930 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



want and send graders to London alternately, I was, given to under- 

 stand, was being favorably considered by tlie Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and will probably be carried into effect this coming season. 

 There is a staff of eight graders, and three instructors who some- 

 times act as graders, all under the control of a Dairy Commissioner. 

 The graders also act as instructors in the slack season of the year. 

 There is also a clerical staff' of four in the Commissioner's and graders' 

 offices, making a total of sixteen officers in the dairying division of 

 the Agricultural Department. Six grading ports for butter and 

 cheese, and one for cheese alone are registered. 



On asking; what would be the best means of con verting' unbelievers 

 in Australia to a system of grading I Avas told that " If the evidence 

 I had collected were insufficient to convince even the most sceptical, 

 anyone open to conviction should be sent over there and he would see 

 and learn for himself, but the hard-headed men who would not condes- 

 cend to be persuaded might be left alone, it was no use troubling 

 about them." On mentioning that in Victoria vested interests were so 

 strong that a certain section of those connected with the industry 

 regarded a grading system such as this with apprehension as likely 

 to enable many other buyers to compete with them on a better foot- 

 ing. I was told that " that was just what would benefit the pro- 

 ducers, the more buyers who bid for their butter, the better were the 

 prices likely to be. That at any rate was the result in their case." 



Winter Fodder for Stock. 



Perhaps the most surprising feature in connection with dairying 

 in New Zealand is the condition of the stock, for although it was 

 midwinter every beast I saw was in what might be termed a meaty 

 condition, indicating that at no period of its growth Or life did it 

 encounter any shortage of food or starvation, as with us in Victoria. 

 The animals here are hardy looking, with more of the frame showing, 

 but their cows in full profit were almost fit for the butcher, and I was 

 told that they come into profit in the springtime almost fat. 

 This is due to the summer's heat not drying up the pasture, 

 as it does with us, and to the enormous growth of fodders provided 

 for the winter time. In some districts in the North Island, near 

 timbered or bushy country, the cows are in winter turned into the 

 scrub, where they find abundant herbage and shelter ; and those who 

 have not bush country grow immense areas of turnips, mangels and 

 carrots, the cattle being turned into these turnip fields, which are 

 subdivided with temporary fences. Every farmer grows turnips, the 

 small farmer having his five-acre plot and the large farmer his 100- 

 acre paddock. The turnips are grown in rows about 26 inches apart, 

 with plants nine inches from one another. The Mammoth and 

 Champion Swede" are the most extensively grown varieties, whilst the 

 Lincoln Red, Globe, Devon and Greystone are grown for earlier use, 

 and the Waites, Eclipse, Greentop, Yellow Aberdeen and the Romney 

 Marsh are all represented. Some few farmers still sow broadcast, 

 but all the broadcast sown crojDS that I saw were failures as comjoared 



