SCALE-BOARDS IN CHEESE-PACKING.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XIII, Issue 3, 20 September 1916, Page 204

SCALE-BOARDS IN CHEESE-PACKING.

D. CUDDIE,

Director of the Dairy Division.

In most respects it can be said that the packing of New Zealand cheese for the Home market is quite satisfactory. This applies to the style and strength of the crates used for this purpose, and within recent years what may be described as a standard package has been adopted, by the cheese companies. The branding, as a general rule, is also uniform, as well as being neat and attractive. In a certain respect, however, the packing of cheese at some of the factories is unsatisfactory, in that scale-boards are not used to protect the cheese from adhering to the ends and centre-boards of the crates. While by far the greatest part of the Dominion’s cheese-production is packed with scale-boards in approved manner, some of the factories have not yet fallen into line.

The officers of the Dairy Division have persistently recommended the inclusion of scale-boards —one for each end of each cheese—to ensure safe carriage to the market; and, in view of the damage sustained and the losses incurred through neglect of this advice, it is surprising that some of the dairy companies have still neglected this important preventive method.

\ - During \ the .past season numerous complaints have been received through the . Inspector of. New Zealand .Dairy-produce, in London, regarding the' damage . sustained through' the .wood of the crates adhering to, the cheese. As force .has to -be applied •to remove the wood, . a portion of the. product ■is invariably torn away,; which gives the cheese a most unsightly appearance, to say nothing of the

monetary loss which is thus incurred. We are informed that in some of the consignments shipped last season this loss amounted to ss. per hundredweight of cheese. When it is known that scaleboards can be purchased for a fraction over one farthing each, and that only four are required for each crate —a cost of, say, one penny—it is difficult to understand why any dairy company allows its’ cheese to leave New Zealand without this protection.

m With a . view to showing the extent to. which ■ cheese has been damaged ; through the non-use of scale-boards some photographs have been forwarded by Mr. W. Wright, the . London Inspector, and are reproduqed r here, with explanatory notes. These illustrations demonstrate . the. necessity for the provision of scale-boards in all crates of cheese far; better than any argument in their favour , could do.

Not only should every dairy company making cheese in New Zealand-insist upon the provision ..of scale-boards, ■ but . the' managers should take particular pains to see that .not a single crate of cheese leaves the .factory without '. such , protection. . One rather common mistake is. to make the. cheese ■ trio elarge.; to- psrmi': the scale-boards to .be slipped in at each end of the cheese, .-but the size of the latter should be so regulated to leave room for this purpose. . . ■

All progressive dairymen will agree that no fault in the packing of our cheese should be allowed to continue, because they recognize that faults of this nature are easy to remedy. Then, again, it should be remembered that damaged produce causes great annoyance to the trade, owing ’to the difficulty in disposing of it. Ordinary traders have no sale for damaged ’ goods, and thus do not want them. Direct representations on these lines have been made in the quarters where most needed, and it is hoped that no cheese will leave New Zealand for the Home market during the coming season without being protected against damage and loss by the use of scale-boards.

•-At the Department's - Albany experimental area, situated on the Waitemata gumlands, the John Bull swede gave the' best results among the varieties tested last season. In general, swedes have done better, than turnips, on the plots. . Rape did splendidly, where the ground had been heavily- limed the previous year, but was a complete failure on a piece of land that had been left unlimed. Among the kales the Giant Early Field variety was a striking success, throwing a great bulk of iorage. Of the lucerne varieties, Colonial, Hunter. River, Arabian, Peruvian, Salt Lake City, Grimms, and Dryland \ have maintained a fairly even growth through the summer and winter,’, while American, Turkestan, Hungarian,. French, and Russian were more or less dormant in the winter.