LECTURE ON DAIRY FACTORIES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1049, 30 May 1882, Page 4

LECTURE ON DAIRY FACTORIES.

Mr W. Bowron delivered a lecture on dairy factories iu the. Volunteer Hall last Wednesday evening. The lecture wa.* delivered under the auspices of the Temuka Butter, Cheese and Bacon-curing Factory Co., and Mr James Guild, Chairman of tho Company, occupied the chair. There were not many present at the be ginning, but shortly afterwards tho attendance was fair. Tho Chairman on introducing the lecturer said he was sorry the attendance, was so small, but h-3 understood there were other meetings on. There was an idea gone abroad that tho Factory would never start. He could assure them it would. There was only one thing to prevent it, and that was the comet. Unless the comet, as they had been told it would, came btek and destroyed everything, it would start. That was the onl}' thing that could prevent it from starting. (Applause.) There was not a man in New Zealand who had so much experienc ■ in this matter as Mr Bowron, and they were going to hear a loot urn from him that evening. He was so try so few were present as ther*were more shares to bo sold. The Fao tory here would be a success, but there were various degrees of success, and if they could get a few more shares sold it would be uh overflowing success. They knew very well that to start anything without sufficient capital would hamper it, and this was tho way with tho Factory, if more shares were taken up they could get on better. He would now introduce Mr Bowron to them. Mr Bowron said he was sorry to see there were no ladies present, as he was always glad to see them. He was very pleased to meet all present, and glad to communicate to them any intelligence he might possess. Tom Hood had said tnat old men had nothing to do but to die, but a greater man than Tom Hood said that age should speak. He hid been now 73 years in this world and ought to have collected a little wisdom iu all that time, and if he had any it would afford him greater pleasure to bequeath it to the people than to take it down to the dust with him. At a lecture he had not since delivered lie had heard such remark as/ Who is he V ‘ Ah, he is making a fine thing QUt Qf 'V He could assure them ho was not. that an idea had obtained a hold in New "Laalancl tnat persons must be paid for everything they did, and that whether the lecture was wisdom or foolishness there was money attached to it. Ho could set their minds at rest about that. Ho had been a farmei in England, owning as much as 1000 acres, and had been connected with a London business. He had boon 44 years connected with the cheese ’trade in London, Now they knew who and what he was. During that time he had gained some experience, and that he would impart to them that night. It appeared to him that the object of the meeting was to ascertain the best way to acquire wealth. Ha had seen the district, and could say that untold wealth could be got from it. He saw in the lanes, and highways, and byo-ways the roads to pyramids of gold, and tho question was the best way of getting at it. He believed the cow to be the best way of acquiring wealth. They might fatten thair bullocks, and have their sheep, but he would take the cow before anything else. The next question was, Which was the best cows to get 1 Some people preferred the Jersey and Guernsey cows; they gave the richest milk, but when they were done they were not ranch good tor anything else. They were the worst beef in the market. Tiien there were the Ayrshires, a pretty cow aud a good milker, but when fattened her beef sold at a low price. Ho had experience of all kinds of cows, but had never found any to answer his purpose as well as the shorthorn cow. She was a good milker, and good beef, and her calf could be sold at a high price. He noticed that that was the class of cow that was chiefly in this district. The cows he had seen in this district were equal, if not superior, t# any he had in England ; they were much larger owing to the abundance of feed, and no country on earth could produce better if proper care had been taken of them. They had everything in their favor in this district and it remained with themselves to take advantage of it or not. The next question waa whether choose could not be made at home without going to a f actory at all with the milk. Of course it could, but the factory system was superior. The supei iority lay in this. If 20 farmers had 500 cows between them, and were making cheese each of them would have to get a plant, ' and keep a man who understood thoroughly how to make cheese, in 1 h e ( Factory one man with two assistants would do the work of these 20 men ; the cheese would be of the same size color aud quality. This would put £5 additional on every ton of cheese iu tho market. The next point was the quality of the milk. If it wore iu the slightest degree tainted it would spoil the cheese. One thimble full of milk left in the pail at night and mixed with tho next morning’s milk would destroy the whole lot. i It was, therefore, absolutely necessary that the greatest cleanliness should bo observed. Every vessel should he thoroughly cleaned. Tho next was the head piece that managed the ractory. Without a man who thoroughly understood making cheese, and on whom reliance could be placed, it would not be a success. The next waa what will a cow be able to produce in tho year. lie had gone through t da carefully at Home on his own aS2(§ h £ cows nertr failed to make

j him £2O p ■; i\?w per annum. That wa j taking them iogether with the pigs, fo ithe pigs must ha kept iu connection wit! the cov.-s, one could not he well workei without the other. Things were differoir in this country. In England they coulc make cheese for only si? months of the year, ht?re they could make it for nino months of the ysar, and thus they hat; the advantage. For rhe most of six months of the year England was covered with frost and snow ; here grass grew for nme months of tho year. They had fine land and good weather hero, and there was not a better country on the face of tha earth for making cheese. As to how much milk would ones cow yie'd, his cow averaged two gallons a day for six months of the year, and he would maintain that a cow in this country would average two gallons a day. at the lowest calculation, for nine months of (ho year. A cow giving two gallons a day for nine months would give 558 gallons in nin® months, which would give scwt. of cheese. Supposing there were 500 of these cows supplying milk to a factory, they would produce 125 tons of cheese, which at 6§d per lb, or £6O per ton. would represent £7500, or an>veraga of £ls per cow. With tho whey the factory could fatten 1000 pigs, as two pigs were always fattened by the milk of one cow, and the 1000 pigs would give at the lowest calculation £SOO, which, if added to £7500, would give £BOOO as (ho gross profit of the 600 cows. Supposing the factory gave tho farmer 3sd per gallon for the milk, it would in this way pay £4OOO to the owners of the cows, or £8 3s 4d per cow, and there would be £4OOO left to pay expenses and dividend. The pigs would do more than pay the expenses of working the factory. Ha had received a letter that day in which it was stated that bacon was from Is to Is 4d in the London, market. He had gone through tho most of the world—America, Sweden. France and Germany—and ho had no hesitation in saying this was the finest country on the face of the earth for pigs. The breed of pigs which were now >n vogue had very little hair on them, and they could not stand tho cold seas Mia.: they were subject to many diseases, and they died. They were dying now in England. The case was different hero. The climate was beautiful, and there was not in the world a country so well adapted for rearing and fattening pigsHe hoped they would open their eyes to this fact, aud if they did he felt sure that pigs would yet bo tho source of untold wealth to them. They need not calculate tho distance they were away from London! in fact, distance was now annihilated, they 3ould send produce Home in 45 days. It would be a grand day for New Zealand when they turned their attention to bacon-curing, for they could do it, as in Wiltshire, in the hottest day in the year. As regards making cheese, there were lifficulties to contend against. Thirty fears ago he had a retail shop, is well as his wholesale warelouses, in London. It waa about :hat time that cheese began to come for ;he first time from America, and ho knew LOO tons to have been sold for manure. This did not discourage the Americans ; ;hey still persevered, and went on improving, till at Inst they turned out very good cheese. They had 2000 factories in America, and the quantity of cheese they sent every year to England was enormous. He now came to the class of cheese which It was avisable to make. There was the Jloucesfer, the Chpshiro, the Cheddar, uid the American cheese, Of all these ie preferred tho Cheddar cheese, although ic understood it was the intention to nako cheese on the American principle in he factory here. Was he right in saying hat they had fixed on tho American ? The Chairman : Not quite. Mr Bowron : I do not know whether J. im right in discussing the subject ? Tho Chairman : Yes, by all means. Mr Bowron continued to say that they sould see ho was in tavor of tha Cheddar ;heese, and the reason was because it vould bring 2d per lb more than tho imorican m the London market. They iad adopted the Aniencan principle at 3dendale, and it would do right enough 'or home consumption, but if they wished ;o go to the London market with their iheesp ho would'.advise them to adopt tho riheddar. It would be a good plan to go n for both, and test which waa tho best, for use in the Colony he would rccomiieml the American, for sending to the London market ho would reemnmond the Jhed.dar. if they went to the Loudon narket with American cheese they would iavo the product of 2000 factories to ,-ompete with, while with the Cheddar system they would have only Somersetihire to compete with, as that was the anly place where it was made. He knew low to make both as well as any man, un] when the factory here began operations ho would be glad (o come to give my assistance ho could. He would then make American and Cheddar cheese for then; —they could let them ripen side by side and test which was the best. (Applause.) He would stake his reputation on the Cheddar. He apprehended that the cheese winch paid best was tho one they wanted, and as the Cheddar brought about 2d per lb more than the American, he recommended it. They had the finest district in the world for agricultural purposes, and it would be their own fault if they did not take advantage of it. Ho had Dcrer smq— and ha had travelled a

s good Hea' —a town in tlie heart of a good r agricultural district but went ah sad, i It was bound to go ahead, and he would 1 tell the shopkeepers now that they were } as deeply interested in this matter as the farmers, for anything that would advance ■ the farmer would advance them He had been told in Ashburton that the shopkeepers were now getting in money which had been due to them for two years, owing to the farmers getting ready cash for the milk sold to the factory. He had heard that there were 200 or 300 shires to be taken up yet in the factory. Ho would remind them that it was a patriotic movement, and that it would bring millions of pounds to the Colony. The London market could not be supplied by America any longer. The population ot that country was increasing enormously, and consuming its products. The people of New Zealand could step in and fill the place of America on the London market, When in London recently a merchant wanted him to get up a Company to start a tinned meat trade. He told him to buy the plant in America, and he (the merchant) would find the money (£30,000) if necessary. He had declined the offer because he had no desire to enter business again, but it showed that there was room on the English market for the produce they could obtain from the colony. This district was superior to any he knew, and if they studied their own interests they would take advantage of it, (Applause.) In reply to questions, Mr Bowron then described the difference between the American and the Cheddar system of making cheese. Both were the same up to a certain point. The Americans put the curd in Hot, and in the Cheddar system it was put in cold. He would say they were wrong, and he would prove it. When the heat remained in the cheese it fermented and swelled up at the top, and in course of time would get rank. The Cheddar cheese, no matter what heat it was exposed to would not rise, but would always remain the same. As regards the difference in the labor, a man would do it in half an hour a day, with the assistance of steam. In reply to Mr S mdo, Mr Bowron said he had never guaranteed that 8d per lb cou'id ’iys got for cheese in the London market. The price ww regulated by supply and demand. Still, the wholesale price of Cheddar cheese might bo pul down at 8d per lb, In reply to Mr Twomey, Mr Bowron said it was difficult to say what the Factory could give for milk when cheese could be sold at 8d per lb. In one pi »ce in America the factory made cheese of the milk for a gallon. The cheese was sold, ami the money divided among the farmers in proportion to th e number of gallons each had contributed In another place the milk was regulated by the prices obtained at < the three principal markets of the year would be averaged, and the owner of the factory would pay the farmer according to that after deducting Li per lb for converting tha milk into cheese, He had visited another factory where skimmed milk was made into cheese. The butler was taken off first, 41bs of butter being taken off every 100 gallons of milk, and beef fat was put with the milk instead. This made excellent cheese. When this was made known in England it created great alarm, an a noble lord brought in a bill to compel every one who sold American cheese to write in legible charac era over his door, words to that effect so that no one could be deceived. Ho had found it excellent cheese, and the manufacturer made a profit of £7 10s a week out of it. Mr Guild said the Cheddar and American systems were the sirae. The American was an improvement upon the Cheddar, and there was no difference between them. In reply to questions, Mr Bowron said ho did not think it would do for the Factory to send a cart around to collect the milk. Supposing a farmer was three miles distance from the factory, time would be lost in going to it in the morning, and all the milk should be in about seven or eight o’clock in the morning. The way was for every one to milk hia own cows, and.take the milk to the Factory, Mr Sandu pointed out that a few farmers might club together, and one of them could take the milk of the whole. Mr Bowron agreed that this would be the best system. Mr K, F. Gray moved a vote of thanks to Mr Bowron for the excellent lecture he had given them. He felt sure that if the} were to bo forever reading books they could not glean half so much information from them as they had got from Mr Bowron that evening, The thanks of farmors and of all present were duo to him for his excellent lecture. (Applause ) He would, therefore, move a vole of tlranks to him. Mr John llayhuist, senior, seconded the motion, and it was carried by acclamation. Mr Bowron in responding said that it afforded him great pleasure to do anything for advancing agriculture. The future historian of the colony would make honorable mention of those who wero taking steps now to advance such things. Ho again urged them to go heartily to work, as they iiad one of the finest districts in the world. A vote of thanks to the Chairman ter* urinated the proceedings.