MANY IMPROVEMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 144, 21 June 1922, Page 16

MANY IMPROVEMENTS

WINTER SHOW REVISITED

AFTER EIGHT YEARS' ABSENCE

DEVELOPMENT OF MACHINERY,

(By '.'Autos.>")

PALMERSTON N., 20th June.

There is a certain pleasure in revisiting even an agricultural show after a long absence. It is some eight years ago since the writer was last a visitor to the National Dairy Show—Palmerston's Winter SHow—and the changes in that time have been, very notable. The-in-terval gives the necessary distinction of viewpoint. To come to a show year after year is to notice comparatively little change. The improvements are in detail, as a rule, and only catch tho eye that looks for them.

But if one has a picture of things as they were nearly ten years ago, and then surveys the same place to-day, the contrast is obvious. .The Winter* Show is | a much bigger affair now than it was then, just as the dairy industry has exI pa'nded, and the very Showgrounds spread till they cover odd corners fenced off years ago.' There are more buildings, and the appointments are better. The "whole ensemble seems to be smarter, and one is conscious of distinct' progress in ? a national—say, rather, the national industry. The exhibits for jihe most part are of the same kind as one used to know in the old days—the rows of boxes of butter, the battlements of cheese, the long table of the products jof the industry of the home—loaves of bread, scones, cakes, pastry, preserves— the display of needlework so approprij ate to the winter evenings by the fire- [ side on the farm—the vegetables, .the school exhibits, and the photographs. But the roots —the potatoes, the carrots, beet, and mangels, the onions, and pumpkins, seemed, never better than tli£s year. Perhaps it was; an exuberant season, but certainly they are wonderful- this year. Fruit, too—apples and pears—are far better and far more abundant than they were in the earlier times of the Show. It would be hard to equal anywhere in the world the apples at the present Winter Show.

Chief o£ all, however, to the discerning eye, among the improvements is the advance made in all kinds of machinery. It is difficult to speak of this without enthusiasm, especially as so much of the special plant connected with the dairy industry is both of New Zealand invent tion and New Zealand manufacture. Take the milking machine. Ten years ago it was still on its trial—a little suspect, in case it might injure the cow or spoil the butter and cheese.j To-day it has come entirely to its own. The crudities of early manufacture have gone. It is a handsome combination of polished metal and rubber, working with" the ease and smoothness of ' .well-designed and finished machinery. There are many different species of the milking machine, but the principles are much, the same hjt every case —pressure and suction adjusted to conditions. One counted a baker's dozen of milking machines at the dairy exhibition to-day—and all but three were New Zealand made." One of the others was operated by hand power. All were installed, as with miniature cow byres and the display was most attractive. ■ As with milking machines, so with a variety of butter-making and cheesemaking plants for the dairy factory. Here,-again, New Zealand invention and manufacture was prominent, but not so much so as in the case o£ the milking plant. On the otljer hand, all the cream spearatorgj of which many types were shown, appeared to be made abroad —nearly all of them in the countries round the Baltic, and including this time autonomous Finland. These countries were the home of the separator, and it is only natural that they should still be the main producers of it. Still it would seem not beyond the realm of possibility for some New Zealand firm of engineers to manufacture quite a satisfactory separator, for the original patents should long ago have become common property. To drive the machinery required in the modern dairy farm power is needed, and this is almost invariably furnished by the small oil engine running on- benzine or kerosene. Here the improvement is noticeable in detail; the engines are better finished and run more silently and smoothly, possibly also with greater reliability and economy. Most of the engines are British made; one or two American, and one of the best of the lot is of New Zealand manufacture. Probably when the hydro-electric system becomes general in New Zealand; these self-contained motors will be superseded by the electric motor, which, however, has this disadvantage, that it does not heat the water for washing up and pasteurisingl purposes,. The cooling water of the petrol motor can well be utilised for this purpose.

Much else remains in tha long show buildings to interest the farmer. There are electric-light plants, automatic' and self-contained, for lighting his homestead ; gas plants for lighting and heating; gas and oil stoves; useful furniture and handy appliances to lighten the work of the housewife. To entertain the family and exercise the ingenuity of the boy of a mechanical turn there* is a booth devoted to the supply of radio outfits, whereby the farmer can communicate with his i neighbours or listen to concerts in town, if there is a distributing station.

So also for the fanner's garden are all sorts of shrubs and plants, tastefully arranged, seeds for vegetation, useful or ornamental, artificial fattening foods for his stock, displays of all that can be mado from that useful domestic animal, the pig—one of the best exhibits at the £?how —and a great deal else in the direction of a fuller, 'and more satisfying life for the people on the land. „ The school exhibits do not seem quite so numerous as in past years, but what there are make up in quality for apparent shortage in quantity. The local High School has a most interesting exhibit of the work of its pupils in agricultural science—something that shows the fruits of the system of training commenced less than twenty years ago. Tlier© is a section, too, devoted to a boys and girls' agricultural clubs competition. Schools are grouped in classes, and there aro just seventy entries. In the first class for Awahuri, Te Arakura, anc 1 Taonui; E. Bennett, Te Arakura, was first; A. Lewer, of the same club, second; and A. Hancock, of Awahuri, third. In the second group: I. Phillips, of Wangaehu, was first; R. Dixon, Waitohi, second; and R. Beardmore, Wangaehu, third. In the group including Kiwitea,- Kimbolton, Valley-road, and Brunswick, the prizes in ordei" went to J. Duncan, B. Kilgonr, and C. M'Dougall, all of Kiwitea. The number of entries in the home industries section was over 630, and the quality of the articles turned out, whether by the art of the cook or ihe seamstress, was excellent. Facility of distribution of the manufactured article of clothing 'or food has not killed this most important* Iji'uncli of rural industry.