FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9712, 7 January 1895, Page 3

FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

[FROM qr/R ENGLISH : AGRICULTURAL CORRESPONDENT.] *'','.' .:'.■•:JX' ':'■ '- : v ! " London, November 3. LIVE CATTLE, SHEEP, AND CHILLED MEAT FROM AUSTRALIA. No one who saw the Australian cattle which arrived last) week in the Porb Pirie could fail to be struck by their excellent quality and generally good condition. Nine shorthorns and nine Devons were shipped on the 14th of August at Newcastle, at the mouth of the Hunter River, some miles north of Sydney, and one Devon was losb on the voyage from "heab apoplexy," probably when coming through the Red Sea, where the heat was trying. The beasts had obviously been well fattened, and, although they had wasted and lost some of their bloom during their voyage of 66 days, mosbvof them were in capital market condition on arrival, as well as superior in quality to all bub the very besb of the American or Canadian cabtle which come to Deptford. They were kept alive until Saturday for the inspection of the many persons who desired to see them. So far as can be judged from their appearance when alive, they will range in carcase weight from 6001b for the smallest Devon to 11001b for the biggest shorthorn, a grand beast, which must have been fit for a showyard when ho was shipped. The possibility of bringing cattle from Australia in good market condition has been proved beyond all question, but nob the profitableness of the traffic. The Small consignment on the Porb Pirie could be comfortably stalled on deck, one stall, with a boarded division, being devoted to each pair of cattle, with space between one stall and the nexb to enable the attendants to feed and otherwise see after them. Thie is too expensive a method of conveying, ordinary castle to be remunerative, and yet when the proposed plan of reducing expenses by shipping large cargoes is tried, which will involve the placing of most of the animals below deck, the proportion of losses will certainly be greater than ib has been in either of the two trial shipments, and may even be so great as to render the pecuniary loss heavier than it is expected to be in the experimenb now under notice. With the cattle 48 live sheep were shipped, and six were lost on the voyage, while the rest were wretched. objects. They were poorly-bred crosses between the merino and the longwools, and if they were fat when they started, they had wasted extremely, as they were only in store condition when they were landed. '■■ As to the financial results of the venture, I was promised an account by the brokers, Messrs. Allpot and Hughes, of Fehchurch Avenue, London, to whom the animals wore consigned ; but at present, they state, they have nob received details of the cost of the cattle and sheep in Australia or of the expenses of transport. They have given me, however, the following account of the .gross returns and the expenses at Deptford:— 17 Beasts realised .. _ .. £343 15 7 42 .Sheep „ 47 10 11

(Ten Salesmen's Commission) 391 12 0 Deptford charges, etc 23 2 11 '. . - £368 9 7 The cost of the animals and expenses in ! Australia, freight, insurance, fodder, at- i tendance, and salesmen's commission have i to be deducted. Whether there will be any profit or nob is uncertain ; but it will be seen that the cattle averaged over £20 each. The sheep will not pay for the cost of bringing them to this country, to say nothing of their value when they left Australia. The most important experiment tried on the Port Pirio was that of shipping a thousand quarters of chilled (not frozen) beef. The intention was to keep the temperature of the cold chamber in which the meat was placed a little below freezing point, and it is said that the experiment was successful until the ship arrived at Colombo. Then something went wrong with the machinery, and it was necessary to freeze the meat hard in order to preserve it. Thu3 the experiment has come to naught. There were 15,000 carcases of frozen mutton on board, and it is supposed that) some difficulty arose from the attempt to keep the temperature lower in one chamber than the other. However this may be, the failuro of the experiment was the rosulb- of an accident, and no doubt another trial will soon be mado.

FOOD ADULTERATION. v The select committee of the House of Commons on Food Products Adulteration have issued an interim report simply introducing the evidence brought before them during the past session, and recommending their own reappointment next year. The evidence is a strong indictment against the administration of the Food and Drugs and Margarine Acts. The local authorities who have the administration of these Acts have disgracefully neglected them, so that throughout large portions of the country they are not put in operation at all, and in many others to so slight an extent as to be useless as a check upon the sale of adulterated food. During the year 1893 only 37,-33 samples of food and produce were taken for analysis in the whole of England and Wales, and 15,543 of these were of milk, and 5784 were of butter, or socalled butter. But nob a single sample was taken within the jurisdiction of two County Councils, or of the Town Councils of 16 boroughs, including such populous places as Northampton, Dover, and Colchester, while in many whole counties, and in some very populous towns the samples taken were from eleven to fifty only. Under these circumstances the sale of adultered food flourishes. There were only 3144 prosecutions in the wholo country last year, resulting in 2816 convictions, and about half these were for milk, and about) a quarter for butter. The mischief in the case of milk is that separated milk is extensively mixed with whole milk, the mixture being sold as whole milk. Of course this greatly diminishes the demand for milk, and reduces the price received by farmers. Most of the witnesses, including some of the best-known representatives of the dairyfarming interest, recommended a fixed standard for milk, - and also a standard for the proportion of water to be allowed in butter, 16 per cent, being commonly regarded as high enough. Other recommendations were the prohibition and the colouring of margarine, the compulsory branding of skim-milk cheese, the registration of sellers of margarine, and, most important of all, the appointment by the Local Government Board of travelling inspectors to go about the country and detect cases in which adulterated food is sold as genuine, especially in those districts where the local authorities neglect the proper administration of the law.

TUBERCULOSIS. Two veterinary authorities, one in England and one in France, have recently called attention to the important subject of tuberculosis in cattle. Professor McFadyean, the new Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, dwelt upon this subject in his inaugural address, describing the malady as the most serious one now prevalent among domestic animals; He estimated that 20 per cent, of the adult cattle in Great Britain are affected with the disease, and that the annual loss thorefrom is half-a-million sterling. Although he has come to the conclusion that the disease is not hereditary, he would not allow tuberculous animals to breed. He said that although veterinary authorities had been divided as to whether this disease is hereditary or not it has not been detected among calves under a month old in one case in a thousand, even when one of the parents was tuberculous, while in cattle under two years old the proportion was less than one per cent. He thoroughly believes in the tuberculin test for the detection of the disease, and by its application, he said, owners of cattle might separate the healthy from the tuberculous animals. This he regards as essential as the disease is spread by contagion, especially in enclosed places. He recommends breeders to apply the tuberculin test, and to sell cattle warranted free from tuberculosis for breeding purposes. M. iNocard, the French authority above referred to, who delivered his address before Professor McFadyean spoke on the subject, stated opinions almost identical with those just mentioned. He dwelt at considerable length upon the danger to human health and life by means of the consumption of meat and milk from tuberculous animals. The British authority referred to this topic also, bub both of them appear to me to be illogical in declining to recommend the suppression of this terrible disease, so dangerous to human beings, by slaughtering all animals found affected, and paying compensation to. their owners, Pul-

monary consumption, one form'of tuberculosis, causes more deaths among mankind than any other disease, and there is no doubb" that it is caused to a very great exbenbby the agency of tuberculous meat and milk. Therefore, ab any cost, this disease among animals ought to be stamped out; and if the tuberculin test is as trust worthy as both the British and French authorities declare it to be, and they are right in declaring thab it is nob hereditary, there oannobbe any difficulty in suppressing the disease.

THE HOP CROP. ' A return of the Board of Agriculture, just issued, makes the produce of 59,535 acres of hops grown this year 636,846cwb, or 10 # 7cwb per acre. These figures compare with 57,564 acres, 414,929cwt, and 7*2lcwb in 1893. This year's crop is the best grown since 1886, when -701,127 acres produced! 776,144cwb, or ll"o7cwb per acre. Unfortunately, the good crop has brought prices down, and growers will nob geb nearly so good a return as they obtained last year. SIR JOHN LA WES ON THE WHEAT CROP. Sir John Lawes, of Rothamsted, has issued his annual report on the wheat crop. It is particularly interesting as showing the effect of climate upon the yield of wheat. But the results of 1893 and 1894 are apparent exceptions to the general rule that the besb crops of wheat are grown in dry seasons, and therefore they need explanation. The drought of 1893 was too severe for anything, even for wheab on heavy land. A dozen rainy days in June and July would have given us a splendid crop, and in the North of England some very fine crops were produced. Bub in the Southern half of the country, in which Rothamsted is. situated, the crops were almost scorched up. The yield of the plot never manured during fifty years was only 9| bushels an acre, and the average for all the selected plots, including those variously manured as well as the unmanured one, was 21J bushels an acre, or less than in any but about three of the fifty years. This year, however, in spite of the excessive rainfall of the summer months, July especially, the yield on the unmanured plot was 18 bushels, and the average for all the plots was 37£ bushels an acrea quantity only once exceeded in fifty-one years. Sir John estimates the average yield of the United Kingdom ab 33 bushels an acre, making the total 8,156,379 quarters. Deducting for seed, he makes the quantity available for consumption 7,662,053 quarters. The consumption for twelve months, at six bushels a head of the population of 31,001,405 (the mean population of the cereal year), to include what is commonly given to live stock, comes to 29,251,054 quarters, so thab 21,589,001 quarters would be required from imports and surplus home stocks. But, allowing for an extra use of wheat for stock, on account of its cheapness, Sir John Lawes makes our requirements in excess of this year's home production fully 22,000,000 quarters.