FARM TOPICS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4461, 14 September 1901, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM TOPICS

The total output of sugar from Australia reaches the amount of about £l,500.00 U per year. Queensland produces sugar to the value of £1,250,000, and Xew South Wales the remaining £250,000. Of that sum of £1,250,000, according to Mr Robert Reid, the kanakas get £75,000 in wages, but the white men who find employment in the industry, and for whom work has been created by the kanakas, get £375,000 a year in wages, and this sum would not he earned by them if the kanaka was not there.

According to Mr Eider Haggard, Shropshire farmers are a hard-working set of men, and do well, making rent, interest, and a living. An ordinary rental, in the neighbourhood of Lydbury North, where Lord Powis owns 21,000 acres, is £1 an acre. In North Shropshire rentals run from 30s to £2, and at Market Drayton from 33s to 30s, while farms in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury fetch about 28s the acre. The average drop in rentals since 1875 lias been somewhere about 20 per cent.

Mr Robert Reid, M.L.C., of Victoria, who recently visited the Queensland sugar plantations, and inquired into the labour problem, says that landed at Bundaberg the kanakas cost the planters £22 per head, namely £l9 for passagemoney, and £3 for Government charges to cover the cost of supervision. The term of service is three years, and for the first of such terms the kanaka is paid £6 per year and his maintenance. If the man chooses to work for a second term of three years he is paid £l2 per year. He may serve a third term if lie desires to do so, and at the expiration of that period may remain in Queensland or return to his island home at his own option. There are 9000 kanakas altogether on the Queensland sugar plantations.

The capabilities of Jersey cows as butter producers are well illustrated in the certified returns for the year ended September 30th, 1900, of Dr Herbert Watncy’s herd, at Buckhold, Pangbourne, Berks. The average yield over thirtynine cows works out at 3761 b of butter per head per annum. In the preceding year the average over thirty-three cows was 3981 bof butter. These results are based on twelve monthly tests taken with the aid of the butyrometer, ifnd compared on each occasion with the weight of butter made by the churn. From 1890 to 1900 this herd won in butter tests, conducted at half a dozen of the principal shows, 12 gold, 17 silver, and 11 bronze medals, as well as 16 first, 12 second and six third prizes. A conference of dairymen was held in Sydney on August 14th, at which it was agreed to form a Dairy Farmers’ Union of New South Wales, for the protection, advancement, and development of the dairying industry. It was decided that membership should be confined to dairy farmers who milk five or more cows, or land-owners who lease to dairy farmers. The annual membership wa s fixed at 2s.

The half-yearly meeting of the Sydney Meat Preserving Company was held on August 14. The report showed that 272,384 sheep and 604 cattle had been dealt with. Tim European business in meat and tallow had been satisfactory. The company had executed extensive orders of the Imperial Government for meat and supplied canned meats for the German and British Antarctic expeditions. It. was also stated the com. jmny’s competition had raised the price of stock at Homebush to such high levels that, although its moats realised prices considerably above those curren for many years, the operations had resulted in a loss of £2141, after taking credit for a subsidy of £5318. The expenditure for the six months was £213,593. The report was adopted, and the retiring directors re-elected.

j.ne “Banffshire Journal,” a paper published in the centre of pns of the most important agricultural districts in the North of Scotland, reports that the lucerne plant has been introduced on a farm on the Earl of Aberdeen’s estates, and is regarded there as a curiosity. Lucerne is known throughout tho United States and Argentina as alfalfa, which, it appears, is a Spanish word meaning “the best of fodder.” In the paragraph referred to it is stated that the plant is extensively grown in Australia on irrigation farms. (?) It is questionable whether many acres of lucerne have ever been irrigated in this country. The fact that lucerne is such a deep rooter dispenses with the necessity of irrigation except in arid districts, in such droughty seasons as we have just passed and are passing through.

The cause of the hardening in America was the publication of the AVashington Bureau monthly report on the crops, showing a reduction in the condition of the spring wheat. The unfavourable report, together with the reduction in the visible supply, was at once reflected in the markets. Any change for the worse in the American position is a matter of more importance this season than it would be under ordinary circumstances, as tho European crops are smaller than the average, Germany especially being short, and tho importations from America and other places during the ensuing twelve months will have to be larger than usual. Until the outturn of the Argentine crops next January is ascertained it is to America that Europe has mainly to look to supply its requirements, and any diminution in American yields must modify the situation materially. Other sources of supply, including the Black Sea, have also to be reckoned with, but the only information of much value with re. gard to Russia is afforded by the actual shipments from time' to time.

When a milker sits down to milk a cow (says Dr Galen Wilson), it is an error to believe that- all the milk he may get is at hand in the udder, ready for him to draw. Milk is mostly formed during the time of milking, and for best results the cow must bo under the best conditions at that time, or the regular quantity and quality of milk will not be obtained. There should be no disturbing noise about 0 f any kind, as of dogs, children, or strangers talking, or hammering, or pounding, or anything of the kind out of the ordinary. AVhen a cow becomes accustomed to her environment or surroundings, if they are proper, they should be kept so always, A strange cow placed in the next stall is apt to cause a shrinkage of milk for the time being in both quantity and quality. A cow is a nervous creature, and the more nervous, apparently, the better she is. To get the most and the b fi st milk, all of these conditions must be fulfilled at each milking, and the n the very last drop be drawn from her udder. Good cows, good feed, and good care, together are the sum and substance 0 f good milk production.

Reports from Argentine show that the natural pasturage has become 'sheep sick’ from long continuous feeding, and

that on some of the ranches which for. merly turned off the fattest sheep it has been found necessary to break the soil and lay the land down In alfalfa. The damage to the pasture hy overstocking has been so great that the Government ha.s taken moans to induce the exten sivo cultivation of exotic grasses.

The mail advices leave some uncertainty as to the real state of the harvests in Europe and America, and the good reports previously received from the United Stat-s and ussia were undergoing a certain amount of modification owing to weather influences. In England, according to “Dornbusch ’ of July 12th, owing to deficient rainfall this year none 0 f the cereal crops were expected to viold an average in quantity or quality/ The harvest in the south of Franco was finished, and rather good result,; were reported : and in some other parts of the country reaping was going on under favourable conditions; while in the north of France the work of har. vesting was expected to be accomplished late in July and early in August. With regard to Spain, it was reported that tropical heat and hailstorms had caused some injury to the crops. In Germany the weather was warm and too dry. The harvest was in progress in all uarts of Hungary, but the yields were not equal to expectations. In Roumania it was feared that rain might to some extent mar the promise of a good wheat crop. Russian advices stated that rain had fallen in the southern governments, and partially saved tho spring wheat crops. Reports from various centres, however, showed considerable irregularity of prospects, some districts being favourable, others only middling, and one or two bad. ■ '

The importance of flavour in buttermaking is more than is commonly appreciated. The price 0 f butter in the market depends largely upon the flavour. Butter without flavour or with bad flavour hardly pays for the making, while a product with a good flavour and aroma will sell for at least Id or 2d a pound more, and the exceptionally fine flavoured product of special creameries brings a fancy price two or three times that of poor butter. In ordinary dairying, then, the success or failure of a creamery business will be in a large measure dependent upon this factor. A creamery which fails to ripen its cream properly fails to get a desirable flavour in its butter. It inevitably obtains a lower price for its product, and may hardly meet expenses, while a neighbouring creamery, that is more successful in its cream ripening, obtains a good flavoured product, and consequently a nrico for its butter which makes the business a financial success. This matter is of more significance to-day than in earlier years, because butter making is coming to bo concentrated in large creameries, and the purchaser is more critical.

Strawberry growers occasionally get good returns from their outlay, but growers in England also do well. Mr Rider Haggard says, in an English journal, large farmer in Herefordshire told him that last year he had netted £2OO clear profit from six and a half acres of strawberries. Another plot of sixty acres is said to have produced 150 tons, which sold at £25 a ton, the net profit on this parcel amounting to £ISOO. How often docs an ordinary cultivator of the soil clear £ISOO profit in these days, even from a farm of, lot us say, 1000 acres.

The shipment of produce during the year ending 30th June has been the largest on record in Victoria. From Williamstown without taking into account parcels sent from Newmarket and Melbourne, there has been shipped 1,378,981 bags of wheat 323,598 bags of oats, 337,922 bags of chaff, and 1,428,755 bales of hay. The wheat season has lasted four months longer than usual. The total number of bags handled was over 2,000,000, and the weight of the hav over 60,000 tons. The smartest piece of -work done during the season was effected last week, when the steamer Tottenham took on board 30,500 bales of hay in twenty-six hours, the average being over 1000 bales per hour.

Many new industries have been developed in the British Isles at the close of the last century. One of the most novel had its birth in the vicinity of Buckingham—namely, that of the manufacture from the milk ' of creameries, after the butter had been extracted, of a substance known by the highly classical name of plasmon. This substance takes its name from the Greek, meaning “that which gives form.” The fresh milk as it oomes from the cow is put into a separator, all the cream being removed by this method. The separated milk is afterwards treated so as to coagulate all the proteids of the milk: and this coagulated mass is tlien kneaded and dried at a temperature of 70deg centigrade under an atmosphere of carbolic acid gas. When perfectly free from moisture the plasmon is ground into granular powder, which is completely soluble in hot water. As to the economic value of plasmon there can be n 0 doubt, when it is known that the German Government supplies it in very large quantities to the army and navy. As a portable, concentrated nutrient, according to the German Government department for the investigation of foodstuffs for the troops, it has been found that one ounce of this powder is equal in nourishing and sustaining properties to three and a quarter pounds of the finest beefsteak, or to about ten or twelve pints of milk. • • • • •

Dr. F. J. Howell, of the chemical branch, Victorian Department of Agriculture, has issued a well printed pamphlet on “How America Educates the Farmer.” The writer traces the origin and growth of the various agricultural institutions and agencies in the United States, and then treats in greater detail of the functions of each. In the preface, written by the Government Chemist for Agriculture, Mr A. N. Pearson remarks;—“So pertinent is this series of articles to the question of the moment that I deemed it must useful to have them published without delay, and t 0 this end proposed to Dr Howell, as tho most expeditious method, 'to share with him the expense of private circulation. To this he readily agreed.”

At the second annual meeting of the Farmers’ Co-operative Company at Syd. ney last week, the volume of trade for the half year ended 30th June, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, showed an increase in sales of £17,380, the net result being £1983, out of which a 5 per cent, dividend was paid to the shareholders (£518) and a bonus to the consignors and sharehold ers (£750). The chairman stated that advices from London showed that there was every prospect of fair prices and a good market for Australian butter during the coming season in England.

Pearks, Gunston, and Tee, Limited, grocers and provision merchants, London, who have branches in the suburbs and’ several country towns, have again bee n fined for selling adulterated butter. The firm was proceeded against at Folkestone, and was fined £2O, with costs, for selling butter containing an excessive quantity of water, and £SO. with costs, for selling butter containing 24 4-5 grains of boracic acid per lb. Last

month this firm was proceeded against in the Marylebone Police Court for selling colonial buttei which contained churned milk that increased the weight by from 201 bto 301 b per cwl. The proceedings were taken at the mstince 0 f the Butter Association, and the defendants were fined £2O, with costs.

An important point is the opinion expressed in a Consular report that the production in Denmark itself has probably reached its limit, and can scarcely increase in the future. Weather has to be taken into account in malting forecasts of this character, and the mere fact that the Danish production is stationary would bo of little importance when development is going on in Siberia. In addition to butter, Denmark is a considerable producer of bacon, of which 1.186,000 cwt, of the value of £1,695,000, were exported to the United Kingdom, in 1900: and also of eggs, the total exports of which amounted to 14.750,000 score, valued at £931,000. • * * * *

The Germany merino wools are classified, as follows: —la (Elketa), la (Ist Prima), lab (2nd Prima), lb (Sokunda). 2a (Tarda), m signifies a normal merino fibre, “m” a dense fleece, r coarse fibre, k short staple, t long staple, b and ex respectively refer to the covering of tho extremities, and as they show more or less good they are varied by , or when poor by ; a means an even fleece, u an uneven one, and so on. A line over any sign decreases its value, while underlining increases it. There are • also many signs to designate the form. The general value of tho animal as a breeder is indicated by the series of cyphers, 0 being lowest and 000000 the highest. There is, furthermore, a specification of general qualities hy means of common fractions, 1-8, 2-8. 3-8, as the harmony of the exterior is more or less pronounced.

The live stock trade of Chicago is assuming gigantic proportions. Up to June 13th there had been received at tho Union Stock Yards alone 128,000 car loads, comprising 6,665,000 head. Swine head the list with 3,686.000, then follow cattle 1,300,000 sheep 1,574,000, the balance being made up of horses and goats. Mutton has been very low in price for some time past.

Professor Thomas Shaw, author of "The Study of Breeds” in a recent work, points out that the surest means of promoting early maturity i s a plentiful and suitable supply of food. When food is thus supplied, a maximum of growth is secured from day to day, and without any cessation in the s arae until maturity is reached. If the suppty is insufficient, growth is propi -tionately retarded, and if made up at . 11 must be made up at a later period—r-that is, by prolonging the period of growth. But stagnation in development takes away the capacity for development, consequently the size of the animal may ba'tmaterially lessened when matured.

The National Live Stock Association of the United States is engaged in a fight against the shoddy goods faked upon the market as pure and full-bodied wools. The action of the association is based upon the right of the wool.grower to the market which desires his coramod 1 ity. It is founded also upon a desire fo have trade honesty. It does not insist or ask that wool shall be substituted for ootton. but it does ask that cotton shall not be substituted for wcol and sold as such. It also demands that shoddy shall be so branded that the buyer may get what he is after, and know that it is so. Incidentally, the fight of the National Live Stock Association, if the effort against shoddy and substitution bo successful, will help the wool trade in this and every other country. It will also help the appearance o. r the unskilled and honest, the unsuspecting person who buys a suit of woof shoddy or “mercerised” cotton and highly sized goods for genuine wool, which, after the first de. iuge of water upon it, either crawls up his back or siis on the bias all over him. These things neither help the appearance of the agriculturist nor cheap city guy; nor do they help the rural industry of sheep-raising. The shoddy cloth trade does nob even ‘help the cottongrowing industry, when a kind of papier mache is pressed into a loosely woven textile to fill it out. * * • * •

The chief influences concerned in producing ■ early maturity are a careful selection of animals for breeding that have evidenced an aptitude for quick growth when young, furnishing plentiful supplies of food, and breeding from animals at an early age. Selection has a very important bearing upon early ms. turity, especially when supported by liberal supplies of suitable food. In this way advance is continually made upon previous maturity, and when thus made may similarly he retained. In time it will become a habit of the system, so fixed, that the tendency is regularly transmitted. The difference in tendency in individual animals to mature early is very marked, and should be carefully noted by the person seeking to hasten maturity in his flock or herd. Especially is this true when selecting breeding males. * * • • •

Experiments in preserving eggs recently show that four hundred fresh hen eggs were subjected to the action of dif. ferent substances for a period of eight months. At the expiration of that time it was found that the eggs put into salt brine were all spoiled; those wrapped in paper were 8 per cent, bad ; and a like percentage of those immersed in_a mixture of glycerine and salicylic acid were unfit for use. Of the eggs which had bee n rubbed with salt, or imbedded in bran or coated with paraffin, 70 per cent, were spoiled : of .those subjected to a coat of liquid glass, collodion, or varnish. 40 per cent.; and of those which had been placed in wood ashes, or had been painted with a mixture of liquid glass (water glass) and boracio acid, or a solution of permanganate of potash, only 20 per cent, were bad. Almost all the eggs that had been coated with vaseline, or had been placed in lime water, or in a solution of liquid glass, were in good condition. •*♦ , * •

Curiously enough, the pig has more teeth than any other farm animal. When it has got its set complete, the pig possesses in all 44 teeth, the horse has 40 teeth, while cattle and sheep have only 32 teeth each. The 44 teeth of the pig consist of six incisors, two canine, eight remolar, and six molar teeth in each jaw. Another peculiar fact about the dentition of the pig is that while the incisors or front teeth in the upper jaw bear a close re. semblance to those of the horse, the corresponding teeth in the lower jaw closely resemble those of a dog. It is also worthy of note that the molars of the pig gradually increase in size from the front to the rear, the most backward of these grinders being ever so many times larger than those in front.

The co-operative dairy at Hasle, in Denmark, which is said to be the largest in the world, belonging absolutely to forty farmers, sends out some 100,000 lb of butter daily. At the last return the co-operative movement in Denmark showed a total of 837 societies, with 130.331 members. Their export in pigs, bacon, butter, and eggs last year amounted to over £10,000,000, the whole of the profits going into farmers’ hands.