FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 322, 21 December 1910, Page 6

FARM AND GARDEN.

HOW TO TELL A GOOD HORSE

Canadian farmers are advised in a recent Government bulletin what to look for in a good horse. Here are some of the points:— If a horss is short ribbed he is light in his middle, and is nearly always a poor feeder. He has not the stomach to contain succulent food to serve him from one meal to another. A light-centred horse seldom weighs well, and weight in a draught horse, if it comes from bone, sinew, and muscle, goes a long way to demonstrate his commercial value. When a horse is a well coupled together on top, and has a short back, he must have the length below from the point of the shoulder to the back of the thigh. When so built he will stand the strain of drawing heavy loads much better than if he has a long, loose back. The froit feet and hocks are the parts of either a draught or a driving horse that come directly in contact with the hard work, and unless they are sound and good in a horse's usefulness will be very much impaired, and his commercial value much lessened. Before purchasing a stallion, get the groom to lead him away from you. Stand square behind him, and see that he picks up his feet and places them, not striking the ground first with the toe and then bringing down the heel. The feet should be large and waxy in appearance. The sole of the hoof should be concave, the frog spongy, plump, and elastic, because it acts as a buffer to prevent the concussion from acting too severely on the foot, pastern and fetlock.

See that both sire and dam have sound feet, free from flatness, brittleness, and are not contracted. There should be no "gumminess" about the hocks of the draught -horse, as it indicates coarseness. They should be large, flat and firm, and should be wide, especially from a side view.

A stallion whose feet are contracted and brittle, and whose hock<3 are puffy and fleshy-looking, should be avoided, as such hocks are generally associated with a coarseness throughout his whole conformation and a genera] lack of quality.

TO REMOVE HORNS. The calving and dehorning season will soon be here, and some dairy farmers may be inquiring what is the right way to dehorn the young calves with caustic potash. Here*is the method used by Mr G. C. Humphrey, Professor of Animal Husbandry at the University of Wisconsin:— "The caustic potash should be applied as soon as the -'button-like" horns can be felt, after the calf is three days old. If postponed the operation may give unsatisfactory results. To apply the potash the hair is removed from about the horns close to the rkin. The potash is moistened slightly and rubbed over the skin which covers the point of the horns until the skin is white. It is not necessary to rub the skin until blood comes, as tin's will cause unnecessary soreness. One such treatment is usually sufficient to prevent the growth of the horns. The following preparations should be taken: —The caustic should be wrapped in heavy papers to protect the hands of the operator; the caustic should not be moistened too much, so that the liquid will not run down the side of the calf's head, for this will cause unnecessary pain; the calf must be securely fastened so that the head may be held still to avoid applying the caustic anywhere except over the horns. One stick of caustic potash if preserved in a tightly corked bottle will serve to dehorn many calves.

Don't try to make a cow give down her milk with a shovel or club. The formation of the essential materials of milk may be influenced very favourably by right and useful feeding. It is a fact well known to milk pro ducers that heavy milkers make a great demand upon the food, and it is certainly impossible to produce big yields upon meagre feeding. If a dairy farmer depends on the market for good cows he will pay the full value for the bulk of his purchases, and handle much inferior stock at a loss meanwhile. The best cow is, not infrequently, the one that has the best master. Maize is coming into its proper place as one of the best of the milch cow feeds. J One good operator with two milking machines can milk about ten cows an hour. The farmer who milks a few good cows should have a little, money coming in all the time. British veterinary surgeons are extremely doubtful as to the possibility of extirpating swine fever. Thorough ventilation 13 one of the first things to be secured in the dairy if pure milk is looked for. There are few things cows like better than parsnips and few which i assist the milk flow as well. I Alternating the machine with the | hand milking of herds has been found | to affect the flow disastrously. : The cow suffering from milk-fever I fails to recognise her calf; this is one i of the sure signs of the trouble. The percentage of solids, not fat, in cream is slightly less than is to be obtained from a test of whole milk. In picking up young catch them by the ears, or the hind legs; they will not squeal if handled this way. Newly-calved cows should always be given a little extra food and a little extra care for the first few days. The ripening of cream is nothing else than the beginning of decomposition, brought about by the action of bacteria. Experiments have shown that heifers give better results from machine milking than do aged cows which have been used to the hand,