BUTTER-MAKING.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1671, 5 March 1890, Page 4

BUTTER-MAKING.

The New Z^l and "Herald," in review ing Professor frown's book on the 1 science 'and practice of butter making i^ Australasia, quotes and observes as follows : " Wherever the finest" natural ' pastures exist, or wheraver the best artificJal bnes can. be. established,: there should the best and most profitable milk be got." Just so, and to produce- good and permanent rjasture land, npt pnly, if land, of, good quality required, but there innst ba abun dance of moiature Well dUtfibuced over the whole year ,fo keep up that perennial supply of moisture r^qbired by a rapidlygrowing field of grass, and without which a/ green field all the .year round; is im« possible. To most minds othe -variable •ewofl in Australia would oe r regarq[ed as an^bbstacle iii. leering this^end^aniin this changeable character o| the Auslralian weather' Mr Brown evidently >cc« a difl^; cutty in providing the bert of food foi dairy oattle <by graisiog on pern>ahent pasture, for be says "the natural home of the cow in Australasia uwheceJthebli mate and soil combine to prompte j the growth of grasses »n4*R f .B re S»| s cir 9»fts«i!PWHy» so that the one can suppleoienjt the other." Perhaps it U' on this tfiaV tie Appears to be iomewbit 'Hf faVourof the. soiling syitomi He lays "no plan can 1 possibly be logood to meek thegre»teit

possible production of milk as soiling." After referring to his Canadian experience, he says r " There is by the soiling system a great saving of original cost in fences. . . . I, believe it is true that the interest on capiral invested in fences and repnira amounts to ao muoh as the labour emnloyed' in attending upon 30 head of eo'ws by e>i!ini;. The annual fence tax, s>) to speak, <>n the 300-acre farm would amount to £60. and of course the smaller farm the grea er the cost of fencing per acre. . . The effeot of Boiling upon milk has not been carefully noted, except in regard to quantity, in which respect it iB nearly double that of pasturing — an extraordinary fact, but a fact nevertheless — all the result of quiet, full feed, and regularity. . . The system as applicable to Australia will- unquestionably be part soiling, .part grazing, aB well as supplying green fodder to cows on paddocks nearer home. . . Absolutely, then, soiling, in whole or in p^rt, implies the being able to maintain two cows on what could only maintain one, and obtaining nearly double dairy produce at a oost that leaves a balance of £214 in favour of the system v pon <he far m we have chosen (300 acres). " As to the cost of carrying the system into effect, the author states that 1101 bof paature or other green food is an ample allowance to one 00 w per day, and he coueludes that the full time of one man and one horse would be required to attend upon fifty cowb and watch several odds and ends about the buildings. He states that some object to suoh a system, because it requires greater intelligence and care to establish, and maintain a system of crops that will alone make such a system possible, but the answer he gives to them is rough, and pointed, as follows : " When any farmer begins to speak about troubles and first expense, and too much looking after of things, then the sooner he falls into the ditch the better for the oountry. At any rate, let him continue his successive crops of wheat, and give the cows the range of all the farm, so as the earlier to convince him of the high life he is leading — an extravagant, unproductive selfish life, as well as a financially dangerous one."

la the management of pasture land Professor, Brown is opposed to the no system at present so much in vogue iv all the colonies. He thinks one good preparation for laying land down in grass is the feeding off by sheep a green or root crop. He is in favour of the grass lands being lightly grazad during the first two years, and after that hard-grazing, with a top dressing applied every three years. He is also in favour of allowing the grass to mature and shed its seed every three years, and strongly advocates, what we have often recommended, the dividing of the land into paddocks, and chan^in^ the different stock- on the farm periodically from one paddock to another, allowing each field in turn to be a fortnight or three weeks untouched. By this means the pastures are better kept, more food is furnished from the same area of land, and the cattle appear to like the change. He states that " change for all grazing stock is of more importance than most men believe. In my own experience, accurately noted for six yearß in one particular instance in Canada, I was able to graze at the rate of one cow on a little les3 than an. aore throughout several seasons continuously, and without extraneous help, by rotation, over four fields every month— that is, the cows got a change every week. The pasture was good, but I estimated that the f reßb bite, the clean bite, the change of grasses, represented one fourth of the success." This is a hint which should not be lost sight of. The book deserves to be in the hands of all our rural readers.