THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 498, 7 September 1912, Page 6

THE RURAL WORLD.

DO YOUR COWS PAY? There is a lesson in a bulletin issued by the New York agricultural experiment station for every farmer who produces milk. The bulletin is based upon the work of the station herd, and shows the result of careful breeding and selection for years, together with the great differences that were found between individual cows. The best cdw of the herd, which held her place for four years, gave three times as much milk as the poorest cow in each of three seasons; and it cost only onetenth more to feed the good cow than to feed each poor one. Even the poorest cow in this herd paid for her feed, for she produced butter fat at from 25 to 33 cents a pound, but the station has records of herds in the State that average only 80Jbs oE butter to the cow, bringing in a gross return of £5 8s 7d a head. How much it cost to feed those herds probably no one knows, but the least the station is able to carry any cow through a year on feeJ alone is £lO. If these poor herds gave an average of only £5 8s 4d worth of product in a year, £4 3a 4d less than it cost the station to keep this lightest cost cow, how much did the poor cows of those herds lose their owners? The station herd consists of Jersey and Jersey grades, and has been built up at small cost jtrst as any farmer could build up his own herd until it averages more than 60001b yearly to the cow and 5.5 per cent. fat. THE DAIRY COW. The dairy cow is sometimes referred to as a machine that manufactures milk. This is practically true; therefore she requires to receive the proper amount of food of good quality to enable her to yield largely. In a recent number of an American farmers' bulletin the body of an animal is referred to as being mechanically a very wonderful machine. It has a peculiar interest inasmuch as it is what an engineer calls a prime motor that is it moves itself and may supply the power to move other machines. There is in fact in some respects a very close likeness between the animal body and what are known as internal combustion motors — for example those engines in which power is developed by burning liquid or gaseous fuel "in the cylinder of the engine istelf. An enginejfof this class requires two things to operate it. First sufficient repair material to keep its working parts in running order; and secondly a supply of fuel in proportion to the work to be done. An animal requires those same two things. The animal body, however, differs in one repsect from the artificial machine because it cannot be stopped and started again at will. As long as the animal lives the vital machinery operates, although it may be less active at some periods than at others. An animal might well be compared, to an automobile, whose engine must be kept running at, a low speed in order to have the power available when it is needed. For this reason an animal requires to be supplied with repair material and all through life, and not merely when it is in active use It is obvious that.the feed of an animal is its souce of both repair material and fuel. The aid of a physiologist is not needed to demonstrate that when an animal is deprived of food its tissues waste away, while its fat is burned up in the effort .to keep the machinery in motion. LIME AS A DAMP ABSORBER. Very damp atmospheres in green houses and other parts are unhealthy for all occupants. It is often difficult to introduce anything in the form of heat to dry the damp, and many would be glad to know of something else. There is one remedy. This is to get some newly-burned and quite fresh lumps oi' lime. Put them in a bucket, and place where it is damp. It is quite surprising the amount of humidity the lime will absorb, and by putting a few bits of fresh lime in every few days damp will wholly disappear.