AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25, 29 July 1911, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

HOME VERSUS CREAMERY SEPARATION. Tho question of home verms creamery separation has been so elLen dkeusscrt, antj opinions have been so divided «s to the merits of tho two sjelcais, that the following eypfuierice ot a >Varkato settler should bo interesting : — " I supplied the N.Z.D.A. creamery at 'J'e . J^apa for a portion of thus season, and , was paid lOd per lb for butter-fat, and this amount has not been exceeded it the creamery during the past seafioti— boilus expected later on. I then homeseparalcd, and supplied tho ' Waikato factory, and veceiv<kl IQ^d jdnring the ; months r>f tooyerober aAd December, < March and April, lid during May, a-nd j le in June. As November and Decern- j ber were heavy months, my average. ' returns were fully lO^d— bonus <3S.pect.ed ) later 011— that in. per lb more than 1 at the T* Rapa creamery, which is immediately adjacent to the railway j l station. Now, &hother factor Was that \ had I continued carting my milk to and from tho creamery ifc Would have i necessitated a new or (stronger ,c?wt and ' narness, and a more powerful horsje, because the bulk of milk ie approximately about ten times heavier than the extracted cream. The cost of my sepa.- j rator— and this was the only extra outlay entailed by the change of system--was £14, towards which 1 was aW<J to sell four milk-cans, rendered unncca eary, at £1 6s each. Instead of going to. the creamery eev,en times a. week with heavy loads each way, I went only, thrice, and in the cooler weather twice, f. week. As to the reported losa of butter-fet, my teet for separated milk waa .01 of butter-fat, And two tests of my neighbours' milk were .02 and .o*. I venture the assertion that a greater percentage of butter-fa-t is lost to creamery suppliers by the butter^fat adhering to the milk-cans, not to mention the occasional loss of whole cans of milk turning! sour. Our eyetem of homo separation is as follows; When tho milking is about half way through, one of the family start* the separator, which is turned very easily by hand, and by the time the herd— -twenty-two head this lfst reason— i)s finished, the milk ia put through ahd i competed sm>p after tho last cow is milked, the Separator washed, and the calves fed with the new, warm, separated milk. VVe usually sit dowft to breakfast soon waiter 8 a.m., and then the cream ie taken in a light tra.p, at any time, every second or third day, to Hamilton, as it suite out time .and convenience, and when we frequently have other business and household Wa.nti& td' attend. We separate twice a day.*' Nearly £70,000 worth of potatoes wero imported into Western. Australia during 1910 from the eastern States owing to the western growers haying an aggrefate area of only 1741 acres, averaging .42 tons pep aGrg. In the metropolitan district, consisting or !Perth, tfremantle. Guildford, an 4 Midland Junction, ih© pr^ce now obtaining of £26 to £28 IBs per ton has made it necessary that some steps should be immediately taken in the direction of importing a partially prepared articje that has been tendered mftocnous, thus preventing the potatoes being utilised for seed purposes. In this connection (says the Australasian) an interesting experiment is at present being cttrjfied out at th© Government cool stotes in Melbourne. ThreD Vatic- ' ties of potatoes— Carmen's, Brownell's | B«auty, and Vermont's—are being treated. Three tons haye been peeled and placed in 10 per cent., 15 per ceht.,and 20 per cent, brine solutions, and three tons have been placed in Similar tsolutions unpeeledJ The potatoes are being packed in tins tor shipment to West Australia. Hopes are entertained that the axpsriment of exporting from Victoria in brine, or the new industry of drying and shredding that Mr. Hofden, M.L.A.,, of Vicjxirja, is embarking in at Wallace, will meet the present difficulty and shortage in the West. Th» Notth, British Agriculturist state* that to Mr. J. W. Harding, Mount Verhon, Waipukuran, New Zealana, Messrs. Montgomery have sold the fine big two- . year-old colt King of Honour. This horse is by the grand breeding champion horse Everlasting, and his dam is Ardlethen Eva, by Sir Uverai'd, The Messrs. Montgomery have also cold to Mr. Robert Allan, Howell, Kirkcud' bright, two colts for shipment to Messrs Wright, Stcphenson, and Co., New Zealand. One of them is a two-year-old named Prince of Cowden. He is by fcaron Robert, and his dam was by Montrave Matchless. This is a splendid big thick colt, and a grand mover. He is sure to be very popular in New Zealand, Prince of Cowd«n was first a.t Lanark and first at Kelso. The other colt is a yearling by the famous Everlasting, and is named Massena. His dam is by the first-prize Glasgow horse Duke of Ilothesay, The annual report of the Tawaha Dairy Company shows (says the Wairarapa Daily Times) that 83 tons of cheese havo been made during the past season, this being about nihe tons ahead I of the previous year, and it is anticipated that a greater increase will be made next season. The amount paid out to suppliers was between lid and Hid per lb of butter-fat; the average test ol milk was 3.79; the quantity of milk required to make a pound of cheese was 9.77 ; the average grade of cbeese was 89.8. The prices realised fof the cheese in thfe Home market ranged from 60s to 60s per cwt. for white cheese and 6'6s to 62s 6d for coloured, and for cheese sold in tho potninion from 6d to 6£d per lb. Agriculturists say the present season in North Otago is the most hopeful for the past six yeara. In tho Waiareka Valley the ground ia fro2en for a foot down, and this is expected to have an appreciable effect on the giaes-gi'ub and potato moth. t All ovei the district the fame expressions of hopefulness roach us feays the North Otago Times), and if .the pflet seasot) has been ar» exceptionally bad one, that we are entering upon gives promise of making up conic of the lee-\vay. A. farmer, many years ago (saye the Scientific American), discovered that J wood can be tnade to last longer than trpn in the ground, Time and weatTier seemed to have Tp effect on timber The posts can be prepared tor lees than la each. This is the recipe :— Take boiled linseed oil and stir in pulverised coal till ' the mixture has the consistency of paint. Then appiy. A correspondent from the Hawkes B&y district sends thp Canterbury t*ress some amusing cliopinge from advertisemeiite in the local papera. Either the writing of the people who send the advertisements in is exceedingly bad or the journals must have a Humourist on tne staff. One notice of a sale ant|otincea that "nine bust-fed we&nem" frill be offered. This is apparently a new feed peculiar to JTaWkos finy. -Another sale notice calmly stntes that "SO bull ewes wore sold ot <Js 6d and 68 bull lambs at 3s!" A c instpad of h would probably set the matter right, out anyway it was an "inner." Still again tho journal bluttders on in" it* careful wny— for We road that a "line of liQifeve in calf to a two-horned bull" is awajting a buyer j but the best of the lot ia a "wanted 1 ' which announces that "butchers aro wanted to crutch, sh^ep I" From the look of fhec^ that have hej&n crufched it wouW certainly appear that biiUliere had done il^\vilh a clgaierj