JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1199, 22 February 1895, Page 5

JOTTINGS.

The Feilding Star waxes humorous as follows :—Humble bees are thriving well on this coast, and attaining an enormous size in some instances. We heard of a horse being nearly knocked down, when being ridden up the ELinibolton road, by' one of these insects, now we learn that a Hawera man shot one in mistake for a New Zealand crow, and only discovered his mistake when he went to bag his l >ii*d. The truth of this story is vdUohml for by alleged respectable witnesses; but some people would like to see the bee. One third of the shares in the Campbelltown Dairy Factory have already been taken up, and ..no doubt the remainder will soon be disposed of. Mr Sorensen, formerly Government dairy expert, and now owner of a big dairy factory in the Hawera district, has received a letter from a Danish correspondent who says :—" We have had a most exciting time in the butter world here, and hundreds of thousands of kroners (a kroner is a little over a shilling) have been lost within the last six weeks. But T hope this will bring about a more sound business, viz: that tip-top prices will only be paid for what is tip-top, and the rest according to quality, while hitherto we have paid tip-top price for rubbish as well as Al quality. I warned you a year ago about prices, and I repeat this warning because prices are sure to come still further down, and farmers in the colony must j ÜBt selii milk accordingly. If you think that we are going to leave all the

field to you, you are very much mistaken. We will, of course, fight like men, and we will keep a good piece of ground in spite of you. This is only possible, however, when our farmers listen to reason, but they have already shown good signs that they will help us to fight, instead of asking an impossible price for their milk." Commenting on the letter, Mr Sorensen writes: —" The above remarks, from a member of the Copenhagen Committee of Butter Exporters, show the attitude the Danes have taken up, and it behoves us to leave no straw unturned whereby we can improve our quality ; for it is only by placing a better article on the market, and not simply a greater quantity, that we can compete successfully against Denmark. Let us begin at the beginning. Our butter, as it leaves the best of our factories, is superior to the stall fed Danish article, and this I say with knowledge of both. If it does not reach home equally as good the damage must be done in transit." The writer maintains that the damage is done during the train transit, owing to the high temperature of the trucks, a difficulty which, he says, is obviated in Denmark by the following means :—" At each end of every truck—of course, properly isolated—a box holding about lcwt of ice is suspended from the roof. As often as need be, these boxes can be refilled during the journey from the roof, much in the same way as oil lamps are let down into the carriages. The cold air from this ice descends 'into; the truck, and in the hottest sun the temperature will not rise above 55 degrees. Ice could be obtained at the freezing 1 works on the way down, and the pense incurred would repay shippers a hundredfold in the improvement in quality."

Mr J. C. George, manager of the* Crown Dairy Factory Company, has been suffering from ill-health lately and is about to take a trip to the Old Country.

Mr Palmer, the Government fruit expert, Was in Napier the other day, and gave the News an outline of his recent doings and experiences. The Neios says :—Mr Palmer has been traversing the country from Wellington upwards, inspecting orchards,and fruit gardens generally. He finds the majority of them in a lamentable condition from blight and neglect. This latter feature he describes as most disgracefully prominent. Ihere were notable exceptions; but the appearance of the few orchards which were kept clean, only proves, Mr Palmer justly thinks, that the evil condition of the majority is due to ignorance and neglect alone Ha vkf's Bay he thinks admirably adapted for fruit growing; from oranges to blackberries, all would flourish here. In reply to a question he said he would advise fruitgrowers in this district to make a specialty of raising lemons, vines and prunes. The last named tree is particularly prolific and the market is unfailing. Mr Palmer saw at Mr Harris' place, Greenmeadows, one prune tree from which 4001 b weight of fruit was got this year. Mr Palmer is very emphatic in his disapproval of the want of system shown by orchard owners. He remarks that many people imagine that it is enough to stick a tree into the ground and let it grow, without keeping it clean or pruning it, Mr Palmer has bsen instructed by the Government to meet the Victorian expert and show him about New Zealand. He leaves for Wellington forthwith to meet that gentleman.

The Otakeho correspondent of the Hawera Star writes as follows :—I understand from a good many sources that the potato crop on the plains is a partial failure this year. It is

attributed to a too dry spring. The stalks are targe and the tubers little. Very early sorts and the late plantings are not so bad. Peaches are coming in once more. Time was some twelve years ago when you could get sackfuls of them from the natives at your own price. Our mouths water at the very thought !

Hitherto, most landowners in this district, says the Nelsoa Colonist, have looked upon the gorse as an enemy which should be slaughtered by any means and at any time, but we hear of a Golden Bay settler who has cultivated the enemy to his own advantage. This settler has, by growing gorse on poor land and burning it off when it gets beyond a certain stage, succeeded in carrying between three and four times as many sheep as he could formerly feed off his land. The sheep take kindly to the young gorse, which the settler referred to looks upon as a good servant. He says that he has only to see that the gorse does not become his master by growing too large. We hear that one settler in a valley branch ing from the Waimea is contemplating importing a gorse crusher, so that he may utilise the plant for feeding his cows. Gorse passed through a crusher is, according to analysis, the best of foods for producing butter and for fattening stock.

"Mark Twain, I think, is credited with the saying that * When travelling you meet strange companions.' It was forcibly brought to my mind after taking a cargo of ironbark from Clarence River to Napier. Now, in this wood you could not notice an ant before shipping it on board, but afterwards the ship was infested fore and aft with the white ant. Now the question arises, is the white ant after its emigration to New Zealand liable to infest the beds of kauri 1 If so, it will be a great misfortune to New Zealand. I remember years ago, in the Fairy Rock brig, I introduced the codlin moth to South Australia in the apples, not wilfully, but as a matter of speculation on my part, and if the white ant should obtain a footing in New Zealand I think it would be worse than the codlin moth."— Hawke's Bay Herald.

How often our horses go lame soon after being shod by the best blacksmith, who thinks he is a scientific horse-shoer, but knows nothing of the veterinary laws of conformation ! He makes all conform to his iron rule or shoe knife.jind rasp. On this subject the Baltimore American says : —lt is found that most maladies resulting from horse-shoeing are due to an uneven and unbalanced wall (all that part of the hoof that is visible below the hair when the hoof is placed upon the ground) in connection with an undue height of the heel. If the heels are allowed to grow too high, the greater part of the weight is thrown forward upon the bone structure of the limb and the bones of the foot are forced forward against the wall in front. Inflammation of the foot and soreness in the joints and bones soon follow such a course. If the toes, on the contrary, are allowed to grow too long, then the preponderance of weight is thrown upon these flexor tendons, which ate on the back side of the foot, and these tendons become inflamed. The hoofs, therefore, must be pared in such a way that the weight of the animal is equally distributed between the bones and flexor tendons. If one heel is permitted to grow h'ghet than the other, bruises on the high heel, called corns, will result. Horses with weak, tender, or bruised soles may for a time require leather or waterproof pads, but as the sole grows these should be discontinued. They are never required in healthy feet where the sole, which is the best and most natural protection, is allowed to grow undisturbed by the knife. Horses with corns should have their shoes made with a wide inside web, which rests upon the bars, or have for a time a bar shoe. The last nail on the inside should also be dispensed with, and the seat of the corn or bruise carefully pared out without injuring either the frog or the bars.

Recently mention was made in the cablegrams of what is known as the " Sewell" process of packing butter for export. A ton of butter packed by this process was recently shipped Home as ordinary cargo. The Argus now gives us more detailed particulars of the process. It appears the butter was packed in brine in 561 b kegs. It was placed in a circular cage of upright wooden laths, surrounded

by hoops, and made of such a size as to leave a space of about lin between the. inner cage and the keg. The brine was poured into this space. The bottom of the case was perforated, and spaces were left between the laths. A patent was taken out by Mr R. B. Sewell (formerly a locomotive inspector in the Railway Department) on tbe 29th of August, 1891, for a new method of packing butter. The description then given of this method was :—" It consists of an inner cage or skeleton casing within, and by preference concentric with an outer casing, so as to leave a space between the inner and outer for the reception of the ; brine or other preservative." Mr D. Wilson, the Victorian Government dairy expert, being interviewed on the subject, said that he tried shipping butter to England by surrounding it with brine in kegs 10 years ago, so that this process is no new idea. The objection to it was that the brine had a tendency to draw the sap out of the wood, which then tainted the butter unless the casks had been well saturated for some weeks beforehand with brine, and the sap well exhausted before the butter was put into the barrels. This entailed expense, and, moreover, there was the risk of the hoops coming off the casks or becoming loose and allowing the brine to escape, in which case the butter would no doubt be spoilt.

The value of separated milk as a food for dairy cows has been tested in Victoria. Farmers supplying milk to butter factories have, as a rule, the privilege of taking home the separated milk free of charge. At some factories a charge of a farthing per gallon is made, but this is not universal. The separated milk, when taken home from the factory, is used to feed pigs and calves, but it is not generally known that, mixed with a little bran, it forms a splendid ration for milking cows. Mr J. McFarlane, of Lyndhurst, Victoria, has made it a practice to feed separated milk to his cows for some years, and he finds that it gives very satisfactory results. During the winter mouths, when the cows are kept in the shed all night, their night and morning ration consists of about a bucketful of bran that has been mixed with separated milk, so as to make a mash, and a sheaf of hay. . The custom is to mix in the morning the food required for the night, and mix at night the ration intended to be given in the morning. When the bran is mixed with the milk about 12 hours before ix> is used a slight fermentation sets in, the food being warm when it is given to the cows, and therefore particularly acceptable to them in cold weather. They milk splendidly on it and though bran for a considerable portion of the time during which Mr McFarlane has used it in the manner described was a rather dear food, he found that it paid him well.

Furstenburg, a well known German authority, gives the following rules for determining the age of pigs:—"The anima' is born with eight teeth, four corner incisors and four tusks. On the eighth or tenth day appears the second or third temporary molar. At four weeks old the four rippers appear, two in the upper and two in the lower jaw. At the fifth or sixth week the foremost temporary molars appear in the upper and lowe.r jaw. At the age of three months intermediary incisors have appeared above gums. At the sixth month the so-called wolf's teeth will have appeared, and at tho same time appear the third permanent molars. At the ninth- month the following teeth will have appeared, viz , the permanent corner incisors, the permanent tusks, and also the second permanent molars. At the twelfth month the permanent rippers will be in view. With the twelfth and thirteenth months the three temporary molars will have been shed, and the permanent substitutes, which at 15 months of age will have fully appeared, are now just sutting through the gums. With the eighteenth month the permanent intermediary incisors and the hindmost permanent molar will have made their appearance, and with the twenty-first month they will be fully developed."

The Gothic, says a London cablegram, is being fitted up to carry 300 tons of chilled beef.

A reduction in the railway tariff for the carriage of sheep took effect from Monday last. The special charge for double floor trucks is now abolished, and both double and single floor trucks are provided at the same rate. The reduced rate means a saving to the sheep owner of 8s 9d per truck for transport for 50 miles. The pre-

sent rate for that distance is 38s 9d for at double floor truck, but it is now only 30s. With the view of stimulating tbe export of first-class butter to England, the Canadian Government has arranged to advance the dairymen 20 cents per lb. Mr H. Gardner, President of the British Board of Agriculture, in reply to a deputation, declined to relax the regulations dealing with the importation of foreign cattle. The Maoriland Government Loan Department is now fairly starved, and in 10 years or so some of the pessimists of to-day will have a fair chance to decide whether the scheme is a failure or not. So far as* present appearances go the situation is something like this: There are .£30,000,000 lent on real estate mortgages in Maoriland, and the average interest is 7 per cent., or a little more, therefore the community pays .£2,100,000 a year, and still owes the same old .£30,000,000, which never shifts one iota. Under the Government scheme borrowers will pay 5 per cent- ! interest, and i per centi towards redemption I of the principal, which will thereby be extinguished in 36 years. Therefore, if the I whole mortgage business of the country I can be gradually absorbed by the State, I or —what is the same thing—if the private lender can be forced down to the State's terms, the country will pay .£1,800,000 a year for principal and interest instead of .£2,100,000 for interest alone, and in 36 years the saving to the community will be a small trifle of .£40,000,000. The Bulletin has remarked the same thing before, bnfc out of deference to a slow and thick-headed community which absorbs new ideas very gradually it hereby states it all over again, to impress upon Australians the necessity for trying a similar experiment.—Sydney Bulletin.

Mr J. A. Gilruth, Government veterinary surgeon, arrived from the South on Friday. During his absence he -has visited the Chatham Islands, and investigated the i complaints from Mr L. W. Hood, owner of the Ouenga Station, of a malady in his flock. Mr Gilruth found that the sheep were not suffering, as was alleged, from a spinal complaint, but from a species of paralysis, and gave the necessary advice for their treatment, which no doubt stand their owner in good stead. Mr Gilruth is not at all impressed with the class of sheep at the Chathams, but he had not an opportunity of seeing the leading flocks. The Agricultural Department on Friday received a cable message from the Agent General; announcing that the Gothic's shipment of dairy produce has arrived in excellent condition. A natural enemy to the codlin moth and all other moths has been discovered by Mr Polglase, of Ballance, Forty-mile Bush, and sent to ,the Masterton Museum. It takes the form of a plant which, immediately it is touched by the moth, closes and entraps the insect. ; Messrs "Weddel assert that the decreasing exports of the Dominion prove that Canada is unable to compete with Australian butter.