THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1927, 29 January 1891, Page 11

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. Early in September lasb year four packages of butter were .despatched, by the Doric, the object of the shippers being threefold, viz.:— l. To determine practically the. relative influences on the condition of butter when conveyed in the cool chamber, and that carried as general cargo. 2. To ascertain the effects on the keeping qualities of the article by the arrangement that two of the packages— one from the cool chamber, and one frem the. general cargo compartmentshould be tested on the London market, while the other two should be retained on board, and carried the round voyage for examination on return here. 3. To test the efficiency of a form of package suggested by. Me Riddell, a farmer well known in connection .with the. Peninsula Butter Packing and Exporting Company. The butter for warded was made on 29th August from the cream of ,milk supplied' by the Taieri and Peninsula Milk Supply , Company. The milk was put through the separator at a temperature of 85deg, and the cream descending from .the "cooler" — temperature about 65deg Fahr.— was set 48 .hours to ripen, and then churned at a temperature of 58deg. The proportion of salt to the butter was |oz to. the fb, with about l-50fch saltpetre added., No colouring matjber was used, and the boxes were filled .indiscriminately from' .the one lot of button ,The jeojitents were firmly pressed, or rammed in, the butter coining into immediate contact with the wood without miJßlra or other cloth intervening, The package consists of an inner box closely fitting into' an outer tin case. The box is made of 8-10 th inch white pine, specially prepared for the purpose by Messrs Findlayand 00. -The lid of tha box is firmly fastened down and then the cover of the outer case is closed and soldered, securely. Finally, an opening is made in the lid into which brine is forced so as to ■ occupy any space intervening between the tin and inside wood, and to expel the air; then the aperture is closed and, the packing operation completed. The cost of tho double case is about 2s 6d. 'The four packages remained in store here fnlly a week, and were then shipped; The London account sales of the two boxes is dated November 14— two months and a- half from the making and packing of the batter. Of its condition;the selling brokers (Messrs Samuel Page BndSoa)'Bay:— Box in cool chamber: In good condition, but flavour oily, and the colour a little too pale^ We have sold this box at 72s per cwt. The box , which came as ordinary cargo was apparently the "same make of butter as the one which came, in the cool chamber, but the heat to which it had been subjected had quite destroyed the texture of the butter, which was perished, and totally unfit for' table use, or even for pastry purposes. This box we sold at 40s per cwt=, Both of these boxes were a style of package-, which is very unsuitable. , The most convenient paokages for thi3 market are kegs, of about 001b and Pond's patent boxes." Through the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company another opinion was received from their expert, who writes:— "We have seen the two cases butter per Doric. That carried in the cool chamber was in good condition, but was' rather Insipid in taste and wanting in the full rich flavour which characterises the Normandy, Brittany, and Danish butter. Tho case carried as ordinary cargo had evidently melted, as it was soft;, and, to use a tallow market expression, "seedy," but it was not strong, although it could only be used for manufacture. The case was very securely fastened, being in a wooden box covered with tin and then cased."

The round-voyage cases per Doric were opened here on the 19th inst. Apertures had been cut in the outer tin coverings of both cases, presumably by the London Customs officials, and consequently the brine poured in before despatch had been spilled or had evaporated. The butter in the box carried in the cool chamber had a slightly greasy taste and was wanting in aroma; but, on the whole, just such quality as now— midsummer, with plentiful supplies— brings 6|d per lb, or perhaps a little over, wholesale. The contents of the " ordinary cargo" box had a slightly strong odour, was Bof fc, and had lost textare— evidences of having been subjected to frequent variations of temperature.- Still, this butter is in no way inferior to a large proportion of ordinary makes now gelling in the local market at 4|i3 to 5d per Jb. Ie is to be regretted, and for cogent reasons, that the butter was not sampled and reported on by experts prior to shipment, and who, on examination of the return oases, could have spoken with certainty as to the precise influences of the voyage on the material. It is extremely probable, notwithstanding the care in making, that the butter was not a prime article to begin with. It was nob Bummer butter, but made at a changing period of the year, when spring grasses are young and comparatively unnutritious, and it must be borne in mind this was particularly the case last August. Pasturage wan backward «nd scanty, therefore *fi& t*<& °* tbe WVB **° m * bwb tba

milk was obtained to make the butter under notice was a mixture of young grass, spent turnips, and straw.; while it may be assumed that the majority of the cows were but recently calved, and at a milking stage, when, as experienced, dairy farmers know, the product is poor in quality. These primary unfavourable conditions satisfactorily account for the London verdicts to the effect that the butter sent in the copl chamber was deficient in texture and insipid in taste. In other respects the results of_ the experiment are valuable and convincing, inasmuch as they show the futility of the shipment of butter as ordinary cargo to Home markets.

Ohbistchurch,, January 24.

To test the question of whether freezing injures batter, two boxes were obtained by Mr Murphy, secretary of the Canterbury Agricultural and Faatoral Association, from Tai Tapu Dairy Factory, and one placed in the freezing chamber and the other in the cool chamber at Islington works eight days ago. They were taken out to-day and put jn a chamber with a temperature of from 50 to 60 degrees, and will be examined on February 2nd.