CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1731, 24 January 1885, Page 7

CURRENT TOPICS.

Tho capital of tha Fairfax Dairy Factory Company is to be £1500 in £1 shares. The following gentlemen have been elected directors : — Dr Hodgkinson, and Messrs Fletcher, Playfair, M'Donald, Hopcroft, M'lntyre, Officer, gumming, J. Brownridge, Collie, Johnston, and Hainiltoa. ; We (Mount Ida Chronicle) learn that some of the sheep which came infco this district last 3'ear from the celebrated Carterhope Btud havo dona remarkably well. Three rams purchased by B. M. Turnbull, Epq., of Linnburn Station, have, for a period of ten months, yielded, respectively, two 151b and one 171b of wool. If the wool had been allowed to grow for twelve months, these rams would have furnished, two over 18|lb and one almost 20£lb.

The farmers of the Waimeas generally, and of Waimea West in particular, according to the Nelson .Colonist, are suffering severely from paroquets. At the early part of last week a fiel't of oats was cut in the lower part of Waimea West, and iinmediatoly these mischievious and destructive birds covered the place in swarms, Two or three days later Mr R, Disher commenced cutting oats, and whilst tbe orchards and gardens in the vicinity were quickly relieved of the I birds tha field in question was darkened with I them. So numerous were they that with a i gun one could bring down a dozen and more !at a shot. Scarcely ever before did the I crops of barley, who^t, and oats look belter I than they do this year, but there is grave reason to fear that the yield will be exceptionally light, so much damage are the paroquets, sparrows, and other birdß doing.

New Zealand is nojfc peculiar in being troubled with the white grub to a greater extent this year than usual. The Melbourne Loader says: — Complaints of the devastation caused by grubs corao from various parts of the oountry, especially in the later districts. About Koroit the devastation caused by the grubs among the English barley is terrible, and some owners have simply turned their cattle and piga into the paddocks'. In nearly every instance, ao numerous are the grubs, the average crop has been reduced fully two-thirds. In tha neighbourhood of Warrnambool whole barley paddocks are ruined, and large purchases of Bfcore sheep wero being made at the yards on Saturday for the purpose of turning them into the grain crops. A few blazing hot days are wanted, aB the grubs are unable to withstand hot winds.

Of the crops the Christchurch Press reports that in the Northern district they do not appear to have suffered to any degree from the heavy rain storm at the beginning of the week. Wheat and oats are out iv full ear, but owing to the cold nights and want of sufficient sun in the daytime the grain ib not ripening so soon as it ought to do. The harvest will again be a late one. — The Dunstan Times says that the prospects of the farmers throughout the length and breadth of the district for many years past has not been so bright as now. The crops of every clasa look splendid, and with a continuance of fine weather a good harvest may be expected.

The sheep department of New South Wales report the presence of wh,at looked like an alarming disease amongst 1-mbs in the Quirindi district. Investigation shows the disease to be caused by tho presence of minute parasites in the feet, mouth, and other parts of the animals affected. Tho parasites belong to the water naturally, and earinofc attack living animals unless the plan is injured, as the c.ise was in the sheep mentioned, thoir feet and logs being scratched travelling over stonea and rooks. The complaint is not likely to spread. The symptoms are biting of tho feet in which the parasites have made a lodgment ; evident, pain to the animals, which run about wildly and fall off in condition, as they cannot eat.

The following clipping from the Marlborough Express will be of interest to runholders in rough country who have faith in stoats and weasels as rabbit exterminators. The looio arrived at Jlobart on the 16th met.,

and sailed for Wellington the same night. The condition of the shipment referred to will therefore be known in a few days. " Tho lonic is bringing out to New Zealand a quantity of stoats and waieela consigned to the Babbit; Department, We svro informed hy Superintendent - inspector Bayloy tb;vft the steamer started with befcwoon 150 and 160, but how many will reach the Colony alive remains to be seen. Numerous applications have bson made by private parties to the Government for tbe purchase of some of these natural enemies of the rabbit ; and Mr Bayley informs us that in order to avoid the appearance of anything like favouritism the Department will put up one half of the lonic's consignment to auction, the other half boinfj turned out. _ Of those to be auctioned, one-third (or one-sixth of the whole consignment) will be offered at Wellington, ono-third r«t Dunedin, and onothird at Christchurch.

We (Queenslander) have been favoured with a perusal of a letter from Mr W. C. Culbertson, the woll-Imown American breeder and importer of Hereford cattle, addressed to a vyell-known breeder in this Colony. From this letter it appears that tho large ranchmen in the Western States are, almost to a man, in favour of " grading up " their herds with Herefords, and in consequence the demand for pure Herefords cannot be* satisfied. Week after week the English agricultural journals report the shipment to America of large numbers of the very flower of English Hereford herds, and the consequence is the prices of Hereford cattle have advanced with a rapidity unprecedented in the history of any 01b.9r breed of cattle. As ia naturally expected to be the caso, there has been a corresponding depression in the prices of other breeds of cattle. Although we cannot go the length of some of the American breeders iv predicting that the whitß-faces are destined to "wipe out" the shorthorns, ifc is undoubtedly the case that as puro beef -producers the Herefords have taken a firm hold of graziers both in England and in America. With tha exception of some of the Irish sales and those of Aberdeen, where special attention has boon paid to wealth of flesh, tho prices of shorthorns of late have been very low. And the sama may be said of the Aberdeen-Angus. At the last annual joint sale of black polls in Abar d9en — the home of the breed — 48 animals out of IGO had to bo withdrawn, and the average of 45 bulls was only £21 103 Bd, and for 67 females £24 17s Id.

Anyone who has taken the slighteat interest in tha numerous field trials of reapers and binders that have taken place during tho past. few weeks (says the Melbourne Weakly Timos) under the auspic63,of the various agricultural societies must have sometimes felt puzzled to account for the varying success that bas befallen the different competitors. One week the English machines sweep off all the prizes, but the honours are very short lived, as before another week has elapsed the American machines have completely turned the tables on their English rivals, and so the game goes on until the intending purchaser, as \ve\\ as tbo general public, becomes lost in bewilderment as to which harvester is really entitled, to the palm. The most competent judges are sup posed to be selected ; as a rule there is generally no advantage in the position of allotments at the trials, the fields chosen for the contests being fairly even in character ; and as oach machine ia invariably handled by ifs own expert throughout the season, it is difficult to understand how it is that there should be su.ch an all-round participation in the division of prizes. By the time tha last of these trials has taken place we should not be surprised to find thnfc the honours have besn so distributed as to place the various agents almost on an equal footing as regards superiority in the harvest field. Of 'course ifc is admitted that tha strides in the direction of perfection, even during the past twelve months, have been very great, and that tho capabilities of all the harvesters now in our market are far beyond what any back delivery reaping machine, assisted by manual labour, is capable of performing. But the problem that we would wish to see solved is, which machine is actually the cheapest, simplest in mechanical construction and working, and most profitable as regards durability, cleanness of cut, and certainty of binding? Farmers, we think, will agreo with us that this question as yet remains unanswered, and for such a sfcato of things agricultural societies alone are responsible, and the money subscribed for that purpose, and further subsidised by the Department of Agriculture, to all intents and purposes has b?en practicably wasted. We do not intend to enter into any opinion as to the alleged prejudices of judges, or tho statements that different machines have different distrists in which it is impossible to wrest the first prizes from them, as this would be opening up too wide a field for discussion ; but, in the interests of those who have to pay a long price — oftou tho result of several yeara 1 gathering - for a reaper and binder, we contend that there should bo some definite guide for the purchaser in Ibu selection of the best value for b\s money. So long as We continue our present system of j uf it running the machines round a plofc of corn for a couple of hours, and then decido ono day in favour of a Hornsby, next a W. A. Wood, then a M'Cormick, and so 00 during th*> season, the farmer will never bo any thq wtEer until ho hns gained it by bard bought rxpericmc*. What is imporativaiy necessary, aoi what we hope next seaf^n to sco ciriied out, ?8 n, prolonged and severe tasfc of fhrwo harvester", conducted on the same principle f\s those adopted by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. This memorable- com petition lasted over six_ days, so that tbo judges hid an opportunity of forming a correct opinion 03 to the durability of the machine, which to the farmer is a very important consideration. By adopting Ibis course, machines specially built for a few hours' trial only, with a view of winning a name for the maker, or others so fragile in the mechanism as to collapse in the first heavy crop they should happen to be put into, would be effectively weeded out before the end of the trial, and the prize awarded to the machines worthy of the patronage of agriculturists, who would feel a security when investing their money in tbh direction pf obtaining an article on which some reliance could be placed. "J.R.0.," in the Queenslander, tells of wonderfully fattening member of the thistle tribe. He says : — I have known 5000 sheep to be on 300 acres for four months, and be in good condition when they came out. This may seem like 'stretching it,' but it's true nevertheless, Crass seed here, as in Queensland, is a drawback to sheep farming, but most planes on creeks and rivers have a few acros of thistle flat. The sheep are kept on tho back ridge country until the seed is beginning to shed, and then they are packed into tho thistles and kept there till all the grass seed has fallen. Thisfclos grow in good seasons to a height of Bft or 9ffc. They are annuals. Sheep eat tho green leaves, fatten on the oily seeds as they drop, and afterwards eat every scrap of dry. leaf and stalk, and leave the grounJ bare. Not so cattl9. Huagry cattle put into a thistle paddock burst themselves and die." The paper adds :— -Tho writer of tha above was in Brisbane this week, and kindly brought us

a little of the seed of this thistle, thinking that we might like to distribute it among our bush friends. It is totally unlike the > seed of ordinary thistles, being about the size of wheat, very heavy, and black in colour. From tho account given of it, there can be no doubt of its great value as a fodder plant for shesp, and it should be particularly suitable for farms, as distinguished from runs, on which sheep are kept.

A labour-saving appliance in the shape of a three-furrow plough for potato planting, has been put into operation by Mr Jenkin Jenkins, of Grassmere, in the Warrnambool district. The advantage of this implement (says the Leader) is that it turns up at one time the three furrows required between each row of potatoes, and the powers follow the plough and put down tho seed as it goes along. It taksß two men to plant and one to plough, and with these three men it is possible to put down four acres of potatoes per day. The wonder is, a local reporter remarks, that double and treblefurrow ploughs are not in more general use in an agricultural district life Warrnambool.

Mr Jonathan Brown, of Tauranga, writes as follows in a recent number of the Canterbury Press : —I write to ask you if in Canterbury you have any disease amongst your sheep similar to what we in the North have, and more particularly in this district. I came here over sixteen years ago, and at the time it was considered to be entirely a local disease. A very great many of our lambs used to die in the months of December, January, and February. The first symptoms are a running at the eyes, their wool gets a dull appearance aud settles down on the skin. Then some of them would scour, some others ag.iia would be affected in tho head, something similar to a tutucd sheep. But a certain mark of the disease was, as soon as you commence to drive them they would drop behind and simply drag their hind legs for a bit, then they would squat behind the first piece of fern or bush they could see, and you could not by any means drive them up a hill. The loss being so heavy we mostly gave up sheep and stocked our places with cattle, the latter being much better for killing out the fern. But the district being very much more suited for sheep than cattle— indeed, I consider this Tauranga district almost perfect as a sheep country — and seeing in some of the newspapers that sheep affected with lung worm in somo other parts of the colony wore being cured by giving them turpentine aad linseed oil, some of us determined to try pome sheep. Again last year I tried a fey/. My lambs took tho same disease again, and 1 doped (hem with one teaspoonful of turpentine and fcwo teaspoonfuls of linseed oil, and at the fcimi 8om« of them were so bad that they bad to ba carried into the yard. I did not lose a lamb ; tha turpentine and oil was a perfect cure. I also had some old merino wethers that came down from the Taupo district. They eeemed to have the same disease, I dosed them with a little larger dose than the Jambs, but it had no effect on them, I then pub them into a close yard, on to a batten floor, and fumigated them with sulphur — the crude sulphur from White Island, where there are many thousands of tons of it— and strange to say it acted jrmt like magic. They got all right, and in a very short time they all went off fat to the butchers. I did not lose a sheep after fumigating them. This year I have not seen any symptoms of the disease yet, but I mean to give them all a few sniffs of the burning sulphur, just to keep them right.

Progress of the Dairy Industry.

Improvement in the manufacture of butter and cheese depends primarily on a moro extended and intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of milk, the material from which they are to be made. What merely practical dairyman or operative could discover the butter globule, or make an exhaustive analysis of milk, and give in minute detail an accurate account of its numerous constituents, or explain intelligently the causes which operate to produce changes in it and in' its different parts ? For all rmch information — the very basis of all progress made, and to be made, in his products — tha dairyman is wholly dependent upon science. Science has done more for butter than for cheese, but it has dona something for the latter. It has cleansed the filthy and nauseous steepings of _ the calf's stomach — a necessity in cheese making — into a clear and concentrated extract of rennet, retaining all that is useful and cleanly and casting out all that is needless and filthy, and giving the operator an agent for curdling his milk which is clean, convenient, and uniform in strength, iu3tead of one which was foul and uncertain, enabling him to make a finer and more wholesome and durable product. It has also investigated the changes which occur in tho making and curing of cheese — a work beyond the power of tha practical man— and discovered and explained the agenoies which produce and modify flavour, texture, and digestibility, enabling the cheese maker to produce goods more valuable, desirable, and healthful than ho otherwise oould.

When science discovered the butter globule and the circumstances which vary its quality and value, it did a great work for the practical butter maker. This knowledge was necessary to guide him in so handling them as to sasjur'a the highest possible grade of butter. Nearly, if not all, the modern improvements in butter making are the outgrowths of peienco. That excellent device, the EWguson Bureau Creamer," was a scientific deduction from the laws developed from the facts collected and published by the American and Vermont Dairymen's Associations and similar organisations. It was from bis familiarity with tlie science of applied mechanics that Oooley, a machinist, not a dairyman, evolved his modo of submerging milk, which hao played such an extensive part in the buttav waking art of this country, and it was a knowledge of the same science that brought out the centrifuge for the instantaneous and perfect separation of cream —the most wonderful and promising itn r ention of the age for creaming milk. The improvements in butter making developed by Swartz and Fjord, which have done sp much to revolutionise that art in all Northern Europe, are the direct work of those scientists. The moro we look oyer the matter, the more we see that progress in the vocation of the dairyman leans upon science everywhere. What but a knowledge of the science of animal physiology is developing in the Channel Island oattle such a wonderful capacity for turning food into delicious butter. The origin of the tendency in that breed of cowa to an unusual secretion of fat in their milk we may never know, but we do know that it ia from a suporior knowledge of physioJbgical science po'sessed by American broerlers and feeders and trainers that is pushing that tendency iap ahead of what it i", or ever was, on their own native islands, and it is alsp from n similar cause that the Holland cows iv the haada of American owners are also being pushed in another direction, equally as far ahead of their capaoity, in thoir original home. The intellectual levers which are moving the world have not been withhold from any part of the dairyman's labours. The prying fingers oJ soienoe have here and there pulled aßi.de or rent tfw veil which for ages has hid from the

anxious eyes of practical men the ways and means by which Nature has mysteriously accomplished her ends, and opened to the gaza of the curious and interested her sacret modes of working. We say this having in mind tha developments which, through chemistry and physiology, have come to light in respect to the relation between foods and animal life and products. The practical man has known that his animals could be sustained on certain kinds of provender, but he couJd not know what parts, or how much of any part, contributed to build up tissue or supply waste, or to produce heat, or force, or fat, or milk, or whether his adult animals or those young and growing required the same or different qualities of food. He never knew whether he was feeding to the best advantage or at a loss. He could not tell whether corn or clover made the more -fat or flesh, or whether starch or albumen served tha same purpose in the animal economy, nor whether either were contained iv the food he might be using. Everything was shrouded in mystery, and of course he often went wrong. But scienco has now come to the aid of feeders, It has aualysed foods, and spread out lengthy tables, showing the valuable constituents in each. It has traced these foods through the bodies of animals, and determined with great precision just ho%v much of each constituent is digestible, and just what purpose it serves. It has determined what builds up bodily structure and supplies waste ; what contributes to the production of milk, and what to fat and animal heat, and in just what proportions the different food constituents are used, or can ba utilised.

He who feeding in the haphazard way feeda more flesh-forming or fat and meat-producing food than hia animals can use, loses the unused excess, and incurs a needless loss in the support of his stock. This loss makes the productions derived from stock so fed— as meat 4 milk, butter, and cheese— needlessly expansive. Science has made it possible for anyone who will to avoid this loss by studying the compo« sition of his different foods, and mixing them or alternating one with the other, so that all the food value his provender contains may bo made available, and his animals fed at tha lowest co3t, reducing to a minimum the cost of the products derived from them. The benefits of such a possibility, which are simply immense, are as open to dairymen aB to other feeders, A reduction in the cost of producing milk by skilfully balancing the rations of tha cowa producing it, it is becoming apparent', offers to dairymen the most efficient way of enhancing their profits, and thousands are availing themselves of it, and increasing their fortunes thereby. The aid which science is rendering tha dairy through thia channel ia clear and unquestionable. With these and many other ways in which it is contributing to the welfare of dairying, open to the eyes of all who are willing to look at them-fairly, a disposition to sneer at and belittle the aid which science is rendering to the dairy, or to any other branch of agriculture, betrays the narrow conceptions of the sneerers, and shows them to be enemies of the welfare both of science and the dairy,— American Live Stock Journal.

(Continued on Page IS. )