NOTES BY THE WAY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 14 April 1928, Page 16

NOTES BY THE WAY.

The total of members in the Jersey (Cattle Association iof .New Zjealand has now reached .1700, said to be the largest in the world. The Waikato is having a much more difficult time than Taranaki this year for a northern writer says that farmers who have managed to get a take of mangolds, swedes, hard-fleshed turnips or carrots this season are singularly fortunate. The prolonged dry spell during the summer will long (be remembered by farmers in Waikato and adjoining districts. It was the worst for 30 years. The lesson was a severe one for many. In the programme ahead farmers will no doubt take little chance again of not making provision for extra feed well ahead. Those who ploughed early in the winter, and had the winter and spring rains soak into tlie soil, came out all right. Their e-ops stand out prominently" as one readily sees who travels around the district. Excellent progress is reported in the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union at 'Hamilton. It is stated the numbers are increasing steadily. _ One good avenue of work is stressed in an extract from the annual report of the Farmers’ Union supplies the boys and girls with papers, books and periodicals and watches over. their welfare and members of the Division have on numerous occasions had Flock House lads to stay with them at their homes.”

The good rains experienced during -he last week or two have benefited It too leoun try considerably '.(says the “Southland Times”) and an ap-p-eciable freshening in the pastures is noticeable together with a considerable improvement in the turnip corps 'The rainfall would be welcomed particularly by the dairy" farmers and it will -probably" have the effect of mainLining the supply of anilllc longer than was expected at one part of the season. - -Speaking to a Palmerston North pressman last week, after the .conference held there, Mr. -Singleton stated that there was no doubt that compulsory cream grading had improved the quality of the butter that was being manufactured and that the farmer; were realising the importance of producing the finest quality cream. Pie denied that the grading at some factories had not been strict enough and explained that the object of tne conference was an endeavour to establish a more uniform standard-of grading in all the factories. _ A Government institution which now lias gone into the limbo of the days of long ago. but which in irs time did a good work for the farming community, was the Moumaliaki -State Farm." The files of “The Hawera Star, ' ’ of 18-94, show that on .Tannary 1:1, the farm was placed in charge of a Mr. Hislop. Later Mr. F. Gillanders and after him Mr. J. W. Deem were in charge successively In 1894 it was that a proposal was first put forward to build a Co-oper-ative'Dairy Factory at iTlawcra. It is worth special notice that in this same year was the first experiment with the milking machine, an addendum to the dairy farmer’s -outfit which has had a wonderful influence on the industry and lia s gone a long way" in solving the labour problem which threatened to become so acute. 'That year appears to have -been one of much farming enterprise for It saw also the formation of the- first Farmers’ Club, probably the forerunner of the -Farmers’ Union. Another question was taken up in that year which since obtained an undesired notoriety is that of noxious weeds. Even at that time apparently the weeds were showing -igns of giving trouble. One eaiino 1help the belief that if -stringent measures hafl been taken then, the f.roubl-: would have been less of, the last few rears and at the present time. ' It is estimated that England consumes eight ounces of bacon and ham per head per week, -probably a record for -any" country in the world. Full inquiries have been made ,bv reputable retired farmers in London, at the instance of the High Commissioner, into the scheme for Empire tours for farmers, and they report their opinion that the scheme is a good one. Arrangements are being made, in other dominions for farmers to visit. tn<l tour Great Britain this year, the tour commencing on June 4 and terminating on August 17.. The visitors will be escorted and will travel over a great part of England, Scotland, and Ireland, inspecting all matters of agricultural interest. There might wot be time for a delegation from New Zealand to be organised, 'but visiting farmers from the Dominion could take advantage of the tour organised for other Dominions. The Minister of Ag riculture (Mr. 'O. J. Ilawhen) intimated to an Evening Post reporter that though the scheme is not a Government one, his department will be glad to extend its co-operation. Mr. Jlawken also stated that a visit of farmers ih England and -other parts of the Empire to New Zealand and Australia was proposed next year, and v that the Government would co-operate in supplying information and facilitating the visitors’ tour. The arrangements for the tours, will be in the hands of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. Some dairy farmers experience difficulty in converting the weight of butter-fat into commercial butter. In practice it works out that S3lb of butter-fat is required to make 1001 b commercial butter, and accepting that as a -basis it is not a difficult problem to work out mathematically the amounnt of commercial butter that can be manufactured from any" given quantity of butter-fat. it simply" means multiplying the weight of the butter-fat by 100 and -dividing by 83, the resultant figure being the weight of commercial butter.

'The New South Wales Department of Agriculture has .just published a free leaflet setting’ out n table that the dairyman -can use as a ready--1 ockoner to eon vert, the hut tor-fat shown on his test, sheets Into eommerf.jal butter. Tha simplest method of ronverting hut.tor-fat into commercial butter, anrl one that, is approximate enough for all general purposes, is to add one-fifth to the butter-fat figure, the result, being very near to the exact weight of commercial butter. The opinion that small shows in the Hamilton, district were responsible for the decreasing membership of the Waikato function was expressed by Mr. T. Hinton at the annual meeting of the Waikato Agricultural and Pastoral Association (reports the “Waikato Times”). At these shows, he said, the ring and jumping events were excellent, and the entries were good, proving an attraction to country folk, which 'detracted from the glamour of the local show.

Agriculture is the bedrock of . all p< rmaneut basic success in a .nation. Failure never occurs in agriculture provided the man ha 3 the necessary scientific knowledge backed up by a sufficiency 'of capital, permeated by a virile energy, ana moulded by coneon tration of purpose. -Like all other pursuits .in -which success is spelt, a man must above nil love his occupation, nnc work at it, so to speak, with his whole heart and soul. The judge of dairy produce at the Sydney Royal Show this year remarked that the society had reason to congratulate itself upon the splendid exhibit of butter in ail classes, which, he said, compared very favourably -with, those in the southern capitals. The fact that the Sydney" Show is held at the end of summer, almost at the peak period of production, is a factor in its favour, as in Melbourne and Adelaide the butter is shown too -early in the spring to reflect the- best that can be done in. butter manufacture. Continuing, ho said that, generally speaking, the flavour was rather f aulty, a f-aet which may -be attributed- to -lack of care in cooling the milk. The -outstanding feature m the continuous grading competition was that the cheese shown by the- winning factory was made from pasteurised- milk and bears but the contention that pasteurisation makes it -more -easily possible to produce cheese of uniform quality. “The prospects for the coming year in dairying look brighter, owing to a good season -and to the smooth -working of the Paterson scheme,” said Dr C. A. Verge, in -his presidential address at the annual meeting of the New South Wales branch of the Friesian Cattle Club of Australia. When referring to -the draught horses at last year’s Royal Show in Sydney, the “Herald” suggested that the motor traction invasion of the farm lands had in a large measure driven, off the trusty" old horse that knew so well when the hard -day’s work was -over. This matter was 'mentioned to Mr J. S. Sprott, of Queensland, who was judging the heavy section, and he quite agreed with the suggestion. He thought, however, that the big horse would, in turn, before very long, oust the mechanical device. He spoke very highly of the stock that passed through his hands. It is stated that remarkable examples of inefficiency in pig feeding have -been brought to light by investigations of the Department of Science and Industrial Research. Figures of the cost of feeding in summer, collected from various groups of farms spread over a wide area, show the cost of feed per 1001 b live weight to range from 31s- 6d to 43s fid, and of winter feed to -run from 31s (id to 103-s. The feed necessary to produce 1001 b live weight increase also ranged from 3241 b of meat rne-al, moose meal and potatoes, to 10771 b of meat meal, -barley and artichokes. It is pointed out by the de-partment that in the dairying districts, unless pork is more than Gd per lb, barley at 5s -per bushel cannot -be used. Barley c-annot be produced economically for much under ss : per bushel, -and when it can be used at this price farmers can feed with their present supplies of milk more than four times as many pigs as they are feeding on milk alone, and can double their profits by" so doing. The -extra number should make offal of some value, and thereby reduce the killing and marketing charges. The New Zealand Jersey Cattle Breeders’ Association apparently believes in the motto “safety first.” Since its inauguration 25 years ago its policy has been one of caution —always living within its means, and putting a little -by each year; and, like the snowball, the accumulation has developed with, increasing rapidity as its growth has continued. Though at some general meetings of the members, critics have urged that the purse strings be not so tightly" held, wiser counsels have prevailed, with -the result that recently" the council of the Association -purchased a Centrally" situated section in Palmerston North with -a frontage of 33ft and a do-pt-h of five chains. A still further move -has been made, and a contract has been let for the erection of a threestorey concrete building.