GLEANINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8349, 8 February 1913, Page 2

GLEANINGS

Good cultivation, judicious manuring, and pure seeding are essentials to a bountiful harvest. It has been observed that when potatoes in a raw state are supplied in any quantity to cows, they act injuriously on the quality of the milk, and the butter made from it. The fat contents of the milk are diminished, and the milk acquires a bitter flavour, which becomes more marked as the supply of potatoes is increased. In order to obviate these defects, the potatoes should bo steamed. They can then be given without the fear of unfavourable results, and their use can be recommended. Care must, however, be taken that only sound potatoes are employed. Diseased or frost-bitten tubers act very injuriously on the health of the cows, and consequently on the yield and quality of the milk. Tomatoes are likely to be very plentiful in the course of a week or two, as blight has not visited the crops this year, reports the Auckland “Herald.* There is always a strong demand for this favourite fruit in the season, and street-hawkers are now retailing tomatoes at 4d per pound. hast season the fruit could not be obtained in small quantities at less than 6d per pound, as supplies were limited, owing to blight attacking the crops, in a short time it is expected that tomatoes will be retailed at a very much cheaper rate than at present. The outdoor crops are now rapidly ripening. Owing to the lightness of the grain and to the fact that practically very little stacking is being done, there is very little harvest work to be done in the Ashburton County this season. There are, however, many men in the town seeking employment. A striking example of the value of artificial fertilisation of pastures may bo seen (the Hawera “ Star ” says) on Mr John Imlah's farm near Kaupokonui. Two years ago Jie broke np Ti six-..

acre paddock for turnips, and gave it a dressing of a couple of bags of bonedust and one of superphosphate. The next crop was barley, which yielded sixty bushels (without seconds), and this had the same fertilisers as the first. The next breakiug-up again had the same manuring, and was sown down with 901 b of prairie grass, 15 cocksfoot, 10 English rye, 7 of Italian rye. and the balance in cow grass and clover. To-day there is a remarkably luxurious pasturage of inestimable value to dairy cows, and notwithstanding tbo generous treatment it has had, appears to be well worth the trouble and expense gone to. There is considerable difference of opinion as to the relative advantages ot the application of farmyard manure to meadows for hay in winter or spring. The result of experiments would seem to show that on an average the effect of the dressing, whether applied in winter or spring, on the first cutting is practically the same, but that for the aftermath the effect of the spring dressing is considerably greater. But when we come to the actual effect of the dressing on the **' aftermath,” we find that on every one of the farms and in both seasons there was a distinct superiority for the spring-manured crop. The difference certainly was not great, but sufficient to turn the scale in favour of tlio spring application. All the same, the results of the trials, based on the actual extra yield obtained from the dressing of farmyard manure, show once more that the application of farmyard* manure by itself to the hay crop does not yield results commensurate to the expense. If used for the hav crop, farmyard manure should be supplemented by artificials, or, really, it is better practice to dress the fields with farmyard manure only every third or fourth year, and in the intervening years apply suitable artificials. Better use can lie made of the farmyard manure for other crops that give a better return for it. In reply to a correspondent’s query, the Department of Agriculture makes the following comments on some of the causes of disagreeable odours in milk : “ It is not considered that the use of basic slag for top-dressing pastures is in any way detrimental to the quality of the milk produced. At the same time, - when ryo and clovers have a very rank growth the milk sometimes possesses an objectionable flavour, but the same would apply to any rank feed of which the cows aro allowed to obtain a constant supply. The cause of ‘ gassy ’ milk is due to the action of bacteria, and can be avoided by a thorough cleansing of all the utensils with which the milk may come in contact, and the proper cooling .-of the night’s milk and keeping it ih a position whore the surrounding atmosphere is pufe.”