FARM AND DAIRY NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 199, 12 August 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY NOTES.

Spain is a great pig-breeding country. The nigs arc fed in droves on pastures and fattened on acorns of the evergreen oak (which abounds in many parts id' the country; and olive cake. ' The first year uf a colt's life should J 1)0 devoted to iustruction. The cull will learn more easily at six months old , than when a year old. ii t ail ulso be. controlled inure easily. Ilonee it is wise Ito handle the colt early. its early training should not stop' with breaking I to the halter. H should be handled until it will drive as well as lead. To teach it all this and keep it from forgetting what it has learned is a little trouble, but if the colt is of good stock the trouble is well paid for. The Agricultural .Department is considering the advisability of including the Angora, goat in its annual agricultural and pastoral statistical returns. There is an increasing demand at the Department's olliees for information .e-

garding this interesting animal, which is at present mui-h sought after for the poorer country, where the Angora goat can live comfortably wilile sheep can only eke out a precarious livelihood. Over )J0 years ago a prominent English horticulturalist predicted that Ureal Britain would soon become inde-

pendent of Ainericau, Canadian, and other outside supplies of apples. The importations, however, are now greater than ever known previously. Pigs are the most economical and profitable machine to consume the wastes from the table, dairy, fruit orchard, vegetable garden, etc., and are ever ready to -accept anything eatable and convert it into palatable moat, which can be utilised for home consumption or sold in the markets. This is what an English gardener says: "The man who makes most money out of his strawberries gathers as dawn breaks, and the man wno washes oil" the white frost from his early potatoes is also lip early in the morning, as is also the ouc who ellectively dust sprays. The grower for market who dues, not up in the morning loses all the. greatest pleasures of the opcu-air country life as well as his money." Hens properly cared for firing the greatest prolit in proportion to capital invested of anything on the farm. ?f this branch of larm work were not con-

sideml by so many as too small to merit their consideration, the farm Hock might Ijo ev«m more profitable than it is. Tin; lieu that keeps herself busy scratching will always prove to be a layer. Industry and egg-production are inseparable. South Australian dealers who purchased apples for export during the present season have lost heavily. One exporter lost cClOOO; mid another ,£OOO. Onions require rich, soil, and it is important to see that they art; kept live of weeds, especially at the starts The art of landscape gardening is "V cluded in the curriculum of most of tlie leading universities of the United -Stntes I of America. An old Yorkshire farm saying in, "Clean your i;ind k'fore it's dirty, feed your land before it's hungry, rest your land before it's weary.*' The milkers' ' hands should be kept dry when milking; tliey should not come in contact with the milk. Cows should be fed liberal regularly—that is, in the same order and .t the same hour every day. No dusty ok mouldy hay or straw, bedding from horse stalls, or other unclean materials should be used for bedding for cows. The herd milk should be maintained at an average quality to test not less than 3.5 per cent, of fat and as close as possible to 4. per cent. Butter-making on the farm is prolilable if good butter is made, but the indill'erenL kind will bring a poor price, tfjcarn to make good butter. Tlie Tokomairiro Farmers' Club has a surplus of sonin £<s7 over expenditure for the past jear. Unless some ell'ort i* made to destroy the small birds they will destroy the farmer, was the remark uttered by Councillor Newton at the Wallace County Council meeting oil Friday. The statement (savs the Western Star) is only too true, and it is the intention of j members to go into tlie matter of e\J periinenting wiLh bird-traps to check, if | possible, the depredations of this grow- ! ing pest. ! it Ims been decided to abandon the

annual wool fair at whirh has been held uninterruptedly for more than a ecutury. This decision is due to thy steadily-diminishing quantity of .wool grown in the district. There is not the conlident tone in th' grain market there was, owing to the latest published (lovernmcnt statistics showing we lmve more grain than we expected. The following shows the estimated and actual yields:— Estimated. Actual yield. W heat .. "27 -bushels 28.84 bushels Oats .. ;m „ 38.02 Hurley ;fc2.15 ~ 't'lie improvement in yield is niostly I'h result of (he good crops ill Otago, where they had -JSS,(HM) bushels more wheat and IMUU.UIHI bushels more oats llian last year, The greater bulk of wheat is in the Waitaki county, and oats in Ik' same county and Southland. The whole of the Xofth Island shows a decrease in both grains, and in ike Wellington province the decrease was most marked, drought being the reason. Canterbury grew less wheat; but more oats. A strange case of burning, by which a couple of valuable cows were destroyed, has occurred at Wormangal (Vietoya). Air. Thomas Lane, "when burning oil" JiU paddock, set fire to the trunks of some dry, ring-barked trees, and left them. The Haines after a time crept up to the higher "branches. Two dairy cows which were grazing in the paddock strayed under one of the trees, and the live cinders falling oil the rugs ignited them. As soon as the heat penetrated to the. backs of the cows they set oil" down the paddock, This fanned up a flame. The terrified animals galloped madly on, bellowing with pain, until one of theni dropped down. It died a little later. The-rug on the other cow ignited near the tail end, and the burning was thus coiilined to that part, but the animal died on the following day.