Farm and Garden.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 163, 10 June 1909, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

PLANT STUDY. An unrivalled opportunity for the pursuit of plant ecology, that department of botany which studies the distribution of plants in relation to the soil and conditions in which they grow, is afforded in Colorado by the reclamation of what is known as the Sal ton Sink. In the autumn of 1904 an irrigation canal connected with the Colorado river gave way, and the river thereupon poured itself into the region of Salton, transforming a territory which was partly waste, but which supported several thriving towns and communities, into a lake some five hundred miles in extent. Many attempts, some of which have been described in the "Morning Post," were made to bring the river once more under control, for the rising flood threat ened to do inestimable further damage; and, finally, early last year, the overflow was checked, the river restored to is proper bed, and the lake began to sink. The submergence of this area and its drying op have caused,and will cause, changes in the vegetation which may throw light on the distribution of plants. Early last year an expedition was organised which circumnavigated the Salton Sea, and made an examination of its contacts with the adjacent desert vegetation. Six stations were selected by the Carnegie Institute Desert Laboratory of Arizona, and ! from these under varying conditions the successions of vegetation will be studied as the water recede*. The maximum depth of the water is eighty four feet, and it is expected that most of it will evaporate in about ten years. Its width is from five to twenty-five miles, and each year new stretches of boach will become available for occupation by plants. The Desert Laboratory has under its care various other studies in acclimatisation and the inj fluence of physical features of vegetai tion. Thus four stations have been chosen at elevations respectively of 2,200 feet, 2,700 feet, 6,100 feet, and 8,000 feet, where transplantations caused marked changes in the plants. Attention will be igven to the determI ination of whether these changes are ! transmitted and persist in localiies : other than he one in which they origin- ; ated. Such opportunities occur rarely in Europe, but it is to be noted that Professor Tansley, at Cambridge, and Professor F. W. Oliver in the Erqoy : Salt Marsh, and in the disturbed area iof Brooklands, have been pursuing ; similar studies for some years.

Hints for The Farmer.

This is the time of year that settlers are either thinking of starting an orchard or of adding to that already grown. A few remarks on the subject may not be out of place. Apples are the mainstay of the orchard connected with farms, which have not that constant attention necessary to have complete success. Of late years the cod-

lin moth has been the most troublesome of all our pests, rendering apple growing almost impossible unless constant spraying is attended to, so that this question has received a great deal of attention. At one time the woolly aphis was the trouble, but trees which were not affected were soon discovered and grown. As this blight exposed itself on the outside of the trees there was no difficulty in dealing with it, even in the case of those trees which were most affected, though the stone pippin, a most useful apple, has almost been thrown out of cultivation on this account. The codlin moth is, however, scarcely ever seen. It is an insignificant creature when disturbled, and flies away. It is worst, however, on the mid-season apples. Many of these are being discarded and only the very earliest and the latest apples grown, as these latter are not so badly affected. Those who mean, therefore, to start so orchard, should be very careful not to indiscriminately purchase apple trees at sales; but select those which they want, and purchase them from the grower, and much more satisfaction will be the 'result. The name of every tree should be recorded in a plan of the orchard, and it will be found when the orchard grows up that there is a great deal more interest in fruit growing in consequence.

Daring the course of an address at Auckland recently Mr D. Cuddle, Chief Dairy Commissioner, said that the conditions under which milking was carried on in Denmark were superior to those employed in New Zealand. The Testing Association in Denmark had in eleven years done a wonderful amount of good, and bad inrceased the output by 100 lbs. per annum per cow. Be hoped to see similar testing associations in both islands of New Zealand, and be bad made application to the Government for permission to institute the system in New Zealand. In Ventnark they bad no creameries. In regard to the equipment of dairy factories. New Zealand was not behind Denmark, except in the matter of pas teoritttioft. The great desire for cleanliness was another reason of Denmark's world-wide success. It was time they followed some of the Danish methods in the Dominion. They had some, twenty factories adopting pas-

teuris.ation, and he hoped that it would be generally adopted in the near future. In Denmark they wore very careful a: ■■'■.* *'■?';:-.;;'. he k< <■; ing qualities ef t'r.rir butter. If they eouid arrange '. :r ■:•:■■■ !:.■'''..■ '.'• '■; testing butter nv.rc fr< ■;':• n.Gy in. X''v Zealand it would t'• i <■•'. r. i :'• r ' \ -i-' ''' a question. Mr <\: :•:;■• sai 1 'ha' th" of install;:;:' a : a •'• -;r :sat sm plant wa< about i'l ". ■". Another qi:>st;-n edited fro::, Mr f'u : ; : - th" opinion, that fresh ma 1" »■■::::;d -a : ut" r v.-a? every bit a? g< r : ■■■:■ fresh made Danish butter, except that m Denmark there was greater uniformity. Skim Milk. Why should milk that contains much cream be accounted the best Cream is only fat, and we do r.ot rat" the food value of meats solely by th< amount of fata they include. Dr .T. A. Gilber, writing in the Medical Record, takes the view that this devotion to rich milk has no logical basis. In our earnest search after a fat milk, he says, we have probably gone too far. An editorial in the "Hospital," London, which onotes Dr Gilbert's opinion appreciatively, says:— The milk which is richest in cream is not, therefore, the most nutritious, for the rvery simple reason tha at rich milk is less easily digested and absorbed than a milk in which the fat percentage is low. As fat as other constituents are concerned, a milk poor in fat is as valuable a food as a mik rich in fat. The fat percentage, the standard by which milk is judged, is mo-tt valuable, while the proportions of the albuminoids, sugars, and salts vary but little in the different samples of milks. In other words, while the energy f. reducing and beat giving qualities of the several kinds of milk may be great or little, the valuable proteid ingredients, which go to the building up of the tissues—the prime property of any food —remains very much the same in all varieties of cow's milk. Thus a thin milk is for all purposes, save for energy and beat production, as valuable a food as the so called rich milk. Indeed, it not infrequently bappens, as the experimental feeding of young growing animals has shown, that a tbin milkmay prove, in the long run, more flesh-forming than a rich milk, inasmuch as the former is less liable to induce gastroenteric disorders.

Let us consider what this means. It means, first of all, that the enormous quantity of skim milk produced in this country could be turned to more economical use than the feeding of animals, or the manufacture of ivory for table knives and piano keys. The despised skim-milk is a valuable article of food, capable of supplying many wants of the organism, and, from its lightness and digestibility, particularly suitable to those whose digestive powers are debilitated. It means, further, that butermilk which can be had almost for the asking everywhere in this country, is also a valuable food, for men and women, although at present utilised only forTfeeding pigs. Surely, if be is esteemed the greatest benefactor to the race who can make two grains of corn grow where only one grew before in like manner honour should be paid him who rescues a waste product and transforms it into a valued article of a nation's diet.