Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 187, 2 September 1909, Page 4

Farm and Garden

HOW WKED.S ARK .SI'FcKAD. A small farmer from >orth Canterbury who has been in Southland during the present threshing season has returned with information that be thinks bis brother landholders ought to know. Me threshed on between 30 and 40 farms, and he alleges that on everyone of them there was Californiao thistle, the weed being more prevalent on some as compared with others, but in all cases no attempt is made to take out the weed from either oats, chaff, or grass seed. This, he says, is due to the fact that the men on the threshing machines are expect* ed to put through 50 bags of oats per hour, which gives them no time to take out the weed He thought that it was shameful that such a state of things should be permitted, as farmers with clean lands might buy oats or cbaif from the district mentioned, and then wonder bow it was that their own lands became infested with Californian thistle or other noxious weeds. In the interests of farmers generally he thought that something should be done to prevent the distribution of weeds in this manner. A REMEDY FOR BOT. As a r -medy for botfly in horses, an American farmer advocates chopping up half a gallon of small potatoes, salting them well, and feeding them to the bot-affcclod animal. Not every horse will eat them, but if they will, relief follows in less than an hour. The poison in the potato skin loosens, or kills, the small white worms causing the trouble. Potatoes are also recommended by the same practical authority as instrumental in promoting the welfare of any mare that has not done well in foaling. One quart to half a gallon for one to three feeds will prove efficacious. STABLE MANURE. Various chemical substances have been used to fix the ammonia and prevent the nitrogen escaping from farmyard manure, but none of these materials have been found to be of much practical value, and their use is not recommended. Swamp mould or ordinary loamy soil are the cheapest and most efficacious absorbents of ammonia and liquid manure. A thin layer of such material should be spread over the heap from time to time. The liquid manure may be utilised to advantage by mixing it with the manure heap, a* by this means the whole manure is improved and there is less risk of over heating. The supply of liquid manure is* often greater than c3n be U3cd in this way. and some mrans must be then devised for dealing wfth the surplus. A good plan k+ to collect the liquid in an underground tank near the manure heap, and periodically pump it into a liquid manure cart for use as a top dressing for pasture. Fresh liquid manure has a burning effect on plants and should therefore, be allowed to remain in the tank several weeks before application. WORKING AGE OF HORSES. How long is a horse good for workng on the farm ? Ths question has been recently asked of a number cf leading farmers in Scotland by circulars, and their replies are instructive. It is evident that much depends on the kind of work done. Where horses are always on the land, and seldom on the road, tbey will last longer than where a lot of outside carting has to be done; while, again, the system of feeding will have some influence in the course of years. There is, of course, a difference in this respect between different breeds; a heavy ho-se at slow work will last longer than a light horse at heavy work. Some farmers put the working career at eight years, and some bad breeding mares at work for twenty years. To these figures should be added the three or four years before the animal becomes a "horse," and at the average working career worked out at about twelve years, it follows that the age at which horses usually cease to be good for heavy work on the farm is about 15 years. This was, of course, for Clydesdales, but probably the same figures would apply to other working breeds; if they do not it would be instructive to know what difference there is. Another point to be thoght of in this regard is the loss from disease or accident, apart from the wearing out from old age. When this is allowed for it will prooably be found that after 10 years a new horse must be got; in other words, the entire horse stock of a farm is cleared out and renewed every ten years. If any reader thinks that very unlikely let him go orer his own experience say, during the last five years, and recall what horses have been bought or broken in as new ones, what ones died or were sold to the knacker, or were sold for a few pounds as unfit for plough or road, lie will most certainly find that it works out at a depreciation of 10 per cent., and the farmer will be fairly lucky if it does not amount to more.