FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 August 1916, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

Plenty of superphosphate supplied to tlit cultivated crops enable tlicui to sup press the weeds. By .i thorough cultivation of the, soil before the crop need is put in a muss of weeds tan he detroyed. When arable land is infested with weeds it is ncccsary to fallow it, so that it may be thoroughly cultivated and cleansed.

Dirt and grease are quickly removed from the varnished bodywork of buggies and motoi ears if borax is dissolved in the water.

Merino sheep were first brought into England in 1788, when the King procured a small flock from Portugal. In 1701 another floek was imported from Spain. Scours rarely occur if the sow and pigs are fed right. If sucking pigs have scours, mix a little iron sulphate (copperas), 1") to 20 grams to tlie dosi, in the sow's feed. Jf necessary give several doses. liimc water or castor oil are also good remedies for scours. Well-established investigations show that cultivation and aeration of land arc fine ways of conserving moisture. A Meekafter ploughing the amount of moisture in four feet of land was tested, showing that the (inference in favor of ploughing was rather over 25 percent, in the first foot, nearly 12 per cent, in the secono foot, (i per cent, in the third foot, and about 12 per cent, in the fourth.

The Government Statistician's estimates of the autumn and winter lambings give the number of ewes for New South Wales as 17,119.000, of which 10,642,000 were mated. The number of lambs dropped was 7,277,000, and pro bable markings 5,750,000, a percentage of 54. The autumn lambings in many districts was less successful than the winter lambings, many lambs perishing owing to lack of rain. The Live Stock Journal of June 16 say 3 that greater supplies of meat are now coming to Britain, and prices inaj. he* expected to. fall in the immediate future. It is not thought that the Board of Trade will take any department action to control or reduce prices, especially as it has been seen that ever, iu Germany the fixing of maximum prices has liot proved a success.. Prices in the week's markets have been very variable. If some of the big farmers would take a leaf out of Dr. Troby King's book they would probably get better and more rngrYidging service from their employees. In conversation with out representative a. few days ago Dr. King stated that it was his intention to have a bowling gicon laid down on his well-known farm at Takakopa to enable the men employed on the farm to get some diversion in their, spare time.—Clutlia Leader.

It is hard to estimate the value of the silo for the farmer who keeps live stock. Silage has long been proven and recognised as one of the best feeds obtainable for either winter or summer feeding Some cifferont erops may be advantageously siloed, but the most commonly ustd, and perhaps one of the most satisfactory, is maize. Maize silage is by far the most generally used, but wheat, barley, rye, and oats are siloed by many with good results. Good animals, kept clean, comfortable, and free from excitement, will yicyl the best possible resits in milk. On the other hand, where cows are in ill-health. 01' unduly excited, the milk is immediately affected. Especially is this noticeable iff the ease of cows taken long distances to shows, and in such ease the fat percentage may fall a s low as two per cent., or even less, whereas at home it wouid be normal in quality. No time should be lost in conveying the milk from the milking-shed to" the dairy. The longer it is left ill the cowsheds the more risk there will be of "eowy" and musty flavors in the butter. Besides, for efficient separation of cream, milk should always be put through the machine at ft temperature most closely approaching that of body heat, which means that the milk should always be separated as quickly as possible after it lias been produced. Having obtained the cream, cool it to Or> degrees Fahrenheit, and leave it in a pure, fresh atmosphere. Colonel W. Hall Walker, in a recent number of the Badminton Magazine makes a strong appeal to Irish horsebreeders not to sell their mares which ti'aee back to the Hobbie strain, which resulted from crossing native breeds with Spanish blood. He considers ■ that' the wonderfuly and consistently good results in the production of hunter and troopers, rot to be obtained in any other country but Ireland, is directly traceable to the Hobbi ) blood, now chiefly to be- found in the light- Irish draught 'mare, which therefore should be kept in the country at all costs.

In a letter to the Pahiattia Co-opera-tive Dairy Company (cheese), a wellknown New Zealand firm interested in rennet supplies quotes the following significant passage from an.American letter.—"Canadians are complaining of the cheese famine owing to the scarcity of lvnnet. A number of cheese factories have closed down, and cheese retails upwards of ten shilling per lb, where it is obtainable." The Pahiatna Dairy Company is fortunate in having full supplies of rennet for this season on hand, but some of the other factories in the district arc not so fortunate.

A meeting of the provisional directors of the New Zealand Rennet Company was held at Palmerston North last Friday. London cables received announce that arrangements liad been made with n large Danish firm which specialises in the manufacture of rennet, to send a representative to London to confer with Mr. Ellison (National Dairy Association representative). The suggestion is tlmt the local company should supply the veils, and the rennet bo manufactured at a certain place. Meanwhile, it was recognised that farmers should be urged to save all the veils possible. As demonstrated at Pahiatna and other places, the process is a simple one, and there is no reason at all why the veil from e< cry calf not reared should not be saved and sold to the factories. The prices paid for the veil is not the real value when it is remembered that the cheese industry can only be kept going by the veils saved this year. SuMicient supplies of rennet are in sight at present for this season, but it depends very largely on present efforts whether adequate supplies fire obtained for next season.