FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1921, Page 9

FARM AND DAIRY.

TO REDUCE EXPENSES ON THE FARM. 1. To have good fences. 2. To have good seed. 3. To keep good stock. 4. To equip the farm with well-select-ed modern machinery, and to maintain it in complete efficiency for expediting farm work and to secure a minimum of cost. 5. By having the farm in a high state of fertility to produce the greatest 6. By organisation, the use of the head as well as th? hand, to observe where mistakes have been made, to take means to avoid them in future and to keep careful records and accounts. 7. To be resourceful, when you cannot do a thing one way, try it another, keep trying.

■B. To study farming as you would any other business, the greater part of that must be learned on the farm, that is inevitable, but the education of the farmer is all the more complete and thorough if it can be supplemented by the kind of training that the farm itself cannot supply, so keep yourself abreast of the times with standard books and modern publications on agriculture. TILLAGE AND PRODUCTION. Everything done to make land more tillable will increase the number of acres that may* be made productive, and as well as that the profit an acre will be larger. Well-drained land will work up earlier in spring and its cultivation will be far easier, crops on well-drained land will ripen earlier than those on wet land; it is as well ( z also to remember that well drained land permits, of good ploughing and cultivation, it is the sort of ploughing and the condition of the land when it is being worked that produces the result, good or bad, as the case may be. DAIRY 7 PROSPECTS. Tn a report read at the Annual meeting of the South Island Dairy Association the .president (Mr. Middleton) stated that the future of the dairying industry dia not seem to him to be too bright. He knew that many experts held that prices would not fall much, and that they would obtain 2s a pound for their butter-fat for four or five years to come, basing these hopes on the belief that the dairy herds of Europe were depleted and Siberia out of the market; but there were other factors to be taken into account—the virtual bankruptcy of Europe and the social unrest which would reduce the purchasing power of the people. While this was so it could not be argued that the price of any one particular food could remain far above normal. He urged the absolute necessity for restricting advances (monthly progress payments) to the lowest possible extent with which thev could carry on. He also urged on them the necessity for increased production. This did not necessarily mean that more cows should be kept. The average yield ■per coav for .New Zealand was disgracefully low and a standing reproach to all concerned. The average yield for Otago was lower than that for any other province, and it should and could be greatly increased by methods which were known to everyone.

The chairman (Mr. J. R. Thacker) said there were a few points he would hke to touch on. At the last annual meeting the executive had been instructed to take steps to co-operate with the National Dairy Association, and find some scheme of marketing their produce. A considerable amount of produce had been sent through the Cooperative Wholesale Society, and so far this method was meeting with success. If they wanted to carry on successfully they must stick to that scheme. The export of cheese and butter had considerably increased. In Otago, Canterbury, and Southland the export of butler had increased in round figures bv 86,000 boxes and cheese by Si.ooo. GENERAL.

Replying to the toast of the Dairy Industry at the Otakeho smoke concert. Mi. S. J. Bennett mentioned that vvhen he first came io Taranaki they had no roads as they knew them now; the country Avas practically all standing bush, which was sold at about 40s an acre by the Government. But the farmers then had to endure great hardships. They milked a. few cows and received at the rate of about 4d per lb butter-fat, and this had to be taken out in groceries. People were growling about hard times to-day, but they were not as bad as when the early settlers started. To-day farmers had to pay high prices for their land it was true, and they had to farm that land properly. In that respect he was pleased the Otakeho branch of the Farmers’ Union was going to be very helpful and 'beneficial to all those who belonged to it. It was now classed as one of the best branches in New Zealand. Avliich spoke A-olumesMor a place like Otakeho, and their competitions Avere a great factor in helping them to gain that position. It was no use keeping cows now unless they were bred and fed for production. The average butter-fat production at Kaupokonui was 2231bs per coav; this was too low for the class pf land they had. If that average could be increased to 300 lbs per cow it Avculd mean an increase of 93f>,0001bs of fat at Kaupokonui. He mentioned that last year his herd had averaged betAveen 300 and 4001bs. He would not be satisfied until he got over 4001bs per cow. Discussing the decline in priefr of dried milk the Dairyman says: —•‘iSried milk is quoted to-day at 3|d per pound, practically the cost of production. What this means to the Waikato is plain. It is nothing more or less than a tragedy, and it has come at the Avorst possible time. Something like half a million of money has been spent in tltis one district, and even/if dried milk falls to one penny per pound, or if the factories have to close down, the interest on the borrowed half million will have to be paid. Already we learn that one section of the suppliers have asked to be released, and a scheme for a home separator factory that will handle the milk of 2060 coavs is already on the tapis, while it is likely others Avill folloAV. We notice that one of the victim companies has issued some paid-up shares as part payment of some portion of last year’s butter-fat, but these will not pay the sharemilkers; they Avill not pay the interest on the mortgage, or the grocer’s bill. The whole blunder Avas due to the fact that there Avas nothing new in the dried milk idea. • Milk has been dried by bakers and conI fectioners for ages.” ' “Up and down the country I saA\ T i cheese everywhere, but not a sign anywhere to shoAA- that it was New Zea- ■ land.” So said a Southland farmer at ! the annual meeting of the South Island Dairy Associatioii. Avhen speakijiff of his

visit io England. But, on the other hand, a butcher told him that the tag “Prime Canterbury” Avas what sold the meat. ‘And it Avas probably Southland meat,” he added amidst laughter. The meeting was discussing the advisability of advertising New Zealand butter and cheese in England, having been told by Mr. T. C. Brash (acting-secretary of the National Dairy Association) that New Zealand was not on the map so far as the consuming public of England was concerned, and that it was all sold as “Colonial store.” Mr. Agar (Christchurch) quoted his experience to shoAV that under the existing conditions New Zealand was being unjustly blamed for bad quality butter from other dominions. A strong appeal as to the value of advertising was made by Mr. Mackrell (Southland), following which the meeting unanimously decided to sptnd £3OOO a year for the next three years in advertising their products in England. The work is to be entrusted to some London expert. “It takes a coav twenty-four hours to make milk. I can make better, cleaner, and more healthful milk in five minutes.” This is the claim of Dr. Elmer Lee, a prominent New York physician, president of the Americav Health Association, and head of the New York School of Health. Dr. Lee claims to have added half a century to his life by his researches. His method of manufacturing synthetic milk is remarkably simple. The apparatus consists chiefly of a few aluminium cups and pans and a sink. A tablespoonful each of chopped oats and ground peanuts and a little water are the materials, i These are ground and kneaded in a filter cloth, the resulting product, which is obtained in less than five minutes, being said to resemble the creamiest sample of coav’s milk. It has a signal advantage over the animal product, the inventor claims, in its immunity the danger of disease germs.

Reviewing the root crops in connection with the recent crop competitions, Mr. Deem, when speaking at the Otakeho smoke concert recently, pointed out that the average mangold crop was 48 tons over nine competitors in the Otakeho district (says the Star). This Avas not quite as good as he would like to see. There was a point In regard to cultivation and distance most suitable between the foavs. The average of the five crops in 28in. drills was 47 tons 15 cwt., whilst the three in Min. drills whs 47 tons 2 ew-t. This was slightly less than those in 281 n. drills, and when they considered that the latter Avould permit horse cultivation as against han<| work in the I4in. drills the choice appeared to be with 28in. drills. The points for average quality were, 2Sin. drills 8 2-5; 21 in. drills B*, and 14in. drills 6 2-3. The average Aveight for the two 2lin. drills A?as 49 tons 16 cwt. At Riverlea the winning crop was in 2'Bin. drills, the second in 21in„ and the third in 18in. At Manaia the three first placed were in 28in. drills. The wider cultivation gave more root growth in proportion to the tops, and in future competitions they must have the tops taken oft*. In regard to swedes the best crop Avent 47 tons 5 cwt., and the poorest 28 tons 8 cwt. The average was 38 tons IScwt., as against last year’s average of 30 tons 5 cwt. The average at Toko was 42 tons Io cwt. Pretty well all magnum bonums were soAvn this year, and there Avas not anything like the dry rot met with this year that there Avas last season. The prizes were Avon almost in the order of those Avho worked their ground fairly early; the late ploughings were well down the list. Another point to be observed was this. Those who Avon prizes all used from 8 to 12 ounces of seed to the acre. The lowest weights were found Avhere farmers had sown a pound of seed. Too much seed Avas worse than too little.

One of the speakers at the same function paid a tribute to the great interest one of the Government officials who was at one time stationed in Taranaki took in all matters that Avent for the advancement of the dairying industry. He referred to Mr. Wilson Scott, Avho at the time he referred to was one of the Government official testers. On one occasion he was at the farm in question and the owner 4 remarked that he was not altogether satisfied with the bull he was using. Mr. Scott at once said that he could recommend a young bull that should suit the herd, and he named a son of Molina’s General and Twylish Maid of All Work, by Messrs. Dean Bros. Twylish Maid had a semi-official record of nearly 6001 b of fat, and Molina’s General Avas by Noble of Oaklands, one of the most noted bulls ever bred. He bought this young bull, and he counted it one of the best day’s . work he had ever done. Maid’s Noble General had been shown eight or nine*times and only once beaten, and his progeny were turning out splendidly. He mentioned this incident to shoAV how Government officials who take a real interest in their work can and do help farmers.

BUTTER AND MARGARINE. The consumption of butter in England is undoubtedly increasing, says the Economist. Although it would “be too much to say that home production and imports from abroad have yet approached pre-war level, supplies would appear to be once more ample and the price within reasonable bounds, as prices go to-day. Imports in the part of this year have not been far behind the monthly average of pre-war times, while home production is estimated at about 75 per cent, of pre-war production. Taking last year as a Avhole, however, the net imports were only a slight improvement upon the two previous years, and only 40 per cent, of those in J 913, amounting to 1,690,914 cwt. against 4,033,358 cwt. in 1913. On the other hand, for-eign-made margarine, . chiefly Dutch, is finding its Avay again into the English market, the imports last year being approximately double those of 1919, but only a little more than half those of 1913. The home production of margarine last year Avas 6000 tons, or probably a little more, per Aveek on the average, and that of butter, 1500 tons. Add these to the imports, and Ave get a total supply of about 10,000 tons of butter and margarine per Aveek, which, it is estimated, is required and consumed weekly by the population of the British Isles; the quantities per head per year being: Butter 81b, and margarine 171 b to 181 b. Before the Avar the consumption of butter was 171 b, and of margarine BMb per head. The country has made great strides in the manufacture of margarine in recent years, but of late the factories have not been run at full capacity. The recurring competition of the foreign article and the increased supplies of butter have had to be contended with.