THE WAIKATO FARMER

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 9817, 22 February 1936, Page 31 (Supplement)

THE WAIKATO FARMER

EDITED BY O. E. CUMING.

Margarine. With the great advance taking place in technical knowledge the cost of producing margarine is being reduced and the quality of the great butter substitute is being improved at the same time. Generally the margarine is made from copra (cocoanut, or rather the dried kernel of this), which is a fairly cheap substance. The copra is either used for making soap •or margarine. When the copra is imported it is a bad smelling stuff, but the objectionable odours are eliminated by heating ad other processes, and the resultant product gives a substance, part of which is known as “cofer,” and it is this white odourless fat called “cofer” which is used for the manufacture of margarine. In order to make it saleable in competition with butter it has to be coloured and flavoured and given the requisite odour, tjntll lately it was difficult to make this material into a sufficiently plastic condition without the admixture of butter or other ’suitable substance, such as animal fats, tout recently a new process has been evolved by which “cofer” can be made into a plastic condition very similar to butter, and it needs only suitable colour, flavour and smell to be provided in order to make it a complete imitation of newly-churned butter. A Mighty Organisation.

Prioe Fixing, Much discussion is taking place In America as to whether it is right and feasible for the farmer to fix the price of his products. One recent writer contends that while labour Axes the price of its employment, the railways and other public utilities impose set prices on the public, and tradespeople put. their own values on the commodities they sell, so the farmer has every right to put a fair valuo on the produce he markets- At first glance this appears a reasonable assumption. But the fact was overlooked that farming Is a world-wide industry, and in the marketing of his surplus products the farmer has to face competition from peoples of different countries, few, If any of which, aro producing at the same cost as tiimself. For Instance, all countries were producing butter and cheese at the same cost as ourselves, and all the farmers of the world were united in a marketing federation, it might toe possible to fix prices. And it is possible to conceive price-fixing for farm commodities within the borders of any particular country if a law were, in existence, or tariff barriers high enough, to exclude similar commodities from other countries. No, in these days of efficient oversea transport and with the farmers of the world keenly looking for better markets price fixing is impossible. The one hope the farmer has of securing a higher return for his products is to combine with his fellows to feed the markets In a commonsense and businesslike manner, particularly to guard against dumping, the sudden supplying of the markets with more produce than they require, thus opening the door to speculation, market rigging, and other evils. The markets should only be supplied with the produoe they can absorb, they should be supplied all the year, and they should only be supplied with high quality produce of absolute uniformity. Combined with this there should he effective advertising on the best Home markets. All this, It may be said, is easier to imagine than achieve. Certainly it is the ideal, and until we attain It we will not get the last fraction of profit coming to us.

Both irt England and Europe the production of margarine is very largely under the control of the Margarine Union, which employs a staff of competent scientific men, both in the Improvement of the mechanical plant and its scientific processes. The great combine spends a large sum of money in advertising, and in the year 1928 It Is reported to have spent more than a million podnds In this way. Margarine is sold retail in England at varying prices, ranging from 5d a pound retail for the cheaper cooking varieties up to Is a pound for the better qualities. ‘There are no restrictions on the sale of margarine in England, and production reached its highest point in 1929, when the total was 288,000 tons. In 1933 the production fell to 186,000 tons. The reason for this fall in consumption is to be found iri the decline of approximately 6d a pound In retail prices of imported butter. Imports of margarine into England from Denmaz-k and other countries fell from 69,300 tons in 1925 to 4,600 tons in 1932, and the import price fell from 70s to 43s a cwt. It Is clear that the price of New Zealand and other butters on the London market Is partly regulated at the price at which coloured, flavoured and odorised margarine can be sold for table use, and the supply of the raw materials for margarine is practically unlimited

But the greatest improvement in return must come from more efficient farming methods, the lowering of the cost of production by using only profitable cows, feeding and managing these to better advantage, and using the pedigree fat-record bull so that the return from each acre of land may toe steadily improved from year to year. * * * * Aberdeen Angus. it is well for the chilled beef trade of this country that such a high proportion -of the beef stock is of the Aberdeen Angus breed. It is net so much that the breed suits the country but that the carcase it produces is held In suoh high opinion by the butchers of Britain. Speaking recently of the breed a Home butcher said that if he were asked by a farmer what was the best breed he would reply that the best breed was the breed that suited his country, but if he were asked by a layman or a fellow trader he would plump for the Aberdeen Angus. His preference, he .said, was based on the principle of taking the line of least resistance, or, in other words, stocking his shop with an article that would give him the least trouble in cutting tempting looking joints with a certainty, If age and condition were right, of a pleasing ten r derness and flavour that meant satisfied customers. Butchers, he said, were up to-day, as never before, to cashing 'satisfactorily the mls-named coarse joints, such as chuoks, briskets, flanks, etc. This is where the Aberdeen was such a supreme tout-cher’-s carcase. Its coarse joints are so light proportionately, and the eating qualities so pronounced, that they built up a demand for them, but all Inrough the carcase of marbled flesh, with its light bone, gave you the Ideal. New Grassland Idea. Professor R. <G. Stapledon, Director of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, Is admittedly the leading authority in the Empire, and probably In the world, on grass. Whenever he -speaks about grass he has something interesting to say. Speaking recently at a conference at Oxford University the text of his address was that toy far the larger proportion of permanent pasture was bad, unproductive, innutritious, full of weeds, seldom yields what we want, and only what we do not want. And this Is nearly as true of New Zealand as It is of England. Now, he says, Ihe drying of grass has come to herald what may well prove to be the greatest revolution, as far as acreage is concerned, in British agriculture that has taken place since oxen first yoked to the plough. In the coming revolution Professor Stapledon considers that the engineer and the implement maker will play a big part. As to the grass itself he considers it would serve the farmer best,, in producing the maximum amount of grass for drying and grazing, to have his whole farm in a series of four-year leys, three-year leys, two-year leys and even one-year ley, or In a sort of crossword puzzle arrangement of all of them.

A page devoted to assisting the Waikato farmer to make the fullest possible use of the great natural advantages of the Waikato and to thereby develop the most prosperous farming community in the world .

| With the object of getting the maximum bulk, maximum nutritive value, and maximum seasonal spreadover the Professor advises several seed mixtures. It seems to him that for grass drying it was essential to make the maximum use of the more bulky legumes, lucerne and red clover, tout the largest acreage, he thinks, would always be the unchallenged province of red clover. This legume had high nutritive value, did not fall in nutritive value as quickly as it matured, enriched the soil and bulked heavily and in & way that helped seasonal spread-over- The tendency, said Professor Stapledon, was going to be to break up all poorest grasslands everywhere for the most favoured grasses or for the' few. A sequence of one-year leys taken continuously for three to five years on the same field, apart from 'anything else, was an admirable method of. preparing a miserably poor or dirty field for a good four to six-year ley. It was the ideal way of growing Italian ryegrass for winter and spring grazing. When the ley had lost its special grass it would toe useless and must be ploughed out, and this is what scientific farming, based on the ley, meant One-year leys for Italian ryegrass and late flowering red clover; two-year leys with commercial perennial ryegrass, commercial cocksfoot and Montgomery red clover; three-year leys and longer with the persistent and leafy strains of grasses, and where suitable, with lucerne. And Professor Stapledon very muoh doubts if it will ever be possible to farm thus scientifically with resort to any leys of greater duration than six years. His general advice would be to sow one big grass, and oertainly never more than two big grasses, with white clover and with perhaps rough stalked meadow grass or crested dogstail, according to the conditions, the latter species to make a bottom to the sward and to help keep cut weeds, and through the white clover to enhance fertility. Professor Stapledon In envisaging the future of the real grass farm he has in his mind says that the used £5 car will have a very large part to play tooth as a car to take men, seeds, and light dressings of nitrogen quickly to distant fields, as a tractor, and as an engine on to whiclf all manner of grassland Implements (gadgets of tomorrow) could be built.

Manure by the Bottle. A few years ago there was quite a small oraze for treating disease in fruit trees by putting sulphur or a sheep dip in an auger hole in the bole of the tree in the winter, with the object of the sap when rising taking It to every part of the tree and thereby poisoning the pests that attaoked the tree or fruit. We have seen home orchard trees with corks in all the trees in the fruiting season. Those who tried it claimed that by Its means they seoured absolutely clean fruit. Now In England they are supplying mineral fertiliser to fruit trees In the same way. At the East Maling Fruit Research Station they are putting the apple trees “on the bottle.” In other words as It Is a tedious thing to feed the trees by applying manure to the soli they are to have their nutrients injeoted directly Into their stems. One of the difficulties of keeping orchards adequately and at the same time economically manured Is the slowness of response the trees make to a fertiliser applied to the soil in the usual way. The newer method provides a muoh quicker means of discovering the needs of the tree. Moreover, it may quite conceivably prove useful as a means of fertilising whole plantations. The fertiliser to be given is dissolved in enough water to make a solution of about one-quarter per cent, strength—lib. to 40gal. The solution is held In any convenient container, which is' supported at a level higher than that of the point where the injection Is to be made. A hole of lin. diameter Is bored through the stem of the tree and a narrow glass tube is inserted at one end, with a collar of sponge rubber fitting close against the bark. The other end of the hole is blocked with a spongerubber stopper. The glass tube Is connected to the container by means of a siphon, and, as soon as the pressure of the liquid has expelled the air from the hole, the apparatus is bound up to prevent leakage. The experiments have shown that in summer the tree gets a suitable amount of nourishment in two or three days, leaf scorch setting in if the treatment is continued too long.. One set of apparatus may thus bo used to treat, in succession, a considerable number of trees. In large-scale experiments a group of Cox’s Orange Pippin trees 2i years old, received treatment, the operation being carried out in June (midsummer). The solution contained i per cent of phosphate of potash and i per cent of urea, a German nitrogenous fertiliser containing nearly twice as much nitrogen as sulphate of ammonia and being also more easily utilised by the plant. The results were extremely promising. The treated trees produced up to two or three times as much shoot growth as the untreated, the increase varying with the amounts of nutrients given. It is stated that the trees used for the experiments were already in vigorous growth and that still more striking results would probably be obtained by operating on weakly specimens.

Form and Capacity. The problem of determining a cow’s productive capacity by her external form is still unsolved. In the past many theories have been advanced, the originators claiming that they have definitely unlocked the key ito this mystery, but there are few adherents of these keys to production at the present time. There were many, who once regarded the escutcheon as an infallible guide, others believed the length of the tail was a sure sign, some believed in the idea that if the hair turned and formed a " star ” at a certain distance behind the wither heavy production was assured. We have quoted before, but it will bear repeating, the observation of a noted American judge of dairy cattle on these alleged signs. He said: “They say they are signs of heavy milk production; well, I have heard it said that if you see ten geese walking in a row with their toes in it is a sign the children will have measles light the coming season.” The subject of form and capacity is being studied in several countries at the present time. One officer engaged in the work says this: “ Confirmation may indicate possibilities of an animal to make full use of an Inheritance for. great production, but it seems Improbable that It will ever Indicate to us whether the animal has suoh an inheritance.” This is a sanfe opinion, b-ut it is -not new’. We believe, however, that the nearest Index we have to indication of producing power is the head. Just as the great muzzle, good eyes set well apart (and the very expression of these) indicate constitution, -so this right kind of head can convey to the man who really knows a cow a very fair indication as to whether or not it can make use of the inheritance it possesses. There are men who are capable of picking out the good producing cow, but they are certainly few and far between. The best judge of a dairy cow the writer has met was a man who was mainly guided by the head. Perhaps the most serious pitfall In judging a oow Is attaching too much importance to the fine shoulder. A oow may have a fine shoulder and it may be no detriment to her, b>ut If the fine shoulder goes with any narrowness In front then it Is a decided Indication of weakness. Width between the fore-legs Is essential, and If the shoulder is put In right a oow (or a bull for the matter of that) will have the necessary -width In front. Any contraction in lung capacity is the worst failing a cow can have.