FARM NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8150, 26 May 1906, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

IN-FOAL MARES. WORK TO THEIR ADANTAGE. Those new to marcs in foal are often so about them that they are not allowed to do any work for a month or two before foaling, and are treated as-more or less of an invalid. If a mare is old or disabled, and only fit for a brood mare, let her have ease by all means, but when the in-foal mare is one of a team, long idleness before foaling disarranges the condition of things to her disadvantage, and a long rest before foaling is quite unnecessary. If the mare is one that is ridden or driven give her a chance, and do not hurry or bustle her during the last month or six weeks of her oarryius the foal, but she can be used quietly all the same. If she is employed for carting or ploughing, eto., on the land, avoid giving her jerky work. This may cause premature birth, but steady employment will do her no narm whatever —indeed, have an opposite tendency, particularly if she is kept in on farms where mQst of the mares are put to the horse, and many foals are bred. It is absolutely necessary that the mares should do much work previous to foaling. In such cases it is common for the mares to drop their foals when in the plough or harrows, or if brought in from work one evening she may have a foal by her side next morning, and as a rule matters go on quite satisfactorily. WORKING THE MARE AFTER FOALING. Now we come to something quite difEerent, and after foaling there must be complete idleness for a time. The mare must not be heated when the foal is very young, as her milk, when in that state is bad for the foaJ. Young oalves will rub on nicely with two meals a day given morning and evening but the foal is more a frequent feeder and the mare should be available for this practi oally constantly for the first month or six weeks at least. I have known them worked two or three days after foaling but this is very unwise, as the foal is sure to get upset, and what is gained in work will be all lost in the unprogressive condition of the foal. As in all live stook a good start is of immense advantage to a foal, and if put well on their legs during the first few weeks they will be better prepared to hear the mother's absence for intervals later, particularly when the hay harvest begins, whiuh is work that , all capable mares with foals are put to. To keep a mare away from a very young foal, for a great length of time results in the foal suoking an excessive quantity of milk, then indigestion and other internal complaints are generated. That is one very bad result of the mother's abesnce. Another is, that If the intervals between feeding are not too long there is still the fact that the foal worrieß and frets beyond soothing when the mother is away, and this, 100, has a bad effeot. BREEDING WHEAT.

When (says a Galiforuian paper) the State Board of Trade first called attention to the cause of falling off in our floor export, aa not related to the IfißS quantity of wheat produced, but to decline in its essential quality by loss of gluten, it v»as suDposed by many that we were alone in the misfortune of such a condition. It is of considerable interest as well as encouragement to California wheat growers to know that our experience is not singular, and that loss of gluten content in wheat is by no means confined to California. In part of the Russian field the same deoline is found, and European observers supposed that it was due to primitive and imperfect cultivation of the soil. This is proved to be incorreot by the deoline of gluten in French wheat. In no country in the world is cultivation as carefully and scientifically done as in Prance. " In means not merely proper ploughing of the soil, in preparation for seeding, but as the grain is sown in drills it means careful cultivation between the rows \vhile the plant is growing. The fertilisation of the soil is also carefully attended to. and crops are rotated bo that the elements take from the soil by one may be restored by tne chance to another. Yet with all that care two infirmities have befallen French wheat. One is the exhaustion of the silicate that glazes and stiffens the straw. As a result the grain lodges or "overturns" as they call it in France, if rain fads after the straw has leaobed its normal length. The weight of moistare on the heads and is too much for it. When it overturns the barvest is difficult and the grain is injured, l'be more serious in flrmity is loss of gluten, and an enquiry into the cause of this began later than that initiated in California by the State Board of Trade. Experiments in the power of panifioation of flour proved many wheats defloient, and the deficiency due to loss of gluten, The kind found highest was the Gros .Bleu, and it was used in breeding on other sorts, and its hybrids "A" and "Tresor" were found richer in gluten than the English wheat. The spring wheats were found superior to the winter varieties, except in the yield, which is lighter. But the use of wheat being for bread, and its value depending upon paniflcation, a heavy yield with little gluten is not as valuable to the grower as a lighter crop rich in that quality One fact much discussed in the State Board of Trade is demonstrated in the Frenoh experiments. Wheat gains in gluten when cut early, and left in the shook. , The gluten in wheat so treated loses one of its element called gliadin, but even then is richer than grain harvested as we harvest in California. The Frenoh experiments are expected to bring wheat breeding and soil treatment int co-ordination, for the preservation of gluten wheat, and therefore are of the greatest interest to California. These experiments are oom-, plicated by the loss of silicate and the overturning of the grain. No-

suggestion of a remndy for this is made. The selioate is the flinty element in the soil, which is made solvent and conversed by the plant to its use 3n strengthening the stalk. How is it to be returned to the soil is not yet explained. If it be a primitive and not a derivative element, there oan be no hope in rotation of root urops or legumes as a remedy. Nor apparently, will resting the laud entirely do any good.