FARM & DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1916, Page 10

FARM & DAIRY.

NEWS AND NOTES. Writing of the sheep being bred by Mr. William Riddell and Sons, one of the most successful local exhibitors of Komneys and Lincolns at the Panama-I'acilie Exhibition, tjie American Sheepbreeder says:—"The Lincolns at :(ho Riddell farm, 250 head altogether, are mostly New Zealand blood, from tho William Perry flock. -A Perry vam recently imported, that will shear around 301b, is sire of the young lambs, while the yearlings are sired by New Zealand-bred rams, and out of English-bred ewes."

Says the American Sheepbreeder:—"lf our western woolgrowers had a big stock of Corriedale wool every pound would fetch .15 cents on to-day's market, and if it was clean and free from sand and dirt 40 cents would quickly and cheerfully be paid. We have some samples of the New Zealand article that would make your mouth water. It's about sin long, especially strong and bright, and will 'count' in the GO's, anu if any wool expert or manufacturer can criticise any feature of it we will quit descanting on the merit of Corricdales."

I The American Sheepbreeder takes responsibility for the following story:—A sheep cheese factory is the latest news from California. Two Greeks, with fifteen assistants, will operate the plant, consisting of 1754 acres in alfalfa, 100 acres of dry feed, 1250 selected ewes, whose lambs will bo marketed at throe months, and ewes then milked ifour months. It is a unique innovation in sheep husbandry, but altogether practical. We import millions of dollars' worth of fancy cheese, the most of which can easily be made here. There are no deep secrets in making cheese.

Prickly pear lias for yearn been an increasing pest in Australia, many thousands of acres of once good grazing land being' overrun with the plant. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr. W. Morrissey, engineer, lias recently been at Port Macquarie in connection with the destruction of prickly pear. He has given considerable attention to the prickly pear pest, and invented a machine, which is now almost completed. The contrivance weighs something like two tons and a-half, and will he driven on much the same principle as a motor-car. When the pear has passed through the machine It is discharged in the shape of pulp, the thorns also being rendered innocuous in the process. In this changed conditiou the contention is that it will make a useful fodder, which will he very acceptable in times of drought. But the eradication of the pear is its chief aim.

The Holstein-Friesian .cow Duchcsa Skylark Ormsby has broken all records for butterfat production by producing in 365 consecutive days, 27,761.7 pounds of milk containing 1,205.09 pounds of fat She freshened at the age of five years and three llays. Her sire is Ormaby Skylark, her dam is Oakhurst Duchess Clothilde. She was bred by E. B. Young, Buffalo Centre, la., and is now owned by John B. Irwin, Minneapolis, Minn. The test was made under the supervision of the Minnesota Agricultural College, and IS dinerent supervisors were employed in its conduct, the test running evenly month by month from start to finisli. This _ production gives this HolsteinFriesian cow the butterfat record above all other cows, and makes her the new dairy quten.

Breeding sheep for their wool is destined to become the most important branch of farming for at least one-half of the total area of what was tip till lately German South-west Africa. The most important area in the whole south of the colony, that is, all the country south of a line running eastward form Windhuk. Then in the northern half of the colony there is a western dry part which is bounded on the west by the Namib desert and on the east by a line drawn from Windhuk to the Kuncne. -passing through Waldaw, Omaruru, and Franzfontehi. To the north and east of this district, cattle are more suitable than tdiepp, as the thorny pastures injure the fleeces. Anyway (remarks an exchange) the Union of South Africa has an additional area of country with which to increase their sneep stock.

It appears that the champion egg-layer of the world is a White Leghorn hen, neighing 3.',1b, living al: the present lime in a comfortable coop at Delaware Colli go. in the State of Delaware (writes Hie N'. v, Yflrk eorre-iiKindent of the Melbourne Argus). She lias recently completed her year in the egg-laving competition there, and has to her credit 314 eggs for the 3fl.i days. This, T am informed. bonis the previous record, which was 2-ili. She was one of a group of five thai broke the pen record by a total of 1211. At an agricultural college in Conned ictri. tin international contest of this kind !i.i« jnst ended with a British vie-loi-v. i!»■ winners being 10 Wyandotte? owned by Thomas Baron, of Catforth, Kiigl.uid. They laid 2072 eggs in the year. and the same owner's 10 Leghorns laid '-""I. Ten from the Slate of Vermin i -.bowed a" output of 20;i|), and one of these produced 2.TT. There were 1000 liens in this contest. They represented M States and two great nations, and their individual average was 152. But the queen of all the egg-layers is tlie Delaware hen, which laid 314,' Her name is Lady Eglantine. I am told that the common barnyard fowl lays only 70 in 12 months.

"A neighbor of mine tried a disc harrow 011 his lucerne and cut the crowns oi' the plants clean otf in most cases. He showed me how well the plants were stooling from the root. I told him that I believed a lucerne plant would die if cut below the crown, but he said not if the root was watered soon afterwards, and the results confirmed his opinion." This is an extract from a letter of a farmer who wrote to the New South Wales Department of Agriculture that he had unsuccessfully tried a harrow with rigid tines for cultivating his own lucerne paddock. The land was irrigated and the lucerne had been liown -bout four years, but was beginning to get thin and grass was springing "up in it. He doubted whether the disc, harrow would not do hnrm. The reply of the Under-Secretary and Director may be of use to others. It was to the effect that tile .disc hnrroy is one of the best implements for cultivating lucerne, and no fears need be entertained about the plants being killed by the splitting of tie crowns. The disc should be set rather straight, and the operation is liest carried out after rain, when the surface of the ground is somewhat moist. The splitting of the crowns by the disc has a tendency to induce the plants to stool, and a much thicker stand will probably result, provided the crop does not want for moisture afterwards. The best time of the year for the operation is the latter end of the winter, and if one discing does not appear to be sufficient, the paddock may be cross-disced with little fear of injury to the planta,