New Zealand Butter for Export.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 10

New Zealand Butter f or Export.

The following Ipttcr on tbe nbove subject appeared in the Daily Time--; »•— • Sm,— l notiqc a lotler tigncil "JH." in today's TimOT referring to how tb<>y park butter in Hols^pjp, which reminds m° of » lott^r of mine that appeared in your column* arid that of i-he.Witnehs about eight or 10 ye»rs ago, as nearly ah I Cub rcrnouibt,r a& fo! ! ows :— " All tho curative qualities in salt arc found »• sugar; that being so. it is th'Mi a question of fasto which consumers prnfer in butter. Granted we have pure butter fat to operate on, thpfn in 10 question hut the consurapr wit) prefer that sweetened and merely flavoured with salt,— two'thirds sugar, onp-third snH, with Jos: nitre to tha lb (or say l^oz sugar, |o& palt). And that 1 had a lot of butter to put up in Canada, which was all branded first-class by the butter inspector in Montreal in tbe year 1849, about four months after it was packed and pfohounced by him as the fineat.painpie of butter that he had so far inspected." Lr.t me dow Bay that .the nugar must be the best cane — beetroot won't do. — and the packages must be good. We always u°e.d ash or oak kegs, I and I can't say that I have yet BPen enything pise to take their places i have poen the HolsteiTi butter and pnekagps " J H " refers to. The butter wan good certainly, but, no better than can be put up here with tbe same care But the cool chambor in transit Home does away with the second barrel of salt to pack it in. — I am, &c , April 23. W. D. Sutherland. Hybridism. Editor Witness,— Sir ; In your Spare Half Houra column of issue March 6 1b an interesting article on hybridism, Mr P. A. Joseph Being greatly interested myself in this little-knoWn subject.. I vould ask permission to mahe a few reniatko tbcitsdu, mou' Moning.my Own exporitrieuts and showing puinls on which I wobld nsk further information. I have kept, a breed of dvtekn for riliinv v^'r*— fertile hybrid-! hetwppn bjbs boeciiftu, thp domestic uuck, and anas superclliosa (fcho gieyduokof New Zealand). Anyone noticing the voice atid tidbits of actiou of fche'-e two species will at once appftlieir Close nrfinity. These hybrids arc rlefu'f'herl in the 28th rolum'i " Transao^ons of Now Zoii'ind Inatltnte." It, took neveral years and many futflo trinla before the birds were successfully mated. For two seasous I tried to j,'efc Lyljiida from inerino and croßsbreJ ewes and the Ang m buck The iir^t venr 12 ewes were sot ap"»rb for this purpose ; the second year 24 ewes, includlnfrfhoaßnSfd previously, which had never been moved from the paddoclt. Both seasons there appeared overv chance of buueess. but its. ilit d in l.iiiiiii'. l'l't a. iint. cri>i< vi liaib came to a merloo rivm p'need with th^m l-.'e In the fecond ef-ason. Still I hßve rend that hybrids ot this sort are pis aiblo, and saw riiontion by a coricauonrient <if the liydi cv Tovvu r.nd Com>tiy Journal of one ouyl) travelling in a mi,b of butciiers' Bucsp tolSydnoy. It « as said to be going to thflziological collection there. I never could hear of it again. When in Dunedin years ago I spent my leisure hou>R at the Athenaeum Librnry, taking the opportunity to re^d up various authors. There I came across some old book of inferior binding, whi.h from afterthought must have contained long articles on several subjpcts. One deoorlbcd a fertile breed of animals— hybrids bptwppn the sheep and common (joat — which were bred at a profit owing to their skins selling readily for mats and rugs. I havo since thought the locale -was So Amorici. One point mentioned was that when tho breed degenerated and thequal'tyßndlusfreof the wool was failing a fresh infusion of blood was introduced from the buck of the common goat, and not from the sheep, as would have been supposed. This item shows how circumstantial tuid reliable tbe description iv tbe article seems to have been. Some j ears afterwards I spent days in searching through the books in the Athenaeum so that I might again read this and tak» notes, but to this day the whole thiun has remained a mystery. lam especially gone on the subject of this hybrid, and would be gratified by any Information on the subjert. I am not clear whet.lv r tho goaf, ami sheep tire different neuera or different species. Having no books of reference available I trust to a rather infprior memory for my scientific) names and clasißF. From my showing the goat and shei-p arc different, species— clnsn, Uuine-'iuitife; genus. Dovidte loxen) ; sppoiet, Dos tauru3 (oxen), Cappr Cnpricornns (common «oat), Ovls arips (common aheeji); species, Bob bubalub (buffalo), Caper Aagoruuiis (Angora), Oyi« poli ;— and from all thebw-edß of i:o<it3 l,eing f.-rtile toother I should rank them all us vjiriptiei of, siv. O. Capricoruus, and not separate sp-cies. lav net aware if tliero is a nippo-sol ancestor o f the go-\t still fe.al, bit sboiild onv i ot. Kei'her h-i» nny defm'le dephion been arrived ;i f as to wbich of 'he numerous nllied wild forms the domestic phcep is dorivrd from. Some of the wild shsop aro scarcely to be dietlngulshcd from the goats. Many of these sheep are | well defined snecies I should imagine. It seemß it might be worth while to try and cros3 tho Avis poli, i of Central Asia, first made known by the Venetian ' traveller Marco Polo, or Ihe Avis ammon with the

domestic sheep, they being of such large frame, likp young bullocks. Tf I were wealthy my great pleasure would be In following out such er.perlmanto. Disrwln, t think, moutinns a Fironcb scientist who was trying tho oroDs between the Angora or mohair goat with tho Cashmere or shawl goat, but I never found out, if this improved the quality of tho wool. Probably from accident to the experimenter the trial was not continued to a definite result. The glandular "pei.ings under the eyu and between the claws of the sheep are wanting in the goats. The off spring of the two specles-(Equua caballus (the horse) and Bquus aseinus (the ass)— has b36H fe<tile occasionally. One instance f/ne reported some 10 years ago in tho Scientific American. A good picture was given of a family party, then in the | Jardin dcs Plants, Pariß, .consisting of a horse, a mule, and her foal. They came from Algeria. After that, owiiig to want, of space, they were advertised for sale and the mule was said to be in foal the second timr\ This is an instance of fertility in a breed derived lrom two distinct species, when bred to one of the pure race. Bos tniirua (common cattle) and Bos bubalus (Indian buffalo) are rnuked ns species, but I should be incUne.d to pall <,heni varipti' s. I remember reading that the ctttlfe .it tii'6 Oape were buffalo, and on the formation of convict settlements in Australia some of these cattle were shipped at the Oape for Australia, aud are the foundation of the greater number of the present herds, afterwards crossed with our British breeds of cattle. The bison and the cow have alto been successfu'ly crossed in America. I think Mr Joeepli is wrong in saying the pheasant ii of the genus Qallus ; the genus is Gallimc (hens). Jungle fowl.— Snecies Gallus bankiva (origin domestic fowl), Galluo sonnerati. Pheasants. — Phanianus colchicum (introduced from Persia, European pheasant), Pbasiauus versieolor, Pbasianus piotus, and others. These will be the three species of Gallua Mr Joseph refers to ac bred together. The fow 1 and pheasant will breed together, but as far as I know the offspring are invariably sterile. Set m st of the (Jross when bred pheasants produce fertile young. Then Is it not a mistake to say the domestic goose is by some considered, to belong to a different genera to the Chinese goose ? Thuß c'ass Na^atoreo (swimmers) genus, Anatidte (ducks), Ana'er (the common goose, descended from tbe grey lag of Europe), Anser cyCToidea (owan-liKC Chinese goose). If the species is Anser, surely both must be of the same genera. Anatidaj (ducks) in like manner if 1 make mistake and the genus Is Anserine (geese) it -would come out the eamo. C hange of climate causes sterility even in the domestic goose. Darwin or some other writer speaks of their almost perfeot sterility when introduced to some pait of India, which gradually was bred out as they became acclimatised. This to me seems a proof that experiments in breeding may fail in one climate and yet be poss'ble In another. Wo one can say for certain what is the limit In fereedinghybrids. The barrier "so far and no further" tiieor> may by change of climate or other laws b# overcome, aud tho result may be a now species useful to man. I sny species advisedly, seeing that if the offspring wore from the union of two speoies they could not ba called varieties of either species, for varieties are lusus naturce or sports from one species alone. Now, It would seem that the study &nd attempted prosecution of hybridism is not certain to result in failure, neither would it be labour thrown away, for sooner or lator in certain caies and under certain conditions the wished for result might be attained. One first rule is to work with animals or birds whl«h Lave never associated with those of their t fee! certain fertile hybrids would be obtained from union of the two f pebles Caper and Ovis. Yet, perhapß an African or Chinese sheep would require; to be used. With their drooping ears and close hair they are almost identical with certain goats. Voice, habits, mid form iuterblend iv the two species. Then when once this new breed is secured they would likely read ly cross, for improvement, with other varieties of either parent species. I Fhall be rreatly pleased for auy information or correction on these poiuts from Mr Joseph or other riader-, for my objtct in writing is not for the sake of cavil, but a desire for fmthT information, especially of the supposed South A'sericm wool-bearing hybrid?. „ „ % I a«i not very certain whore the bthgs (Cervldie) come in unless by making (apridse nnd Ovidsc distinct gener,., r.st Qeneiic. Bos," Cnper., Ovis, and Cervue. Now, there seems more difference between the hors<" and nss, which are speciesof one genera, than bntwcpn the sheep and goat. For the form and carriage of the tail the goao favours the stag. Then some of the antelopee approach the cow in form, and tbe enu eeems mado up from tho horse, cow. and deer. But hew to account for acquired sterility between animals derived from the same stock? If, as is hinted by some, advantage is gained by sterility between animals of different genera and speoies, how doesitcomo abou 1 ;, for i% can't be advantage gained by inheiitance? For that means culling out by dpath of those having unsuitable features which would extinguish the new formed rnce.— Yours. &c, Tatlok Whitk. Wimbledon, Hawku'Bßsy, April 15.

Use Sunlight Soap for softening the skin.— [Auvt.] Up to the prr-pnt tho Trades and Labour Council has paid £250 for the maintenance of the fttmilus thrown out of work by the Petone Wooll'-n Mill difficulty. The sum includes the levies mr,de by ouSide unions. The Wellington butchers have notified that on May 1 an advance from id bo 2(1 per lb will bii made iv butcher*' meat according to joint. Thu advance will apply to both beef aud muttou. 00- opcruihe ocLeuio for tho protection of tha pubiiu io talked about. The lea r >e'< of 20 cry, aggregating about 220.000 am-, i>. A i,l ut'cj, 'A^ky, Alcarosi, an 1 Folwya cou«rir-, -m- f, fo<<l t^' ruolion at thf. liMio'CfSi'e, Chis-.H. Jiob, ou T-ford iy. k\\ realised only ibo upntt jjci_->, cs( oj>fc BirtckFofd 1 35,000 acres, which was bi>Ul io Mr A. M. Clark at £70 advance on the upset. Use Sunlight Soap ; recommended for bathing chjldten.~[ADYT.]