FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 223, 27 February 1915, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

A- NEW GAT. A PROLIFIC YIELDER. '•'lowa 1 l'o3''is a'variety of oats whic! has been 1 d'evoiopod'. at tho lowa Agricul tural Experimental Station at Ames in recent years, and is yielding big crops. It is yielding' better than local varieties according to a statement- made by the experiment station. The statement says that at Oakville, in Louisa county, one yield seeded with this strain outyielded the best local varieties by, twenty bushels per acre. Other'fields in'the vicinity did nearly as well. lii other countries. 'lowa 103" also showed heavier yielding qualities, though not quite as much better than local varieties as in Louisa county. These facts ar P contained' in reports made by John Buchanan, of the experiment station, secretary of the lowa Agricultural Experiment Association, which is distributing the new varieties of sead developed at Ames. The Oakville test was conducted by F. E. Jamison, who got his first shipment of seed in 1013. Then he grew an acre of "lowa 103," which produced seventy-seven bushels of choice seed. He planted the entire seventy-seven bushels last spring on twenty-six and one-half acres, from which he harvested ISOO bushels of good seed, which he will distribute to his neighbors. "My field yielded eighty-two bushels ,per acre, by weight," says Mr Jamison in his report. "That is twenty bushels better than the next best field of oats in his entire section. lowa 103 is showing up better than we -could almost wish for. Our neighborhood has reason to thank the co-operative experiment association and the plant breeders at the experiment station for "lowa 103." A CHAMPION COW.

The officially authenticated report in "Hoard's Dairyman" states that on November 13, 1014, Tilly Alcartra, a cow in the registered Holstcm-Frcsian herdowned by A. W. Morris and Sons, California, finished a year of test work with a production of 30,452.61b of milk, containing 051.51b of butter fat, and thereby became the world's greatest milch cow. _She is the only 30,0001b cow that has been developed so far.

Tilly Alcartra is 'described as "quite a nice type of Holstein, but she would surprise many who might expect from her production record that she is a'la'ge cow, carrying an immense udder. _ She is not a particularly large cow, and while she carries a well-formed udder it is noticeably small even for a medium production. All who have looked c.t this cow are at a loss to discover where she stores her enormous milk production. She has a particularly soft and pliable hide, and is in the pink of condition after her great work. She finished her year giving over Cfllb of milk per day, and she has been carrying a calf for five months.

"The record-breaker consumed a generous quantity of well-proportioned feeds although she is not as heavy a feeder as might be supposed from her great production. She showed an especial fondness for beet, and these, with dried 'beet pulp and maize ensilage, contributed the succulence of her ration. Her grain ration was a mixture of one part barley, one part oats, and one part bran. During the year an, accurate account was kept of her feed'and its cost. This shows that she consumed 18281b barley, 18281b bran, T2oSlbs, linseed meal, CSP/Übs, dried beet pulp 322fiib maize ensile "e, 10.1221b hay and 15,1401b beets. The total cost of feed was £3l Is iy a d." DRENCHING THE HORSE.

Though a simple procedure to Hie practised hand, drenching is often a matter of difficulty to the ordinary horse-owner. As a rule, the head is held too higli, which tightens all the muscles of the throat, prevents the proper closing of the wind-pipe, so that the medicine goes down the windpipe. The gullet, it must be remembered, is above and beyond the windpipe. The head should only be raised enough to have the back of the tongue with a slight fall; and with a quiet horse the left hand can hold the head in this position. A drenehing-bit is by far the most convenient way of administering liquid medicines. A horn is often employed. The inclination to swallow should be induced by giving the drench very slowly—only just a little at first, to get the palate and tongue working in unison. If a disposition to cough is observed, the head should be immediately lowered. Then the attempt should be made again. Some horse-owners like to have the head raised by mechanical means, so that both hands are free for regulating the quantity of drench. This is easily performed when a drenching bit is used. (Without the bit the heait can be raised by passing a rope through a ring in a cross-beam, and looping the rope round the upper jaw. Then the horn or bottle can be inserted at the side.