186 



GENISRAL AGitrCULTURAL NOTES. 



[Sept. 1895. 



tained, be made a fairly remunerative occupation so long as 

 prices do not fall below 2s. per bushel for the farmers. 



The low prices that have ruled for wheat are said to have 

 taught landholders that even in the so-called " dry north," where 

 at one time the soil was not considered good enough for wheat 

 growing, co-operative butter factories and creameries can be 

 made to pay. Experhiients made in the cultivation of flax have 

 also proved tliat fibre can be produced in the wheat-growing 

 areas in payable quantities. In various other directions it has 

 been demonstrated that the Victorian soils are capable of pro- 

 ducing returns more profitable than growing wheat at Is. 6d. a 

 bushel on the farm. 



It is Iield, therefore, that should circumstances ever again 

 reduce wheat to an eighteen-penny-level, the experience of the 

 past four years and the knowledge that has, so to speak, been 

 forced upon landholders, ought to put them in such a position 

 as to be practically independent of any collapse in wheat values. 



Dairying in the Province of Saxony. 



According to the annual report of the Central Agricultural 

 Association of the province of Saxony, co-operative dairying 

 continues to spread in that province. In 1892, the number or 

 co-operative dairies was 77 ; a year later, 91 of these establish- 

 ments were at work, and by the end of 1894, the number had 

 increased to 109. Most of the dairy associations confine their 

 operations to the manufacture of butter and return the separated 

 milk to their members for feeding young stock, but in districts 

 where no breeding is carried on, some of the dairies make cheer^e 

 as well as butter, and fatten swine. The milk is usually paid 

 for according to its fat contents, and this sj'Stem is in many cases 

 facilitated by an arrangement whereby the milk is sent for 

 analysis once a month to the laboratory attached to the experi- 

 mental station at Halle. From the business reports of 77 of the 

 dairies, it appears that they dealt with about 13,000,000 gallons 

 of milk in 1894, from which about 4,000,000 lbs. of butter were 

 produced. The payments made to the members of the 77 dairies 

 concerned amounted to 287,500/. 



SwiNE Breeding Stations in Hanover, 



In an article which appeared in a recent number of the 

 Landwirthschaftliche Jahrhucher it is stated that the impor- 

 tance of swine breeding as a branch of agricultural industry in 

 Hanover is increasing from year to year. In 1883, the number 

 of swine in the province amounted to 762,881, while in 1892, 

 the number was returned as 1,037,104. The most popular 



