Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 359, 26 March 1903, Page 2

Farm and Garden

OKI3INAL AP.iIOLES PRODUCING HIGH CLASS PORK. OTKHJE hog's superior capabilities of cenverfciag farm twits iato meat products render it the most profitable domesticated animal,on farms and pork production a profitable, adjunct to agriculture, notwithstanding the dreaded scourge of hog cholera, for which disease it is generally conceded that there is no specific remedy. But the free and extensive use of good grass, rots, and succulent feeds will do much-to maintain a healthful condition that will afford a reasonable safeguard against many forma of disease.

The grazing characteristics of swine should by no means be allowed to become extinct, but cultivated and perpecuated aaamoßt useful quality. Two Conspiouous and successful features of agriculture are corn and pork production, but the quality has not yet become the standard of perfection, and cannot be compared to Westphalia ham or delicious Wiltshire bacon. Corn is primarily the hog feed of the greatest hog producing states, and bo other food will displace it as an economical and practiced ration for pork production. Formerly the effort of the swine grower was to produce the broadest back, thickest,""-" fattest nog that science, skill, and human ingenuity conld evolve. But of late ye»ro the tendency has been in a different direction more in favour of leaner meat. Fine grain, firmness of texture, and comparitively even distribution of fat and lean are the prime essentials in high-clasa pork products. These are the result, first of heredity, and second of judicious feeding of wholesome flesh farming feed products, succulent feeds, grass, and abundant exercise. The demand for good pork products has manifested itself _in such a way as to command the attention of the farmer and produeer. The growing demand is for hogs, more patticularly suitable for bacon curing j consequently the animals must have great activity, vitality, and vigour, and also they must have prolific breeding qualities., The objection that the hogs of the bacon type, are not as economical producers as the more compact corn belt type, represented by other popular breeds, . is not well founded;* The evidenca of < recent investigations, supported by practical experience where accurate observations have been made, indisates quite conclusively that the modifications of the hog under domestication have been in the line of increasing his digestive efficiency. Domestication has increased the length of the intestinal canal of the improved hog; thia enables him to consume, digest, and assimilate a larger quantity of feed, but it has not been demonstrated that bis modified digestive organs,:do.• the work any mere thoroughly than those of hia wild ancestors. The result of some years, investigation in determining the oost of pork production and the relative valuo of the finished products with various breeds of hogs, shows that there is no material difference in the cost of a ponnd of pork in the feed yards by different breeds. Of coursethecornbelt type fattens muchmore readily than the other, but they are not capable of making much, if any. greater gains in a given peripd or from a given amonnt. of feed. The difference is due chi' fly to the kind of product made from the feed rather than any variation as to the amount. The market demands have also changed in reference to { the valuation iof the different cuts. Formerly hams were considerably the high-priced products, but how the sideß which produce the bacon are inoro greatly in demand' The width of back and development of the ham are therefore subordinate to the leng&h, depth, fineness, and smoothiness of side.; i :.; hj: ■,\ ;:.;

WHY MILK VABIBS IN COM- . POSITION. - Many lutteraakers are annoyed from time to fc'me, as well as milk vendors, because of the variation of milk from the same herd of cows, the tests going up and down, usually without apparent oause. The patron u led to suspect that the buttermaker is manipulating the test in a discrimineting way, while the bartermaker often beliefs the patron guilty of adding water or cream to his milk, or of taking cream from it. All such surmises may or may not be true, but attention is directed to the reason tor the in richness of milk from the same herd of dairy cows, and that this condition of affairs can be largely avoided, The c&ums for variation in milk are many and varied, In some instances the stables and pastures (ire poors also the cows may be thoße which happened to be on the farms or in, ■ the vicinity when the owner decided to engage in dairying. The new dairy farmer seems, to believe that every aow should produce large quantities of milk of a uniform grade.