THE DAIRY SHOW AT THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1932, 30 November 1888, Page 7

THE DAIRY SHOW AT THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

The following report has been placed at our disposal :—

"• „ Melbourne, October 19. Memorandum for the Urider-seoretary Mines, Wellington. .

Re Daiby Utensils.

The only exhibits in the Melbourne Exhibition relating to the dairy industry are shown amongst the Victorian Government dairy farm exhibits, which are worked daily at the Exhibition by the manager of .the Model Dairy Farm. I have had several conversations with him, and he states that there is no separator that can compete with De Laval's

CREAM SEPARATOBS.

The De Laval cream separators are made in various sizes, ranging in capacity from 12gal to OOgal of milk per hour. The price of each is as follows :—

1. Baby hand separator, capacity 12gal of milk per hour, suitable for, say a private dairy of 10 cows, costs £16. This separator can be easily worked by a boy or girl. The handle is turned at the' rate of 40 revolutions per minute, and this is geared so that the cylinder or globe of the machine revolves at the rate of 6000 per minute. After it is first set in motion the slightest force keeps up the necessary speed, and from what the manager, informed me they will soon pay for themselves even if there are only two or three cows giving milk, on account of the extra percentage of cream they are the means of extracting from the milk. 2. The vertical hand-separator. Capacity, 25gal of milk per hour. Price, £30. 3. The horizontal hand-separator. Capacity, 35gal of milk per hour. Price, £35. Both these classes of separators can easily be worked by a man, the only great force required is on setting them in motion. The handle and cylinder revolves at the same rate as that of the Baby separator, and the vertical one is capable of extracting the cream from, say, 20 cows, while the horizontal one is suitable for a dairy of about 30 cows.

4. The Al separator has to be worked by motive po arer, either horse or steam. This one has a capacity of 90gal of milk per hour. It is said to be suitable for a dairy having about 75 cows. Price, £45.

5. The El separator has the same capacity as the last one ; but it has a turbine attached to it which can either be driven by water or steam, The price of this one is £60.

All these separators are worked at the Exhibition with the exception of El, and the manager explained to me the reason this one was not worked was that there was not provision made to get water from the main supply to work the turbine, and as there was steam machinery employed to drive the shafting to work other machinery in the Exhibition, it was more convenient to make use of the Al separator. All the separators will give from 10 to 15 per cent, more cream from, the milk than can be obtained from the ordinary skimming process.

The whole of these separators feed themselves automatically, bo that very little attention is required to work them, for tho milk gets down in the revolving cylinder the top of the receiving drum is opened and the milk always fed regularly into the separator. If it runs in too fast the action of the separator closes the tap or cook until. such time as it can operate effectually on the milk it contains. After having seen these machines at work, and the efficient manner in which they separate the cream from the mUk, together with • the simplicity of their construction and the larger percentage of cream obtained from the milk, I would strongly recommend their use by all those engaged either in dairy farming or only having a few cows for private use.

BUTTER-WOBKEBS.

The butter-worker tbat is adopted here and the one which the manager of the Model Dairy Farm, recommends is termed Cherry's butter-worker. He states that the De Laiteuse machine has proved a perfect failure ; besides, it is much more expensive. The small size of Cherry's butter-workers are sold for 25s each. This machine squeezes all the milk out of the butter and works in the salt along with the annot colouring, which gives- the butter that rich yellow. After leaving the machine the butter is compact and hard.

I had a losg conversation -with a butter merchant (Mr D. Sullivan) from Launoeston. He describes the New Zealand butter as inferior to that made either in Victoria or Tasmania, and gives the following reasons why it is so :— The casks in which the butter comes from New Zealand have, as a rule, white pine ends, which he states tints the butter and gives its a greasy, whitish appearance wherever it comes in contact with the wood. He also states that for a long time they had the same complaint with their own butter which was put up in casks, aud they tried all classes of colonial timber and found light wood and 'blaok wood tho best; but still this timber taints it in some degree unleßS the casks are put into boiling water and kept there for 20 hours. . They found by boiling the casks before using" them for about 20 hours was the means of taking all the sap out of the timber, and by this means got over the difficulty of tainting the butter in the casks. The same remedy might apply to New Zealand timber where any of it is „ used in making butter kegs.

The same gentleman objects to cloth being put round the butter. He states that the calico has the effect of whitening the outside of the butter and destroying its appearance. He gives as his experience, after having been 33 years in the business, that there is no better way of packing butter for export than tojuse oak kegs, barrel shnpe, and pack the butter in pound cakes aud fill up with good strong brine. He also states that the cream after having been taken off by a separator should always stand for about 24 hours before commencing to make butter. This he calls " maturing the cream."

CHURN'S.

The manager of the Victorian Model Dairy Barm thinks the square box churn the best for making butter. This is the class of churn that he used in the Exhibition. It has no flappers or anything inside, but merely the square hollow box. The common Cherry churn he recommends for small farmers, but states that the square ohurn should always' be used in large dairies,