A BUTTER-BOX EXPERIMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 8

A BUTTER-BOX EXPERIMENT.

"POWELLISIN'Ci" TRIED. . The Dairy Expert of the Now South Wales Department of Agriculture recently submitted six butter-boxes, rtiado from jJorrigo Crab Applo timber, to tho Powellising Company, m order to test the value of the process 111 connection with th» niahufacturo of butter-boxes. Tho usual method ot" Powellising as a specific remedy against white ants, which includes tlie use of arsenic, was not adopted, treacle alone being' used to drive out all the sap and any essential oil.i IhM might, give a.flavour to butter, and also to shrink and stason Ihi; tiinbci "The Agricultural Gazette" of -New South AVales soys that tho Dairy Expert reports that tho Powellising of tho wood in this way is not suitable for timber r.-bicji is. to bo ujed for tho manufacture of buttei'-boxes, ■ tho reasons being that the wood ia very :nnch stained by' the . process, and its appearance thereby rendered, practically speaking, unfit for our ideas ol butter-boxes. In addition to the undesirable appearance referred to, tho wood gave forth a very strong smell of treacle, the flavour' of' w ; hidh would be absorbed by the butter'to the detriment ol tho latter. The butter parchment paper was also stained on being dampened and brought into contact with the Powellised wood. It will thus bo seen that this process cannot, -in its present form at feast, be utilised is the preparation of timber for butter-boxes. - "The effect of Dorrigo Crab, Apple'timber, in its natural state, upon the butter may be seen from the fact "that .two boxes made of this timber were ?ent to the Port. Macqnarie Dairy Company to be packed with butter, to be compared with sipiijar butter packed in New Zealand White;Pino boxes. " The butters, "by courtesy of Messrs. Prescott, Limited, were held in cold store for about six weeks, when they were examined. Though th<> difference in quality was not great, tho Dairy Expert was able to distinguish tho butters without seeing from which box the sample was taken. The flavour of the butter packed in the Dorrigo Crab Apple boxes was slightly affected on the part of the . jmtter close to the timber."