NEWS FOR FARMERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16233, 31 March 1917, Page 15

NEWS FOR FARMERS.

-HEonob :mra jon©

THE WOOL SEASON:

As far as one can gather tho wool season lias passed oli in a satisfactory ■way. incro are very row complaints icgaiding -price, althuugli souio have mouglit that they should have been betttr treated. Tho valuers.and brokers say that they have had a strenuous time, and that is not hard.-to believe. Tho Government scheme was put into operation rather suddenly, and at first there was a good deal of confusion and inconvenience. The.business was, howeveff soon put on a fairly satisfactory basis, and towards the end of the season- there were very few hitches of any sort. Brokers complain that of the sclips were not put up as'they should liave been. 1 An impression seemed to get ;/broad that it was not as necessary to class the clip as carefully as in the days when competition prevailed. As a matter of fact it is just as necessary as ever it was to put all one's knowledge into tho task of getting up the clip as well as possible. Indeed, it is even imore necessary than it was before to put the clip on the market in the best possible state. It must bo borne in mind that, -we -have only;' one buyer to deal with,-namely, the Government, and it is represented by on© set of buyers with cut and dried schedules of values ito work upon. are -therefore not so many chances of the"" fluctuations in prices that used'to cause some to get better! prices than they deserved at auction owing to tho fancies of respective buyers as to what suited him-best. Now the valuer grades according to. the Bradford counts, and then he proceeds ( to further' grade the wool according to; its quality and' get up. Hence it ,wjll be,seen that a clip that- is well' skirted an& free from dirt and foreign matter will be placed in the higher grades if it is sound and good in all other respects. The valuer has his table of values to work upon, and there is very small margin for fluctuation. The poorer the wool and the more careless its preparation for market the lower will be its grade and consequently the lower the price given for it.

state that there have been comparatively few complaints regarding the prices given. There have been some objections, most of which have been settled without appeal. Where appeals have been made there has -been little difficulty in the majority of cases in arriving "at an amicable settlement. Some objectors have protested that they did not get as much as they did last year. As a matter ot fact, last year's prices had nothing to do with the values 'at all. The prices were .based on the January 1914 values for; the various grades and qualities/ sub-' ject of course to the allowance that had to be'made" for difference in condition, soundness and so on. On the whole the scheme has worked satisfactorily, and there has not been so much friction as some thought there would be. And >£he Government taking over the wool has saved all worry about freight. It has been' pointed out that if the clip had been shipped by growers they would have been met by the following charges:—Freight and ordinary insurance 2Jd per lb, war risk ] Id' per lb, or a total of 4d. If these figures a-e correct, the, position is better than it looked in November Tn<=t wlipu the 1 bargain was made with the Government. ■

, PROPOSED SHIPPING COMPANY. K.lt will;, perhaps be remembered : ; that ;: , ;ttia.i)'ai'ifl.tjrti > ''ijj4iou':s(}iiia time jges;recl:;? juitt iiarmei-s - after tins ■■v'wuri snouid girin' lor their own lino: or .steamers to carry their prouuce to tu^ 1 .enief.markets of the worKl. No doubt many who read. tJie proposal looked upon it as nothing mors? tiaan a tin-eat. However, a cable appeared in the daily papers a short time ago announcing that Lloyds' List gave prominence to the proposal of the New Zealand Farmers' Union to establish a Producers'' Shipping Company with a capital of fivo millions. Shipping circles took the matter up seriously ,and it was'in that spirit that those who first made the suggestion were acting. More will be beard of the project when things settle down after the war., and if Tb gets into the right hands.it will doubtless go through. Farmers for some time have' been absolutely at the mercy of one or other of the great shipping combines that dictate the rates that we shall, pay. for carrying our produce to market. In self defence, the. producers feel, that they will have to do something in order to protect themselves. So far the proposal has not got beyond the suggestion stage, though those to whom the project has been submitted ior consideration have reported favourably upon it. .No doubt when the scheme is launched it will receive a good deal of support from those who have felt, that they are not having a square deal from the shipping rings. These combines have during, the last few years looked upon farmers as fair game. The profits of shipping companies .since the war began have been something enormous. The high cost of living both here and in Great Britain has been largely due to their action in putting up freight charges to the utmost limit. Certain people have cavilled a good deal at the farmer during the last few months, largely because they have not known what they are talking about, while the real aggressor, the shipping ring, has escaped notice to a large extent. It is a good plan when criticism becomes too warm to turn the attention of the critics to someone else, and that is what appears to have been successfully done by some of those whose" business is not'directly concerned with the soil. The farmer has been made the scapegoat in many respects. We do riot know what the Imperial Government is paying the shipping companies for the work they are doing, but it must bo something fairly good. The whole of our surplus stuff has to be transported by sea to the Old World, and a considerable amount of our requirements has to come by way of the water, so that it is most important that we should have a voice in the carriage of i'o. If the producers of this Dominion will combine and form their own company they could estab]is a fleet of steamers that would influence the rates of freight to a considerable extent. Even if the fleet were a small one to begin with it would have a. salutary effect. It may not be possible just now io .spruro boats, but after tins war there should be

(BY "SaSSME.'")

opportunities of doing so. Of course tue matter cannot be put in liana in a day, but the feeling of those who are to benefit by the proposal may b« tested at once, so that wnen the time comes some of the preliminary work may have been done. Another reason that we should our own boats, if at all possible, lies ill the fact that it is almost essential for 11s to keep a hold of our produce till it reaches the markets on the other side. We should be in the position of being"-able to follow our stuff right through to the consumer. At present we sell to someone hero, and then we lose all control of it. Defects in tho or the handling at any stage of the journey count against us, but we have practically no sav in the matter, though we .-.have, often to lose money through wrong methods or carer lessness on the part of those who are entrusted with our productions. In fact some who can see a bin- thins* in farmers co-operating to purchase ships to convey products acro-ss the water hope to see our operations extend bevond the shipping, ■pven to markets themselves in the Okl World, or anywhere our products find a market. SEPARATOR NOTES. A great deal has been said and written apout separators, showing that the caro and proper -treatment ot the separator is a most important matter from every point oi view. Cleanliness has been insisted ' upon again and again, and rightly so, because not only does dirt contaminate; the cream and the milk, but it also prevents -the machine from doing its work as thoroughly as it should do. In summer time it is not a good practice to leave the separator unwashed at night, though it is done in a great many cases to save work. - In winter the custom is not so disastrous, because the cooler weather :saves the cream to. some extent; but in summer it is another matter. I have noticed that cream put' through a dirty separator in the morning goes bad before night. Indeed, it is so difficult to keep cream sweet under any circumstances that there is no wonder that it deteriorates rapidly when run through a machine that was loft unwashed over night. The majority of people put the milk through almost as soon as it is dawn from the cow, and that is quite the proper thing to do. The temperature is about right for the operation, and that is an important factor in successful separation. Some farmers take the precaution to. run a little warm water through the machine before separating. If this is' done the water should have a temperature of not less than 150 degrees. If the water is'"clean this in itself will help to purify the separator to some extent, though it must never take the place of a proper clean-, ing, the machine; being taken down for' that purpose. A hint that is worth remembering is one with regard to turning on the milk when the speed on the separator has been got up to the righ pmen. Or course the milk , should never be allowed to .go, into the bowl until the proper speed has been attained, ana then the- milk should be allowed to enter the bowl slowly for, a, commencement., The tap should be turned on*,, "partly until the., bowl is full. Then the flow ought to be allowed to increase gradually till the maximum is attained. ■ x£' will be noticed . that il the tap is turned on suddenly to tho full the first cream that comes is very thin. An excessive quantity of milk solids;. will com© through with the cicam, and imperfect skimming will take place. This will cause rapid deteroration. in the cream. After the proper speed is reached . it must be maintained at an even standard, am. the handlemust be turned at theindicated speed. Another point to be remembered is to refrain from putting the milk oi oream in any receptacle that is in .ahj degree rusty. The tins belonging to the 'separator sometimes lose their tin and then become rusty. They shoiucf be sent to be re-tinned if this is the case. Rusty utensils give an unpleasant metallic flavour to the cream ; moreover it is almost impossible to keep rusty utensils clean. For washing the separator there should be a good supply of hot water, boiling for preference. The first washing should be in tepid water, the next should be in water that is practically boiling." Brushes should be used and not "cloths, and the parts do "not reauire to. be wiped dry after washing. If'. they: are put out in'tho sun and air they will dry themseh'es, and-will riot .run the risk", of .get/ting germs from a.cloth. .Lastly, if you would have good butter do- not mix warm cream with cold. Both should be at something like, the same .temperature before mixing, The whole must be stirred several times a day, and if ifc is.delivered to a factory it should be taken at least every other day.

THE RAIN, rain/which, fell on Saturday and Sunday last was a perfect godsend to tne farming portion of the coinnninity. if we all did our duty we should nave spent Sunday as a day -of thanksgiving for the fine present tliat was given us. True, while it was failing it might have come .at least another inch, but the fall that was experienced will do us very well to go on with. AH ploughed ground and stubble got a wetting practically to the bottom of the furrow. The grass land was not wetted a great distance down, but the grass is springing away, showing that it too got a wetting some inches down. Turnips are looking up since they got a drink, and rape is growing out again. The sides of the roads are becoming a picture, and show what a rain will do when the ground is warm. The most rapid growth is to be seen in the green feed that was sown during the dry weather. Oats, rye, and what not are coming away splendidly, and promise to give_ feed within a short time. I notice that the drill is going in >a. number of instances, no <loubt adding to the area that is under g»<ien crop. The land is in grand condition for working. One stroke of the harrows now is doing more good' than several did before the rain. The teams that were struggling to do their work before and not. succeeding at all well are now walking away with no difficulty. The expense of putting' in crop "of any sort will be lessened to an appreciable extent. Those who were wondering if they could manage to put in wheat with the ground as dry and as hard as it, was have had fche matter settled foE them to some extent, though some more rain is needed to put lea land in the best of working order. It is to be hoped that every acre of wheat will be put in that can be sown with a reasonable degree of success, oven though the labour problem may not look too bright at present. Tt will bo a slur on us if we fail to make a good ivy, in tho face of the urgent, need for cereals throughout the Empire.

The rain coming on the very day the. Minister of Agriculture catae to South Canterbury to talk over the matter with representative farmers is a good augury. s $ A BAD .TENURE. IMr W. D. Hunt, of the National Efficiency Board, speaking at the Utago expansion jLeague's iuncneon last weeu, said, tliat some after tne war—lie would ask them to confer witii liim about a matter that had a direct bearing on the prosperity of DunedhY and ail other places. He referred to the condition of the pastoral country in the South Island. It was a South Island for of the 10-J million acres let on pastoral lease in New Zealand, only half a million acres were in the North Island. Whilst other occupied lands had been going up and down in value, the pastoral lands had gone down in value, until to-day they paid only 5 per cent, interest on 3s per acre. This was all because of the vile tenure which penalised and robbed the man who improved his land. In the North Island improvements werej protected, and that was why our young men were rushing North. It was not necessary to spend money or go in for big public works to' bring about a remedy; all that was needed was to alter the tenure so as to protect improvements. ! ••■.; : - ; - JOTTINGS. It is rumoured (says the AVairarapa "Age") that a number" of prosecutions are.about to be instituted against farmers who have; neglected" ito furnish, re? turns required by the Tax .Departmentj and others who are alleged to, have greatly understated their incomes. and profits. '■■s'<'■ ' : ' : -'-'- _ The peculiar appearance of the livers in. rabbits shot in the neighbourhood of Christehuich:. having aroused suspicion, one of: sthese...was taken to the District Health Officer, who obtained a report from Dr Pearson. - From this it appears that the rabbits are suffering from what is known as coccidiosis. ; This parasitical disease is:, entirely;,confined to the;liver. and!, and does not affect .th<. rabbit otherwise as an" article of food. The District Health Office, advises the public'to discard the liver and all internal organs of- 'the rabbib when preparing; these .animals for the table. Dr,; Chesspn remarked .to a reporter that ..the -fact of "this disease being found in the'liver would not puthim off eating; rabfcits. He thinks it only necessary' to discard ihe organs mentioned..': '■. . >, v\ 'L: ?