THE DAIRY SCHOOL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 148, 17 March 1908, Page 6

THE DAIRY SCHOOL.

— 4 — /. The selection of Palmerston North as the site for the Dairy School brings to an end the most exciting phase of this important question. The question ,is important not solely because of the good Work the School may do, but because it marks a new departure in the career .of a great industry. Judged from what has been said by Ministers • and; others concerning this .school, it is destined to. become a centre of research for budding scientists rather than a training ground, for. .the young, producers. It .is not to teach thejboys how .best to. obtain the fullest pails of richest milk from their fathers' herds, but rather to enable them to follow, step' by, step, in the light .of science and .the iuicrospope, the life history of the numerous organisms that invade the milk-can, and make or mar the quality of our butter, and cheese; to practise chemistry,. and apply it to the several arts of the factory, arid generally to make them expert factory managers., All this is excellent, so far as it goes, and Palmerston North may be relied, on to. appreciate and Jielp forward, as far as town influ'eiices can, its work. There are virgin fields for original researches in New Zealand dairy bacteriology, and there may yet be evolved from the Palmerston School a new.Rutherford: . Palmerston North jis well , situated for.,the. purposes'.of th?i School. It. is an accessible contre oira busy .farming .community.. It, possesses air' ample choice of accommodation for the pupils. ' Its winter show is the Mecca of the, dairy fanners of most ,of the North Island; , and .the. sehool, so closely ~situated to the famous show ground, will secure the., maximum ;measure .of wholesome; intelligent, interest; from the, farmers themselves.. But the Dairy' School apparently-will leave untouched - much oi what; is imperfect in the work, of; butter-fat production. It is at the production end, tliat extensive and some of the most difficult work remains still to be effected. The recognised high efficiency of the' work of the' New Zealand managers of dairy factories' -miiy leave,the Pairy School to be 'always-' somewhat academic,' a sort, of. butter and cheese-makers' univer-. sity, Tho scheme which, will carry, science" and system into the , very byres of the great dairy-farming corn-' inunities; and give the .country that purity and quality of raw material fo)' which the communities are crying in vain, has yet to be devised.- How far the Dairy.School can.be used in this direction is not, yet ~ipade„..,clenr-L - we have hope that' it will be utilised a great deaL more than has up to the present been'indicated. ',-