Omata Dairy Company struck the same keynote that lias been struck at various dairy meetings this .season, viz., the need for paying more attention to the quality of m'iik supplied-to factories. The season just passed, he said, hail not been an ideal one from a manager's point of view. The quality of milk and cream received by the company for the first six months of the jeason was very good, but for the remainder of the season the quality was very indifferent. In some ease? carelessness and, in most eases, indiscriminate feeding of turnips was the cause. Turnip flavor was one of the worst they had to combat, being almost unnoticeable when milk was fresh and cold, but developing very rapidly when subjected lo different conditions. From a commercial view point, he said, this defection must be remedied.

Undoubtedly that is the point. The dairy farmer should be very careful not to do anything tjiat is at'all likely to jeopardise the high reputation that New Zealand produce now holds on the British market—a reputation that took many years of labor and experiment to build up, but which can be ruined in a very few years unless extreme care is taken. We have now a splendid grading system for our butter and cheese and all factories, too, are splendidly equipped with trie most modern machinery, and the produce .'« manufactured from the raw material by experts- under most scientific methods. In fact, nothing is left undone at the manufacturing end that can ensure a first-clas? article. But all efforts to attain the-desired end are defeated unless the man who supplies' the milk is prepared to do his bit and co-operate by supplying the milk in good condition. The majority of farmers recognise this, and, adopt every precaution, installing coolers, etc., and keeping their milk through the night under conditions that are likely to ensure it 3 remaining sweet. There are, however, a few that do not take all care necessary, and one bad lot of milk will spoil the.day's make, especially in a small factory. The factory manager has to contend with the careless and dirty 'farmer, the man who thinks anything will do, an! wlio will not takithe necessary pains to clean his milking machines, his cans, or his shed and its surroundings, and whose milk, nartic.ilarV in the summer time, rapidly goes off color.

Each year finds this class of delinquent becoming smaller. The man on the receiving stage can quickly detect this milk and has only to refuse t\- accept it' once or twice to effect a dec-vied improvement. If the milk is at all doubtful cheese factory managers oan, and in many cases do, put it through the separator and churn it with the whey cream, paying out. of course, whey butter prices. Either of these methods brings the matter forcibly home to the supplier, who thus suffers financial loss (the severest way to touch him) without in any way affectiii? the pockets of supplier) who take a pride in the quality of their milk, and all would be affected if that milk was emptied into the vats withthe other milk, because the result would mean second grade cheese. This would give a better price to the careless man, who would be benefitting at the expen-:t; of his careful colleague. The butter factory manager's bane is mi'k with feed flavor. This at times is very baffling, for whereas the pasteuriser has done wonders in eleminating feed

favors, it cannot do all, and there is the great danger that a taint may de- ' elop ! n butter after bein-j kept a few wcelfs—just when it reaches the Home market, although no feed flavor could be detected by the manager in the milk nor by the grader in the butter at the port of shipment. It is known that swedes, white turnips rape, ehou lhoullier, cabbage, mangolds and many other foods, unless judiciously fed taint milk. "Judiciously fed" is the crux of the position. Many farmers believe thai judicious, as regards turnips and swedes, is best expressed by not at all, whilst others, on the other hand, leave the cows on the turnips longer than is expedient either by mistake or design, lin the latter ease believing that quantity of milk even at a lower price is to be

preferred even at the expense of the quality of the article. This was the view,expressed by a supplier to another dairy factory during a turnip feeding discussion. He stated that the probably reason why vlv.te turnips were grown in the autumn was because, owing to the high price of land and other expenses, farmers had to make as much out of the hind as possible, and white turnips offered an easy and convenient method of keeping up the yield of milk in the autumn. This was borne out by-the majority of the suppliers, because a motion that the manager be instructed not to accept milk from cows fed on white turnips was lost, despite the fact that a prominent agriculturist appealed strongly to his co-suppliers to give up turnip feeding because it was endangering the factory's reputation, and in proof thereof stating that it had already affected the demand for their butter on the local market. He himself had *ome butter this winter ,o badly tainted that he considered it would be unfit to eat by the time it reached Home if shipped. Dairymen cannot be too jealous of the reputation of our produce. Butter will ind margarine and ether substitutes every year becoming stronger, competitors in the market. While times are vood and the demand is good prices may remain high irrespective of quality, but when times are normal again butter that I : ; not up to the mark will suffer and will, incidentally go a long way to harm the '■rputation now enjoyed by New Zealand l"b;itter. The subject is a very import- | nit one, and enhances the need for ex. piriinenting in the growth of lucerne :md other fodders that will not taint '.he milk, and aho fotimproving the pastures, as weeds have a dcreterious effect ! on the flavor of the milk.

LIMESTONE DEPOSITS. A few weeks aso I noticed some interesting correspondence and. notes, writes W. H. Skinner to a contcmpoiary. in connection with -'Milestone deposits in Taranaki. The Realities of those mentit ncd are known to me, but no mention w:-s made of whai I believe to be an extensive limestone field in .he valley of the Alimoa Stream and its branches in Blofl; XV., Huiroa Survey District, about s x miles due ea-t of Midhirst railway .-iation. The Abiroa is a branch of the Makino, which i.i : ts turn is a considerill le tributary of the Waitaia, joining that river from seven to eight miles up stream from Tarata village. My reci llection is a bit hazy now, as it was in 1878 that 1 ran into these masses of li:nestone rock, lying in the stream bed, when striking across country from the eastern end of Midhirst Block—about tie junction of Stanley and Croydoa

road — to the trig station known as Umukiwi. There was the stone all right, and I have always considered that these dt posits would be of great future value to the middle Taianaki soils so lacking '.n lime, as it was comparatively quite el-.iso to the railway at Midhirst by a "cry good road. .Should any further in-' vestigation be made as to the possibility of securing a good deposit of lime suitable for agricultural purposes and within ff.irly easy distance of railway or sea carriage, I would recommend those who have the work in hand to investigate what I now say. In 1878 the whole country was a dense forest, now it is onen and easy to get about in, and would take but very ittle time to prove :'f the deposits I saw are of sufficient extent and of the quality desired to warrant going any further in the matter.

ARTIFICIAL FERTILISERS WAR EFFECTS SUPPLIES. j Among the many industries which have been affected by war conditions, and one which is very necessary for the proper and suscessful prosecution of farming, is che manufacture of artificial fertilisers. New Zealand farmers have come to rely to a very large extent on artificial means to'assist Nature in bringing forth good yields, and, in fact, there are some classes of land in the Dominion which would be well-nigh useless except for their enrichment by some of those properties and constituents which form the chief substance of fertilisers. Early in the history of the war it was pointed out very strongly that there would be a possibiliy of a .great shortage in artificial fertilisers, and it was urged that the Go vernment should seek to develop the natural resources of the country in the nature of phosphates. Some action lias been taken by the Geological Depart ment, whose officers have examined areas in New Zealand where phosphates are supposed to exist, but so far no pronounced discovery has been made. The most noteworthy instance in which the war has affected the supply of arti ficial manurial preparations is the case of potash. During pre-war days Germany had practically a world monopoly of potash, posessing large deposits, besides controlling'other sources of suprly. Potash is now unprocurable from that source, and it is stated that it is only a question of time when there will be none available—that is, until after the war, or until other deposits are discovered. Then: is a certain amount of imported potash still available in New Zealand, but it h very small. In consequence of the great shortage, the price has increased fourfold or fivefold.'

The only available source of supply of potash in New Zealand is to be found in the enormous lcelp deposits on the shores of Stewart and other islands. In America successful experiments have been nude in manufacturing potash from kelp, but the quantity available for use is as yet very small.' Potash is regarded by many as an essential to successful apple culture, and it i-s responsible for largely increasing the yields. So far as superphosphate is concerned, supplies are obtainable from England, Egypt, Australia, and the Pacific Islands, and a- large amount is manufactured in New Zealand. Owing to the high cos: of freights its export from .England lias been almost entirely prohibited, but with the quantity manufactured locally, and with that obtainable from the othei sources mentioned, there is not likely to be any shortage. Several large shipments of "Ephos" bade phosphate have been landed in New Zealand from Egypt during the last 12 months, and have given satisfactory results. Basic slag is being brought to the Dominion in small quantities cnly, but .farmers are content with, or are being compelled to use, other classes of manurial preparations. The prices of the artificial fertilisers being brought to New Zealand have all been affected by the increased freight rates. Superphosphates have advanced by about £2 per ton. and are now quoted in Auckland at £0 IS*. Basic s-lag lias been increased by from €2 to £3 per ton, and it is now quoted at £6 10s to £7 per ton. The present price of potash is from £3O to £.w per ton.

Another fertiliser—bonedust—is imported to New Zealand from Australia and Calcutta, and owing to the increased

freight charges the price has increased also by about £2 per ton. A fertiliser that was being extensively worked at White Island was a preparation consisting of. sulphate, gypsum, and potash. It gave very good results, but when the work,- were destroyed the supply was cut off. With the curtailment of the use of artificial fertilisers in the Dominion, the use of lime, of which there are extensive deposits in all parts of New Zealand, has come into greater prominence. The use of lime on-lands that are subject to acidity is very beneficial indeed, hut of course it does not take the place of manures. Little activity has as yet been shown in working lime deposits, but it is anticipated that in the more or less distant future greatei progress will be made, especially as the Government carries lime for farmers on the railways free for a distance of 100 miles.

GENERAL, Farmers round South Taranaki state that grass is very backward. Heavy bleak winds and dirty weather generally has prevented paddocks looking as well as they might at this period. One farmer who milks between ltllo and 1000, scattered over several farms in South Taranaki, received the nice cheque of £4OOO as bonus on the year's supply. » Word reaches me that Eltham paid out 'ls fid butter-fat for August, and .lolls' Is per lb butter-fat for same month. Jolls''also paid out 3d per lb butter-fat bonus and a Supplier received the acceptable cheque of £2OO in this direction. There appears to be a great demand for young stock just now. Young hMfers have risen £1 in price durng the past three weeks, and are still rising in value. A Hawkes Bay buyer was operating in thi'R district trying to secure 1000 head of mixed yearlings.