Town and Country Relationships

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 October 1946, Page 10

Town and Country Relationships

Improvement of the social relationship's between the people ot tow and country is dealt with in a sh°r article in “Overseas”; the journa 1 o the Overseas League (London). Under the caption of “Getting together in New Zealand,” the journal states: “One of the problems, although perhaps it would be truer t call it a natural condition of our present way of living, in view - the many tremendous problems witn which the whole world is beset, i. the question of how to get town ana country folk to understand one another better. . . “Townspeople are apt to iook down on countryfolk; countryfolk are apt—entirely unnecessarily—to suner from an inferiority complex, and tne result is that there are divisions ana lack of understand where there ought to be unity and insight. in New Zealand, Massey Agricultuial College sends speakers out to tow schools, where the children listen to uprto-date talks on farming, as wel as seeing films; and are made to understand that the life of a farmei is suitable for the brightest and m ost intelligent, boys and not for the dunces; the girls equally being given to understand that their. hv es W1 be full and happy even if they are not within reach of a large store or a picture house. This is an admirable move in the right _ direction surely, and it would be interesting to learn if other agricultural colleges are doing something along the same lines elsewhere.”

Cress Taint in Cream Cress taint in cream can to a great extent be prevented by the controlled grazing of the herd, according to the latest quarterly circular forwarded to dairy factories by the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute. “The season of cress taint is with us again,” states the circular. While there is at present little new information to offer on this perplexing subject, a summary of the present knowledge may be of interest. We know:— 1. That a small quantity of cress consumed by one or two cows can at times taint a whole cream supply., 4'. That cress may at timgs be eaten by the whole herd grazing on

a badly-infested pasture, without cress taint appearing in the cream. (Unfortunately, we do not know the explanation of these apparently contradictory facts.) x 3. That cress taint in cream can be largely prevented by controlled grazing, i.e., by removing the cows from a cress-infested area not less than three hours, and preferably at least four hours, before miking. This is a palliative, not a certain preventive. If possible, cress-infested areas should be grazed by-dry stock, and milling cows should be grazed where cress is growing only if there is no other alternative. . 4. That cows graze early in the evening and do not graze much after midnight, until dawn. If cressinfected areas must be grazed by milking cows, they should be used for the night grazing. 5. That cress taint cannot with certainty be removed from cream by intense vacreator treatment. 6. Reports that cress-tainted cream can be treated by low temperature pasteurisation require rigorous checking to ensure that the keeping quality of the butter is not endangered, before this system of handling cress-tainted cream is adopted in practice for export butter.

Farm Drainage Service That Massey Agricultural College would shortly be in a position to place the services of its farm drainage experts at the disposal of farmers who encountered difficult problems, was a statement by the Principal (Professor G. S. Peren) at the recent demonstration of farm drainage machinery at the college. He said that the staff had been approached by many farmers who were in difficulties, and as a result a service which would incorporate advice, preliminary surveys and _ draft schemes for drainage, was being inaugurated. For this service a charge would have to be made, as there was no Government grant available for the work at present. . Professor Peren added that importation to New Zealand of the Roteho —combined . trench-digging and tile-laying machine —represented an endetavour by the college to encourage farm drainage in those many districts which were in need of it. In that regard the Manawatu could be cited as one district where production could be increased by the aid of adequate drainage, which would do much to encourage the best r y e “ grass-white clover pastures, and minimise the amount of, pugging of the land by dairy stock in the winter.