Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 218, 20 December 1909, Page 3

Farm and Garden

SUMMER PRUNING. j What is there in summer pruning? The problem has been bothering orchardisU for some years now, but so j far as Australia is concerned the plan has not been generally adopted Tasmania affords a better example of the new system, for orchardists there have po treated their apple and pear trees for some years now. A Canadian who ts on a visit to Australia is rather astonished that we are so far behind in this matter. In support of his opinioa it is generally admitted that the bloom of our fruit is not so rich as j it was a few years back, when the soil i was wealthier; but that doc-t not neces- ; sairly prove the case for the summer j pruner. We have been following up j tbe practice of cutting back the trees ! in the winter. This visitor explains that Australians allow the strong growing summer branches to sap the vitality In a manner which means death to tbe tree when it should be most prolific. By this means the tree is compelled to supply sap for wood which must be cut away when the sap is down, and thus lite best results arc not secured from the crop. The Canadian points out that the secret of success in his country is alternate pruning—half the tree to be pruned during the summer and the balance in the winter. j Especially should this plan be adopted j with stone fruits* and apples, which heave a tendency to run to wood dur- | ing the first seven or eight years with- j out the production of fruit spurs or j buds. If tbe growth is checked by | summer treatment the sap goes to the fruit instead of wood, he argues, j Young trees also come to maturity i more quickly than if treated by the Australian plan. All orchardists too, know the advantage of trees which arc not too woody, for tbe fruit is more easily gathered, more easily sprayed, and pruning more economically conducted. The only way that we can profit by these new theories is to set apart a few trees and make an experiment. Every orchard is t can do that. FAT IN MILK. Some dairymen believe that the fat i percentage in a cow's milk can be increased by extra feeding. Careful tests made in various parts of the world, however, indicate that little if any variation in tbe fat content of milk is produced by heavy feeding. A larger amount of succulent food will increase the (low and in this way a cow may yield more fat from the larger quantity of milk she yields. Liberal feeding always gives good results provided the cow is of the true dairy type. The ideal dairy animal is practically a machine that converts fodder , into milk rich in fat and solids. Withj out she be fed on suitable food her yield must be reduced. The amount she gives, too, must cause a considerable drain on her system. Some new light baa been recently thrown on this 1 question by testa carried out in the United States. C. H. Eckles, professor of dairy husbandry at the University of Missouri writing to Hoard's Dairyman,, states: —"For a number of years the qusetion of increasing the j percentage of fat in milk has been a subject for discussion at almost every farmers * meeting. The farmer as a rule, assumes that tbe richness of the milk can be increased by heavy feeding. College and experiment station men, I basing their conclusions upon the re- ! suits of numerous investigations in i different parts of the world, teach that ' the percentage of fat cannot be ini ftuenccd by the character of the ration, j except as the work done at the Mew ' York experiment station indicates that phosphorous compounds may produce a slight effect. During the last few years considerable data have been gathered in our experimental work here with dairy cows, wbicb indicate that it is possible in another way to increase tbe percentage of fat to an ab- | normal degree for a short time, and t ; probably to a (ess degree for a longer < time. The role seems to be that when the ration of a cow is insufficient to support ber milk production and she draws on the fat stored on ber body,, tbe percentage of fat in the milk is* increased. The reverse seems to be true as well; that is, when she is gaining in weight or storing fat on tbe body tbere i« a tendency for tbe perj centage of fat in the trilk to be lower. Thia Increase in the percentage of fat in milk due to transfer of fat from the to tbe milk is most marked immediately after calving.