CO-OPERATION AND THE PRICE OF MANURES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1889, 14 August 1884, Page 2

CO-OPERATION AND THE PRICE OF MANURES.

TO THE EDITOR. ' .Sir,— ln your issue of Saturday, I notice a letter from " Whatawhata Farmer" re prices of bonedust. To tho c fairly acquainted with this article and its various qualities notice of this effusion would be quite unnecessary, but there are, perhaps, a few farmers who are as ignorant as " Whatawhata Farmer " as to the various qualities of bonedust and their relative value. To such a little explanation may be of service. In passing, allow me to state that £9 5s to £10 were the ruling prices for very oidinary qua}?ties of bonedust in Waikato during the spiingand summer of last year. Referring to Victorian bonedust " Whatawhata Fa.jm.er" states it lias been sold by tho trade generally at £7 los to £8 per ton. This is quite possible, but as there are fully 20 manufacture! s of bonedust in Victoria making.about as'many different qualities, what guide can it b& to any one to stat^Jf that Victorian bonedust is sold at such and such a price ? What would the public think of '" Whatawhata farmer " if he said cattle are worth £3 in the Waikato, without stating age sex, or breeding ? I may state a transaction of my own to further illustrate this matter. I purchased from a firm in the trade some of the Victorian Bonemill Company's bonedust which at that time was a reliable article. On receipt of my bonedust I examined the same and found I had part of the right article and part of another i brand, not worth as much by 20s per ton, I remonstrated with the merchant that it was not the article I purchased, and that I would not take it. He said—" Send it back : It is Victorian bonedust, and I would as soon have one brand as the other." Perhaps " Whatawhata Farmer" is of the same turn of mind as the merchant. I gravely question if the co-operative association have a ton of Victorian bonedust to their name, as the association have abandoned it as a characteristic article to keep, as Victorian bonedust contains a large proportion of refuse from boiling down and meat preserving factories. Since the reduction of superphosphate from £10 to £7 10s much better results have been obtainable from a pure bone manure and superphosphate than from many of the adulterated manures called Victorian bonedust now in the market, and which would be dear at the prices quoted by "Whatawhata Farmer." To compare pure bones with Victorian bonedust, and make mis-state-ments as to seeds, &c, certainly stamps " Whatawhata Farmer" as a misrepresentator, or "a don't-know-and-thinks-he-does - know j" but for the information of shareholders who do want tat know, I believe the association c«P obtain a good Victoriau bonedust, and sell the same to shareholders at even a less price than £7 15s or £8. " Whatawhata Farmer's" misrepresentation of prices of seeds is similar to' his bonedust effusion. The association have nothing A but new season's seeds just landed from ' London. I learned that by asking for seeds, and had to wait for their landing. Seed merchauta with a good reputation at stake yearly send their old stock (if any on hand) away to auction sales before the spring sowing commences. This old seed, I am informed, is boiled down with turnips and sugar to make strawberry jam with, but I begin to suspect some of it escapes the boiling process, and is sold to customers such as " Whatawhata Farmer." Again, in previous epistles we have been told it is a mistake to open Waikato branch stores. Although out of every £10,000 that was previously put through the Cambridge buainess under Messrs Clark and Gane. at least £4,000 was for farm produce grown in the dis- %■ trict, and consumed in and about the Cambridge township,, the same would, of course, apply to Hamilton apd Te Awamutn. Now, " Whatawli&ta Farmer" evidently would bend his produce to j Auckland, and retail it back again to <• consumera, but the directors don't. If anybody knows 'anything aboat »h*t the association has already done, they know that the prices of nearly everything required by the farmers #nd consumers j ha.ye been lowered, and the ; markets for i produce at the samthtime are improvint^—l am, *c, * M Advance Co-operation.

Mr G. F. Millars, Ohaupo Saw Mills, announces that he has added a planing machine to his mill plant, and is now' prepared , to supply all sorts of dressed tfmbcr. „ , Several rate defaulter* in -the Kirikiriroa district whose addreses are unknown will find ad interesting notice in out advertisement, column* Messrs W. T. Hunter and £6:, will sell at the Cambridge Yards t on Thursday' th 6 21st inst. n»ixesi^ore>. cattle,, off turnips, vounf cattle, Ut cattlei fet sheep,. tc.^On Saturday, * he 28rd.,they l iwinrsell jtf',theif 'Cambridge Bazaar HXfSiMI hQt&af6f pl<^mis\>t^Mltrj; harness* J Aw& lit