170 GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. [Sept. 1896. 



cows ; and the possibility of growing heavy crops of it per acre 

 nearly everywhere in Canada puts the farmers, in regard to the 

 cost of production, on a footing equal to, or better than, that of 

 their competitors in other countries where cows can be fed on 

 pastures for a longer part of the year. 



In some places horse-beans (Faba vulgaris, var. equina) have 

 been grown with satisfactory results as a fodder crop. On the 

 Central Experiment Farm as much as 12 tons per acre of green 

 fodder was obtained from this valuable plant. 



With the object of stimulating the butter export trade a cold 

 storage service was inaugurated in the summer of 1895, and 

 arrangements were made whereby refrigerator cars for butter 

 were run during the summer on the main lines of railway 

 leading to Montreal. These picked up the small lots of 

 butter offered weekly. The shippers of butter by these cars 

 and routes were allowed to ship at the usual " less-than-carload 

 rates," without any charge for the icing or special service. As 

 far as space permitted, merchants were allowed to use these cars 

 for the shipment of dairy and creamery butter between points 

 at which the cars touched. 



Arrangements were also made for the cold storage of fresh - 

 made creamery butter and for the fitting of insulated and 

 refrigerator chambers on steamships to Bristol, Liverpool, and 

 Glasgow. The chambers were constructed so as to thoroughly 

 isolate the butter and prevent it from being heated by any rise 

 ,of temperature outside the chamber during the voyage. Gal- 

 vanised iron tanks were filled with ice, to cool the interior of 

 the chamber and the exterior of the packages heated in transit 

 from the cold storage warehouse to the ships. 



Trial shipments of cheese in cold storage compartments were 

 made during the summer, and the results from these trial ship- 

 ments were so satisfactory that it is probable that hereafter 

 advantage will be taken of cold storage service for the carriage 

 of large quantities of cheese during the summer to Great Britain. 



Wheat-growing in New South Wales. 



The cultivation of wheat in New South Wales during the past 

 thirty years has been very irregular. From the work issued by 

 the Government Statistician, to which reference is made at 

 the foot of page 167, it appears that for some years prior 

 to 1867 the area of land under the crop remained almost the 

 same from year to year, being little more than 125,000 acres. 

 In 1867, however, the wheat area increased to 175,000 acres, 

 and at that acreage it remained practically unaltered for twelve 

 years. Then more land was again laid under wheat, and in 

 1878-9 the area had increased to 233,252 acres. Since then the 

 area under this cereal has been greatly extended, the maximum 



