JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1196, 1 February 1895, Page 7

JOTTINGS.

Australia’s great competitor, the Argentina, is making progress in productiveness by leaps and bounds. The wheatVuiplus in the province ot Santa Fb last season was 534,000 tons. This is converted into flour in the province, the mill plants of which aggregate a capacity of 1,120,000 tons per annum, and last year had an actual output of 621,000 tons “ The Argentine millers are chasing United States flour out of the South American markets.” The world was quite unprepared for the amazing increase of the export. In 1893.4 the European expectation was that the Argentine Republic would send across . her borders or out of her ports about 20,000,000 bushels of wheat. The actual export was a trifle under 50,000,000 bushels. Of course the result was that the value of wheat dropped all over the world.

By way of helping the farmers to carry on under the existing low price of wheat, the South Australian Railway Commissioners have issued the following by-law :—Until such time as the price of wheat at Port Adelaide exceeds 2s 9d per bushel, a rebate of 15 per cent, will be made off the tariff rates for the carriage of wheat over the South Australian railways. Provided that such rebate will only be allowed on rates exceeding 2s 6d per ton, and such rebate shall in no case reduce the charge below 2s 6d per ton.

An instance of a large number of .sheep being attacked by blindness is mehtibhed' by the Nhill and Tatiara Mail (Victoria). Mr C. A. F, Gladigan, of Winiam, has over a thousand sheep that from some unknown cause have become almost blind. The cause of this is unknown to the sheep farmers in the district, but one thing is certain —-namely, that it is not owing to grass seed. It is noticed that the sheep have a white film over the ball of the which obscures the sight. Some sheep were attacked in the same manner., last year, but after a time they recovered the use of their sight.

We have for years preached, says the National Dairyman , not against washing, but against ‘’soaking” the butter .in granular form. ..Often the

water will be allowed to run in the churn and left there, while the maker does some ether work or talks with the perennial butter or salt agent, or the omnipresent consignment solicitor, for an hour at a time. That kind of washing is not to be recommended. But even where the rinsing is done expeditiously, we regret to say too little care is taken to have the right kind of water. Unless it is pumped directly from a deep well it should always be boiled and then cooled to the temperature at which the churning

is commenced. “ More work for us,” . w 6 hear.some of the boys growling, “it is easy‘chough to make butter theoretically with pen and ink in an office—- * pshaw, will they never let up ?” No ; we never will let up until the keeping quality has been raised so as to allow the bu,ttey.jto be exported, if necessary, and we are sure that this very use of any kind of water for washing the butter has more to do with it than most of the boys think. More work 1 Certainly, but not as much as you would th|pk, provided proper convenience is provided to boil and cool it. To wash the butter while on the worker- is not to be recommended, unless you want to work water into it to increase the weight, which procedure will give you shortage trouble with the buyers.

Mr C. D. Smith, of the Michigan Agricultural College, writing to the National Dairyman in October last, says “ Some experiments we have recently made in butter-making go far to show us that where the utmost care is taken to keep the milk free from infection from the time it leaves the cow’s udder until the butter is packed it is not a question of great importance whether the butter is washed or not. I am not prepared to say as yet that the statement is true where rigid cleanliness is not insisted upon. We have divided a good many churnings of butter into two parts as soon as the - churning was completed. One of these parts we have salted, worked, and packed without washiug; the other half we have washed thoroughly and

salted and packed in the usual way. The expert to whom the samples of butter have been submitied could

detect no essential difference in the taste of the butter, either when fresh or after it had been kept for several weeks. 1 " The editor of the journal

quoted adds in reference to this matter : —“ Some 14 years ago Danish butter-makers did nob wash their butter, yet stood right up with the French, who did wash. We have always advocated a slight rinsing, but fought the leaving of the butter to soak in water (as we have seen some American makers do) for quite a while. If the butter is thus left and repeatedly washed, we feel sure the experts will find a difference. Enough stress cannot be laid on the purity of the water used, a precaution to which but few makers give any thought.”

Farm and Field gives the following instructions for getting the weight of live stock by measurement :—Tuke the measurement of the girth where it is smallest (close behind the shoulder), and the length of the animal from the front of the shoulder to the juncture of the tail. Multiply the square of the girth in feet and inches by the length in feet, and multiply the product by •23, - 24, 26, *2B, or ‘3O, according to the fatness of the animal, and the result will give the weight in imperial atones. For instance, if the girth of a cow in moderate condition be 6ft, the length as above sft 4in, then x 6 = 36 x = 192 x - 24 = 46 - 08 stones. This is the carcase weight of the animal. The weight of the carcase would be about of the live weight for cattle ; for sheep, from to |-; and for a pig, from \ to f of the live weight.