Farm & Station

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11452, 28 February 1931, Page 12

Farm & Station

By “RUSTICUS.”

MEAT IN CARTONS

DEVELOPMENT OF “Z” PROCESS. ' ‘ r ' \ 1 -' ■-•j, ' > The meat trade of Britain is seriously considering th 6 new idea of marketing meat 'in the packaged or cartoned form under the rapid freezing process. The bulk of experiment lias been conducted in America, but it is known that British meat interests at both ends Of the Empire are dlosley observing tho latest developments with a view to taking up the idea at the latest point achieved. Olio of England’s largest stores is reported to bo considering the- purchase of rapid-frozen packaged moats for general distribution tlrrough it's many depots, direct to tluy restaurant customer. The effect of such 5 a step, once taken, would be great upon the public, as its educative tendency would undoubtedly do much for the development. Meanwhile, otily ono system of low temperature brine freezing is being proceeded - with' experimentally in Great Britain. That is the process known as the “Z” system of fog “freezing. This implies treatment of the goods handled under low temperature brine spray,v the finely divided particles of brine, emitted in a heavily insulated chamber. over : cartoned meats placed on metal trays, very efficiently conveying ilie cold at a temperature of 3 deg. Fahrenheit to tho commodities subjected to their influence. A recent small delegation of visitors witnessing tlie actual treatment of several classes of cartoned meat by a test plant erected at Fleetwood, Lancashire, included Lieut,-Colonel r JJ. Dunlop Young, oliiof meat inspector for the City of London, and Gaptafn R. H. Hoywood, Australian veterinary officer in London. These visitors and others saw a variety of meats, including beef cuts, mutton chops and several classes of offals, packed in paraffin wax treated cardboard cartons of one and a half inches deptli, completely rapid-frozen in forty; minutes under the brine- spray system. The meats, as well as varieties • of fish, were later cooked and eaten by the attendant witnesses, and declared to be of first-class flavour and totally uninjured by the process through which they had passed. It is understood limit the “Z” process has already been installed, in a number of places in Britain and on tlie Continent of Europe to the order of fooddistributing concerns. The chief difficulties lying before the complete commercial success of rapid-freezing systems consist in the difficulty -of keeping the gradually rising temperature curve of the commodities between the time of their initial freezing and final sale to tlie public in sufficiently regular gradation. Any sudden rise en route necessitates' refreezing, which, if ■it be not of the rapid-frozen order, undoes immediately- all the good of the former application of rapid refrigeration.- Engineers and scientists are hard at work endeavouring to. solve these problems. . ' - .

TOP-DRESSING RESULTS

EXPERIMENTS CARRIED OUT IN CANTERBURY. Li - : • ;/ LIME SHORTAGE AND LIABILITY TO DISEASE.,- - During the last .few years new methods have been worked opt, for top-’ dressing experiments and observational treatment* rather than .the careful weighing of. hay, etc., is used to see exactly what responses are, secured from the different fertilisers. By tins means a very much larger number of experiments can be carried out in the same time, -and in Canterbury recently over 1100 of those have been under way, the areas being scattered all over the district.

Treatments given included dressings of lime, superphosphate, potash and sulphate of ammonia and as tho plots; in each ease were ” arranged in squares, certain of them received lime plus super, others lime, plus super, plus nitrogen, etc. In tho main, the dressings of superphosphate were given during .the autumn, while those of sulphate of ammonia wer 0 spread throughout the. season, 3cw-t being given altogether, in three” dressings of lew'b. each. It was found that the poor quality of much of the ryegrass led to .the response, being poorer than it should\have bebn:' Ih»' , soiUe 'instances thus ihd.ipatih'g',tlie,.need for' care-; ful. selectioni, Vof,: .seed for ; thh _ sowing down.:of. pastures l V -A. hr .h : .

. '• . Js T BEI) FOR.LIME. • _■ ,' j ‘ .Itecibgu’ilicui'';' of from.. the viewpoint of- the health '.of stock • lias heen growing. steadi.ly: dqr-: ing, l-.ePenb 'ye&rs-' omfig .'to yj’fcwork iix w-liifilj ha§ dufpiiteiy linked- shortage .of .ljtue Vi tli" 1 i qtbili ty - v to fdi^i)/sp.i-“'Tljst>jri>, ..u-rti still -inaiiy •thoiisahijs of ;New 'Zealand--farmors ’ .wjio cpii^j^er : sufficient liilie ,is 'iii IdjiTsjo perplioapliate anil : these nieii ueypr purchxis© 'ciLrbonat’d'of lime that lime is Mostly' tg Jiiud oiyfuif njs ‘is many parts-'pfttljebJNVrth’jslbuiFalsq militates “aga'inst" '"jits' increased' use. Theexperiifietits with * Vliieli -fw©' iu’d ‘ dealing, established-* £he f importance -.o£ ,-ljme, - on - .. . soils and there' is'.po* reason l -to : supthat results /elsewhere would- be very. dillevent. -. It /vas' . jound that almost. without';exception. .tlie: epmbipjb tioii of lime plus^sufierphosphate..gaytj better , results/ thap supel'pihosphate used "plohe. • ; .^i’©n...Fh>i:e/ limp gave increased growth 1 ! in many A d- V "..';V l.tj'

cases and those in charge of the experiments were satisfied that both from the production viewpoint and .from that'of benefit to health, of stock the application of lime was. justified. Moreover, they considered that the visible effects- of lim 0 on the pastures there varied from five to six years where a ton of carbonate of lime was applied. . Such a result at once discounts tho idea that lime is too expensive to use. Bought in fairly considerable quantities so that full advantage may be taken of the railway concessions, it is an investment of the greatest possible value.

SUPERPHOSPHATE PRE-EMIN-ENT,

The experiments demonstrated the superiority of superphosphate under Canterbury conditions and in this respect av 0 in line with practically the whole of the experimental work carried out in New Zealand. Tho principal requirements of Jjew Zealand soils is phosphate, and under*a very wide range of climatic and soil conditions superphosphate has given highly satisfactory results, leading to the conclusion that it is the cheapest fertiliser when results are taken into consideration.

In those particular trials no attempt was made at comparing superphosphate with other phosphatie fertilisers such as basic slag and the ground rock phosphates, but such comparisons have been made in the past, and in the majority of instances have been in favor of the super. Basic slag, of course, excellent under certain conditions such as clayey soils bub with high transportation costs to pay it can hardly be expected that the ground rock phosphates will give results comparable with a highly soluble fertiliser such as super. In other words, it is practically certain that every LI spent on a highJy-soluble fertiliser such as super will give a greater return in increased profits than every £1 spent on ground rock phosphates, even where the latter are very finely ground and of lair solubility.

BABY BEEVES

BRITISH PEDIGREE STOCK. In the breeding of pedigree stock Britain’s herds and flocks stand foremost. Thero is not one part of the world which specialises in stock that lias not drawn on British strains. Tho perfection which has been attained by the British stock-breeder is evidenced in every show throughout the world where cattle, slieop, and pigs are exhibited. Tho best breeds of British stock are exported in such countries as tlm Argentine Republic, Canada, South Africa, Australia. New Zealand and the various colonies associated with the British commonwealth of;nations. These countries in return are able to find a ready market for their stock in the less favored countries of production,

To-day the breeding of cattle is a fine art, it is a production of stock for the market and one that will give tho best results to the breeder (states the London Daily Mail). The receirt agricultural show has demonstrated that th e breeder of stock is alive to the needs of present-day life. The show expressed the latest that has • been learned from science ,in meat production, and breeders‘have shown their adaptability to present-day needs by producing stock with suitable joints for the small family. A very noticeable feature of tho show was the small' beef class, the little animals shown scarcely 1 looked economic ,bufc they were in answer to the: dual quest of early maturity and dinall joints. British .agriculture has awakened to the fact, which,is of everincreasing importance, that' the bree- | der of stock must watch keenly the public demand. 11 was an education • and highly illuminating to inspect this year’s show. Where, in' former years, it was tb 0 practice to exhibit fat cattle weighing well over a ton, to-day. there was not one beast weighing more than 17 cwt. shown, the average weight being about 12 cwt. No breeds looked more literally “baby beef” than the Kerry and Dexter exhibits. Tile heaviest of lhes<* tiny animals weighed just over 7cwt, and the lightest just over Ocwt, ‘The science, ,df 'cattle ‘Breeding has ’ been r very much modified' and de'velop-oil-by thetheories, of. Darwin and the discovery ,of .tlib..laws, of .heredity of , Mendel.- As iio struggle for existence ‘ takes "place ■ with‘domes boated apimals," it 'is left to’ the byeodcr to select' ’tiiai)' mating width,"is ’/most" necbsisafy for. the 1 inuuediald., purpose. * The .old tendency Ito ••bf’eed heavy beasts: has , ' now; given place to milch lighten stock /andVto, .this .ehdali, raisers"of', stock ehergjes.' '.‘• beevesAveye unknown until a few/ years age-) To-day ’ they are.; tlxe . main . features, of, idVshows,-and farr hiera/ayo ..turning but really excellent examples ,pf early, ipaturity.' r ilhe, raiding .of,'.pedigree 'stock of - eyery. type.-gives enjifloyment tp gfeat; nunibers., in Britain,- and .the raising oK stock* is /how oil a.'plahe of perfection,tlio', resuJta;of {which inp 'to be seen>!.ih tlie vast herds and Hooks, of ..those';' 'countries where the raising ..of cattle is a prime industry.''*' - ' T siWDUST. AS r EOOD-l«m ,Cf>WS. ;

feat of the Forests Products Laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin. A proesfcs has developed that converts the fibre of- the woody pulp into food for cattle by treatment with heat and chemicals. Tests indicate that cows and other live stock thrive'on the sawdust diet.

Huge iron retorts used for the coiiversion. procoss, are charged with raw materials from ports at the end. When the reaction is completed, these ports are opened, and the steaming eattlo food shovelled out; Although the use of sawdust for food is novel it is far from fantastic. Chemists have pointed out that in theory, at least, it is feasible to convert it into succulent dishes for human beings!

WORKING AT A LOSS. POSITION OF FARMER. "In the near future our onlv straight course is to live on our revenue, small as it is. 1 his means a sacrifice of most of the comforts and luxuries we have been used to, and means the acceptance by all of our creditors of only a pronort’on of interest, rent, rates, and taxes,” declared Mr. L. R. C. Macfarlane, president of the Canterbury Agricultural and. Pastoral Association at a meeting of the General Committee, in urging that until the nresent economic position righted itself we should avoid borrowing altogether (reports the “Press”).

“Speaking for myself, and not lor the committee,” said Mr. Maefarlane. “I should like to make a statement on the farmers’ financial position to-day and the remedy as I see it.

“When we each of us study carefully our own financial affairs," several facts are dominant. No matter how we farm or how we are situated,, our farming operations are bieng carried on at present at a loss. ‘‘We owe money which we cannot

nay out of revenue. Most of us are honest men, and not to pay our debtsis naturally abhorrent to us. Rut I ask you. what else can we do? Some of us can borrow from one creditor to pay anotlie'-. but as Euclid says, ‘that is absurd.’ “Are we wise to borrow money while our currency is being deflated? Are we right in adding to our liabilities on a falling market? No. 1 think one fact we all of us recognise Is that the slump lias taught us not to.borrow money.

“NO OTHER WAY.” “We draw out a halance-sliect showing our true position to-day. Then wo make out a budget for our next year’s incomings and outgoings. Wo expect to get £750 for our produce. and we find that £IOOO will be needed to pay taxes, rates, rent or interest on land, interest on bank overdraft, and our living and working expenses cf the farm for the next i‘_ moiitbs. “All we can do. then, is to pav our creditors ihree-ouarters of what wo owe thorn. There is no other way. All Government penalties oni! conditions, all finely-worded mortgage deeds, and chattel securities to-day are not worth the paper they are written on.

“Can we holn? \Ye must be moi self-reliant. We must refuse to de; with salesmen visiting our farms i

ears. We must stick together any fight on for ever and ever and ever."