CAPTAIN YOUNG'S LECTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8137, 18 June 1906, Page 2

CAPTAIN YOUNG'S LECTURE.

STRAIGHT FROM THE SHOULDEK.

If there is one man wlio knows how to " get on" with the farmers, it is Captain Young. His lectures arc not lectures in the ordinary sense of the word, but a free and easy chat, devoid of all technicalities. As a lecturor, ho would probably not score many points if judged by a city standard; but as a man to impart knowledge to the farmor he is an adept, The instruction is served out in plain, matter-of-fact English, livened up with a spice of humor occasionally, and some comparisons that, while not finding their way into public print, go right homo. It was in this inimitable style that he talked to the Inglewood farmers the other night, With charts exhibited on various parts of the stage, and a small switch as a pointer, he set to work on " what to note when you are buying a horse," He advised those present to use their powers of observation always, and they would soon get to know what to do. How to cure a sore back, alleviate inflammation in a horse'B eye, how to put in a dislocated knee-cap, were explained. "If you see that one of his hocks is bigger than the other, you may be satisfied he has a spavin. If both are alike, be raoro careful still—he may have two," drily remarked the veterinarian with asmile. Then he " laid it on rough " for the benefit of the people who seemed to think that any kind of mare was good enough to breed from. That was all right, in its way, for the breeder in selling an animal, but it was a bit hard sometimes on the buyer, who was badly taken in. "If you've a mare that's unsound, the best thing you can do is to send her to the boiling down works. From poor mares you must expect poor foals." Then followed another exhortation for young farmers to exercise their powers of observation. "Don't be content with what your father told you," ho said, " for the possibility is that he only knew what lus father told Mm, and so back for generations ; on that plan you may easily be three or four hundred years behind the times." If they would observe the temperature, pulse, and breathing of animals in ordinary health, they would be the more easily able to ascertain the seat and cause of any illness. Captain Young then passed over to a fresh diagram, and told the meeting something about parturition. He had no time, he said, for the man who claimed to Lave " turned calves end for end," and reckoned that that man had little chaneo of getting to heaven. Reference was made to the recent outbreak of illness in the Kaunata district, killing about 3000 calves in afew years. The trouble arose from a small parasite that got beneath the mucous membrane of tlio stomach, and destroyed the functioas of that organ. '• There is no doubt about this," he said, " that you can draw a line between Hawera and Stratford, and on the north side of it will be found the most useless lot of cows in any part of the colony. You talk of advance in breeding. Why, Mr Webster showed me a photograph of a cow taken 23 years ago, and she is of a bctttcr class than you hivo now." Captain Yiu ig dwelt on the refusal of farmers to act on his advice if it meant any temporary sacrifice, or any change of | methods He did not mince matters,

either, in referring to the " abominable way the calves are fed" in this district. Ho had seen how it was done.

Skim-milk was brought from tho factory in clean cans, of course, for they had been used to take the fresh milk there. Then it was tipped into a dirty tank that had not been washed for

years, and smeliing strong in consequence. The next performance was to bale out the now-polluted " skim" with a filthy bucket into a dirty trough, thick with filth, and which had nover been shifted since its first appearance on the farm. The calves came up and drank their share. Along came tho pigs to guzzle and scramble in what (ho calves left, the dogs had their say, and then the fowls perched on or in the trough and finished off tho stuff.' Next day and every day tho performance was repeated. " A r eterinary surgeons are not a bit surprised at the heavy mortality in calves in this district, but marvel that so many are are alive," he added. " The two most useful animals on God's oarth are the horse and cow, and no others are so terribly abased Their only shelter is a barbed-virc fence, and their only medicine tlie stockwhip." For the next twenty minutes Captain Young answered the queries of the audience, Instantly recognising that his most persistent interrogator was not a farmer, ho gave a little advice that effectually settled all queries in that quarter. Several questions were answered dealing with cleansing after calving.

Captain Young considered calves fed on good artificial foods should be as sound-conditioned as milk-raised animals. The weak constitution was du

to the ignorance displayed in breeding. If a male calf was too small for a working bullock, then a farmer made a breeding bull of him. That was the secret of the degeneration of cattle here, and he considered the Agricul-

tural Societies should urge the Government to place restrictions upon the use of the inferior bulls. The Societies' representations would have more weight than those of the Farmers' Union, which was generally branded as a political organisation. A lot of cows, he told Mr Ambury, were treated for milk fever when tk<-y were only suffering from weakness. There were two kinds of milk fover, or rather two phases of it. If a cow wis excited, and |rushing about, whip olf her horns, let her bleed, and adinimstor a sedative. If she was quiet an 1 seemingly made up het mind to die

quietly, fill her up as drunk as a lord with whisky, and pack her up warm, ut," he added, " don't give her nc.tl whisky. A Scotchman's throat can stand that j 'a cow's can't. Mix itwith equal parts of water." Captain i'oung, answering Mr A, Morton's query, said abortion con id be prevented by washing with a solution of tabloids supplied by tho Department. Every animal / iu tho herd must be treated.