AGRICULTURAL

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 55, 2 September 1916, Page 10

AGRICULTURAL

SUBSTITUTE FOE RENNET.

Cheesemakers all over the world are faced with the possibility of shortage of ronnet, by means o£ which the solids of milk are coagulated, through the action of a ferment which it contains (writes "tlickory" in the Australasian). Rennet is the lining of the fourth stomach of young calves, and, in early days, cheesemakers used to secure their own supply. On account of the work entailed, and the difficulty in securing a uniform ferment, so that the quality of the cheese was irregular, modern cheesemakers have adopted a commercial extract of a uniform standard strength. Owing to the war, the main source of supply has been cut off, Russia having forbidden tho export; of the raw material. In Canada aud in New Zealand the matter is regarded as very serious,' and in the latter Dominion an attempt has been made to get a rennet expert from Europe to manufacture the article there. This has failed, and a proposition to form a cooperative company to send home the raw product is also hanging fire, because legal opinion _ has pronounced that factory companies. cannot take shares in any such enterprise. It is estimated that about 180,000 veils are .required to produce the 30,000 gallons of rennet necessary for New Zealand, and legislators who contemplate restricting tho slaughter of stock may _bear this in mind. In Canada, experiments have been carried out to find a satisfactory substitute for rennet, and, according to a report in the Farmers' Advocate, with a considerable amount of success. Pepsin, which is a ferment, obtained by drying the mucous lining of the fresh, healthy stomach of a pig, sheep, or calf, will coagulate milk m the same mannor as rennet extract. This substance is put on tho market by large abattoirs, in the form of a light-yellowish-brown or white powder or paleyellow translucent scales. The experiments wore directed towards finding if pepsin could bo used wholly or partly as a substitute for rennet. After very careful examination by a number of experts and cheesemakers, the opinion was oxpressed that, on the whole, the chees-; made with rennet was the best, though some in which pepsin was U6ed scored equally high. With care, therefore, pepsin can safely be used, but a mixture of the two gave, as a rule, better results than with pepsin alone. Only ■ two drachms of pepsin of a strength of 1 to 3000 are required to set 10001b of milk. The powder or scalo can be dissolved at a temperature of 105deg. F. The best mixture was found to be l£oz rennet and 1 drachm pepsin to 10001b milk. The pepsin solution 'cannot be made up in quantity, and held for a time. It must be dissolved afresh each morning

' The Rural New Yorker speaks highly of a variety of Siberian lucerne which has been sent out from the South Dakota Experiment Station. It is of o recumbent or trailing habit, spreading out' on the ground, like a vine. It grows vigorously in soil red with sorrel, and has stood tho severe winter without any Joss. The variety is recommended for planting in old pastures to renovate them. It is recommended to plant out the roots as cabbages would be set out, about 3ft apart each way.

Mangolds have always been recommended as a suitable crop for localities where the land is salty, and a recent set of English experiments has shown that salt added to aitifioial manure at tho rate of 3owt per. acre has consistently givon a good return, tlie average inorease due to salt being 3 tons per acre. The following mixture per acre has given the greatest yield:—lcwt nitrate of soda as a. top-dressing, lcwt sulphate of ammonia, 4ewt super., 3cwt salt applied at planting time. -

Seed potatoes of proper sizes and without blemish'havo not been so1 scarce in Sydney (says Town and Country) for more than 40 years "as now. Seed Up-to-Dates and Early Rose, picked samples, aro 12s a cwt. Most of the Tasmanian potatoes are too large and too rough to place in the category of best seed.

"I'll defy you to manufacture from bad milk cheese in body and texture that will fill the bill," said Mr. John Sawers at a. meeting of tho South Island Cheese Factory Managers' Union. Later ho said that the guiding staT of cheese-makers should be "cleanliness, more cleanliness, and still more cleanliness."

There seems to be little doubt that the quantity of wheat grown in the Ashburton County in the coming season will be not nearly as great as lastiyear. In conversation with a Guardian reporter, a farmer from the Lismore district said that very little wheat was being sown at Lismore or in the Maronan district. The chief factor deterring the farmers from oropping was tho fear_ of a great shortage of labour. He did not think that tho uncertainty of tho market was causing the farmers nearly so much concern as the fact that great difficulty will probably bo experienced in getting harvesters. ■' As is the case in other parts of the country, formers in the Lismore district are buying sheep, and this year hundreds of acres of land that previously grew crops will graze sheep.

' At tho Suffolk County Show in June, a woman ''herdsman" led a. Jereey heifer into the ring, and exhibited her. English papers, in commenting on this, bear testimony to the valuable assistance which females have given to live stock breeders at this crisis. The army of women workers recruited from tho middle and upper classes, numbers now considerably over 50,000. A number of leading landowners are ottering free farming instruction to women, under very. favourable conditions as to housing and food. As there is a keen demand for women workers at munition factories at from 30s to £2 per week, farm wages are also forced upwards, and women are demanding equal wages for equal work.

Ma,rk Lane Express reports increased crops of potatoes in experiments in, sulphuring the land. Tho fertilisers used were 4owt super., 2owt sulphato of potash, 2owt nitrate of soda, and to the plots were added 2cwt and 4cwt of powdered sulphur per a-ore. All the plots to which sulphur was applied showed an increase, and the complete manure plot that received also 4cwt sulphur yielded a crop of three tons per aore over the untreated plot. The practice of rolling- tho seed in sulphur to minimise the effects of scab led to the experiments in adding sulphur to the land.

In the Garden of 3rd June last there is an illustration of an apple tree in Washington, Sussex, which in 1911 bore just over 70 bushels of good fruit. In previous years it had borne 40 and 50 bushels, and last autumn (1915) it had about 50. Great care was taken to see what the crop really was, and the quantities given aro correct. The name of the variety is not given.

The Serbian marrow or pumpkin might be worth introducing into New Zealand. Its hardiness is Ha great recommendation. It is said that frost and snow havo little or no effect upon it. Tho fruit forms ono of the main foods of the poorer classes around Salonika, and with bread and a little meat is partaken of at most meale. Its flesh is firm, having a fine golden tinge, and tho skill when young is much harder than that of the common English marrow. It is quite yellow, with no green tinge except a ring round the stalk. The plants bear a heavy prop, and the fruits grow to a large size. The fruits ripon in a few days on the sunny hillsides, and at once commence to harden; they are cut when very old, and stored in the houses. If left in the open and exposed to the wind, frost, and rain they do not change, but are just as firm and good.