FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 April 1918, Page 3

FARM AND DAIRY.

FARMERS AND WAR. Two million small farmers in Germany are members of co-operative institutions. In 1910 there were 13,636 cooperative societies in German}', with a yearly turnover of 859,000,000 marks. In 1912 there were 26,026 societies with a turnover of 6,341,000,000 marks .As an~ example of their work Cahill states that 620,000 tons of basic- slag were bought in one year by a single German Agricultural Society. There were 571 cooperative implement societies in Germany, 600 electrical 9upply societies, as well as potato-drying societies and distillery societies. A few beet sugar factories are run on co-operative lines, but, a* the amount of capital required for a factory is large, most of the factories belong to joint stock companies, though the beet is grown by the members on co-operative lines. The titanic struggle raging in Europe has brought «home to the belligerents the vital importance of Agriculture to a nation. As the war wearily on, it is more and more clearly recognised that agriculture forms a strong bulwark in a nation's defence. Military valor and prodigies of military si-ill will not save: a nation if its population is in want of food. Germany's encircling walls of men and steel will not save her from disaster if her agriculture fails to supply the foodstuffs necssary for life. Nor can the Allies clr.-'ve their way to final victory unless their people are properly fed.

Since there is some doubt, says the Journal of Agriculture, as to which species of blow-fly is mostly responsible for blowing sheep, and "whether one species does tho damage in one district and not in another, it is desirable in order to clear up this question that living specimens of maggots from blown sheep be procurable from all parts of New Zealand. Sheepowncrs willing to assist be asked to kindly forward living specimens to "The Biologist, Central Development Farm, Weraroa." Specimens are best sent in a tin containing, damp oatmeal. A note should bo enclosed stating whether the maggots are from wool, feet, or horn-cavities, together with date of capture, locality, and any remarks on the extent of damage done in the district.

The United States Bureau of animal Industry is conducting a number of experiments in cross-breeding, and is forming a permanent Government station in Idaho. It also owns a flock of New Zealand Corriedales. One of the interesting features of the work has been the continued use of crossbred rams on crossbred ewes to determine. the variation in the offspring. Also, crosses between the Lineoln-Rambouil-let (merino), Cotswold-Rambouillet, the Leicester-Rambouillet, and the RomneyRambouillet have been riiade. These different crossbrcds are all bred, and at shearing time the fleeces are separately weighed and valued, as well as the weight of each sheep being taken. A recent visitor who saw the (joyernment flock stated that of the total' number of crossbreds the Lineoln-Rainbouillet and Cotswold-Rambouillet seemed to show up better than the cross with the Romney and Rambouillet, or the straight Corriedale. In other words, the first cross Lincoln-Merino is showing up well in the United States, as it does in New Zealand."

More, than 4,000,000 acres of wheat had been winter-killed in Kansas, presenting an unusual problem for the Kansas farmers who desired to do their bit in the campaign for increased food production. A fleet of 4000 tractors was kept busy for several weeks ploughing this ground and preparing it for corn and other spring crops, and the sight of tractors working during the night time, with the aid of lights, borrowed from automobiles, grew to be a common one, until the Council of Defence announced that title crisis had been passed successfully. _ Night shifts had to bo provided for the tractors, and these weapons of peace had to be so distributed that no community of the State would suffer because of lack of power with which to plant the spring crops. The workers on the night shift usually were taken to and from their work in automobiles provided by the business men of the towns, who did this as a patriotic service. A n<?w Government order prohibiting the slaughter of lambs until after .Tune 15 is causing considerable dissatisfaction in East Lothian and other intensive stock-feeding districts in Scotland. In these districts the custom is to buy cast ewes in the back end of the year and take a lamb off them, both the ewo and the lamb going away together as early as possible fat. This is necessary in order that the young grass may be kept clean, either for hay or for the feeding off of newly-bought-in lambs later in the season. The system involves a good deal of box-feeding, and is carried on at considerable cost. What will happen under the new order, unless it be modified, is that the. lambs will either have to be earlier weaned and tlie ewes fed ofl' by themselves, or both - kept on longer, and the yield of hay reduced. That is apparently the alternative, and the last is likely to be most generally adopted, for everyone knows what it means to a growing and fattening lamb to be suddenly cut off from its mother's milk before it is fully ripe. The new order was expected to cause consternation in the big English lambbreeding districts, where lambs for the fat market begin to be dropped in large numbers as e*rly m January.