FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 93, 8 April 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

Tiii lad mat some plants nic able lo absorb ammonia from the atmosphere was known mole than a century ago.

Along the W'cllingtun-.Maiiawatu line full-grown sheep, ewes and wether*, have sold on an average at 5s a head le-s than they were last vear.

Most hireu men chafe under nagging at trilling omissions and commissions. The farmer who has the habit of picking Haws is sure to love love aud respect. Of all animals the most kind, docile, and gentle is the well-bred and good dispositioucd horse, aud no other animal is likewise more easily spoiled by injudicious and vicious management. Bran and middlings are conceded bv all who have fed them t.i favoiirabl'v alfeel the (low of milk. Cows may be fed as much as 01b. to 81b. of bran daily, and from -lib. to u'lb. of middlings. Cover your cream cans with wet bags or blankets during transit from farm to factory or railway, or place a white calico covering over the cans, leaving siillicieiit room for the creation of a draught.

Careless dairymen think I hat all the talk about the necessity for cleanliness is a piece of overdrawn fudge and humbug. Hut they uevcr make as niucj money from their cows as the clean cartful, and progressive farmer.

If vou desira your cow to be an easy milker, with teats that feel like velvc>, be careful never to milk her with cold or dirty bauds.

The thoroughness of separation depends very largely on the rate of speed of the bowl; the higher the speed the more thorough the separation. Not only is the man who enters into farming to-day asked to pay a big price for his land, he has also to go lo high ligures for all the live stock be requires.

All milk must be cooled to 55 degrees or lower within two hours of being drawn and Kept below that temperature. If delivered to a creamery only once daily, it must be kept below 50 degrees. The training which milking gives to both boys and girls is very helpful lo them. It tenches them the necessity of being punctual in this worn anil the necessity for continuity iu the same." It brings them into close touch with animal life, and thus licgets in them a liking for working with the animals kept upon the farm.

Both in wheat and oats South African culture is going ahead. The ('ii]n- Arg is recently published news from Mascra tliat the Basntoland native* and fanners in the Ladybraml and Kicl-slung districts art' tit-lighted with tin- returns ol the wheat crop, this lieing the hist -i-a-on that any crops have been reaped in the district since the war. The 11asiitoland natives are now using threshing machines. A com exchange is in contemplation at Ficksburg.

The Dairy Expert in South Australia makes no attempt apparently to gloss over the weak spots in the dairying in-

dustry of that "State. Some of the manufacturers, lie says, have been presenting consignments- for London in a disgraceful condition. The most serious charges are short weight, faulty sailing, colouring, and packing. The shortweighted dlilb. packages were as much as 21b. short. When he lound out the d.'iiciencies he put on a man to weigh every box, charging shippers at the rate Of (id jk'l- box. ••But," lie said, "this cannot always be done. 1 feel that some of our factories will only learn to be careful with weights after a heavy line is imposed, according to the provisions of the Commerce Act. in one wants to be severe, but J have given exporters ~verv chance, and the tune for leniency lias ended."

It is a law of breeding, says an American authority, that cows produce their characteristics more often in their sons and the sire transmits characteristics

io tu c . female. Last year the United States of America exported :157J1U0 head of live cattle. a falling oil' of WUHIn head over the previous' year, and lOj.Oim sheep, or 2.>,1)1in less. On the other hand, exports of Hams increased by 15,0i)0,0H01b., while fresh and salted pork gained U.OOII.IHUI lb. Oleo shipments enlarged by 4,000,Oi II lib.

A Californian paper claims that Mr. 0. b. Waldron, of Patagonia, is the world's sheep king, lie is the principal shareholder and land-owner in a company thai has iaO.ooo sheep, and an anniial wool output of •l.rion.nuolb. On the sheep range there are two packing house-, employing ODD men, and they prepare 70,000 sheep for the market every year. Mr. Waldron owns 1:200 square miles of territory, having 270 miles of coast frontage, lie owns most of the island of Terra del Fuego and 40,000 acres of the Falkland Islands. Our Californian friend is mistaken. Despite the heavy losses through the late drought, the real sheep and wool king of the world is an Australasian, Sir Samuel McCaughcy, just as Australasia remains the greatest wool country on the face of the earth. Wili pigs fatten on skim milk? is a question often asked through the press, says Hie Waverley correspondent of the I'litea I'ress. One of the leading dairying papers of the dominion has repeatedly replied no, but one instance in Waverley lends some doubt to this emphatic denial. A fanner near Momohaki seni in a line of pigs on Tuesday for eon -igimient to a bacon factory. The pigs were exactly seven months of age aiM when weighed averaged over 120lb. dead weight. These pigs had been led on nothing but skim milk and were in

prime condition. By a process of judicious culling and purchase, the milk yield per cow at the Weraroa State Farm lias been increased in a very marked manner. In DecemIht. IOOt, the monthly milk yield per cow was liUU.idus, the gross yield of 117 cows being 71,0U31b>. per month. In December, 1007, u'7 cows yielded 72,007 lbs., nr an average of lOSSlbs. per cow. An in-taucc of the good cll'oct of lime oil laud is worth quoting, J/ast year (-ays the Southland Time?) Mr. John l'i-keii. of Chatton, spread lime over !) acres of a paddock prior to sowing turnips on it, using two tons of Milluirn lime to the acre. This year lie sowed Carton oat- on the area" and thicshe 1 out 100 bushels to the acre.

The Uudon fat stock market (sivs " Drover " in the Otago Willies*) is led influenced by the price of stoics here. Export buyers have strictly dclined limits, ;ind though the prices paid by fanners for store sheep advance, their limit.- for fat stock do not. 1 still t bink that the price of store stock ibeyond what it should be now. although it may . 4 „ higher -till. Wliether 1 am r.g!.! or wrong tine oiilv ean plow. I.al»ly, I jiiiliee. st..re well,el'- -..1 d at priec- beyuiid what exporter- are piv-pai.-d t" pav for lal wethers. A -mall crop oi chevalier malting h,n ley at Jilayncy (.VS.W.I ha- giveU lio l.ti-hels lo i lie acre. Including straw, tin 1 grower ol.tabled .too from live It i- e-limatcd Ilia I during the coming winter the rabbit industry of .New South Wnlcs will liud employment for ■ t or 8000 men. of last year's total ol 1.010.00J car-ca-i- of frozen lamb imported into Cie.il lonaiii. New Zealand supplied 2.SJl.'.io| ■ aiei-s, Australia 1.:i!17.:,j>| earca-e-. alel South Auieriia only 127,100 car-