AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2167, 5 September 1895, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The ninth annual report of the Mataura Dairy Factory Company, presented at a meeting ©f shareholders, held on Friday last, showed that 163 tons of cbee&o had been made in all, which was an increase of 23 tons over tbe last season, and that all of it had been sold in the colony to Messrs Tothill, Watson, and Co , who had been purchasing the company's cheese for tbe past three years. The credit balance ou tlie year's tramuctionß, after paying 3f vl for milk, wts £146 12s 4d, out of wLich it was proposed to p»y a dividend of 6 per cent .leaving a credit balance of £41 1>> 4d to be carried forward. A change of management had taken piare at the factory, which still retained its connection with the National Dairy Association, now an important institution in connection with the dairy industry. The balance sheet sho wed that of tho company's capital of £3000, £178* had been taken up, leaving £1216 unallotted. Three shiploads of horses, over 1000 in ■11, will be leaving for Calcutta shortly, two fiom Sydney and one from Melbourne. The Warrnambool Standard publishes the following extract fiom a letter received from Jbhtßoesburg, South Africa : — " We buy Australian bulter here now at 2s 6d per Jb, ntade «t Mortlake. The firm that is importing it is going to keep a constant supply on baud by every boat, and when tbe line is finished to Johannesburg thf-y are going in for frozen meat, nhee**, rabbits, *c. The lice ought to be completed by Christmas. It coit# 3d alb from the Thip'a fide to land it here, as they have to pay ;two heavy duties and 1014 miles by railway in refrigerating cars ; and without a doubt it is the best butter that comes here, and it ought to hare a great future lefore it if they do not block it out by imporiog prohibitive datiss." * The following extr*ct from a letter written to Hoard's Dairyman by Professor Robertson deserves the attention of all New Zealanders interested in the dairy industry :— " The outlook is for a very large increase in the output of cheese and creamery bulter from Caimk. The low prices of both in Great Britain are, I think, maiidj due to tbe wretched way in which the Auflfotltan and New Zealand exporter* bave conducted their business. A considerable share •of tfetrr consignments (and they ntver were so jarge as to appreciably depress the market from their quantity)' was sent to men outside the tegular trade. Their only interest in them was "their conramsion or brokerage ; and when Bngiish buyers find goods in tbe hands cf men outside (ho veguiar trade, and who, with their gojdc, are tb*r*by pnt at their mercy, th*n th»y sbow no meroy. The fir>t buyer* of these Australian land New Zealand good* often turned them over 4n a day or ttco at 16 to SO pei' cent ptr cwt profit, tool the report had a demoraiibiug effect on the marktt" "

Tbe steamer Urm&bon Grangp, from Sydney, August 6, is, according to thn Syduey Mail, to deK»er direct at Liverpool 25,000 crrcases of theepaod, if possible, 10,000 curettes at Cardiff. Tbe Urmiton Grange also took from Sydney 230 cattle, aud will call at Buenos Ayres for 1100 sheep additional, to be stowed on the roof of the cattle pens and the forectttie. Set ing that toe voyage round the E[orn is made during the stwmy season, thU precaution to have a clear deck for'ard is wise. Tho pens feaTe been re-erected attor use on voyr.g.as from Argentina. The bars dividing the cattle are perptndicnlar, supporting the roof, and when possible ail br»cos go right across the deck. The troughs, moreover, rest on -the deck. The freezing machine is on -the carbonic anhydride system, and requires two aud a-half tons of coal per day to keep cool the holds, which contain. 65, 000 carcases of" mutton and 6COO quarters of beef. Under the beading "An Extraordinary Sheep," tbe Lyttelton Times of the 3 1st ult. aft;e ._« One of the pen of five of Mr Max Friedlander's four-tooth Hampshire Down wethers, which attracted so much attention at - the Addi»g(oa Y«id* on Wednesday, and which were bought by Mr H. S. Harris, of Cashel street, was put on the steelyard* last eveniog, and was fuuud to wc'gh 1631b dressed. A number of persens were pr*smt, aud wei^Ltguessing was fte-ly indulged in, one gentleman getting within 21u if the cowec!; weight. The »beep will be on view this morning. We (Oamaru Mail) understand that very little barley is being put in in thi§ district this season. This is a pity, as good bar)ey is likely to command a market. TLere is plenty of inferior quality on hand, but socks of good are very limited. An additional incentive to pub in barley in good land is tho probability of the reciprocal treaty with South Australia recciviog parliamentary approbation, in tho event of

which a good expoit market would be opened up I for the cere»l. The Pearson experimental beet sugar plant, now at work on an eight-acre crop at Port Fairy, Victoria, consists of a spiral root wanhtr, delivering clean bulb* into the hopper of the pulpfr, which a»e tlere shredded. This pulp is then shovelled upon iron plates, upon which ooarso bkukets are sptead, and the blankets being folded over them, the plates a-e stacked upon each other to drain, subsequently bting placed in a press, and the pulp is by pressure completely deprived of its jttice. The Hquid is thence couvi-yvd by pipe* to the evapotator, large cylinders heated with ftttam slowly revolving in the juice, which dries upon them by the action et' t 1 c heat, and it is subsequently ecr&ptd iff and run into bags. The dried juice is theu ready for the refinßry. The pulp or refuse is valuable as a food for htock. Mr Goldie has for several y6ais past devoted himself to tha production cf a root that would fulfil all recognised conditions. The analysis of samples already tts : ed gave an average of 14 "82 p«r cent., an excellent result when it is remembered that a cropgiviogl2 5 per ctnfc. is considered a paying one. In Germany for lwfe season the avtrage percentage was les« by 2 pec cent, than the ViCtorian lesolt.