Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 267, 11 June 1910, Page 3

Farm and Garden

SIMPLE SEED SOWING. Feeding seed to stock with the view of strengthening pastures by securing germination of the seed from the droppings is tried by some stock raisers. A well-known farmer, in giving his experience of the practice, stated that his method is to sprinkle a handful of mixed clover seed (white Dutch, cow and alsyke) amongst the chaff he feeds to his milking cows. He does not harrow the droppings about in the paddock, but just lets them lie. The result is that he has a fine growth of clover all over his paddock where none grew before, and where he has even tried to get it to start by handsowing, but failed. He attributes the success to the action of the cow's stomach upon the seeds which are partly germinated, and to the plant food in the droppings.

ESSENTIALS IN BUTTER-MAKING. First-class buttei- cannot be made from a poor quality of cream, no matter how careful or. skilful the buttermaker. If the separator is kept clean and in a clean place and the cream is properly cooled by stirring occasionally with a stirrer, and then kept covered with cheesecloth, also kept clean, and set in cold water, home-separated at the creamery. It is the flavour of the butter that counts in a first-class market, or where butter is scored. If cream is tainted or fermented before it -reaches the creamery, these taints follow throughout the processes of manufacture, and impair the value of butter sometimes to the Joss of several cents a pound. Of course a skilful creamery man, by pasteurisation and the use of a gof<d starter or culture, and by proper care in ripening the cream, may greatly reduce many defects in the cream or the milk, but he can overcome them only partially, not entirely. While there are many conditions upon which the quality of cream may depend, such as feed and health of the cow, yet the most important part is cleanliness in the shed during milking, the care of the milk after it is drawn and the handling of milk or cream before ready to be sent to the factory. The manner of creaming will, of course, greatly influence the quality of the cream.

BREVITIES. The only way to have a good dairy and keep it good is to raise the heifer calves to maturity and motherhood, and after testing them retain only the best. Milk is purchased not because it is a beverage but because it is a food, and the smaller the quantity of feeding matter it contains the smaller its value. With two such profitable milking breeds of cattle as the Jersey and Ayrshire in large numbers there is no reasonable excuse for any dairyman using a crossbred bull. Cream ought not to be kept more than three days, even in cold weather. Regulating the churning so as to bring this about is not difficult, even with small quantities. Even if it were possible consistently to obtain good milking stock.from first crosses the maintenance of pure herds is essential to the continued production of first crosses. In the United Kingdom there are some 34,000,000 acies under grass (apart from mountain grazings), and, of this, 24,000,000 acres are grazed and 10,000,000 are cut for hay. Dodder seed is round in shape, greyish-brown in colour, and seen to be finely granular when examined with a lens, whereas lucerne seed is smooth, shiny, and yellowish-brown.

.SUCCESSFUL MILKING-MACHINE. Success in all branches of mechanics is keenly followed by the public, and the immense interest now being displayed in the development of the flying machine forms a striking example. No doubt in a few years the conquest of the air will have developed into a commercial and economical success and will be accepted by the public as an ordinary factor in every-day life. This will only be a repetition of the history and development of every great economical factor of modern times. Since the advent of the cream separator and the reaper and binder no economical aid to the farming community has been produced to equal the commercial success of the milking machine. The milking machine is not a modern idea as records of patents taken out are to be found as far back as .1819, and it is further evident that innumerable attempts were made during the past century to produce a successful milker. While many of the machines presented successful mechanical features they one and all failed to overcome the difficulty of making an inanimate appliance perform an inanimate function. The milking machine, like perpetual motion, was regarded by the public as one of the great impossibilities. . In 1896 Messrs Lawrence and Kennedy, of Glasgow, obtained patents for a machine that seemed to be nearer the action of the living calf having a combination of intermittent suction and pressure. The first L. and K. machines were brought out to Australia in 1901, and to New Zealand in 1902. These machines were not heralded by any public announcement, but were quietly put to work and asked to prov-. their ability to solve the problem. For some months the results seemed eminently satisfactory, and it was not till the full flush of the season that they proved an economical 'failure. Undaunted, the inventors still persevered in their efforts, and finally chance sent to their assistance an Australian dairy farmer named Gillies, who had discovered that by admitting in a certain manner a small quantity of air to the milk passage even the heaviest milk* ing cows could be satisfactorily and thoroughly milked. Gillies' patent was obtained in May, 1903, and was combined with those of Lawrence and Kennedy, thus producing the first successful mechanical milker the world has even seen. The old L. and K. machines were promptly remodelled and the Gillies patent added. Again the machines were quietly put to practical work and this time the results could not be mistaken. Gradually a few more plants were put to work, and in three years' time the dairy farming community suddenly realised that the milking machine had not only arrived, but had for some time been quietly making its way into general use. No advertising or canvassers were necessary to pu ;h the sale. The labour-ridden dairy farmer opened wide his arms and gave the L.K.G. the warmest possible welcome. As an indication of the success achieved by this machine the number installed in 1902 amounted to 12 only, while at 31st March last the total machines sold throughout New Zealand had in eight years amounted to over 1500. To get some idea of the general use into which the L.K.G. has risen, out of 543,000 cows in New Zealand recorded last year under the Stock Act as for dairy purposes, over 54,000 are being miked by these machines. This means that over 10 per cent, of the •dairy cows in the.Dominion are milked by the L.K.G. miking machine. Truly can this machine claim to have marked an epoch in the history of the dairying industry. In Australia, Tasmania, North America, De.imark, England and Scotland the. L.K.G. has made rapid strides and can now claim a worldwide reputation. It is interesting to note that the valuable Gillies patents which are responsible for the first successful milking machine have still some years to run in Australasia, and until they expire are the sole property of the L.K.G. machine.*