Farm Notes.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4433, 10 July 1909, Page 4

Farm Notes.

I .f-i I THE COW. jjis not a good plan to overmilk ■ws, as the strain of milk production I very great, and they may break Lwu under it. | Th-vahapeand form of the udder is I good indication of its capacity to Eeld milk, and : the One which generSfy gives the best results is practihliy semi-circular, extending well prward under the belly, and well up lehind the tail. Plenty of loose folds of silky-feel-pg -skin indicate power to expand |rhen full of milk, good quality of the nilk yielded of the touch is right, It is too often ignored that an in’erior, badly bred animal requires no r e time, and consequently more !opd to fatten than a well bred one, tnd that the finished article is worth leveral shillings per cwt., live weight hah first quality.

There is no better way to grind food for the pig, if his pigship’s health and longevity are considered, than to make him grind it himself.

| It does not pay to send dogs after the cows. It has been proved that a cow chased by a dog will yield milk deficient in butter-fat for a day or two afterwards.

If farmers would get into the habit of calculating the quality of plant food as ammonia, phosphate of lime, and potash, in a ton of eveiy fertiliser they may think of buying, they might eaten be surprised to note that some manures offered at low prices ere really very dear, and that other f urtilwers which co3t a good deal more money are actually cheaper, and more economical to use.

An average yield of fourteen tons of potatoes per aire is reported from the Malvern district, This is a strong contrast with the experience of growers in the Ashburton County this Reason, a number of the crops in the Ashburton d ; strict (says the Ashburton Mail), are so badly affected by the blight that they a. a not worth digging, and it has been found that the tubers so attacked decay very quickly when exposed to the air. The prevalence of disease in potatoes, turnips, and rape during the past three years in this country leads one t • tnink that the diseases are '*n the soil. One farmer, when spoken to on the subject, inioimed a reporter that he had subjected a plot of ground to a good dressing of lime, and that the turnips and roots he obtained from this land were not affected with any d : sease, the roots being clean and well grown.

It is rather a difficult matter to take a;,skin off a calf without damaging the hide with a knife. • A good way is, open legs and neck the same way as you start a sheep, pull the skin well back from the neck, then tie the front legs and head to a post, hook on your horse to the skin near the ears and draw it off. It will not tear but come off easily without cutting or Scoring, or otherwise damagmg the bide. A man can do a dozen a day this way, Always hang a sheep skin on a ra:l the same way as it grows on the sheep that isr—from neck to tail, which prevents it curling up at the e ids, and it keeps it in proper shape, so that it brings more money. It is estimated that growing pigs placed on rape at about 25 to the acre f> will, for two or three months, require only half as much again as s £y-fed pigs. Pigs running out like this also tend to become stouter and healthier than when in confinement. They will live and grow on the rape without a supplement of grain but a Small addition of the latter has been found profitable. Dry sows, how* ever, will do well on rape alone.