CHINESE BUTTER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume LVIII, Issue 12, 11 June 1926, Page 4

CHINESE BUTTER.

Whilst New Zealand producers are squabbling over tho question of control it is interesting to note that another nation —China—may, in the future, enter the dairy prochice market and become a competitor with a new line of butter. But (says the Wanganui Herald) a good deal must depend upon the energy and enterprise displayed by the Chinese, lij the “Economic Chinese Bulletin” for April it is stated that there are five dairies in Canton, tho Bhcng Keo dairy being the oldest establishment. Although this dairy handles a large quantity. of milk every day, supplying a large portion of the city’s demand, its business shows very slow improvement, because of the difficulty of buying and" Seeping cows of foreign breed- So buffaloes are being experimented with. Hie Department of Agriculture of tho Canton Christian University has discovered that buffaloes in South China yield very goodmilk, better than that of the imported cows in quality, though not in quantity. An analysis made at the University shows that while the foreign cow’s milk yields 8.67 per cent, of butter-fat, the buffalo’s milk yields 11,20 per cent. In addition to the superior quality of the milk, there are other advantages in keeping buffaloes for dairy purposes. For the price of one foreign cow four or ..five baffaloes can be procured. Supposing each buffalo yields six pounds of.milk a day, four will give 24 pounds, which is equal to the quantity produced by the average cow. Buffaloes are natifrally adapted to the local climate, and, furthermore, i hey seldom contract any epidemic, and their care and feeding is cheaper. The onlv' shortcoming of the buffalo as a milk-producing animal is the small quantity of milk she gives. This is due to the fact that she 1 lias never been developed along the dairy line. This defect is liot beyond remedy. China, with her vast territory of 4,370,000 square' miles .and a papulation of over 400,000,000, must nave enormous tracts of country suitable to tho dairy produce business, and she certainly has got the population to work the industry. Transport facilities are, however, very poor, and until tho country is, opened up with railways, progress will be retarded. On the other hand there are mahy fertile plains bordering navigable rivers, and when Climb awakens to the possibilities of turning these to use for the production and export of dairy produce, the development of other territories will automatically follow.