FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 212, 1 September 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

TURK IPS AXD MILK. It is.some time since our Canadian cousins gave up endeavouring to manufacture good dairy products from tlie milk of cows fed on turnips, as it was soon manifest that it did not pay to ship cheese made from such milk to England, and the same remarks appiy to butter made for export. This is a lesson that the dairymen of New Zealand should take to heart, for there is a tendency to feed dairy cows on turnips in more than one part of tlid Dominion, and if the high standard' of excellence we have obtained is to be upheld, the practice should be abandoned, and the factories should discard and refuse to take such milk. It is said that no country in the world except this now feeds dairy cows in the winter on turnips. The evil effect of turnip-feed-ing may be counteracted in a great degree by careful adjustment and balanced rations of other foods. The safest plan, however, is to give up turnip feeding in toto, and resort to growing other crops, of which there are many suitable for winter sustenance. Winter dairying must yet come largely into vogue in this country, and the prime lesson that must lw learnt by our far-mers-is—"What are the best crops to grow to obtain a copious supply of sweet and nutritious milk'!"

Mr. H. F. Blanchctt writes as follows to the Marlborough Herald:--" Experimenting some years ago, I discovered that wood ashes would instantaneously take out frost, no matter how severe, and leave the growing plant as good, if not better than liefore. 1 have many times tried this, and have never known it to fail. The method of application is as follows:—"The ashes must he drv from the fire. If they have be:Mi allowed to get damp they are not half so effectual, and once wetted are useless. Then before the sun gets on the potatoes, take the bucket of ashes nucleithe left arm. and with the right hand thoroughly dust the plants as you walkbetween the rows. In this way four of us have done a quarter of an acre in twenty minutes, and the land crunched under our feet during the operation. The potatoes look very unsightly until there has been a shower, as the ashes adhere, but after the rain the leaves will be a darker green, have more gloss, and Hie plants generally have a stronger appearance. 1 th'.nk the effect would be the same on tomatoes, etc., but 1 have not proved this. It is quite interesting to watch the frost disappear from a plant, which it begins to do the instant the ash is applied, and is gone in a few seconds."