BUTTER SUPPLIES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 275, 13 August 1908, Page 3

BUTTER SUPPLIES.

DWINDLINC RESERVES AND NEW- ' . 'MAKE. BUTTER THAT' IS FIVE MONTHS OLD. . The factories whioh liavo sold their,butter at tho'good prices ruling'without holding on for, further rises liavo "every likelihood, of being satisfied with their decisions. , There aro' three good Treasons why such .prices should not;again bo obtainable—the fall in. Australia,., tho, quantities ;in Now Zealand stores, and the beginning of the new. season. .Just as tho inoreased .'output of- the Australian dairy, farmers brought down the ; Commonwealth prices very suddenly and jh'eavily, so will"the Now. Zealand "buyers" expect to: sco things happen that. way in. duo course in New Zealand; they . will consequently buy from now onwards .with exceeding; caution. There are faint signs already in tho dairying districts of preparations-to open .tho season,, and at the prices riow.ruling.it is reasonable to suppose that many, factories may open a week or two earlier tlian the milk flow would,' with ordinary prices, justify. With evory day the output is increasing, and tho drain upon the' stored reserve's ■ slackening.

How Much Are We Eatihg? • The button purchased by 'Wellington people from -the grocers during the past week --decreased by one-fifth in consequence of tho high prices, i'ahd this has doubtless happened all, over tho Dominion. 'The drain on tho stores will accordingly-have been lessened to that extent - .;.'< During July, 23,147 boxes of butter : woro withdrawn from: the' cold- stores of Now Zealand, but 15,092 boxes of- that quantity were for export (vide Government report). Tho'balance —Boss boxes—therefore, represents . tho quantity which passed into Ideal consumption. I:': - • . < < Tho month of July openbd with 17,031 boxes in store,' the above basis-r-more-than enough for locabneeds "for two months. Part : ■of this quantity has already been exported, end small lots may still go away to South Africa and elsewhere/.under pressure of contracts. But it' does not seem probable that the oxpoiis'wrll arajiint to a big aggregate. Tho se£son!s Abutter is expected to c'omo -in ''shortly by" leaps ' and bounds, and dispel.-all! fears of'famine. "With that fear rapidly vanishing.; the Merchants, it may be' assumed," are unlikely to make good offers for :-new ;biittfer.:.uiitil they see themselves pretty 'ndW the etid of tho stored butter, which, in many ' instances, has cost them much money. But, as,sellers, they .will probably make a stand against a fall in prices to the" grocers.' as■ long 'as possible. 'What a tremendous 'heap : of; developments ■ this • season has.proved1 r _ Butter' at eighteenpence retail hasmot- previously been known in Wellington for'quite i seventeen years past. -.

The Virtues of'Stalo Butter. Perhaps few of the' goad Wellington people' havb'::any\ idea what stale butter they are eatirig. Y they believe they are eating butter ,tjMt;. is. five months ..old P . 'Eighteenpence fjor. thq privilege 'of eating a pound of butter-flearly half -a year old I iHow is it lt is/ kept good (we may explain f° r thp. information of the ordinary citizen) bvj frost' good old borax.. About .an eighth ' °f.a; of preservative—borax' and boric, ncid, i/alr arid half—is eaten in almost-every half-hiuiidredweigh't 'boxful - of ; New/Zealand butter:—the quantity of butter which an ordinary, man eats in about twelve months. Without/the preservative his March huttor-l no.t.- now .possess, s.uch./a nice, piquant butt ( ory flavour.: the-flavour would probably havo .vanished and given, placb to' insipidity. Although it is hoped/some day. to be able to ma tei a ?. cl ' ®xport.-'good i'buttera'wifhout. preservative, the New .'Zealand factories as a whole at the present time are not taking any risk in tho matter. In Melbourne it is illegal to sell, fdr : local use,-;butter" that co'rita'iii's a - preservative.. And this fact possibly'explains why ;the..'Australians apparently store Very little,butter for the winter. - The-absence-of preservative ■ :would ; : make storage a :risky speculation. • ; , The'jSairy Farmer's Holiday, . Recent advices appeared to show that the Melbourne markets were lately dependent almost wholly on.the "current output, of the. dairy farms.' .If that be tjie case, the /poor Australian-dairy farmer would appear to'le less in the habit of tasting tho sweets of a three months', holiday every year, as the New Zealander'tastes them. . The practice on New •• Zealand dairy farms ■ is' to arrange for the" cows'to calv'e and coirie into milk all together sat -a' particular time in the year. Consequently they go dry all together, and 'tho farmer arid-his staff can make, holiday 1 or mend-fences for the 1 rest' of tho year—three o rfour months. , Most' of the-factories also makb-it aldose season. The Danes, on the contrary, arrange for their cows to calve in' succession,' and ■ thus—even in their : severe winters—they manage, by fodder and shelter, to send an even, year-long output of butter into Britain. ' . Blit to go back' to the MaTch butter that wo are'now : eating,'/a; well-known Wellington .butler man remarked a few days ago .that this old butter is the best on the market at . tho'"present' time.; "'The. fresh butter now being made; ■ho said,-is in forior, ; because the factories at which it is maclo'aro open only on alternate days. ' Coii'sequently, the dairy farmer - has to take crearii or milk 'to the ' fa'ctory-each'' t-iiffe;'-and • inferior butter results.- •-• • '•/(. - - bo. thanks to borax-and the freezing chamber, we'aro still able .to eat good'wholesome butter made'last autiimij. ' But it.is well to"' see that it hasn't be'cil long thawed.