NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1688, 29 March 1884, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The establishment of a corn exchange in Dunedin is a matter for congratulation. The reasons which made an exchange desirable were given shortly in our last issue. They will be found at greater length— elaborately get out— in the report in another column of the able speech made by the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce at Saturday's meeting. Mr Bell, with his usual care, went into the matter thoroughly, and few who read his speech can fail to be convinced of the excellence of the project, and its capacity for benefiting both farmer and dealers in grain. The hall which the members of the Chamber cf Commerce built, on a scale commensurate with ' ttie importance of the commercial interests of the city is admirably fitted for the purpose of an exchange-'-indeed it was built with the intention, of Berving as a general exchange^ arid' both' farmers and merchants may congratulate themselves upon having such a con- . Tenience put at their disposal at so reasonable a rate. The' admission of both parties to ,the bargain— the farmer and the dealer — to the 'Committee was . only, fair, and nothing less could !',tiave made the project successful. All "that now remains is for the Committee to obtain copieß of the rules and regulations of ' the Christcburch and other exchanges and to model their own upon them. If this is done in an equitable spirit and businesslike manner, we feel, confident that the Exchange will embark J on a career of great public utility and give " satisfaction to everybody.

• Tha^need for such an institution is opportunely i demonstrated by the dispute be- ■ tween ; the merchants and farmers over the grain-bag question. Mr Bell shrewdly con- " densed the whole matter into one sentence : */It has arisen through two opposite interests "adopting different views, and resolving to act upon thenvwithout consulting the other parties to ' such j contracts. "Very probably a iittls ' explanation would have led to a friendly underBtanding on both sides." Unfortunately, Saturday's, meeting was held after the dealers had •■ put the fat into the fire, and thus all attempts. .at compromise 1 were wasted. Such thoughtless ' and foolish speeches as Mr Macgregor's, and dogged: refusals to see' any other side of the question besides his own as Mr Leo Smith's, . followingiuponthe correspondence on the sub- .. ject .which has been going on in our columns, ' • made any idea of arriving at a friendly under- , standing in the matter out of the question^ and left it in a statejwhich is likely to be injurious to both parties and to the interests of this city and port. That there is force in the dealers' argument as to the greater convenience of the < system they propose on account of its prevalence in Australia-must, wethink, be acknow- > ledged. : But they never seem to have thought ■ i of anyone, else's convenience but their own, to 1 have forgotten that the farmers had expended -a considerable amount in bags, and to have > .overlooked the disadvantage that would accrue tothem from a sudden and. immediate change. -The matter .will no. doubt adjust itself in time but that the adoption of the grain-dealers' pro- ■.. posal would. immediately have resulted in some loss to^the.farmers we have little doubt. We trust that the Committee of the new Exchange 'Will see their way before long to arrive at some . satisfactory -, solution. As it is, the mer chants' will i necessarily suffer less than the farmers, by the i dispute, and it was no doubt the knowledge of this which led them to adopt so unconoiliatory a tone at the meeting, and to act so inconsiderately before it. In these bad times the farmer is not in a good position to . stand on his rights, but none the less will the • merchants in the long run find such antagonistic feelings injurious. Had the other merchants at' the meeting shown the same conciliatory disposition as Mr- R. Wilson, a friendly arrangement could > easily ha ve been found. Anyone who has been observing the courss \>f events during the past year or two must, we ".think, be' forced to the conclusion that farmers will hav'e ( 'to pay more attention'to stock-raising than has hitherto been done if they are to hold'their/ownin thestrugglefor existence which is fprced'upon them by the competition of the " world.' 'We (Canterbury Weekly Preßs) recentVydrew attention tn the enormous increase in wheat growing which has taken place in Europe and America, 'and now we have to add \ India, which is likely to enter the lists as a , corn- T grpwing country even more formidable 1 thab" America proved herselfto.be'. ,The '' 'difficultiie's wnich have beset New Zealand corn : grower^ 'duririg the 'past to or three years in _ "the way of scarcity' of harvest hands, wet thresh- • ing'tin^es; and the cost pof labour, all tend to " tender ' 'exclusive corn -growing a precarious business. The present season will long be remembered as one of the most backward on record I .' Thousands of bushels have been more ;• or less 1 damaged by continuous wet^ while a ''considerable area is /still uncut. Added to 'these hinderances,' the prices are likely to rule 'low, Unfortunately our wheat has,' as tee 'predicted 'it would, got into disfavour "with, the' Home millers, as may be gathered ' ftdfii^tne following extract 1 from an English 1 ( 'miller's" letter ' published by our morning conv> temporary :— " It ill true that the Home millers avoid New Zealand 1 wheat. Can you wonder at it ? It is threshed without getting sufficfent ' time to mature the .wheat after being cut'; and what wonder is it'tha*New Zealand wheat has ' ' a 'bad name in England? It is very much ' softer upon" airriVal in London than when it ' left' NeV Zealand. " Last year should havo taught the farmers of New Zealand a lesson, but it'seSems as if it were hard to teach them." ' *' New ' Zealand wheat will never command ". attention at'Hpme till a better system of shipment is adopted for,it to arrive in England in good cpndition. 'It is a useful wheat for mixing with' the Black Sea wheats, but its condition is the main point for its usefulness for that pur- ,' pose, When sound it imparts a good colour to I the dark Russian' and other wheats, but it " frequently arrives in "London weevily and ''^damaged through' heat." 'It jfs 'quite evident that we should adopt better "methods for preparing ,ou,r corn far the markets, such, as

grading and not threshing till the, grain has thoroughly ripened 'in the stack. We quite believe that the day is not ,f ar distant when it will bp found more profUablp to consume on the farm all except the very prhuest of the corn,, converting it into beef, mutton, and pork for the export trade. An experienced farmer informed us recently that ho had fed a large quantity of sheep and pigs on wheat and oats (second quality) last year ; and that he had kept a careful account of the whole outlay. The rosult was that hi* inferior wheat reali&ed 3d per bushel when convertod into pork. He also found that half a pound of oats given to sheep fed on turuipi produced the most satisfactoryjresults. Hore we have an evidence of what we have often asserted, that as the frozen meat industry developed so would a better system of farming. We only want to secure a reduction in the charges of sendiug home our meat, and a better system of disposing of it in the Home market, aud all will be well with those who combine stock with corn growing. ,

A special association, called the Agricultural Research Association, has been formed in Scotland to carry out similar experiments to those instituted by the English Royal Agricultural Society at Woburii. A farm has been taken on lease on the Culter estate of Mr R. W. Duff, M.P., and Professor Jamieson is to superintend the experiments and to carry on the farm with the object of partly meeting the expenses of the undertaking. Among the experiments contemplated are some to determine the comparative merits of various rotations of cropping, the comparative quantities, and qualities of produce from different varieties of the usually cultivated plants, tho practicability of introducing 1 new plants for cultivation ; al o laboratory experiments, with a view to obtain ing increased knowledge of plant lifo. At a future time, if funds are sufficient, experiments in the feeding of live stock will be carried out. .Careful accounts of the yield of erop^ and of the outlay and receipts will be kept and published. It is estimated that an annual outlay of £400 in excess of the ordinary farming outlay will bs required, and the proposal is to raise a capita? of £3000, and to obtain £300 iv annual subscriptions. The amount at present advanced is £2100,' which represents au annual income of £105 ; but, in addition, donations to the amount of £150 are promised, and annual subscriptions for six years amounting to £170. At least another £100 a-year is required, and I fancy that £400 a-year will be found coo little for successfully carrying out tho plan of research. It is a pity that we have not agricultural stations for experimental purposes, supported by State funds, as there are in Piuabia, France, and some other countries. It is to be hoped that when the makeshift for a Department of Agriculture grows into one worthy of the name/ we shall not be behind other great agricultural countries in agricultural investigation. If it were not for the generous public spirit shown by Sir John Lawes and the Roya) Agricultural Society, wo should have no agricultural experiments worth mentioning in England.—Leeds Mercury.

Bearing upon the subject of manuring fruits trees the following from the Indian Agriculturist will be found useful :—" Cultivated plants are the inheritors of whatever benefits or disadvantages they may have derived from their predecessors. The thing is obvious enough to those who look on plauts from an evolutionist's point of view ; and the practical outcome is that, except under special circumstances, or for some special purpose, it is best, in our attempts to improve upon what we have got, to deal wjth a plant that has been in cultivation fox a long time, and so avail ourselves of its stored-up inheritence. It would be a long uphill work to start afresh with the crab or wild pear, for instance, although for the sake of getting a new ' broak ' or more robustness of constitution it may be desirable sometimes to begin again at tho beginning, or at least to infuse some less conventionalised blood into our plants, if we may so speak. A curious illustration of the contrast between the wild and the civilised condition is afforded in Professor Goessman's paper on Mineral Constituents in Plant Growth in the 'Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.' The professor has been experimenting on tho difference in chemical composition between vines unmanured and vines manured. In the course of his experiments he analysed tho juice of a wild v'meC vitis labrusca) grown without manure, and the juice of the same vine when treatedwith manure. At one bound the sugar ro&e from 822 per cent, in the wilding without manure to 13 67 per cent, in the same wilding appropriately fed. This shows the advantage of the manure. But now, looking to the analysis of the cultivated variety (Concord), we find that in its juice, even when unmanured, the sugar amounted to 13 89 per cent., so that the cultivated variety, without manure at all, yielded a _ larger percentage of sugar than did the wild form with ample manure The increase of sugar is coincident with a largo increase of potash and a largely diminished proportion of lime. In the case of strawberries the wild unmanured variety contains much less potash,' much more lime, much less magnesia, much more iron, and about the same percentage of phosphoric acid as the cultivated and, manured variety. The wild strawberry, moreover, contains one part of acid to two of sugar, while in the cultivated varieties tho proportion of acid is one to four or more of sugar."

A new process in butter and cbeeßemaking, known as the vacuum process, is in use at Colchest r, Vt., and shows results of much interest to cheesemakers and creamery men. Large horizontal cylinders, into which the milk is put, are heated by steam to a temperature of 105 degrees in a few minutes' time, then the steam is turned off and cold water applied, reducing the milk to 40 degrees. When the cooling process is begun an air pump is applied, exhausting the air in the oylinder till the gauge shows a pressure of about 131b. The milk stands for IS hours, and is drawn off into a Tat, where the buttermilk remaining after the cream has been churnei is added; and a process, differing little from the ordinary acid process, converts the milk into cheese. The vacuum, it is said, results in the extracting of offensive odours •and destructive germs from the milk, and facilitates the rising of the cream. Analysis shows that only one and a-half per cent, of fat remains in the skim-milk ; but, nevertheless, the cheese iff- not poor, but shows 16 per cent, of fat and 8 per cent, of milk, sugar, and extractive matte v . This result has not been explained, but the theory is advanced that in the process -some of tho albuminoids are changed to fat. The financial results of the new method of treatment are very encouraging, 1001b of milk yielding 4^lb ot butter and 9Jlb of cheese.

For wool and mutton (says a writer in the Toronto Globe) the Shropshire down and its grades are today ahead of all other breeds. The Provincial Show, at Guelph, places this fact beyond all dispute. But with your leave i will take the liberty of endeavouring to remove an error which ia likely, once it is implanted in the mind 3of our agriculturists, to stay there and do mischief. My warranty for 6Q doing may perhaps be found, i n th,e fact that

I have for many years paid great attention to Shropshire sheep, and was one of the first to act upon my conviction that they would oo ut;: t; the Cotswolda and Leicestera from their pride of place. The Shropshire sheep was originally a cross between the Cotswold, whoso nativo home was Gloucestershire, and the Hampshire downs, who were but a littlo to the south of them. The forelock of the ''Shrop" favours the theory of his descent from the Costwold rather than from the bold-faced Leicester ; while the frequoucy of bluck faces indicates a Hampshire parentage not very far back, and there is evoiy evidence* in make, shape, and countenance to refute tha idea of a Southdown cross. And now for the error to which 1 alluded. At both Guelph and Toronto I heard many visitors to the sheep-pens descanting on the merits of black faces in the Shropshire class. Now, sit", the favourite colour for a Shrop's face in England 20 years ago was grey. The first breeders were the Itish, so says the Druid — a great authority — to go for darker faces, in other words, for more of the Hampshire blood. More recently in England 1 have noticed some inclination to follow the Irish notion ; but if our breeders here fall into tho error ot supposing a black-faced Shrop to bo a truer bred animal than a grey or speckled face one they are wrong, and are only carrying out a principle so often condemned among bhorthorn men — viz., breeding for colour. As I ne\er show, aud have no intention of doing so, and have more black thap grey facas in my flock, which consists now entirely of imported blood, I have no othor purpose in writing this letter than the , desire to check a popular fallacy.

The Highland and Agricultural Society hjaa completed its century of usefulness and intends celebrating its hundredth yeai in Edinburgh, tho city of its birth, by a grand exhibition of live stock, agricultural produce, manufactures, and general industry. It would ba vory difficult to estimate the good work that hns been . accomplished by this venerable society during its long and highly successful career. All other agricultural societies in the United Kingdom — in the world, in fact — have been formed and worked on its lines, and even at the present time it is the must thoroughly practical of all agricultural societies. Through its iniiuence, as a wiiter remarks, " moors and commons havo been reclaimed, the whole face of the laud changed, and the agriculture of the country completely revolutionised." Its effects upon live stock havo been equally marked ; the worthlebs breeds have been allowed to disappear, and have been supplanted by the splendid varieties of the present day ; as tho same wiiter remarks, the black polls of Aberdeen have mended and improved just as if by an artist working in clay ; the Ayrshire has had her once straight horns turned outward and upvvaid, and been converted into a milkmaking machine. No doubt the Royal Society of England has a larger membership, and it's exhibitions fue on a larger scale, as it has a much larger population upon which to work ; bub no other society can show fao many ramifications of usefulness as tho Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.

Speedy relief from the competition of American wheat growers is in storo for desponding English farmers, if we may believe Profesbor Clifford Kichavdaon, of the Washington Departmont of Agriculture, who declares that the grain cf his -country is rapidly deteriorating, both in quality and quantity. An analysis ot over 2000 specimeus shows that, compared with Euiopean and other wheats, that grown ia America, is seriously deficient in albuminoids, the most nourishing of the'eomponent parts. The grain is poorest in the Eastern States, a regular gradation of, improvement taking place going westward' till tho Pacific Coast is approached ; when again there is a marked falling off in quality.

The Irish Farmers Gazetto publishes an analysis of tho sales of shorthorns in Ireland during the past season. The sales wore from 61. herds, and the numbers sold were 291 iv all, the average price being £33 18s 2^d. Of these 196 young bulls averaged £33 13 * 3id ; two aged bulls, £79 10.4 9d ; 50 cows, £38 149 OJd ; 14 two-year-old heifers, £36 17 a 2kl ;16 oue-yoar-old heifers, £28 Ha SAd ; aud 13 heifor calves, £15 153 10^d. These prices are about the same as those realised last year. They are satisfactory, as to the fair value of the animals ; but it is scarcely necessary to Riy that they do not come near the prices obtained in the palmy days of the fancy shorthorn mania.

Iv its review of the ram and ewe show the Canterbury Press says: — "Not long ago tho Lincoln breed stood at tho top of the list, as the breed which returned the largest profit. Things are now changed ; various causes hava conspired tv render the Lincoln less profitable tHau formerly. Lincoln wool is not now so much sought after. Coupled with this, they are not found to suit so well for crossing with merinos as the Leice^tors are, for the purpose of producing a cross which will prove profitable alike for wool and the frozen meat trade. The following is an analysis of the sheep entered for the fair, most of* which were on the grouud :— Lincnlud, 9SO ; Border Leicester?!, 252 ; English Leicesters, 533 ; merinos, 757 ; Romney Marsh^ 84 ; South and other down breeds, 133, and 376 ewos, or a total of 3117, as against 1614 catalogued last year."

The fruit growers of Waikomiti (says the Auckland Weekly News) are apprehensive that the Codlin moth, which has been introduced from America in fruit shipments, will shortly make its appearance in the orchards of the districts, as ib has already established itself in the gardens and orchards in the suburbs of Auckland. It is stated that it has ruined a number of the orchards in Hobart and that some of the importations into Auckland of fruit from the Province of Nelson, are completely riddled through its ravages. The following description of tfcis new foe to our New Zealand fruit growers is from Thomas' American Fruit Culturist," and may be of interest to our horticulturists: — "This insect has become the most formidable enemy of the apple in the United States. .It does much damage to the pear, but does not attack stone fruit. In many orohards it ruins nearly the whole crop. The Codlin moth or miller, which may be distinguished from all other moths by a patch of burnished coppery scales at the tips of its front wings, appears first early in summer, and lays its'eggs in the blossom end of the young aDples, a single op;g in each. The young larvae "hatches aud burrows towards tho core, eating as ib goes. In three or fouv weeks or more ifc is full grown, and the young apples fall to the ground nearly at the same time. The larva? passes out through a round hole which it makes, and crawls in some place to spin the cocoon, usually to the rough trunk of the tree. The moth, or miller, comes out in a few weeks for a second brood, but the apples bave now grown so large that fewer fall to the ground from the injury, but they are more or less spoiled for use or the market. The insects are found in them . after the crop is gathered for winter, and hiding in various places spin their cocoonand come out in spring to perpetrate their mischief. Professor Biley says. i" nnt"a * t " in barrel of wormy, apples fllch hQ brokQ up early in spring h^ found about 200

such worms, and estimating that one barrel would furnish 100 winged females, each of which would lay 200 eggs, and spoil as many apples, and allowing 100 apples to the bushel, he arrived at the result that 200 bushels of apples may be ruined by 'iihe insects from one applet barrel if allowed to escape. The remedies for the prevention of the work of this formidable insect are of two kinds, and are founded on the destruction of the larvaa which is in the fruit, and of the cocoons before the miller comes out — animals, which would pick up and devour the young and infected fruit, as soon as it falls would perform the first-named service — swine or sheep. The second remedy — destroying the cocoons — may be effected in prut by passing bands of cheap coarse paper around the trunks of ' the trees early in the summer, aud afterwards crushing the cocoons which form underneath these bands, and also by r ' placing old pieces of carpet in the forks, and crushing those which adhere to them.

It is to be hoped (says the Now Zealand Country Journal) that the losses sustained by farmers last year in consequence of the conthiuod wet weather during harvest time and the risky (bo say the least of it) practice of threshing irom the stook will not be repeated to any great extent this year. In a climate so uncertain as that of the Middle Island of New Zealand it is surely running an unwarrantable risk to leave corn in the sfcook after it is tit for stacking. The difference in cost between stacking and threshing from the stook cannot be so great as to warrant the practice.