Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 219, 23 December 1909, Page 3

Farm and Garden

THE DAIRY SIRE. It sometimes happens that the owner of Mtnc first class cow sells her male calf, perhaps only a few weeks or a few month-t old. to someone at a long or ice, to become, in time, the bead of that man's herd. There is a good deal of lottery in buying an animal in this way. It, of course, appears all right. The cow has a wide reputation, and her mate calf ought to have great value for breeding purposes, but is this* always true? It takes several years to test the breeding qualities of a but), for his actual value cannot be determined until some of the heifers bred by him come in profit; so that when purchasing a bull calf it wo'ild be wise to see to the performances of its ancestors for four generations back, and to be sure that there is no inferior animal in the iwdigree. Nothing requires more careful inquiry in the selection of a herd than the breeding of the anmial to be placed at the bead of it, for the bull is half the herd for either profit or loss?. If a farmer, in getting a herd together, secures a dozen first-class cows, in every respect, and one inferior one. which turns out to be realty undesirable, comparatively litttc harm has been done; but if the head of the herd, after two or three years" use has demon strated.damage* is* considerable. A calftnberiU qualities of the both sire and the dam. The qualities of the one parent are, perhaps, modified to some extent by the qualities of the other, and if the cow is firet-class in every respect, and the bull inferior, the offspring stand little chance of being equal to the mother in quality. The farmer cannot afways produce a bull that has made a record as a good stock breeder. Young animals are more desirable as an investment, providing the farmer cant be sure of what he is getting. While it does not ensure absolute success to buy a calf whose dam has established a great record as a milk and butter producer yet if that calf comes from an ancestry of good producers, the chances are very much in his favour of being able to transmit those good qualities to bis progeny.

AERATING MILK FOR CHEESE. For the purpose of proving whether the practice of aerating milk intended for cheese-making purpose did more harm than good, as many supposed, the Canadian Dairy Commission had tests made by a practical cheese-maker under regular factory conditions. Milk from the same cows on the same day (says the Tribune Farmer) was aerated, coded and aerated, and cooled without any aeration whatever. Invariably the cheese made from the aerated milk was gassy; while that made from milk that was cooled only had practically no gas, and no bad flavours. This work took place during the hot months,when gas and bad flavours in milk are most common. No ice was used to cool the milk. The farmer on whose farm the work was conducted had abundance of cold water. The milk can was set in a tub of cold water, and when the milking was done the cover was put on and the can remained there until taken to the factory. Aerating was done by dipping and by pouring the mtlkovcr an aerator. The milk was cooled to below 70 degrees Fahr. The explanation of it is this: When milk is exposed to the surrounding atmosphere by aeration, it is inoculated withthc germ life which produces the gas in the cheese. By covering the milk and cooling immcdiatcly,this contamination is avoided, and the milk is preserved in its natural state. The animal odour, which it was thought necessary to get rid of, is found to do no barm in milk treated in this way. There is lesa work in cooling milk only than fn aerating it. This new theory, therefore, will save the dairyman con* siderable labour.

The production of potaih salts from the Stasfort mines in one of the most important industries of the German Empire, the value of the salts being £ 1.91 P. 667 in 1908. Lime sweetens sour land. When the unilfr rich in vegetable matter the ui?e of lime helps the decay of the burn us and sets free the plant food therein contained. It was this fact which led to the old saying: "lime enriches the father at the expense of his child* rcn." That, like many other older sayings, is only half the troth, for the wise farmer, while using lime to enrich himself, takes care to keep up fertility by an increase of humus in the soil.

While advocating: the daily weighing of the milk from each cow, an official Canadian report adds ft]word of caution. From *he milk yield alone a farmer should bv very cautious in condemning bis cows. Before be does this he should give them a f&ir chance of showing what they are capable of doing. "There are more good cows in the country tban three are good feeders./' is the significant addendum tc the caution. It is also pointed out that « great cause of poor annual returns from the miffc yield \s that few farmers take care to always have a summer soiling crop on their farm.so as to he prepared Jr. cw? a period of drought sets it;. ;-'u -!'-, a ("rot? wo:;!'! "ever ho U>-t, ?.~ it ■ ■;<■:: if r.«.-', ■-.'-.:> ti- ■ i f' : :> .■< -.-