FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 29 January 1915, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

SCOTTISH MILK RECORDS. The Scottish milk records committee during the past year had 13,905 cows under observation. The report states that "experience confirms the view that the best unit to employ in the comparison of milk yields of various qualities is that which reckons them in terms of gallons estimated at 1 per cent, of butter-fat." Yields of which the quantity and quality taken together amount, in the case of cows, to 2500 gallons calculated on a basis of 1 per cent, fat, and in the case of heifers to 2000 gallons, are considered good. Cows and heifers giving below lliliO and 1330 gal-' lons respectively are classed at bad.' The "good" figures correspond to 714 and 570 gallons on a quality basis of 3.5 per cent, fat, while the "bad" figures correspond to 474 and 380 gallons respectively. The statements of milk yields arc given in terms of actual suantity and quality of milk, and not in terms of the hypothetical unit mentioned above.

ARGENTINA'S PROGRESS. The total area of Argentina is variously estimated, but it is generally acknowledged to be of 730,000,000 acres, of which at least one-half is supposed to be productive. In 1912 there were approximately 57,000,000 acres under cultivation, and consequently thert must still be 308,000,000 of available agricultural land. Of this available area some 75,000,000 acres are said to be adaptable to wheat cultivation. The means of intercommunication have been so rapidly multiplied that with railways everywhere opening up the new rich districts of the interior, it isnot difficult to forecast the further growth of pastoral resources and agricultural expansion. Argentina (states Consul-General II G. Mackie), in an official report), already occupies the first place among the world's linseed-produc-ing countries, and has more than once to that position as a shipper of maize. In the total number of sheep she occupies the second place in the world, and is now taking up a prominent position as a universal purveyor of meat. In 19912 over 8,800,000 tons of cereals, 342,900 tons of chilled and frozen beeg, and 718,000 carcases of frozen mutton, left Argentina, representing a value of .€93,280,000, of which the -United Kingdom, (Argentina's best customer, took no less than £32,250,000, or 34.7 per cent.

THE QUEEN COW. In the Rhone Valley, Switzerland, an extraordinary ceremony is carried out every summer. This is the choosing of a queen cow by the cows themselves. A large number of cows —there are over 200 this year—are assembled in a field to choose their queen. The queen cow is the one which is strong enough to fight all the other cows off the pasture and remain in possession of it herself. The owners of the cows are not allowed to encourage their beasts in any way. The honor of owning a queen cow is keenly coveted by the local herdsmen, and they do everything they can to turn their animals out a winner. In their eagerness to bring their beast's fit and well on the day of battle, many of the herdsmen feed them for a week or a fortnight beforehand on bread and wine. The cows descend from a fighting race, and are always eager to have a scrap. The "election" of the queon cow often lasts the greater part of the day, and is watched by crowds, who come to the scene from miles around.

NEWS AND NOTES. A Waimato resident of 40 years standing informed an Advocate reporter ■ that he had never known a total failure of the crops. This season, as a matter of fact, there were some crops : of wheat at Waikakahi that were expected to yield between 30 and 40 bush- ' els to the acre. ; According to the Dannevirkc paper, : numbers of stock are being driven from ■

further north owing to the shortage of feed. On a recent trip a drover had to kill twenty lambs and give them to his dogs, so weak and emaciated did they become. Some of the stock arriv-' ing from the north of the Hawke's Bay - province are in a terribly emaciated condition. The Herald states that several splen-' did crops of oats are to be seen in the Ballanco district. The stock and coun- ] try generally in that prosperous set- j tlement arc looking very well indeed. ]

South Canterbury, Waikato and West Coast stock buyers are at present in Hastings, and are operating in store sheep. Last week over I'O.OOO store j sheep were purchased from one small i

district in Hawke's Bay alone. The present drought is responsible for farmers quitting their stocks. An authority on the meat murket told a newspaper representative that the demand for aged bulls and cows in 1

New Zealand is very keen just now. He states that these are being potted, and will be sent to Europe.