FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1917, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

■♦■ MANGOEEI TESTING ASSOCIATION' The following are the returns for the Sfangorei Testing Association, ending October ID, 1917: PERI) AVERAGES. No. cows. Lbs. milk. Test, Lbs. fat. 13 978 3.6 311.05 23 728 3.5 25.87 MS 704 4.0 30.(13 10 561 3.8 21.41 8 701 3.4 2448 HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL YIELD. Lbs. milk. Test. Lbs. fat 1050 4.0 42.00 555 4.1 3.5.0.-) 870 4.2 30.54 810 4.7 33.07 915 3.2 29.28 LOWEST INDIVIDUAL YIEIJD Lbs. milk. Test. Lbs. fat 780 3.5 27.31) 450 3.4 15.30 525 3.3 17.32 346 3.5 12.07 705 3.0 21.15 Best herd—973lbs. milk, 3.U test, '30.05 lbs. fat. Worst herd—s-611bs. milk, 3.8 test, 21.411b5. fat. Best cow—105011)8. milk, 4.0 test, 42.00 lbs. fat. Worst cow—34olbs. milk, 3.7 test, 12.071ba .fat. Average Association cow—747lbs. mill:, 3.7 test, 27.691b5. fat. NEWS AND NOTES Th« price ol wheat in the United States has been fixed at 222 cents a bushel for the current crop—222 cents equals 9s 3d.

ft is on rich soils that artificial fertilisers, judiciously used in conjunction and supplementing farmyard manures, produce the most profitable results, The Washington Government estimates the yield of the 1917 crop in United States at 668,000,000 bushels, as against 040,000,000 estimated for 1916 at the corresponding period. It must be kept constantly in mind that success or failure in the care of a cow depends more upon the man who is trusted with that care than any set of rules or suggestions which can be made. Compared with the pre-war figure of £7 17s lid, it is now estimated that t!ie cost of growing an acre of wheat varies between "£fl 17s and £ll 18s 2d, according to a White Paper. A new California state record has been made by Mabel Buskins Colanth'a Girl iiOT.HHI, a junior four-year-old registered Friesian, owned by Kenneth W Abbott, of Milpitas. This cow made 33.7011)3 of btittqr from 578.61bs of milk in her recent official seven-dav (est. Sho U a daughter of Mabel Has'kins of San dose 114,000, 32.771b butter in seven days as a junior four-year-old. Opinions differ as to the length of time the calf should be left with the cow (says Hoard's Dairyman), but unless the cow's udder is inflamed considerably, we advise that the calf should be taken away at the end of one or two days' time. 'Especially with cows which are heavy producers and which have a tendency to have milk fever, it is advised not to milk the udder completely dry at any time during the first three' or four days after freshening. T!;e British Government has placed orders in South Africa for 1,000,000 bags of maize, for which it is providing freight. Reports from the Transvaal point to a splendid crop. The rains came just at a time when the grain was filling, and prospects were said to be better than for several years. Record crops were looked for. Advices us to prospects in the Free State are in similar train. The Union Government of South Africa has thrown upon the Johannesburg market to Rhodesian slaughter stock from prescribed district*, and a movement is on foot in Rhodesia to establish a canning factory to meet the requirements of the rancher, whilst the pig breeder finds bis local market at the British South Africa Company's Bacon factory at Salisbury.

An electrically-charged rod for driving cattle ia said to have been introduced ipon some of the ranches in western Texas, U.S.A. It is understood that the rod or prod consists of four small, dry cells, a step-up induction coil, a push button and suitable electrodes for applying the high tension current to the animal. For driving cattle into dipping vats, branding pens and other enclosures, the electric prod is said to be especially suited. An American authority in road construction says: Of the various types of modern highway that communities have to choose from, we may mention asphalt, brielc and concrete. The most careful investigations made in widely separated communities and by impartial observers have shown that these three types generally average in cost per mile, 16ft width, as follows:—Asphalt, £3400; brick, £3600; concrete, £2500.

■ The cultivation of wheat is the principal agricultural industry in Roumania, an area of about five million acres being devoted to it. The yield is not more than about 15 bushels per acre, but as some sort of compensation the quality of the grain ia excellent. Exports oi wheafr during the years 1911 and 1913 were valued from £8,000,000 to £lo,'000,000 per annum, and amounted to onehalf of the total exports of cereals. The Roumanian people eat very little wheat; out of a total population of eight millions only about two millions consume it regularly, the staple food of the people being maize.

French officials announce that war-de-vastated land is rapidly being put in order, and that there is already a promise of abundant crops in the restored provinces. The Germans did not expect to be turned out, so planted the crops with prison later, and now the rightful owners are reaping the harvest. The finest trees which the German ruthlessly injured have been taken in hand by tree scientists, and are fast being restored. Thousands of these trees are now bearing fruit with their trunks tied up with bandages. Trees cut down have been raised, straightened, and the trunlt3 reinforced with splints, with the result that many have been saved.

The Auckland Board of Education decided that two agriculture class camps, each of one week's duration, should he held at the Ruakura Government farm of instruction, during the fortnight beginning December 3, for boys in the secondary department of the district high schools taking rural course, the Board to pay all expenses. It is estimated tluit from fit) to 70 boys will ntto.nd the classes. Messrs J. W. T-Tadfield, R. P. Council, and W. Hudson, instructors in agriculture, will bo in charge of the camps. In the mornings two hours will be devoted to observation and demonstrative work. In the afternoons practical farm

and garden work will occupy two hours. Illustrated lectures will.bo given on two evenings each week. Before the introduction of commercial potash v.nlU from the potash mines in Germany, the value of wood ashes was so well known an a source of potash, that there was a regular demand for them—and during the coining seswon- tiiey should he collected and spread on the land. Good wood'ashes, that have not hecn exposed to rain, contain from 5 to B per cent, of potash and a little phosphate of lime. Exposure to the weather, if rain should have fallen, may he considered to reduce the value of the ashes by one-half. The United States Food Controller, Mr. H. C. Hoover, has issued a warning to the effect that a reduction of 20 per cent, in the consumption of wheat is necessary to conserve wheat for use at 'home, and by the Allies. He estimated that the deficit in the wheat crop of the United iStates and Canada for 1917 amounts to 400,000,000 bushels, when compared with normal pre-war requirements. There is an approximate surplus in other cereals of M)0,O00,000 bushels. The South American wheat crop is said to he largely a failure, and a new harvest willnot be available there till the spring of 1018. The present price of unimproved land in Southern .Rhodesia is about 6s 7d per aire, but varies according to its situation and general character. In the ease, of farms already surveyed for allotment, the cost of survey is included in the price of the land. Farms suitable for mixed farming arc about 125 acres in extent Stock farms, which are only granted in areas suitable for ranching, vary in size up to about 0000 acres. Larger areas for ranching purposes, lip to au extent of 53,000 acres, can be obtained in the more remote districts. The extent of land so granted depends largply upon the amount of capital which the applicant is prepared to invest in his ranching operations, e.g., an applicant for a ranch of 21.000 acres is required to possess a capital of not less than £4500 in cash or stock. The price of ranching land averages about 2s lOd per acre.

What the analyst can do has been summarised by Mr. A. D. Hall as fallows:— (1) Mechanical analysis enables us to cb«sify so'.ls and assign an unknown example to its type. (2| From the type, tvmb'ncd with knowledge of the situation ar.i climate, we may predict its suitability or otherwise for particular crips. (3) Chemical analysis will tell us w'.iether ft soil is getting acid or ne"ds liming to maJ;o it work properly and utilise the manure applied to it. (4) From chemical analysis we can settle [what class of manures ought to be used —whether sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda, whether superphosphate or basic slag. (a) Chemical analysis will often reveal particular deficiencies and the specific for phosphates or potash, but to do this with any certainty the compoiitirn and behaviour of soils of that type should be known from a previous soil survey. FRENCH FARMERS. The financial strength of France, as well as its national solidarity or patriot-, ism, is admitted by all political students to be due in a very large measure to what we should call the minute subdivision of the land, which gives a big proportion of the people actual proprietorship in the soil of their native country. Out of 5,888,000 farms in France, only 133,000 are over 120 acres, or in other word?, for every farm over 120 acre l ) there nre (in round numbers) -10 below that area Many of these are, of course, vineyards, «omo of which are only a few acres in c?:ten f ; but the effect is the same, the influence of the man on the land, especially when he is tho owner as wall as the occupier, is in the direction of stability and the conservation of national resources. COST OF HORSE POWER. American statistics show that tho average farm contains lIS acres, and that four horses are required to furnish the power for the field operations. Figures show that these horses only work on an average of three hours a day, or 1000 hours a year, or a total of 10,000 liours' work for tho average life of the horse. The value of the horse at present prices ranges from £3O to £4O. Therefore, the average investment for horse power in that country is between £l2O and £2OO. The horse is not satisfied with only eating when it works, but must have feed for 385 days of the year at an annual cost of £lß,a year. This makes a total cost of £72' for the horse power required on the average Wisconsin farm.

DRYING OFF THE COW. It is not generally a very difficult matter to dry off the cows without troublein fact, they will often dry off themselves far too quickly, more particularly when the food is going off in the late autumn, and when milk is bringing a. good price. Still, there are differences of opinion as to the best method. A cow should be allowed, say, eight weeks to recruit her strength, although this, perhaps, is an unnecessary period with a cow which has been well fed and is in good condition, yet the benefit to herself and prospective calf can easily be imagined if allowed a fair rest before commencing the new season. It is not the poor milker one needs trouble about, but the persistent milker, who may frequently entail a deal of anxiety to her owner. She may persist in secreting milk from one calving to the next in spite of the dairyman's best endeavors to dry her off. It ia perhaps the one important period during lactation in which the cow may readily go wrong, and be the main reason why so many cows when they come in again later as milkera arc faulty perhaps in a quarter, and only fit for fattening purposes. It is the cow with the big milkflnw whom care must be taken of. We rather favor the practice of milking once a day for a few days. When the quantity yielded is.somewhat less, miss a day, and so on until two or three milkings elapse between the milkings; or until the cow is finally dry, The udder should be emptied at each milking, and no danger run of allowing thickened milk to accumulate. If any should form during the dvying-off proccsG the cow should be stripped out frequently till this tendency disappears entirely; otherwise there is a risk that inflammation will set in, and when the cow comes in at calving time there mi»y he a bad quarter. Every good cow should have attention during her dry period, and be looked to occasionally, as it may happen that a cow will secrete fluid in sufficient quantity to cause trouble quite unknown to her owner. It may indeed be next door to impossible to induce some cows to give up the milking habit, and rather than take extreme and risky measures,.it would be better to feed the animal especially well with the view to nourishing the growing calf anil continue milking. It is better practice when drying off cows to milk out thoroughly well at times rather than milk a little away at every milking time, and so leave a portion of the udder liable to thicken and injure the delicate cell tissues, There is probably no best

method that one can invariably employ with all cows, more- particularly with a heavy milking animal; bub experience of nature's methods teaches that organs not used or exercised disappear or cease to perform their functions, emphasising the value of drying off slowly and prolonging the intervals of milking rather than risking half-milking daily. The fact that so many cows come in "wrong" in tlio udder justifies special consideration being paid to the "dryiug-off" process. Some knowledge of the physiology of tho udder is most important, and would help greatly to avoid many of the ills which are not infrequent iri many dairymen's herds. '