Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 358, 19 March 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

OBI3INAL ARTICLES SELECTION OF THE DAIRY COW. fTRf HERE are three phases to be confjfip» sidersd in choosing a oow: First, J&fcJ select the cow as an individual, without reference to antecedents and records. Tho most important indication of a go;d oow is her uddor. No cow can make milk without a oapaoloos udder, that is not measured so much by its vertical diameter as. by its length as measured by the attachment to the body. It should extend well forward and far bjck or upward between the le»s, and should be wid« at the same time, but not necessarily pendulous; The n xfc point to be considered is the barrel. The cow must have a big b dy, which may be said It , be . * he laboratory. Those features that indicate a good breeder or mother should come next. She should be wide through the hips and large and roomy in the hind quarters. The fourth point to be considered is the fore quarters, and there she should be rather thin and sharp, of spare flesh loosely put together, with chine a little sharp. The neck should be sharp aad rather loosely put on, the shoulders and the head long. Lastly, should come the superficial points—such as good milk veins, escutoheon, fine hair and loose skin. The udder, barrel, pelvic region, fore quarters and superficial points should be considered in this order. But some buyers begin with the last and seldom get so far as the udder. The second phase of the selection has to do with the pedigree. A pedigree of the right sort should be a record of ancestry that includes a&imals of superior merit. The mother of the cow should be a superior animal, and of tho type which you wish to perpetuate. The mother of the cow's sire should bo the same If they are mediocre you have a poor pedigree to start with. The farther back you can go with good animals the better the pedigrte. The next poinr is uniformity and similarity of anima's on both sides. In the selection of a herd, the third phase is to choose a few eachfroni among those cows yon have and weed them out, selecting a few from outsida superior to those you prop se to let go. To make selections in your own herd, it is necessary to keep a duly record, and to make frequent tests of the milk. Dispose of those not making a satisfactory profit, as in order to pay for t<?e feed a cow must be capable of making an equival nt value in nutter per year. It is said that the average of the herd ought to be three hundred and fifty pounds, and four hundred pounds is possible with care and selection. Too many farmers have no knowledge which cows are making a profit and which of them are a loss.

STRAWBERRY GEO WING, la selecting a site for growing strawberries, elevation should be considered so aa to avoid injury of frosty weather in early spring. That can be largely controlled by planting the early sorts on the highest and late, blooming varieties on the low land. The soil should be very rich, especially in potash and phosphoric acid, and particularly so in decayed vegetable matter. Some large strawberry growers have used about thirty tons of stockyard manure to the acre, which was ploughed under, and then three hundred pounds each of bone meal and sulphate of potash thrown broadcast and thoronghly harrowed in, and then the land was sown to corn. The first germination of weed seed w&3 destroyed by goin/ over it with the weeder as the corn was coming through the ground; and ugain, a week later, after which the corn shaded the ground so densely that no weed ccuid produce seed. Although the corn gathers no nitrogen from the air, as do the leguminous plants, yet the dense shading of the ground hastens nutrification. The corn was allowed to stand until autumn, when it was mowed off and used as a mulch on the strawberry beds for a time} after this great mass of rots and stubble, added to the already decomposed manure, was all treated with the plough and repeated harro win js, and then planted with tho best strawberry plants obtainable, and throughout the season given a perfect course of tillage. This is said to be the secret matter of being able to grow three or four hundred bushels of berries to the acre, of a grade whici commands the highest price even in a glutted market. Such fruit never finds a glutted market anywhere. Plants grown under these conditions ara generally able to resist attacks of fungi and insacts, but in unfavourable seasons spores of the fungi develop very fast and insects multiply, and then foliage and fruit aufL-r. But that can be prevented by spr.+ying, which should be a part cf a regular system, using bordeaux mixture t»nd arsenates, which effectually keep the plants healthy and clean. Arsenate of lead is preferred, because it never burns or injures the foliage, and does not wash off with rain } spraying should be administered under high pressure, breaking the liquid into the finest mist.