FARM AND GARDEN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 339, 22 February 1911, Page 6

FARM AND GARDEN.

THE DRAUGHT TYPE. | MORE OF THE ALL QUALITY | FETISH. J Instances are multiplying of the \ danger being worked to the draught horse stock of this country by the southern craze for the fashionable Scottish Clydesdale. Here is a very striking one. When Mr James Little, \ the well-known stock breeder of Dal- | meny, North Canterbury, decided to ; import a Clydesdale stallion, and went j Home for the purpose, he realised as j he never did before the degenerate ! work of the breeders of the fashion- j able Clydesdale. He did not want a j sire to get springcarters. He wanted i a horse of substance as well as qnali- . ty, but he hunted Scotland in vain to j obtain something worth bringing back j to New Zealand. He was told there j were breeders in the north of England j who had the type of horse he wanted the old substantial Clydesdale—but again his search was in vain. In despair he visited the English Royal Show and inspected the shires on exhibition. He got a likely one put under oil'er to him for a month, as this would afford him time for further search for the true Clydesdale. Another month was wasted, and the New Zealand breeder was perforce compelled to secure the shire. The English draught duly reached the Dominion, but the admirers of the -white-stcckinged horse—the leggy, light-barrelled type they breed—would not give him a place in the show ring; in fact, one of the leading men of this connection remarked to Mr Little he might as well have thrown his thousand guineas into the Pacific Ocean. The results of this season, however, show whether or not this caustic critic was a true prophet. The horse stood in the Ashburton district, and in a very short time Mr Little had the refusal of over li><> mares. As a result the shire stallion has had one of the best seasons a sire ever had in the district, one of the most important draught horse breeding centres in the Dominion. More than this, Mr Little could have sold young geldings by the shire over and over again at big prices, and recently for a foal colt, a few weeks old, at the foot of an Awamea mare, Mr Little refused 230gs. Obviously, the shire stallion the southern judges would not look at has the blood which southern draught stock demands, as is proved by the high estimation Ashburton breeders have of him and the demand for his progeny by the buying community, whose verdict is the defactor to the man who is in business to make a living. Another instance. The other day a noted North Island dealer was approached by a representative of an. important municipal body for eight good, weighty shafter3. He had to admit he could not supply or secure them. When asked for a reason he informed the buyer that the class of horse he wanted was not being bred now; it was only the medium plough horse and the spring carter that were being sired. The true draught was going out of fashion, especially in the south. WHAT THE SEED WOULD SAY What a seed might be suppoed to say to a famer is thus fancifully described:—"Now, my friend and guardian, I hope you will make me a nice bed to rest in. l'ou know I don't like to come in contact with hard lump of earth. I want nice, small particles of soil all around me, so that without difficulty I can send my roots down to bring me supplies of food, and can get my head above the soil to derive benefit from light, sunshine, and air. A nice seed bed gives me a good start And then don't forget to give me a plentiful supply of suitable nourishment. Just as you like meat and bread and vegetables, so I require nitrogen, phosphate of lime and potash, and if the previous occupants of the'soil have not left behind a suflicient stock, I must trust to you to furnish me with a fresh supply. You can't expect me to develop properly without plenty of provender, but if you treat me well you may be sure that I will do my best for you. And remember that I don't ask you for everything; I get my supply of carbon from the atmosphere, and my drinks don't cost you anything; but you must not let the robber weeds come and steal my food, and if I should get a little run down from exposure to cold winds you should not forget to give me a tonic. A little quickly-acting nitrogenous fertiliser will sometimes set me up wonderfully." RAISING A DAIRY HERD. There is no better way of raising a herd of which a man will he proudarid the cost, though considerable, is not more than a well-to-do farmer can easily stand—than by buying a firstclass pedigree bull and a heifer or two of the same line, selecting for milking strain, and breeding from these. The mistake of crossing should be avoided entirely. If a scheme of blood is needed, and it will not be for some time, it may be secured by making a deal with another breeder, who also may be looking for a change, by the familiar process of swopping a good calf for a good calf, which is a deal on the dead level. Cross-breeding is one of the most risky works on which the inexpert may enter; for the chances are that when he has discovered he has chopped from blood to blood to no purpose he will be left with a nondescript animal of no special line and scarcely good enough for butchers' meat.