DAIRY PRODUCE OUTLOOK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 329, 16 October 1908, Page 5

DAIRY PRODUCE OUTLOOK.

LARGE TRADE DOING AT HOME. "Tho Journa.l of the Board of Agricul.. hire" of Britain, in the August issue, gives the following view of tho markets: — "Cheese.—Canadian cheese has shown a smart advance during the month (July), and present prices, aro considerably above tho normal. For the first ten days the spot demand was very quiet, and merchants were afraid to import at the prices then asked by" Canadian' shippers. By the third week tho demand had much improved, and at the end of the month importers paid 3s. to 4s. advanco. The make of Canadian is generally reported to be about 10 per cent, less than last year, chiefly on account of the oxtremoly dry weather in the principal cheese-making districts during Juno and July. Tho weather has since improved, but it is feared that it is too late to replace any of tho shrinkage. The quality is generally good, but _ much immature cheese is reaching this side, the Canadian farmer being doubtloss eager to put his goods on the "market at such remunerative prices, There is a large mo.ke of cheese in progress in this country, especially in the Cheshire and Lancashiro districts and in Scotland, but in . some parts of the South and West of England there is possibly .less on account of the dry weather, and also because farmers have been making such good prices for their milk for drinking purposes. The demsnd from London alono is unusually large. Prices for English cheese ranged from 2s. to 4s. below, and Canadian Is. to 3s. abovo those current last year.

. "Butter.—As was anticipated, prices of all kinds continued to advance, and showed during the month a. premium of from 12s. to 18s. per cwt. over July, 1907. On account of these abnormally high prices buyers operated' only from hand to mouth. The arrivals from Siberia have been,vverty t large, over 25,500 cwt. casks being delivered in London in one week. Canada has shipped 46,552 packages between May 1 and July 18, as against 15,369 for the same period in 1907. The large number of daily visitors to tho exhibition results in a largely-increased consumption of butter in London, and it is anticipated by a ; good many' in the trade that abnormally high prices will bo experienced throughout the season."

This anticination of abnormally high prices throughout the season applies, of course, to tho British season. The exhibition, which has. caused tho excess of consumption, is to close long before the end .of the year. Evidence as to whether the excess of supplies will continue beyond that date is rather meagre. TUBERCULOUS "SPRING CHICKENS." Ought chickens- sold for food to be inspected? Authorities are beginning to agree that tuberculosis is very common in the flocks of the but none of the birds sold for food in the Wellington markets are inspected for disease. Thoroughly unhealthy birds may, therefore, sometimes bo boughtand oaten. The question arises whether. chicken ought not to bo subject to the same inspection for disease as is provided for beef and mutton. Tuberculosis of poultry may, or may not be caused by the same organism as produces tho dreaded disease in mtfn. The question calls at least for consideration. Usually tuberculosis in a living bird is shown by a limping gait, due to the pain in the affected liver and bowels, and also to peculiar greer.ish-yollow droppings. These discharges are doubtless full of the disease-germs, which must be swallowed in millions by the other birds in tho same yard pecking, up grain defiled by them. Tuberculosis haunts closed houses which, for want of ventilation, smell badly when opened in the mornings. Tho open houses in vogue at Milton seem to suggest themselves as preventives of this as well as other diseases. CO-OPERATIVE" SHEARINC. •In. reference to'yesterday's paragraph as to Mr. J. Strang's co-operative shearing sHed in Wairarapa, where about 36,000 sheep will shortly be shorn, there, are several simila* institutions in Canterbury. Among the co» operative shearing sheds there may be counted those at Melton, Broadfields, Hinds,, and Chortsey.. In addition to thesej the Can-' terbury Frozen Meat Company shears sheep for farmers at some of its freezing works. Probably at Cheviot and some other settlements, co-operative sheds would be found. The opportunity of using these-sheds.is said to be much appreciated in the south. The number of sheep shorn at them is frequently about 20,000 or 30,000. Tho movement is one which the stringency of labour conditions, and indeed the interests of the wool industry in any case, seem thoroughly to warrant. GOOD GROWTH IN A DRY SPRING. The somewhat paradoxical statement is made, writes our -Wairarapa correspondent, that our fields and pastures this season, with less-rain, will ■ be better able to stand a drought than they were last year, when the dry ;months'were preceded by' rain, which had continued for months. Tho foregoing seems to be a strange assertion, but it appears to be nevertheless true, lor years the Wairarapa has never looked so well in a spring month as it does now. Its fields are carpets of luscious grass, and the corn crops, some of them a foot in length, are a delight to the oye. It seems that last year the rain-soaked earth , was baked under the continuous hot rays of the sun, and this condition stifled the growth of feed. .This year there have been no'heavy rains so far, and the earth is in a much better-, condition to nurture the grass. Feed is therefore plentiful in the Wairarapa, where the season is about three weeks ahead of that of the Bush Districts. Nevertheless; a' drenching shower of rain every now and then, just to moisten, the earth and keep things going, will be appreciated. In tho intervals the dryness may rage as it pleases; It would be a very bad tiling, however, if there were to be a very long spell of rain, but this is hardly probable.

GOOD NEWS FOR FLAXMILLERS. Mr. H. Grey, President of tho New Zealand • Flaxmillers' Association, has been advised that the shipping companies, in response to representations made by tho association, have decided to continue tho present low rates of freight on hemp and tow which otherwise terminated at the end cf this month, until tho end of December. This concession is equal to an advanced price to millers of 10s. per ton. GOVERNMENT AS WINE-MAKERS. Tho extent of the Government's wine-selling operations of'the. last three, years is shown in a report just issued. During those years the Government manufactured and sold from its Waerenga wine cellar 1018 gallons of wine at from Bs. to 10s.. per gallon. The total income from the wine was £438 10s. Tho business is increasing almost twofold every year. .Tho quantities of wino sold per year in tho three-years.wore as follow:— 1906. 1907. 1908. Tls. Gallons of wine • 165 299 j>s4 1018 '■■ £ -s. £ s. £ s. £ s. Value ... ... 82 10 128 13 227 7 438 10 THE GREAT REMEDY FOR CODLIN MOTH.; The ravages wrought upon apples and 'pears by this insect pest have been practically" nulli-: fied in the United States by the careful use of Swift's. Arsenate of Lead, and tho experience, of fruit-growers in this Dominion has been most satisfactory. Obtained through all Merchants and Storekeepers, or from the New Zealand Ag<"\ts, Murray, Roberts and Co.—2 As a result of the abnormal weather of the spring, the partridge-keeper has some ground for hoping that ho will not he as much persecuted as usual, for a year or two, by some of tho worst and blackest of his onomies, the rooks. The young rook population was verj nearly wiped out by the snow • falling just when it did.—"Country Life," (