WHATAWHATA.

Waikato Times, Volume XL, Issue 3213, 28 January 1893, Page 2

WHATAWHATA.

The Floods.—At last the flood waters have receded, and they have left behind them a legacy of stinking mud, which may be very enriching to the land but is highly objectionable }to the senses, Whether it is owing to the time of the year, or to the rank growth of vegetation before, the late flood lias apparently killed the grass, scrub, flax, etc., which it covered, and the smell arising from this decaying stuff is very painful and must be unhealthy. I regret to say that reports of ruined crops continue to come in from every quarter, There is scarcely a settler on tlio river who has not B'iffered severely, and the Maoris may be said to have lost the whole of this season's crop. A few seed potatoes would be valuable to them just now. There is some talk of getting the matter brought under the uoticc of our philanthropists—wherever they reside—so that the Maoris may not be driven to the gum swamps for food next winter. Considering the fieavy floods, however, very little damage has been done to the roads in this district. Several small bridges have had the embankments damaged, and at the sandy cuttings deep fissnrea have been made by the running water. Messrs Maunder and Parke's Mill —Messrs Maunder and Parkcs are now hard at work getting their mill put right again. Nil desperandum is their motto, and they intend to face the mill building up and down the stream this time, so as to offer less obstruction to the water if it should rise again ; but I am afraid they will never be free from troubles of this kind until they advertise properly. Milk Testing.-Mr Farley, of Messrs Rcvnolds and Co., has been visiting their Waikato establishments and was here on Wednesday, and your correspondent and other suppliers witnessed auother test by the Babcock machine of the various m'lks sent in These cr.me out very satisfactorily, the lowest being 10 and the highest 25 per cnt. of cream, the majority running about 11 and 12 per cent. There seems to be very little doubt now left in the minds of the milk suppliers as to the reliability of this system of'testing, and the marked changes iu the qualities of the milk delivered is being attributed to the weather or the cows—certainly not the machine. There can be no doubt, also, that this strict testing of milk will be the means of more attention being paid to the butter-yielding qualities of our dairy cows. As an instance of this, Mr George Swanson has been testing the milk of each of his twenty cows, and the result has proved somewhat startling, the different cows yielding from 8 to 19 per cent, of cream, the latter being given by a half-bred Jersey, got in former years by Mr Day's old Inill. Equally injtruotive is the fact that the next highest percentage (17) was given by this cow's daughter, got by a pure Shorthorn, so that the improvement in the quality of the milk is very marked even in a quarter-bred Jersey, and such cattle, so far as beef making and heavy milking goes, would bo very little inferior to ordinary Shorthorns. The question of improving the quality of our dairy cows is engaging much attention, and Mr Swanson deserves success for the trouble he is taking over it.