FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2139, 23 July 1907, Page 4

FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Now Zealand horses continue to bo in demand in Australia. Tho Wimm'era on her Inst trip to Melbourne took thirty-two heavy horses, chioily Clydesdales, from Dunedin, oil boIndf of Mr. David Boss. Mr. W. Howard Booth, of Carrington Station, informs tho N.Z. Tillies that from his experience of tho turnip rot lie believes the only fairly safe plan is to avoid sowing turnips on any land upon which the crops have boon affected or oven near affected areas. Mr. Booth states that tho disease attacked tlio tops of his mangolds and killed them, but tlio roots woro not affected at all. An offor was made to tho Hawke s Bay A. and P. Society by the New Zealand Slieepfarmers’ Association of silver shields, valued at £3 3s eaoh, for competition at tho spring show in October for championships in Lincoln, English Loicostor, Border Leicester, and South Down rains, competition to bo limited to sheep registered in tho Flock Book. Tho Society declined tlio olfor, with thanks, chiotly owing to tho condition making it imperative that competitors should ho registered in tlio Flock Book. There is an upward tendency in. the price of land around Mangatoki (larannki), and many practical farmers wonder how the land can be worked profitably at £32 an acre. “Ate thought,” said one well-known farmer, “Mr was made to give £2o an acre for a certain farm years ago, which lias now been resold for £3l ah acre, without any improvements beyond carting off a few colds of firewood.” When and where will the inflation stop? tho Opunako Times asks. Many practical farmers assert that the land cannot be productive at the rate, but whilst they are making assertions others are filling up their pockets. A Nelson shipment ot apples to London, guaranteed to the extent of a penny per lb by the Government, has given disappointing returns. 1< our hundred cases were sent, and coulil be carried only as ordinary cargo, consequently some of lie fruit was unduly squeezed. The shipment arrived in bad order and met a glutted market, and realised only 2s Gd per case In order to show tho sail loss that null result to Woodville should the bacon works shut down, the Examiner mentions a few transactions of the company. Olio day recently a cable came from Melbourne for 2000 hams. The following morning a colonial order arrived for 3 tons of lard, and in the ovening a cablo f r 1500 hams was received from Sydney.

A correspondent writing to a Taranaki paper re turnip-rot, says:—“l notice that many farmers are complaining of the loss of turnips through blight of some sort. As this is a serious matter, on account of their being winter feed, may I call vour readers’ attention to tlio following passage taken from Wright's Brinciples of Agriculture: —Speaking of Kohlrabi lie says —‘Cultivate and use it in much the same way . as turnips and other roots. It forms a good substitute for tiie turnip crop on lands which have become “turnip sick.” It is very handy and resists drought and frost. It is more nourishing than turnips and when given to dairy cows does not cause a disagreeable flavor in the milk. . . A good crop may yield 20 to 25 tons per acre of nourishing food for sheep or cattle.’” Mr. T. Millar, of Eweburn, Otago, has invented a new reaper and binder. Its leading features consist of a total absence of canvas, all the parts being constructed of metal; tho crop is cut “on the vertical,” and conveyed “on the vertical” into the .binder, and is tied and discharged 'n that position; no reels, no canvases, level wheels, spurs, sprockets, or chains are needed ;and it is to 1 e placed on the market very much cheaper than other implements of the kind. A company is being promoted to build the machines.

Mr. W. Howard Booth, of Carterton, lias made a study of breeding freezing slieep for years, and he thinks that lie has now arrived near the word of perfection, He states that he finds that his best results are now obtained with a Southdown cross out of a Lincoln Romney ewe. Great care is taken in the selection of ewes anil rams, anil all freezers are artificially fed. Results of experiments at Danish experiment stations show that 121 b of whey from separator skim-milk cheese is equal to lib of grain for pig-feeding, qr lib of skim-milk equals 21b of whey In feeding value. Experiments at the Wisconsin station show a higher feeding value for whey, as it contains more fat and casein than that used abroad. A suitable slop may be made by mixing together equal parts middlings or shorts, ground oats or barley, brail, and cornmeal, made into a slop just thick enough to pour well, and adding 10 per cent of .djgeijfpr tankage. Whey is then fed in the same wav' as skimmilk, or may be freely mixed with the slop.

TESTING SKIM MILK. In addressing a meeting of farmers at. Kairapga, Wellington, the other night, Mr. F. Thomson, Government Daily Expert, made some pertinent remarks with regard to the importance of using tho drip test method of testing skim-milk, and subsequently, in conversation with a reporter, lie-stated that there could bo in comparison between that and the ordinary way of testing, which was done by taking a sample of skimmilk at one of the testing periods. The machine might, when the test is taken, be running at its best—it is a well-known fact that many vary considerably-—and thus they would not get a true test of their actual avoidable loss. The only way in which this could be done was to make use of the drip-test method, which consisted in making a small hole in tile skim-milk 3 cover arm, and under it. hanging a can. As the skimmed milk -passes from the separator, a small quantity drips through tho hoie into the can; this is then put into a bottle and kept in tli© same way as tho ordinary testing and shows tlie exact loss either for a skimming or for a whole testing period. Sometimes this might show a loss of 0.8, which would mean that there was perhaps an actual avoidable loss of 0.4. This might not seem much in a test bottle, but it would mount up to an alarming extent where there was a large quantity of milk received, and he emphatically urged tlie adoption by all dairy factories of the drip test method.

SMALL BIRDS PEST. ' At a meeting of tlie Ashburton Agricultural and Pastoral Association hole last month it was decided (says the Lyttelton Times) that Mr. J. C. N. Grigg should be asked to obtain a recipe used by bis father which proved very effective in destroying birds. M r Grigg, in .accordance with till! association’s request, forwarded a eopv of a Government leaflet On the matter, drawn up by the Chief Ghemi*« of the Department of Agriculture and in which that gentleman speaks of and quotes Mr, Grigg’s recipe as follows:—“This method was brought under mv notice by Mr. J. Grigg, of Longbeach (to whom my best thanks are due), on whose statio l it hud been used with great success as many as two thousand birds being killed in a morning. The priilclpl-* of this method is that the grain iS' superficially coated with particles of strychnine, which are made to adhere by damping the grain with a little fresh milk. The Government property surrounding the Burnham Industrial School presents unequalled facilities for carrying on experiments of ‘this nature, and the grounds surrounding that institution have accordingly been the site of the latest experiments. The result of these experiments was to demonstrate indisputably that strychnine preparations, mixed dry, were so much more efficient than others, that I have no hesitation in advising tlie abandonment of all other methods of mixing at present practised in tile poisoning of birds, in favor of the following: Ten pounds of good sound wheat is thoroughly damped with fresh milk so that the whole grain is wot, but not dripping with moisture. Fivesixths of an ounce (avoirdupois) of' powdered strychnine, not too fine, is then gradually shaken on to the grain, the whole being kept constantly stirred. When all the strychnine is mixed in the grain may be immediately laid. This is done, best by laying a good train of chaff, without any oats, to attract them. The poisoned grain "is . then very lightly sprinkle! on the chaff.”