AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 423, 16 December 1911, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

There is more benefit derived from silage by feeding it to milch cows than by feeding it to any other kind of stock.

Take-all fungus cannot live on oats and the cropping of the land affected with this cereal will effectively clean it. No other occupation makes great demands upon "the judgment and knowledge of those engaged in it than farming.

The waste of nitrogen from the soil may be made up, in some degree, by the planting and ploughing in of leguminous crops. Do not ask either the men or the horses to do more than a fair day's work; treat the well and they will serve you well. A good sow will produce until she is 2 0 years old, and, if she is ciass enough, may be winning prizes at shows all the time.

On the first suspicion of mange in a horse, isolate him, and do not use any of the brushes on otnsrs. Disinfect the stable at once.

Shyness, when confirmed in a horse, is a vice. Get rid of a shyer; he is one of the breed of babies which the other fellow may as well carry. Smut from barley grass is not likely to affect other crops than barley, as the fungus is entirely distinct from that attacks wheat and oats. Good butter and bad butter are the result of the bacteria —the fermentation of the milk caused by time, temperature, arid cleanliness, or otherwise.

Do not be afraid to give your brood mares moderate work on the farm; moderate work, remember; too much work may mean the loss of the foal. The time is approaching when no farmer will admit he is on poor land. A man is judged by his methods; poor land means poor farming and a poor farmer.

The crop-producing ability of land depends upon its mechanical conditions, its content of organic matter, and the amount and availability of its mineral elements. Every plant that grows from the soil has within itself portions of all of these, and their equivalent must be returned. "The Egyptian cow,'' declares an expert at Cairo, "is an animal quite different from the cow in Europe, being very strong and somewhat resembling a buffalo, whilst she is used for several purposes—to furnish manure, to work water-wheels, to carry burdens, also for riding and for beef." In breeding it pays best to breed from the best. Many farmers seem to be anxious to breed as many foals as they can, and put all their mares to the stallion. Select the best mares not necessarily the largest; but steady workers, and those likely to produce a good foal without much trouble at foaling. It is evident chat the appetite of the pig is not always a safe guide as to the amount of feed that may be consumed to the best advantage. In genera! the pig under five or six months of age, when put on full feed on a ration of concentrated feeds, will eat

j and digest more than he can utilise with | the greatest economy for the produc-