Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 222, 5 January 1910, Page 3

Farm and Garden

DAIRYING FOR PROFIT. When the dairy is kept for profit it should be the effort of every owner to ascertain how much profit each cow is making, and. not be satisfied unless it is a substantial one. It is a mistake to treat the herd collectively. Each cow should be reckoned with individually. She. should be of the best and be encouraged to do her best, and her powers should be maintained at their highest level by good treatment. JJhe po«r or even the simply average cow should not be accepted as a , matter of course. It is anything but sound policy to keep a poor cow when her place might be filled by a better. The change can be brought about gradually and need not call for any great expense. If you have a lot of weedy cows in your herd they should be taken out by degrees when opportunity offers and replaced either by purchase or from stock reared. Cows which fail to give up to a certain standard should be disposed of and their places filled by heifers from the best milkers. These heifers should be carefully reared on the principle that the making of a good cow begins with the first meal of the calf.

KEEPING MILK BY CHILLING IT. One method of keeping milk consists in sterilisation by heating to 230deg Fahr., but this process changes the flavour of the milk, renders it indigestible and alters its chemical composition. Pasteurisation at 176deg. Far. and simple boiling at 212deg. Fahr. are less objectionable, but although the germs of disease are destroyed by these methods other microbes are not destroyed, and the milk, consequently, does not keep very long. Freezing is seldom effective, because of the difference in the freezing points of the various constituents of the milk, so that when the milk is melted it does not possess its original uniform and homogeneous character. Cooling to a temperature slightly above the freezing point has the advantage of leaving undisturbed the homogeneity, .flavour, digestibiilty, and nutritive value of the milk, and when the cooled milk is again warmed to the temperature of the air it is found to have undergone no alteration that can be detected by the microcsope or chemical or biological tests. Besides, the cooling checks the multiplication of bacteria.. The milk should be cooled immediately after it is drawn, or after pasteurisation or boiling if these processes are adopted. When the milk is cooled to 35£deg. Fahr. it may be kept several days at any temperature lower than 53deg. Fahr.

NITRIFICATION OF POTASH. It is well-known that the fertility of a soil is very greatly dependent on the power of nitrification it possesses. How this power is exerted is not fully known. That a certain amount of bacteriological action is involved seetni to be acknowledged, but it is also known that very much depends on the amount of oxidation which goes on. If, therefore, the presence of nitrates in the soil renders any potash soluble that may be there, it is evident that orchardists should carefully consider this questiun and endeavour to get their soil into such a condition that they will secure the greatest amount of oxidation.

THE PIG'S ENVIRONMENTS. Pigs are as susceptible as other animals to the influence of environment, and three or four generations cover a period long enough to bring about great change sin them. Experiments made at the Wisconsin station in crossing the wild or razonback hogs and their crosses with the improved and approved breeds, showed that a marked improvement, appearance and quality in the wild hogs' progeny was possible, although in constitution and gains of flesh, they did not compare with purebreds, and when swine fever struck the station herds these supposeable hardier hogs were the first to succumb. Their feeding habits were irregular; on one day they would gorge themselves so that they would be found'fasting for the next day or more. These compelling forces of hereditary made plain that both right breeding and right environment are essential to the attainment of right results. At the same time enviroment may be, in some cases, as destructive in its results as in other cases it is beneficial.

FOOD VALUE OF GRASS. It should be remembered that the food value of grass is not as good during, or just after, rain, as in dry weather, owing to its rapid growth and consequently washy nature.' Nursing mares are apt to get their milk flushed by it so as to cause scour in their foals, a complaint, which frequently proves fatal in those of tender age; therefore prompt treatment is desirable. Dry food, such as chaff and bran,-with a handfut of crushed barley, should be given to itares whose foals' have the least tendency to scour, and long hay may also be given to check-the flow of milk. It is necessary to notice whether the youngster sucks frequently, and if not, the milk should be drawn away at 'intervals till he regains bis appetite and can take a full quantity. - -