THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



47 



is a considerable item where 100 tons of 

 butter or more are made every montli. 

 The October output was 100 tons, while 

 for November it was expected to reach 

 120 tons, and the December month will 

 total, perhaps, 130 tons. The splendid 

 rainfall, amounting from 7in. to 8in., 

 experienced recently, has assured the 

 South Coast dairymen of an abundant 

 butter season. The pastures were o;reeu 

 and fairly luxuriant before this rain fell, 

 and they are now springing up with great 

 vigour. But a very wet spell is not ap- 

 preciated at all seasons in the swampy 

 coastal country, where you can barely see 

 the backs of the cattle for tall grass. The 

 tussocks, no doubt, form good winter 

 feed, but the pastures Avould I)e improved 

 considerably by cutting them down pretty 

 frequently by a sort of paring plough 

 drawn by a bullock team, that I have 

 seen used in some parts of Victoria. Of 

 course the best of the S(juth Coast lands 

 have been drained and laid down to 

 clover and ryegrass, and bear a short 

 sweet herbage. There is ample clover in 

 the paddocks as a rule, but I did come 

 across a single specimen of ihe straw- 

 berry clover, and this plant might be 

 introduced with advantage to the dairy 

 pastures on the Shoalhaven River. I am 

 sure it would grow here all right, as it 

 stands any auKJUut of flooding, and is 

 very fattening to all kinds of stock. 



M'Vekjh's Milk Test. 



The manager of the Berry Central Fac- 

 tory has done more than made a special 

 reputation for butter-making, but he has 

 greatly simplified the method of testing 

 milk or cream. Mr. W. J. M'Veigh may 

 be regarded as the Australian ISabcock. 

 His method is simpler and more exi)edi- 

 tious than the original system, although 

 the Bal)cock centrifugal, or whirling- 

 machine is still used. The American \)\-dn 

 was good enough for butter factories in 

 their infancy, but in the large establish- 

 ments of this country it was found slow 

 and cumbersome, and taking up too much 

 time, almost as long as churning would 

 do. In Mr. M'Veigh's testing only one 

 minute's whirling of the -machine is re- 

 quired, in place of ten by Babcock, one 

 filling instead of three, and the only addi- 

 tional requisite to its adoption on the 

 Babcock machine is a few of the M'Veigh 



flasks. The process ensures clearer tests, 

 and the finer divisions of the narrower 

 necks allow of more accurate readings. 

 A score of tests can be made in one 

 minute, and the cost of the acid (amyllic 

 alcohol) is about one penny. The only 

 other re(iuirement is a small centimeter 

 pipette, or, in the case of butter factories, 

 a small burette gi'aduate<l in single centi- 

 meters. With the milk and skim milk 

 flasks no compasses are needed, as by 

 releasing the rubber stopper the fat 

 column can be lowered till it touches a 

 main division. Illustrations of Mr. 

 M'Veigh's patent flasks are given in 

 another column, and, while the system 

 has been criticised by certain authorities 

 in the management of butter factories in 

 this colony, I am perfectly satisfied, from 

 demonstrations given at the factory, that 

 it is a very much quicker process of 

 testing than Babcock's original method, 

 and its accuracy has been proved at the 

 Berry establishment beyond all manner 

 of doubt. Mr. M'Veigh has introduced 

 another appliance for the use of dairy 

 farmers in making private tests of indivi- 

 dual cows, or lor those who do not care 

 to go to the expense of buying a Babcock 

 machine. The centrifugal motion in this 

 instance is gained by slinging the testing 

 flask enclosed in an aluminium case 

 around the head by a string and handle, 

 the same as an acrobat on the stage twisis 

 the tumblerful of water upside-down 

 without spilling any on the floor. It is 

 also illustrated in the following pages. 

 The inventor claims that it is as accurate 

 as the present Babcock power machines. 

 It is certainly a novelty, but I have a 

 doubt about many of the South Coast 

 dairymen taking kindly to this sort of 

 exercise for ten or fifteen minutes for the 

 best cow in their meadow. It is not any 

 simpler than the churn, and it might not 

 be so accurate. Its chief advantage seems 

 to be that it gives the fat percentage in 

 the milk, a point which every farmer 

 likes to know who takes milk to a butter 

 factory. 



Dairying Returns. 

 Farmers on the South Coast have either 

 to pay high rents for their land or invest 

 a goodly sum in the freehold. Generally 

 speaking, the rents vary from 15s. to £1 

 per acre per annum ; the price of such 

 land runs from £20 to £40 per acre, a 



