FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 268, 22 March 1911, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY

XEWS AXD NOTES. Clearness costs money; sickness costs more. Xever use a whip except in process of training. Sunshine and dryness are effective microbe killers. Dark stables produce blind, stumbling and shying animals. Be kind to animals, and never tease or worry them. Don't strike them unnecessarily. Xever whip a horse when he shies or stumbles; he needs encouragement, not rebuke. The farmer, as a rule, knows his own soil better than anyone else does, and has, by experience, discovered the fertiliser best suited to it. In Kent (England) sunflowers are sown in well-worked ground, heavily manured, and cut for feeding to pigs and poultry, which thrive on them. The line of the vertebrae indicates which of the two purposes horses can best work with advantage to themselves —either draw or carry 'weight. If the backbone is arched downwards they cannot carry weight; if it is arched upwards they cannot draw weight. The property of milk capacity must be developed systematically on intelligent lines patiently followed. It is to the breeder never entertaining the idea of turning back, who patiently plods one year after another, seldom tired, hut always hoping, that the reward is sure to come in the end. A large number of cattle are reported to lie dying on the Otanornomo Swamp, due, it is said, to the want of water. One man informed a Balclutha paper that he saw a number, approximately 20, in distress. There are some fine crops of wheat on the Toko Plain, and the bulk of it is in the stook. The straw is bright and clean and the heads well grown and tilled, promising a good yield and a good sample. The Bruce Herald says it is anticipated that, notwithstanding the recent, high winds, the crops as a whole will turn out above the average of last season. A bull with a record of milk on either side of his pedigree can only be tested by tried capabilities of the stock he leaves behind him; his merits as an animal for producing cattle of heavy milking capacity cannot be decided by mere comparative inspection in the show ring. Mr. William Moses, of Willowb.v, midCanterbury, has threshed 410% bushels of Algerian oats from six acres, which represents a fraction less than 70 bushels per acre. In all, Mr. Moses has threshed 4000 bushels on his farms at Willowby and Laghmor, mainly wheat, .and he says that while the sample on the Laghmor la nit is superior, the yields in that district are not so heavy as at Willowby. A conference is at present proceeding between the Sheep Committee of the Otago Agricultural and I'astoral Society and the Stock Agents' Association in Dimedin in regard to the ram and ewe fair which is to take place about the end of this month. The society is desirous that only sheep registered in the Xeiv Zealand Stock Book shall be offered, ami that an upset be fixed as a starting price for the selling of sheep. The Agricultural Department of Xew South Wales is about to make a strong ellort to stamp out contagious abortion among cows. It is proposed to send veterinary ollieers to any affected districts to advise the farmers most concerned, and also give public demonstrations as to the best methods of combating the disease, which can be dealt with by appropriate treatment. It is thought that by a combined effort it will be possible not only to keep the disease in check, but also to absolutely rid the herds of the pest.