JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1095, 24 February 1893, Page 7

JOTTINGS.

The cause of what is termed pieces of butter iu the new milk is that tho cows are going dry. The particles are really dregs or curded milk. Milk containing such is not wholesome and unless by generous feeding the cows again give milk free from the dregs, it is better dry them off. Sometimes cows begiu to dry off from neglect in not properly cleaning out their udders, but it is very common for them to begin to dry off when brought from pastures and put on dry dry food, especially if the dry food be not of good quality, and when the animals have been a considerable period in profit. When cows are taken from pasture fields to sheds, it is important that they get roots, cabbage, or some such vegetable diet as a substitute for grass. Over dry diet is not good for milking cows. A writer in a southern paper says, that the work attendant on milkiDg is condemned by many and if workers require to put in their full tally of hours in the field throughout summer and harvest, with the milking and attendance of a batch of cowa in addition, the condemnation cannot be expressed in too strong terms. In any other work in this free and enlightened colony eight hours is the standard, and it may be enquired, why should people who attempt to live by cows require to put in twelve or fourteen hours ? There is no work done in the country without wages, and wages should be paid for cows milking and milking carting as well as to the skilled man who manipulates it. If a cow-keeper’s own family will not milk cows, he must pay Borne other man’s bods or daughters to .do it, and if there is no wages in the business, then he must do with it as he does with each bull calf—just knock it on the head. But why should there be no wages in the work. It is clear enough that the miller, the bootmaker, the blacksmith, who works for colonial trade, do not work without wages, but, unfortunately, it is nearly as evident that the man who by his capital employs labour to produce anything for exporting to the markets of tho world has to do it for next to nothing and find himself. Mr Wilson, the Victorian departmental dairy expert, has received instructions to proceed to England with the last shipment of this season's butter to report on a number of subjects connected with the dairying industry. He is to ascertain by experiment on the voyage, and also on his arrival iu England, whether the freezing of butter injures its quality. Mr Wilson will also endeavour to obtain reliable information for the department respecting the price realised and the condition of each shipment of butter sent from here next season. Among other matters he will inquire whether our present system of shipping and packing is as good as it ought to be, and whether reduced freights and charges cannot be secured for next season’s exports. The Minister has also directed him to make searching inquiry as to whether any butter sent here to London is mixed with margarine, repacked in the same boxes and resold as best Victorian butter, also to ascertain if the influence of combinations among wholesale buyers injuriously affects the prices obtained, and the best means of counteracting such influence. Instructions have been given to Mr Wilson to take a small experimental shipment of Victorian cheese with him, noting the proper temperature on the voyage necessary for its landing in perfect condition, and the proper packages, weights, and colour to suit the English buyers. Mr Wilson is also to visit Denmark and Canada in search of improved dairy appliances and methods, making special inquiries as to the use of milkingmachines, and any other matter that is likely to be of service for the further development of the dairy industry of this colouy. Mr Wilson’sreportwillbe not devoid of interest for the New Zealand agriculturist and exporters. When cows are freely fed before calving time, the udder is very liable to be hard and feverish. Gentle hand rubbing toward the teats, with warm lard, frequently and completely removing the milk, together with a bran mash and roots, will generally overcome the difficulty in a short time. In all such cases, timely relief is readily secured, but ueglejt is liable to excite inflammation in the distended glands. Though the udder is

spoken of as a single organ, it is an aggregation of four glands, each having an outlet in a teat. When the warts on the teats of a cow have a small neck, the best method is to tie them off with strong silk. In tying for this purpose, make two turns of the thread, instead of one in the first part of the knot, so that it will not slip or loosen when the second or last turn is made for the knot. The knot must be drawn tightly, and, for this purpose, the silk or linenthread must be fine and strong. In broad-necked warts, caustics must be applied, by creasing around the wart, and applying the strong nitric acid by means of a stick, whittled to a fine point, dipped into the acid. Apply with the stick held perpendicularly, so that the acid will run down into the point of the stick every time it’s applied, in numerous prickings all over the surface of the wart. Repeated applications will be most effectual at the time of cauterization. For the year 1891, by the Registrar General’s returns, tho number of milch cows in Ireland was 1,412,270, while in Australasia it was 1,126,846. This gives Australasia a present butterproducing power for export equal to four fifths of the Irish product. Iu other words, Australasia staits in the race a very little behind Ireland, a position for this group of colonies that is of the utmost promise. A visitor to the Kopuaranga Butter Factory, lately started by the Wairarapa Farmers’ Assoc’ation, thus describes the modus operandi.—On the supplier arriving with his milk cans they are. hoisted to a platform on which stands the weighing machine together with a seventy-gallon vat where the milk is strained, weighed and ruu into the vessel capable of holding 500 gallons. This vat has a false bottom and is fitted with steam pipes, whereby the milk can be heated to the temperature required for the De Laval (Alpha) separator, which is rated to separate 320 gallons an hour. The cream vat will hold 300 gallons and is also supplied with heaters, but cn account of the small quantity of milk, it is not used at present except to cool the cream in cans. The butter is made in a Davis Swing Churn,No 8, to which connections have been attached, with an intermediate from the driving shaft, This churn will make 120 pounds at a time. From the churn the butter goes to the worker, one that will work up to eighty poundß, and supplied by a Dunedin firm. Near by there is the refrigerator, where the butter can be kept cool in the hottest of weather.