Farm and Garden.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 170, 5 July 1909, Page 3

Farm and Garden.

Is She Hardv ?

The above is a quest. i> often asked by farmers when they ar* considering the specially bred dairy cow, nays an American paper. There is a falsity involved in the question that needs comment. What they really mean is not: Has the cow a strong constitution capable of standing op to her work if the fanner rightly does his part; but, rather. Will she endure bis neglect, bis indifference to her comfort, his lack of knowledge of bow to handle ber, and still produce a profitable quantity of milk? Will she rustle for herself, like a Hereford on the plains? It is just that conception of a dairy cow that all good cows have a right to complain of. But not having the power of speech they do the next best thing and "dry up."

Butter Making.

The object of pasteurisation is to kill almost all the germs which the cream contains. It is a matter of heating the cream to a temperature of 140 to 185 degrees F. Twenty minutes exposure in a water bath to a temperature of 140 degrees will produce the required results, but as this process of p3?teurising is not very practicable unless a very small quantity of cream is to he treated, it will be necessary, in a large creamery to use some type of pasteuriser in which the process is continuous. As cream will be subjected to heat for only a few moments, the temperature shouiud be raised to 185 degrees in order to obtain the same

results as those of the proceeding method. When such extreme high temperatures are used, great care must be taken and first class pasteurisers used in order to avoid giving a burnt flavour to the cream. This treatment should destroy tbe germs of nearly all undesirable fermentations without affecting the taste or the appearance of tbe cream or that of the butter. By the use of a good starter a butter more uniform in flavour and in keeping quality will be obtained. To obtain the best results from pasteurisation, the cream must be cooled as soon and as rapidly after heating as possible, and it is of great importance that the pasteurised cream be kept for two hours at a temperature not higher than 50 degrees, so that churning may be done under good conditions. In winter, pasteurisation is of the highest importance.and becomes almost an absolute necessity, in producing butter of acceptable quality. It decreases the bad effects of tbe defective feeding of cows,of the contaminated air of the cowsheds of milking done under wrong conditions, and of keeping the milk many days before it is brought to tbe creamery. —Churning.— The thickness of the cream, the quantity of cream to be churned, and the speed of the churn wilt determine the length of time necessary for churning. If the rules given above for the treatment of the cream are observed—from 48 to 50 degrees in springtime or at tbe beginning of tbe period of lactation of cows, and 50 to 52 degrees at other times —and churning is carried on in a temperate place, it will not take longer than 45 minutes. Tbe temperature at the end of churning varies according to tbe place in which it is done; generally it is between 54 and 58 degrees, and this should never be exceeded. As a rule the butter will be found to be cooler than tbe butter milk. To obtain a butter of delicate flavour and of good keeping quality, churning must be stopped when the granules of butter are about the size of clover seeds. If larger granules are allowed to form more casein and water will be retained in the butter, and its keeping quality is thereby impaired. When the churning is completed the buttermilk is immediately drawn off and passed through a strainer so as to retain tbe butter granules. Tbe butter milk being very fluid,flows away readily and a draining of .half an hour will usually render washing unnecessary.

Feeding While Milking.

Most farmers claim that cows will stand quieter and let down their milk more freely if they are given something to eat while they are being milked. But those who have adopted the plan of milking before feeding are seldom, if ever, anxious to go back to the old method of giving something to eat while they are being milked. Few cows seem to be able to divide their attention between the two opcr-; ations. When the cow has nothing to attract her attention she stands quietly when she sees the milker approach. She also lets down her milk more freely than when she is attempting to eat at the same time.

The cow that has her head in the manger seldom sees her milker approaching, and the first intimation she has of his presence is when she feels the milking-stool against her flanks. If she has a nervous disposition, which is the case with most good dairy cows, she will either jump or kick, and then continue to annoy ber milker by switching ber tail until he has finished milkiog, If the cow is fed at the same time that she is

being milked, she is in so great a hurry to get her feed that she becomes restless, and will not give down her milk freely.

Paspalum Dilat&tum and Clover. - - o

A Byron Bay farmer writing to the New South Wales Agricultural Gazette says:— Keep paspalum well eaten down and white clover and paspalum grow well together with the exception of about two or three months in summer, when it is too hot here for clover to thrive even without anything to fight, I have known cool damp Decembers here, and during such weather clover springs up, but during steamy, damp hot weather it merely struggles for existence. Paspalum should not be fired if the farmer wishes to grow clover amongst it. I killed out all the clover in the paddock one winter through having cleared up the rough stubble by firing. If paspalum be eaten down closely during the winter clover will completely overwhelm it in August and September, after which the struggle will be pretty even for a time, but as the spring advances into summer the clover has to take a back seat till autumn. I find that these two plants make a fine mixture, and cows always appear to do much better in paspalum paddocks where there is also plenty of clover. There is not any question now amongst farmers here as to the value of this wonderful grass, for it has raised by several hundred per cent, the value of land that was not suitable for other artificial grasses,but which grow paspalum splendidly. I speak of sandy and slaty formations. I have not yet come across any soil about this district where it will not grow, but, of course, it does best upon rich soil, especially drained swamps.

Longevity in Bees.

The length of life of any bee depends upon the season of the year when the trial is made and the conditiion of the colony. If in the summer or working season,4s days will be about the length of life the worker will enjoy; while if during the autumn and winter months the time will be found to range from six to eight months. For instance, if one takes away a black or German queen about the middle of December and introduces an Italian queen in her place, Italian bees wilt be hatching 21 days thereafter. This date one may mark on the hive as the time to count from, as there will be not black bees emerging from the cells after this. At the end of 40 days the black bees, will be very scarce; while at the end of 45 days not a black bee will be found in the hive. If the colony is made queenless at the end of 20 days after the Italian queen was introduced, then the length of life to the workers will be prolonged on account of their not labouring so hard.. Queenless bees never have the energy of those which have their mother with tbem It is the amount of labour which has to do with the longevity of bees. Again, if the change of queens is made during the autumn we shall find plenty of black bees up to the latter part of sp ring, although they soon disappear after the active labour of honey gathering comes on. This length of life has much to do with spring dwindling, with preparations for winter, making new colonies, our surplus crop of honey, etc. Where bees become uneasy in winter and wear themselves out with worry spring dwindling is sure to occur. So. too, all old bees in the Autumn will result in empty hives tbe next spring; and a divided colony, so made that one part contains all old bees, and results in no profit from that part.

A Canadian Journal writes: "The fruit division of the Dominion Department of Agriculture has been aggressive during the past few months in pressing prosecutions against apple shippers and packers,detected shipping improperly graded fruit. During the past few months 170 conviction? against the Fruit Marks Act have been secured. Between September Ist and the end of November last, five inspectors of the Department, with four assistants, inspected 15,000 barrels of apples. It is said that one well known Ontario packer lost 80,000 dollars on his shipments of fruit. These losses will make the packers more cautious this year in their purchase of apples.