FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 307, 23 December 1908, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

FACTS AND FIGURES FOR FARMERS'

A ]•:■«■ variety of barley has been introduced into the Ashburton County this season. It is named the six-rowed 'Xonpariel. A farmer at Scaview has a small acreage of this cereal out in ear, and it looks as if it should yield heavilr. It is said to be a good barley for feeding otr and excellent lor malting pur-1 poses. 1 At Cnin-liiiid, in the Lincolnshire Fens, tKngliin.ll, the town crier has been 'sent round "trying" for women and boys for potato picking, there beim* a shortage of hnndi. The pavment for these workers is ;!, !l! per 'day, and hundreds are engaged in the field's getting in the potato harvest.

Mr William Charters, of the Taieri (Otago), is thus quoted on the typical draught horse : •' The draught "horse that I believe in is not of the heavy type of the old school, but of the type that is active enough for farm work. Now that deep ploughing and threefurrow ploughs are increasing in favour, the farmers are turning from the comparatively light horses of pre-1

I Tinus years to the draught. But the horse must be active— not the straight legged kind one used to see, but an animal with adequate bone and abundant, shapely muscle." | A traveller who has been all round the Blackburn district (Otago) informs the Clutha Leader that the settlers up there are doing all right, and arc pushing dairying for all it is worth. - Though perhaps more rain would be appreciated, the season is a good one, and the farmers are satisfied with it. Milking machines arc still popular and it is on the cards that more will be installed this season. ! The weather and conditions of Ausi tralia have been unfavourable for their

early export trade, and they are 100,000 carcases short of last year's export to the end of October; but since then the spring grass has come on well, and there are prospects of a very large output, equalling that of last year, despite the early shortage. Their export of meat for the year ending 30th June, I'JOS, was 00,208 carcases mutton, 1,390„!)n7 do. lamb, and 06,304 quarters beef. This year will show about the same results.

Seventeen million sheep were slaughtered in Australasia during tlie past year, but nevertheless there lias been a net increase in the (locks of 5,000,000. Figures relating to the number of sheep in the world make it evident that flocks are on the decrease in the Northem hemisphere, but increasing in the Southern, chiefly in Australia and South Africa. According to the Pastoralists ReviewCanada has thrown open 30,000,000 acres of land for selection at 12s Od per acre, and the rush of applications is described as "phenomenal." Holders ', of homesteads of not more than 100 acres were permitted to double their holdings, and nearly every settler availed himself of the advantage. The thirty million acres j thrown open are in Alberta and Saskachewan, and were formerly held for railway grants, but have reverted to | the Government, all the grants having been satisfied. The receipts from the! sale of this land are to be devoted to' building the Hudson Bay railway to Port Churchill, a length of 500 miles, at a cost of three million sterling. It is also reported that the value of this year's wheat crop in Western Canada may be placed at about £18.000,000, as compared with £10,000,000 last year. £12,000,000 in 1008, and £10,400,000 in 1005. The basis for the estimate regarding the 1903 yield is the opinion given by. the secretary of the Xorth-west Grain Dealers' Association that the Production for the season is 107 million bush-

I els. The average quality of the crop is said to be much better than that of last year, superior to that of lilOfi, and as good as that of 1905. The yield in 1907 was 77 million bushels; in 1900. 101 million bushels ; and in 1905, 80 million bushels. The Belgians border their roadsides with apple and pear trees of the cider and perry varieties and they draw a profitable revenue from their'elongated plantations. A fancy pedigree does not hurt an animal for work in the dairy. Many of the. ills of calves arise from giving them milk in poor condition. Colour does not count for much, but handsome colour does not prevent a cow from giving milk and cream. Depth oi rib, together with the wellsprung rib of a wide horse, means heart, lung and digestive capacity. I It is generally advanced' by our leadbig agriculturists that many farms would be more valuable and more profitable if their owners would raise more cattle sheep, pigs, ami poultry. The better tne quality of 'the parent stock the more virility and.cnergv will be owned by the off-spring. The selection of the breeding stock is seeuntt m importance to no other stage in sheepraising.

Cows not giving up to a certain standard should be disposed of and their places filled by the heifers from the best, milkers, which should be carelully reared on the principle that the making of a good cow begins with the first meal of the calf.

Strangles in horses is said to oc still prevalent iu Xew Zealand. Hydatids in animals seem to be on the decrease in Xew Zealand, judging by the reports from the abattoirs "and meat-export slaughterhouses, where all animals are inspected after slaughter. The daily average supply of the Glen Oroua Dairy Co. during last month was 1H,531 gallons. There are 24,000,000 cows milked in the United States every day, and they produce annually 70,000,000,0001bs of nii,k - tfo.V The increased output of the Balance Co-operative Dairy Company over that of last year represents nix boxes a day. Only a few years ago it was almost impossible to find a single Jew engaged m farming in the United States. Yet originally the Jews were a pastoral people. From the annual report of tlie Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society it appear sthat there are now 1340 Jews in the United States who are now fanners.