Report OH Dairying in Neic Zealand. 93] 



with those sown in drills. Some enormous yields ai'e secured, for 

 instance, Messrs. Watson Bros, produced 51 tuus 11 cwt. of Swedes 

 from an acre of ground near Invercargill, in competition for a prize 

 given by the Winton Agricultural Society, and Mr. John Thompson, 

 of the same neighbourhood, produced 51 tons 4 cwt. to the acre, 

 whilst other competitors obtained 42 tons, 41 tons, 37 tons, and 36 tons 

 respectively. Mr. Thomas Miller in the five acre class of common 

 turnips grew an average of 43 tons 15 cwt. to the acre, other com- 

 petitors averaging 33 tons, 32 tons, 31 tons, and 28 tons respectively. 

 In the class for best 10 acres, Mr. A. Dawson grew an average crop 

 of 47 tons whilst other exhibitors grew 43 tons and 33 tons respec- 

 tively. An average good crop ranges from 25 to 30 tons per acre. 

 Altogether 392,830 acres of turnips are grown, 8,141 acres of mangels, 

 1,833 acres of carrots, 376 acres of beet, and 119,856 acres of rape, 

 making a total of 523,036 acres of winter food for stock. At an 

 average estimate of say 20 tons to the acre it will be seen that New 

 Zealanders grow about 10,000,000 tons of fodder per annum to carry 

 their stock through the winter. But New Zealand has in addition 

 twelve million acres of cultivated grass as compared with nearly 

 one million acres in Victoria. From Auckland to Wellington 

 is about the same distance as from Sydney to Melbourne, and from 

 Wellington to the Bluff is about as far as from Melbourne to Adelaide. 

 Therefore the country to be traversed in a straight line in New 

 Zealand is as far as an overland jonrney from Sydney to Adelaide via 

 Melbourne and through almost the whole of this country pastures are 

 met with on a par with those in the Colac and Camperdown districts, 

 only that there are more stock to be seen everywhere. It is a grand 

 sight to see so many head of stock and all in the pink of condition. 

 Notwithstanding these advantages I was somewhat disappointed to 

 learn that the average yield of dairy cows was not greater. According 

 to Mr. Cuddie, the Acting Dairy Commissioner for New Zealand, it 

 amounts to 130 lbs. of butter fat per head as against Yictoi'ia's 

 average of about 120 lbs., or only one-twelfth less. Considering the 

 dryness and shortness of our seasons compared with those of New 

 Zealand this speaks well both for our daiiymen and their cows. 



Butter Factories. 



The butter factories visited by me were altogether different in 

 type to any of those we have in Victoria, in that practically all the 

 operations of separating, cream cooling, cream maturing, churning, 

 working, printing and packing, ai'e carried out in the one room, and 

 the only departments outside this one large workroom being the 

 offices, engine and boiler room. The milk is usually hoisted, but in 

 somewhat different fashion to our methods, on to a platform, where 

 it is weighed, going by gravitation through the different processes 

 into the cream vats located on a raised platform high enough to run 

 the cream into the churns. The rooms are well lit, ventilated, and 

 provided with cement floor, the standard of cleanliness being about 

 on a par with that met with in Victoria, but they have no factories so 



