AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 71, 23 March 1912, Page 14

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

CHEESE v. BUTTER. Tho shareholder* in tho Mangatoki Cooperative Dairy Company havo decided, by a substantial majority, to erect a choose-making factory >n addition to tho porenent butter faotory. The chairman (Mr. .T. Marx), in submitting tho pro-, posftl, naid the difference between the prices obtained for ohooso and butter worn Auormous, and the tendenoy was for bubtor to recede in prioo and lor ohoeyv to increase. The last information to hand ad vised that cheeso had advnuced tq 755. : It was impossible to say what might i h^PiP 01 l in » to<? fu^re, Aut thoy had to do •with tho facts as thej wero at 'irtjaftut. The present prico4 meafot a difforcnoo of 5d in favour of Qhoeto, .and ou o million pounds this rap to tho enormous figures |of nearly £20,00u. As compared with i khroo years ago the difference in favour of oheeso was very big. The added moisture alone meant nearly £5000 a year; the whey butter would mean £2000, and tho starter butter nearly another £1000, or, roughly, £8000 a, year better for oneese to-day than three years ago, Quoting his own case, had the Man'gatoki faoy j been making oheoso jusb now, instead of butter, ho would have been £lbO in pooket on this last month alone. Suppliers wore bound to go. wh.era thty OQUid get the best prices, and there was no possible doubt that the faotories making oheew were doing tho boat and paying out the mort just now. The present relaIa mueßmm ueB m ? f <?ftoe fce and butter were ac SO to 70. .Th»t was to aay that If a supplier received #5u fvom a. butfcejymafring factory, he would r'soejvo £70 from a cheese faotory, so that under present oonditwnß it was hopeleau to expect to hold the company together if they did not go in for cheese. "If," said Mr. Marx, can get an *at-« bonus of Id or lid from another faptory, they will wuttle away like sheep where they oan pet the biggest price, and in their own wt°r«fte they must do it." Continuing, Mr. Marx said that he had been averse to obeese-making for . b. long time, but undw .present oonditions it would be rank jtupidity to hold out any longer. He Mien explained in detail how tho, directors proposed to finance the cheese factory, would cost some £8000. He empha' BU»d thy enoimouß amount the factory vas loslng-£IO,OOO in six monthe-by making butter aa against, cheese. A trial of a six-furrovr plough took place reoently in Southland. The plough was admittod to bo just the thing ,for big areas. The furrows turned over were each 7w deep and Win wide, so that ono Skoke, of the pUnt ploughed Bft of land, and it can ha regulated to any depth. It is capable of doing twenty acres a day of nine hours. In this connection it may be mentioned (say? tho Southern Cross) 'that it would take at least four horses to eaoh furrow, or, in other words, equal to twenty-four bones to draw the implement a.nd perform the work done by tha gwvTh.c Golden Bay Dairy Company, Colhngwood, is so far having a record year (says the Wairarapa Timra), The output for pne day's supply ha* reached over thirty.aix boxes of 661b eaoh. The quality is fir»t-rato, and on two occasions wly ha» the grade gat as low as ninety. The, company ia now within tbjee tons of ' completing its Home contract, which, rives them a month to spare on their contract time. The price also is good, butter going out at Is Id, which is a record Tor this time of the year. The payout also has reached a record, being over £2000 ' for the pest month, which wa* divided amongst one h.U.ad.?«i and thMe tuppUere. ■ Harvesting operations, s»ys the Mattw* Ensign, may uqw he said to he general o& the Waimea Plains,' and in one oase at least threshing has commenced. It in u> notable iaofc that the oropa on the higher country this, year are very much heavier than usual, this being accounted for by the extreme dampness of the. spring and summer. There appears to be little cau3e for complaint regarding the bounty of the crop, though at the same -time much of the. standing groin is badly tangled. Reoently the Otago Daily Times received from a gentleman who ha» ju»t returned from a visit to Central Otago a ' very fine bample of dried apricots, quite equal in appearanqe to either the MUaura or Califpriuan produot. These apricots were dried in tha sun in throe days at Mr. William Annan's orchard, near Clyde, and when shown at the recent horticultural show at Clyde) were very favourably commented on by both the judges and th« public. At present New Zealand impqrU lavrge, qu&ntjities of dried apricots, peaches, and apples, all of which could bq pulped and exported, One Syaney firm has this season shipped between 600 and 70Q tons to England, thus preventing a glut in the looal fresh fruit market, which would have oocurred owing to exceptional heavy crops that h»vo been secured- The apricot pulp i« selling at £40 to £6Q per ton in London, according to quality, while the dried fruit is £100 per ton, duty paid., in London. Owing to the high prioes now ruling in England blaok currants are also being pulped and shipped from Hobarfc. Reports of good yields of grain oon- , timid to reach us (Bays the Oamaru 1 Maial), though many of the most promii- ' ing oropa have not yet been threshed. From the Otekaike Settlement we learn I that both wheat and barley have, bo far threshed out well. Yield* of from 50 to 63 bushels of wheat have been regujtorod in quite a number of imtanooq, while barley has gone over SO bushels to the aore. Oats nave not turned out to well &i ia other districts, the rango being a UtUeovep 60 buehala per aore. More . staokwg thari uiuaj in North Otago has been done, and U contemplated, farm* era recognising that in such an erratic season the grain requires to go &to stack to ucquii'o condition. The harvest generally is turning out. one of the best that has been seen in North Otago, and it is to be hoped that tho grain will be teoured in good condition. In this district (says the Ashburton Guardian) the harvest ia nearly over, and numbers of n»o« carrying swags arrive m Ashburfon daily. They do, not stay long bore, but hurry South, to cam what they flan for harvesting there. There is now a keen demand for ploughmen, as farmers are preparing the land for winter feed. I A large number of farmers in the Mangaweka district complain that a urge number of sheep wove found to be missing this year whon tho muster for shearing took plaoo. A strange thing is I that, although they are supposed to have i perished, very few dead bodies have been tqund. In many districts 'in, the Wairarapa tho residents are keenly alive to the praotiijal education of the children, A school committee near Magterton reportod that all the money had been subscribed for the purchase of a milk tester, to bo used in inatruoting the children in the art of testing the quality of the milk. Two good oropa of oaU have been produced by one piece of land near Goraidine. On Mr. R. T. W. Seioommbe's j farm ona crop was cut on New Year's ' Day, and the reaper disposed of » second I ono on the 15th inst. I Aooording to Mr. James Buokland, I . who recently delivered a lecture' on "The 1 Value of Birds to Man," at tho Royal Society of Arts, Now Zou landers ought to bloss the sparrow iustoud of oureirur him, and pay with glad hearts the toll ho exsots from fiolda and orchards. Without tho sparrow Mr. Buokland sugcrobts that New Zealand would be, not a laud flowing with milk and hooey and agricultural and pastoral uro«pority, but a land in whioh Sootch thistles and oatcri pillars battled for supremacy. At one time, he said, caterpillars threatened to overrun New Zealand; ho- presented a truly awiul picture of tho state of things before insectivorous birds wero introduood. When thoy oamo, tlie . one ' that multiplied most rapidly was tho sparrow, And the sparrow goon Out short • the caroor of ' tho caterpillar. Th*«i Scotch thistles began to bo ti very bad peat; Che sparrow took -to eating tho ■eedi, and tho Sootoh thutle v nolongur to bat greatly feared.