FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 303, 1 June 1915, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

MAXGOKEI CO\V-TESTIX<; ASSOCIATION*. I The, following arc 1.11 - ruturiis from tho Mangnrei .Cow-testing Association for the period ending .May ii. as submitted liy Mr. W. the Asso- ' eiatiim's tester: — J Herd for .Month lor Month. I

Tiie liest herd averaged 33RU>s milk, test (i.O. f:lt '20.01. . j The. worst herd averaged IDSlhs milk, test 7.l,_fat 9.SQ. The liest cow {rave 37(1!bs milk, tost l!.l, fat 34.77. 1 The worst vow gave fifillw milk, test 4.0, fat 2.40. I The average association cow gave SI Sins milk, test .>.O, fat 15.0!). I

(IREEX-MAmrPaNTL .15. FairVax-Cholnieley, in Journal of Agriculture). In New Zealand, where there is little e: no farmyard manure, the value of .'../'■ en manuring cannot lie over-estimat-o;l. The providing of organic matter siio;-.:d be one of the. iirst considerations of ti'H* farmer. In most eases it is to the hu'k of humus that lower yields of Cli ps P ill' ic attributed. ; liv u-'ng a suitable rotation of crops, rrr 'en-manuring, feeding off the crops of e fafni, liming, ami the addition of phosphates the land should be in as good, if not" better, heart than when copping commenced, instead of being worked out at the end of a few years, as many farms have been in the past. Xo matter what the nature of the soil may be, the wonderful effect of greennianuring is surprising. On the sandy and light lands, by the addition of the organic matter which produces humus, tiie small particles are bound together, which helps to retain the moisture, while jn strong clay lands the character of the i soil i.-, changed, by the breaking-up of i the particles, rendering the land more porous and pliahle. It legumes are used for green-manur-ing. in addition to the organic matter, nitrogen, one of the essentials of plant-/ life and the most expensive manure to buy, is added to the soil. ('lovers of all kinds are great soil-im-provers. The red clovers are excellent crops for ploughing in. and have this advantage: that, although the best re-, salts will he obtained by ploughing the crop in, very good results will he seclire;l if a crop of hay is taken oil and the | aftermath ploughed in or eaten down by sheep. This will bring some return for the outlay, thus lessening the cost. An experiment at Rothamsted showed that after a crop of hay had been taken oil' II plot of clover, the following year oil per cent, more grain was taken oil this plot than off the adjoining one. In sandy and light lands the annual lupin does not receive the attention it deserves. It is a very fast grower, yields ;» large ([iiantity of organic matter, and is a powerful means of collecting and storing nitrogen. In Croat Britain the blue lupin is considered the best, but in '• .Vow Zealand so far the white has proved superior. Three small plots of annual lupin, blue, yellow and white, were grown at the demonstration plots at the Auckland Exhibition. The white gave the best results. Tiie crop was ready to plough in six weeks after sowing. Sixty-eight days after sowing the yield worked-out at the rate of tons per acre for green-manuring p ir poses, and the roots were rich in nitro-

the prospects for butter,, because every I civilised country in. the world is catering for the. butter market of England, and only Canada caters for the Cneddar cheese. ' The supply from Catiada is falling oil' year by year at a. greater rate than our supply increases. Till"!' is another reason. The butter business now in England is up against a, business proposition. it is being met by advertising, and farmers won't advertise. and consequently they let the other man get the business. The. Maypole 'Dairy Co. made .iM!!3,'H)() profit last year selling cocoa-nut oil butter, and it is likely that during that year they probably spent ,C."iD,()<)o on 1 advertising. That is what the buttor,makc'- of New Zealand is up against now. If lie will not spend money on advertising in England, it means that the other man is going to get the business. I'll regard to cheese, there is no substitute that can be boomed by advertising. If you will put lip a cheese factory with a cool curing-room, and get the best cheese-maker you can procure for money in X;'w Zealand, and give him and. the rest of the staff an interest in lilts profits, you would probably get .as good a. price for your cheese, or better than, any of tlie older factories. line pound of butter-fat will make 2.6011 mof cheese, and at the. present: prices, !t:)s, this is equal to a payment to the suppliers of Is 8d per 11) of but-ter-fat. The prices paid out by a typi- , eal good Xorth Island cheese and butter factory respectively since 1!)04 are as follows: — Cheese flutter Factory Factory. IWU-.-i !) ' !Ui4 ' .IfKl.Vli 12 KI.3S l'.lfli;-: 12.52 1 (),!)« ' Ifl0"-S 11.112 10.2S DHIS-ll 12.! if Il.:!2 IOT-HI 12.0r> 11. Id ] lilin-ll 11.!).) 10.52 1!)] 1-12 14.5!) 12. l(i l!)12-l:i 111.25 12.02 1013-14. 14.38 12.00 TO PREVENT TST.OAT. Most of us know the bad results of 'bloat in dairy cattle when tlicy get aci ess to lucerne patches or clover, without supervision. There are many simple remedies for a fleeted stock, anil these are added to by the. one employed by a farmer ill Queens'anil, who hit upon the plan of putting bits in the mouths of cattle before they are allowed to graze upon the fodder. Until he took to this system his methods were not always successful, and he often lost a beast or two. This season he ran 100 cows oil the lucerne patches regularly. and did not sustain any loss at .all. During the past, year or two he has followed the plan of buying cows ill low condition and allowing them to fatten .oil the open paddocks where the fodder grows, and as a result he has made money. He also asserts that cattle gracing 'with a bit in their mouth do not give tainted milk, though, one may be .apt t > doubt this. Still lie declares it to lie correct. The bits and head straps cost him eigliteenpence each at the local saddler's, and are easily made. The scheme is well worth the trial. FARM lIA'XDS IX ENGLAND. Owing to the war, there is a 10 to 12 per cent, shortage of farm labor in the (iid Country, llishop (lore writes to the Times that the shortage "is not likely to be temporary. 11l other words, Ido not believe that the young men who have enlisted for the war are likely to return to the land, under the old conl ditions, after the war. "1 have taken tlie opportunity of consulting a, number of clergy who know the country lads well. Tlicy have all csprcssed the same opinion. The lads are already greatly improved by military service and better feeding. They are greatly pleased with themselves. They are. lasting what seems to them a more interesting life than they knew before. Whatever the.y become after the war. they will not return to what tlicy were. "It is therefore not a temporary but a permanent shortage of labor that has to be met. It must be met, I believe, by improving wages and conditions so as to attract labor to the country: and this improvement had better be begun at once and on a systematic scale. Alsr eduialion should not be curtailed, but in every way improved so 1 as to make rural education a better preparation foi rural life."

genous nodules. .Many other legumes, such as peas and tivres, are excellent cops for greenmanuring, but the seed is too expensive to allow the crop to he grown to plough in: nevertheless, they improve the soil, adding nitrogen and a certain amount nf organic, matter in their roots when these are ploughed ill. Lotus major, Lotus cornieulatus and lotns angustissimus are being grown on the gum lands, and have improved these considerably, but are hardly suitable for growing as green-manuring crops, occupying the land too long before coming io maturity. Serradclla in the north Micro the frosts m e not severe, is worth growing. It can be sown in the autumn, and gives a fair yield. Of the non-nitrogenous plants, mustard is one of the"best to grow. It stores a large amount ot nitrogen, but it, has yet to be proved that it gathers it from the air; it gives a heavy yield sind grows fast, bet does not stand the frost well. Oats also are a good crop for ploughing in. If the improvement of the farm is to he considered as it should be, the farmer will find that green-manuring is one nf the first importance, and the use of red clovers for this purpose will greatly assist him. Probably lie will obtain the greatest results at the least cost by using red clovers. The manager of the Afoumahaki Kxpeiiii .• >!al rftriiuites tlie increased fertility of the soil of that farm largely to green-manuring and a judicious rotation of crops. ■PRICES l'A'il) I'Olt nUTTLR-T'AT. The Dairyman has had a host of encpiiries as to the relative merits of cheese versus lmtter-fat, and thus replies:—l The future prospects of cheese in our opinion are immeasurably superior to

Cows Milk, lb 'IVst. lb, Milk, lb Test. Fat, 11) Milk, 11) Test. Kilt, lb J 11) 277 5.3 14.70 <)]."> 5.1 33.21 135 5.G 7.5IJ j 25 2i:t 5.5 12.23 -1(15 4.7 lil.M 135 4.0 0.21 I .17 232 (i.5 15.2I; 405 0.3 25,'i 1 00 0.0 3.1)0 j •1(1 313 -l.s n;,55 450 5.1 22.115 150 3.0 5.10 1 27 280 5.3 15.31 720 4.0 28.r:o 105 0.4 (i.72 1 Hi 331) 4.8 10.48 000 •1.4 20.10 2-10 4.1 11.84 I 10 1 202 i'.liO 5.1 3.7 13.5!) 35.52 405 5.3 21. -Ill 1 IF) (US (i.;)3 7 33S (5.0 20.(i I 570 0.1 ' 31.77 120 7.0 0.12 !) 351 5.4 1S.0I. 015 4.(1 2!).(i7 135 5.4 7.2!) 15 388 4.0 15.75 70.) 3.7 20.08 1511 3.8 5.70 11 IMS 5.4 10.53 315 5.3 18.28 1211 5.0 (i.72 43 317 4.S 15,13 555 5.2 2«.S(> 150 3.0 5,10 24 153 o.o llt.21 315 5.!l .18.58 •15 0.0 2.07 14 378 4.7 18.01 405 5.7 20.50 210 5.5 11.55 7 270 5.3 14.57 3110 4.4 17.11) 210 5.4 11.34 28 235 5.4 12.71 555 4.0 22.20 00 5.1 3.(10 1.1' 1 ! 3S 7.1 ll.SU 225 7.« T7.10 110 52 4:08 22 285 5,115.43 435 5.1 22. IS 135 5/2 7.02 13 404 4.4 18.07 015 4.4 27.00 00 4.0 2.10