AROUND THE FARM

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1508, 24 January 1901, Page 51

AROUND THE FARM

It is AA-ell known that pigs fed as in America, AA-here. corn, or, a s'” we know it here, maize or Indian corn, is the staple food, have a tendency to produce bacon of an excessively fat and oily character. It is this excessive oiliness which imparts to American bacon the objectionable “softness.' 5 With the; object cf determining the cause of this ‘softness 55 the chemist ef the Canadian Department of Agriculture gives an interesting account of a series of experiments at present m progress at the Canadian Experimental Farm. Trie experiments carried on go to show that this softness and fatness in the American pug -products is due to the large percentage or olein it contains. Ordinary fat consists of several constituencies, among them olein, AA'hich is a fluid at an ordinary temperature, and palmitine and stearin, which are solid at ordinary temperatures. The experiments so far have shown that the percentage ef olein is much greater in the soft than in the firm b.,con, and that on the other hand the percentages cf palmitine and stearin are greater in the -firm than in the soft bacon. It is to this excessive olein content that the great softness of certain brands of American pig products is due. The figures submitted go to shew that while in firm bacon the percentage oi olein worked out to 63.71, and the percentage of palmitine and stearin to 36.29, the olein in the case of “soft 55 bacon Avorked out to 79.25 per cent., and the palmitine and stearin to only 20 per cent. * * * -x- * * Mr R. Cobb, ef Palmerston North, has - }ust disposed of eight very fine Romney rams to Mr Short, of Haicombe, the price paid being seventy guineas ler the lot. During the last twelve months Mr Cobb has effected several sales cf Romneys, and on three occasions he has received tAventy guineas each for rams. This class of sheep is very much in favour on this coast, and breeders find it impossible to supply the demand. * •* * * * Mr Ritchie, cf the Agricultural department, aa'lio has been on a holiday trip to Mount Cook, says the crops in Otago and Canterbury generally in the districts which he has visited were looking well, hut it is not expected that the average yield Aviil be quite up to that of last season, owing to the great amount of Avet- prior to Christmas. The harvest will be later than usual this year. Grass is abundant everywhere in Otago and Canterbury. The potato crop will be up to the average 1 .