FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1922, Page 12

FARM AND DAIRY.

ORIGIN OF FERTILISERS, i j PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. LECTURE AT ROTARY CLUB. An address on “Fertilisers: The Origin of Some and the Manufacture of Others,” was delivered by Mr. J. Wilson before the Auckland Rotary Club on Friday. Mr. Wilson said New Zealand was independent of supplies from overseas of manufactured fertiliser, and the production of the several works in the Dominion was fully equal to the demand for some time to come. The value of primary products exported from the Dominion for the year ended June 30 w 1921, was £39,394.582, which included frozen meat, £13,933,374; wool, £B,637,515; butter, £8,447,198; and cheese £8,376,495. The export of primary products, moreover, represented 91.1 per cent, of all exports from New Zealand. In all primary products bone played an important part, directly or indirectly. Phosphates were the most essential of all plant foods, and, strange to say, all soils throughout the world were lamentably lacking in that very riecessary form of plant food. Nature, however, had pro-, vided unlimited supplies of phosphate in rich deposits to be found in the South Sea Islands of Nauru, Ocean, Makatea, and Christmas, There were other deposits as in Tunis, Algiers. Florida, and Egypt, but those of the South Sea Islands were undoubtedly the richest in the world. The visible supply at Nauru was estimated to last for 200 years. The manufacture of sulphuric acid for the purpose of converting inSoluble phosphate to a water soluble state had become within comparatively recent years an industry of considerable importance throughout the world. The superphosphate manufacturer absorbed nine-tenths of all the sulphuric acid produced. The principal sources of supply of sulphur, from which the acid was obtained, were Louisiana, Texas, Japan, and Sicily. Sulphuric acid and phosphates having been brought together, they were thoroughly mixed and treated to become superphosphates. The speaker described the various modern processes of obtaining and treating the raw materials in fertiliser manufacture, and explained the chemical and mechanical means used in the industry.

Other forms of fertiliser were mentioned, including sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, potash, and nitrate of lime. Some time ago considerable apprehension was caused by a report that the natural deposits of nitrate of soda were becoming exhausted.. This ’led scientists to evolve a means of extracting nitrogen from the atmosphere, thereby ensuring plentiful supplies of nitrogen for all time.

EMPIRE EXHIBITION. A DAIRYING DISPLAY. FUND OF £15,000 BY LEVY. Prior to the conclusion of the meeting of dairy factory delegates in connection with the proposal to bring the dairy export business under control, a few remarks were made to those present on the subject of the British Empire Exhibition held at Home in 1924. Mr. Bennett said the Government had decided that New Zealand’s space should be 40,000 square feet. They also hoped to have an additional space of two acres, which they would utilise to the best of their ability. He wished to impress upon the dairying industry the exceptional importance that was offered to them of making their produce known mote widely all over the world. They had talked about an advertising campaign in Great Britain to increase their sales of New Zealand butter and cheese, but in what wav could they get a better advertisement in the Old Country thafi by taking part in this exhibition, which would be visited by thousands of people every day for six months?

Mr. Collins, of the Department of Commerce and Industries, said that in 1910 the Dominion exported 805,450 cwt. of produce, of a value of £3,007,000, but in 1921 the amount was 2,246.788 cwt.. of a value of £19,145 174, or half the total exports of New Zealand in that year. That was a remarkable achievement. In 1920, of every lb. of butter imported into Great Britain, l-7th. of a lb. was provided by New Zealand. Of every lib. of cheese, half a lb. came from this little Dominion. That also was an achievement of which New Zealand should be proud. An allotment of £15,000 to represent the dairying industry at the British Empire Exhibition would not be too much, and a generous allotment would be more than repaid by the value of the increased trade which would come through the exhibition. The Prime Minister when in England, promised that New Zealand would do its share toward making the event a success and he (the speaker) was sure the dairying industry would hot fall behind other branches of industry in the Doininion in making New Zealand’s contribution to the exhibition a worthy one.

Mr. C. T. Brash remarked that a suggestion had been made that a small model butter and cheese factory should be set up in the exhibition with New Zealand plant and Dominion methods, demonstrating the way butter and cheese was made in the Dominion. The cost had been reckoned at about £15,000, and that would be met by a charge of Is per ton on cheese and -2s on butter. The money would not be wanted at once, and there would be nearly two years to raise the funds. He was sure the dairy producers could do something along those lines. Mr. A. Morton, chairman, said the matter would no doubt receive the attention of the executive committee, and he hoped they would bear the points in mind when they had to consider the subject.

FEMININE AGRICULTURISTS. Supported by 5,000,000 votes, the farmers’’ wives of the nation have organised their own feminine agricultural bloc, says the Springfield Republican. Officially, the bloc is known as the woman’s committee of the American Farm Bureau Federation, with headquarters at Chicago. What the Senate’s farm bloc is to the farmer’s business, this organisation plans- to be to the political, educational, social life of the farmer’s wife and daughter. While the farm bloc at Washington is. asking rural credits and better marketing conditions, the women are demanding progressive meaaur«s looking toward: Removal of bar-

riers, social and otherwise, caused by rural isolation; legislation for child welj fare, sanitation, and better rural conditions; abolition of farm drudgery by installation of labor-saving devices; and | organisation of a self-protectives body of farmers’ wives for interchange of helpful ideas.

HUMUS, THE SOIL-BUILDER. All that matter which' lias been brought into the soil by the of roots, vegetables, leaves, manure, and an> r anima] and vegetable matter and all the rotten part of the- «qil> if we may put it, is called humus, Scientists call it the organic matter and the gritty part the inorganic. a When there is plenty of humus in the soil you will find it is dirk or black in color —the same color as> the soil of those old gardens which have been cultivated for hundreds of years; and which will grow stuff’ twice the size o-f that on the new allotment.

This humus is practically 'the living part of the soil. It has great power of holding the. moisture, , like and that is why we always? urge you to put plenty of manure and decayed refuse in your soil to increase?the j&roportion of humus and help alwayA to have a large reserve of moisture in'the lend Humus will render a heavy soil more open and help to consolidate a light soil. It makes the soil warmer. It is, of course, possible to get too much, but that is scarcely likely to happen where the soil is deeply cultivated and kept sufficiently charged with lime.

Humus is one of those necessities in the soil which prove so valuable through a dry season. Try, then, to build up a large amount of humus;, and you are on the way to get bumper crops.—“ Small Holder.”

I t . SKIM MILK AND WHEY.

According to Hoard’s Dairyman, Wisconsin has a law which requires the byproducts whey and skim milk, from cheese factories and creameries, to be pasteurised before returning them to their patrons. The purpose of this; law is to protect the farmers’ live stock from becoming infected with tuberculosis or any other disease germs which may be found in these products. One of the sources of tuberculosis! is through the feeding of skim milk and whey infected with tubercular germs. It is unsafe for any dairy farmer or breeder to feed unpasteurised skim milk or whey to his live stock unless he knows, beyond reasonable doubt, that the herds supplying the creamery or cheese factory with milk are free from tuberculosis. We cannot hope to eradicate this disease (says our contemporary) from our herds; and flocks unless the source of infection is destroyed. The pasteurisation of whey and skim milk is a simple process, and no one s’hould object to it. It seems passing strange that in one community in Wisconsin the political issue will be the repeal of the Wisconsin law which requires all cheese factories and creameries to pasteurise their whey and ekim milk unless the herds supplying milk to these institutions are known to be free from tuberculosis. In such cases the law does' not apply. Statistics show that 30 per cent, of the pigs froth certain sections of Wisconsin are infected with tuberculosis. The loss incurred by these is not borne by the packer, but by the man who raises them. Our contemporary goes on to say:—“lt is shortsighted business or ignorance on the part of any daii'y farmer who objects to the creamery or cheesery pasteurising whey or skim milk unless the providing milk are free from tuberculosis:. It is for the farmers’ own protection, for the good of his pocket book, that this law was enacted. The patrons should demand that- by-products of the cheesery and creamery be pasteurised instead of raising objections as they are in some communities.. . .

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY INDUSTRY. &V. J. A. Ruddoch, Chief Dairy Commissioner, Canada, in a pamphlet gives some interesting comparisons between Canadian and New Zeeland Dairying. He says: “I am afraid we have reached the point where it must be admitted that New Zealand exports are larger than ours, end that we now have to take second place among the cheese exporting countries of the world. I believe that New Zealand is destined to be the greatest dairying country in the world, and I will give you some of the reasons why I think so. . “At the present time eheep-raising is still the largest industry, but the great rise in land values makes it difficult -for anyone to purchase good land at . prevailing prices and raise sheep profitably. There will be large areas of rough upland unsuitable for dairying which will continue to be sheep country, but the more fertile areas, are being fast converted into dairy farms. Whenever the high priced land, has to change hands it generally goes into dairying. “New Zealand will never be a great cereal country. Production of cereals is only about sufficient for home requirements. During the war they imported wheat from Canada. Over the greater part of the North Island the rainfall is so frequent and so excessive as to make even the curing of hay a difficult matter. Dairying seems to be about the only business for which large areas of the country are suitable. “The climate is favorable with no extremes of temperature. We have as cold weather in Ontario in October as they ever have at any time of the year, except at high altitudes, and the hottest weather is about like ours in June. The cows are at pasture the year round, and very little feedings is required in any part of the country; none at all in the greater part of the North Island. There is no large outlay for barns or stables. A milking shed is the extent of the buildings on most dairy farms. As a rule the whole area of the farm is in grass. The dairy farmer and his family have nothing to do but milk the cows and deliver the milk at the factory. This permits of the handling of large herds. In 1920, there were 384 factories that manufactured cheese and 133 that manufactured butter. Most of these factories have dual plants and can turn out either butter or cheese. They are for the most part organised on a co-operative basis. The creameries operate chiefly on the whole milk plan; in some cases with contributory skimming stations. The centralised creamery does not exist. Both cheese factories and creameries average very larger outputs than ours do. E f a total of 153 creameries in 1 : J,.. two had an output of over three and -a-half million pounds each, and eight others made over one million pounds of butter. There were 384 cheese factories in operation that year, of which 65 made over 300 tons, 39 made 375 tons, 9 made over 600 tons, and 1 over 1000 tons.”