Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 455, 19 January 1905, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

ORIGINAL ARTICLES, COOLING MI»-K OJi THE FARJfI. IP the shallow, or open system, as. it is sometimes named, is used, strain the milk as soon as it is drawn, first through a wire strainer, and thon through a thin cloth or muslin. The amount of sodiment that adheres to the cloth will surpriso many people, unless the milkers' have been unusually careful. Milk should not bo covered up for at least half an hour in summer and ten minutes "in winter, thus allowing all animal heat to escape, if the habit has been to cover the vessels immediately after the milk i 3 strained, where wooden covers are used, unless they are cleaned daily they become dark and discoloured by absorption of vapours, and an unpleasant smell or odour is imparted to the milk and cream. The temperature at which milk is kept should be as uniform as possible. A stone dairy house is bettor than any other kind of building. Milk should be kept at as low a temperature £8 is possible during warm weather. If ice cannot be had, then the vessels should be immersed, to at least halt their depth, in cold water, which should be changed twico a. day, or oftenor if the weathei*is excessively hot. A> long wooden box or trough of stone or cement is beat adapted for that purpose,.. wbero one does not possess a creamer. The water is drawn off through an orifko at brie end of the trough. If the water can be led into it by_ means of a pipe from a spring, and a constant current kept up, an ideal creamer will bo the result. Troughs should bo cleaned occasionally with washing soda or lye, and afterwards well rinsed with scalding water. Milk should be skimmed when the first sign of acidity, is .detected, and not left until • thick or clabbered.

r ; PUJKPKIJYS AS A DAIjRY FEED. Very few, if any, experiments seem to have been made to determine the value of pumpkins ;as food, for the dairy cow. However, they are generally regarded as. excellent for that purpose; and as pumpkins thrive so well in corn-fields; there is every reason to commend the practice of planting them in the corn-fields, so as to have a good lot of them to feed during the autumn. In some 'districts- pumpkins are grown largely and fed for Several, weeks to cows ; and it is generally believed by some people that the butter obtained while the pumpkins were being fed was of superior quality and colour; and in many instances, when butter ' was being manufactured for exhibition purposes, great efforts were made to. have a plentiful supply of pumpkins for feeding to the cows. It is also believed by some people that the pumpkins increased the flow of milk. In some cases that might be due to the fact that pasturage is often short in the autumn, though in the opinion of many people it is an excellent food for the dairy cow. Tho ordinary yellow variety of pumpkin yields from nine to twelve .tons per acre when planted on open ground. As they are very easy to grow, there is no reason why a patch cannot be utilised on, every dairy farm. Some people have thought that the seeds of pumpkins injured the cow, because they imagined that the seeds had an unfavourable action on the kidneys; but those people that have used them have never observed anything of that character. Some people go to the trouble of taking out the seeds and throwing them away, but that does not seem necessary. The common pumpkin contains as much digestible protein as sugar, beets, or mangolds; it also contains more fat, and about the same amount of carbohydrates, and they do not make a heavy, drain 02 the fertilising constituents of the saEL Fnrapkins may be fed appropriately afeoat as roots would be fed to the is, ircsn twenty to forty pounds a day—depending on the nature of the roughness fed and the amount of grain used. II the cas&le were on pastures, that would also have a determining influence. Pumpkins saaj be tun through an ordinary roots pstlpet, or slised with a spade, and shrown into the troughs at milking time.