FAIW AND MlffV.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LI, Issue 9068, 14 April 1906, Page 5

FAIW AND MlffV.

Westland is thinking seriouely of becoming a dairying province. Wit hia the last year or two .butter factories have (been erected at Kokatabd and Arahura, c and one is now being talfeed of for Waitaha, further south. Ouc« upon, a time there was a factory at Kargfaea, which a Christchurch firm is. now aboufc to re-estab-lish.

,t, t Writes a practical farmer to- an. exchange :— "The value of barley as- feed >for 6tock is not recognised as it 'ought ~to be. Eor pig feed' it ie one of' the jbest grainy that can be fed, producing pork joi the finest quality.' It is also, a good grain fox horses, keeping them in excellent condition. For milch cows bailey steeped and allowed «to .begin to sprout i» We of- the best' mflk-prdduicihg feeds that can be given. ' Not only is it useful as but green 1 bari«y« is«~ aX excellent' change for- all- kindtf of retook in" th& early fipiing, and is ohe. of the earliest* g*een jfoodg ? thait}oaii>b« andtwiU yield gOoc^cnttjn^ if- put inl.eatly^' c The export of "cow" _and "bulV tieel has- oreat4d> a market for old' stock wh§ch 'otherwise th© farmer would find hard^ to *di6pose^of' (says* r «hfe Taramki H»rald)V It He fifa^'-b^'arbtfyer-th^ the price has 'lkeii> advanced f>rom' ( 10s itb 20s per head (all 'sound; for otd cattle by' this outle*. *For the* period; ftoni SeEtember to March 31 1 tfifere were s4&ughteried afc the *New Plymouth abattoir^ 1 for "caoning" ?p'ua?poses, 329 cows y 29 i; oxi&a, 159 bulls, and "102; calves)" "total" 618; which shows that •the trade, is an. expanding one.

', In a letter published in the New Zealand Herald, lli' r Aridre\?. M. Campbell, formerly of Taranafci, B&ys-that th© Canadian is certainly; a firef class cbe.ese-iiaafcer, and bos mechanical' methods in buttermaliing^are just v ajjoi]A perfect, and/ much in advance of Nfi"w t ' %%a}ajvjlt yrays. But for .quality of pipductipj^ he^. », sadly behind!, .the piincipal.- Tgason,. beji^g tEe practice of faking, a suppiy, of. gatligred. slaile ore4m. Generally, epe^K^g,, i l»' tjie d^ry |hexds are no b^tifer. thas> they, are .in "tiara,* nak'i. ' "

The, Argentine .^op£7esgpsiic[ent of the jOtagja l3^^,"^ftme6,,';WTJ^ [from Buenos jAywg UjE^pt :^|b s !ts^%' '^bru^y, says: "Tb"e.oii%bk .fojrthie yeair,if ho'fetoo apod owing to. toe locust. R}a'guo. -Ljocushsi cljira ,u^^4jaat' f^,jpao^h^sa»^ «>caxed ejjery '{Ojie. " *^ey< law tfaoagji, the ( iibr v th of- i}ag Tepu|lic .ipt, ,* 'mangas." or im,men6e sw^nfil ' • %<?£ have f'gopp tft^r %se swept eyfijiytfajng gajeen in" front, 'of' tqem. TJis, however,, i£ not "tjie worst';, eggs have beep deposited, in and.! JjjText year, tl^e country will ( have to pay "^hV-a. piper. Tfhere is a department under -tfie' Government control Tor destroy.ingfthe locusts, but with a num',ber of. good years this^degarbmeJit has be- ■ come .nothing more or, less than a political hospital, where the parties are rewarded for services rendered to those thit are in power."

It is reported that some injury has been inflicted on the, manufactured products of' Qjneiansland milk as a result of the use of preservatives. Farmers in Queensland have been led to use certain compounds which are TepresSbted to be preservatives of milk, and in one>^ case at 'any rate the preservative contains- a proportion of formalin. The effect is to delay or prevent the acid ferment which would otherwise take place. But when the milk is to be converted', into cream, butter, or cheese, the presence and action of the preservative, spoils the flavor which is largely the result of the. natural mild acid ferment, l an&' as a result these commodities are-de-preciated in- quality. The Department of Agriculture has lately taken steps to enforce its prohibition, of the use of preservatives, and as. a result a certain firm of manufacturers of a' preservative largely containing, formalin-, 'which has been circulated in Queensland, have instructed all their agents to destroy their stock at the cost of tjhe mannfaictuferjß.

Some rather strange facts and figures are disclosed as a of aa, engujry into the distribution of rainfall and ojjber nieteorological elements' in.' the 'seasons of the last 21 years, as recorded h$ a '-British publication devoted to the subject. ''The apparent connection) between/foe rainfall in the autumn and the yietff df j wheat ijn the next yeair is so .remarkable i that I think it woish 'noticing ia • this column, although a similar result may opt) obtain here. ' A table is given showing the year, the amount <A rainfall during the three autumn months, and the yield of the wheat crop the following harvest, and this table shows plainly that the average yield of wheat in England is high when the previous autumn has been dry, and low when, the autumn has been unusually vreb—r in, other words,' the yield goes up as- the rainfall goes down. For instance, the best average yield during the 21 years was in 1898, when, the yield -was 35 bushels per acre, and the rainfall during the previous autumn was only sio. In 1895 the yield was 32 bushels, and followed a <fay j^tumn^-dry at least' for England. Wh^n there was 9in or" lOin of rain the yield i& the .following year' dropped' to 26 and 27 -bushels <xa. an average. It is deduced from this table that the yield of English wheat diminishes by a bushel and a-quar-J ter for every inch of rain that (fall© ia the preceding autumn.

Recently the Victorian Minister for Agriculture (Mr Swinburne) visited New Zealand on a touT of investigation. The dairying methods of New' Zealand were enquired into, and butter-grading at a few of the principal ports "was given special attention. Butter and cheese factories were visited, long conversations were held with officials of the Stock Department, and agricultural matters generally had Mr Swinburne's attention. " The impression gained by him was that in butter-making, at all events, Victoria has nothing to learn from bar southern neighbor. If Victoria has nothing she can teach. New Zealand, the latter has no new methods which, can, with profit, be adopted by Victoria. la land questions Mr Swinburne was greatly interested, and he had many imterviewe with Ministers, member of Parliament, settlers, and even with members of the Land Commission. It was interesting for an Australian, to be informed that many changes wero contemplated in a system which formerly was considered to be as close to perfection as jony system of dealing with land could possibly be.- M* Swinburne has come back (says a Victorian paper) more than ever a believer in, the freehold system. Leasehold, no matter on what conditions it may be given, can he ia convinced, never be. a success. 'Free*

hold, as against leasehold, is certainly growing in favor in. New Zealand, and he thinks that the Government will be compelled to legislate in that direction. The expenditure ia connection with the Agricultural Department is £12,000 a year in NeAv Zoa^nd as compared with £55,000 in Victoria. Mr Swinburne does not think that the money is being expanded to best advantage, but was, nevertheless, greatly impressed with the energy which is beiag displayed by all, the- officers of the Department, and the endeavors being made 1 to advance agriculture throughout the I colony. Agriculture in Victoria is to be more encouraged than in the past, and Mi Swinburne's investigations may Tesult Vu at least some New Zealand methods being" adopted and improved upon in his own j State. - I

MARGARINE SOLD FOR DANISH BUTTER. A correspondent writes to a Wellington contemporary undeT the above heading as follows : —

"On the principle that constant dropping will wear away a stone, I again crave your indulgence to call attention to the latest, up-to-date case against the English butter-fakir and his satellites. It has been alleged by the friends of the fakir in this colony that faked butter and margarine fill two clearly-defined and perfectly legitimate places on the markets of the Old Country, that each and both of these commodities are sold for what they really are, and therefore no one is deceived or defrauded, that the business is absolutely honest, and that the people, who inveigh against it, including my own good self, are either agitating with some ulterior motive, or because I and' they do not know any better. That is the position of the fakir, his friends, satellites, agents, and buyers, a 6 they have defined the situation for themselves. For the present, then, we will accept that position. I will ask, then, what they have to say to this : A conviction was -obtained a lew weeks ago at the Birmingham Police Courb against a grocer who had secured the contract foT the supply of butter to the local Hospital, and who carried out (the contract by supplying pure margarine. In bis tender for the contract this main had specified that he would supply Danisn butter. For -a while the contractor carried out his contract fairly and squarely, and when he thought he had paved the way_ sufficiently well for his purpose Ec commenced to supply the hospital with margarine ! The imitation article was supplied in casks that had originally been; used for genuine Danish butter, and this fact helped the prosecution materially in securing a conviction, and this Magistrate thereupon inflicted a fine of £50 and costs. To ensure a conviction, witnesses in this case were brought from Denmark, and their evidence was given through an interpreter, the chairman of the Danish Butter Producers' Association being among those subpoenaed. Now, sir, I think this case will be a hard nut for the friends of the fakirs in this colony to crack, and- it will necessitate the formulation of a new l ine of argument. But the object of this latter is to awaken the producere of this colony to the fact that the margarine maker, the butter fakir and the oleo man, are slowly but surely reducing the value of tineir land, their cattle, and their industry generally, while they are lying quiescent in their fool's paradise, created tnis year by an abnormal scarcity of the | pure product of the cow. Let us have a ' normal European summer with a mild and genial spring, and let us have, too, a few more hundred butter-faking factories in "-uerrie Englaind," and then, 1 say. we j will see New Zealand butter down to 65s or 70s per cwt., and it will then be too la)te to take steps to stop the business of the fakir and the margarine maker. When are the dairy farmers going to wake up to the fact that this is the most vital • subject that ever threatened their indiis- ! try?" * i