TOPICAL NOTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 364, 26 May 1928, Page 27

TOPICAL NOTES

Lucerne has no regular rest period. Whenever conditions are favourable it comes into active growth. In this respect lucerne differs from most other plants.

Separated milk contains all the bone-forming minerals of whole milk. Thus it is in reality a most valuable food, especially for young stock.

phosphate of lime. When training the colt or calf to lead it is better to do a. little coaxing rather than drag it around. Too much force is not always the best method to use.

Cows managed on the soiling system—kept indoors and fed with green fodder—give higher milk yields than those pastured in the ordinary way, and where phenomenal yields are sought this method is adopted.

The dairy cow producing 3001 b but-ter-fat a year requires as much phosphoric anhydride as is contained in nearly 2 cwt of superphosphate. In intensive dairying, tep-dressing is therefore absolutely essential.

The latest Canadian Friesian cow to give over I,ooolb. fat in a year is Flossy Segis Ormsby, who at the age of five years produced 26,9011 b. milk and 1,6071 b. fat with an average test of 3.95 per cent.

It is estimated that in the last 50 years the milk product of cows :in Sweden has been doubled while even in the last 15 years the quantity of milk per cow has risen from 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms with an increase of fat over 5 per cent.

A three-year-old Friesian heifer, Pabst Creator Hillvale Queen, has broken the Wisconsin record for her age under the provisions of the new testing rule, which provides that testing must not be started before the 15th day after freshening. She produced 35.481 b butter (27.611 b fat), in seven days.

The effect of potash applications on grasslands is shown by the closer and more vigorous growth of clover, but also frequently by the much greater extent to which the potash-treated plots are grazed. This effect of potash on the grazing quality or palatability of the herbage is a real one, and merits close investigation. A purebred Friesian cow, Tyee Hiske Fayne, nine years old, has just completed a world's record for milk production on twice a day milking. She produced 25,554.71 b. milk *n 365 days, an average of 351 b. milk for each milking (701 b. daily), for the whole year. For the first three weeks she averaged nearly 501 b. for each milking (2,089.91 b. milk in 21 daj r s).

* * * Hairlessness in pigs can be prevented by feeding a small amount of potassium iodide or sodium iodide, whichever is cheaper, to the brood sows during pregnancy. These are chemicals which any chemist cau get if they are not carried in stock. A convenient method is to dissolve one ounce of the iodide in one gallon of water and allow one tablespoonful of this solution to each sow.

An official estimate of the wool clip of the United States of America for 1927 puts the production at 272,433,000 lb, being an increase of 11,477,0001 b over that of 1926. The increase is accounted for entirely by the fact that more sheep are being shorn this year, the yield'per head being a fraction lighter than in 1926. The average fleece weight for 1927 is estimated at 7.61 b, and for the previous year 7.81 b. Amusement was caused recently in the South Australian Taxation Department by the receipt of an indignant letter from a country orchardist, protesting bitterly against the injustice of an item in his income tax assessment, “Super tax £1 Bs.” He concluded his letter as follows: —“I don’t see why I should pay super tax. I have never used it in my life. I have always used bonedust.” In Barbatu, South America, is a tree which, by piercing the trunk, produces milk, with which the inhabitants feed their children. In the interior of Africa is a tree which produces butter. It is said to resemble the American oak, and its fruit, from which the butter is prepared, is not unlike the olive. Park, the great traveller, declared that the butter surpassed any made in England from cow's milk. Sierra Leone has a tree which produces cream fruit, which is agreeable to the taste. * * * There is probably no farm crop that demands such perfect tillage as the potato. The object to be aimed at in the preparation of the land is to produce a favourable mechanical condition of the soil, to destroy weeds and to provide a seed bed in which the plants can elaborate their root system and develop tubers without restraint or hindrance. In the first place, the land should have been ploughed to a good depth in the late autumn and cross-ploughed to the original depth in the early spring, after which it should be free and friable. ECONOMY ON THE FARM I * USE FOR OFFAL Offal and blood which is ordinarily wasted in killing pigs and other stock can be made into tankage or fertiliser without much trouble, according - ? the United States Department of Agriculture. The process is a simple one. The offal and blood can be thoroughly cooked in an open kettle. After it is cooked it can be dried out and ground as tankage for pigs. This residual tankage will give good results in feeding as a supplement with maize for pigs. If it is to be used for fertiliser it can be cooked and then ordinary 16 per cent, acid phosphate can be added at the rate of 351 b to 501 b of phosphate to 1001 b of the cooked offal. This mixture can be air-dried by raking it over occasionally. After it is thoroughly dried it can be ground and used immediately or stored fot* future use. The phosphates will prevent putre- ! faction, and flies do not breed in the 1 mixture. This usage of the offal leaves | only the squeal to be wasted.