FARMING NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10142, 12 November 1910, Page 3

FARMING NOTES.

SELECTING THE GOOD COW. A farmer from a neighbouring district was looking over the herd, and we requested him to nick out what, in his judgment, was the best cow in the herd. He looked tiiem over carefully, and selected one of the poorest. We inquired as to iho standard he carried in his mind f.s to tlie makeup or form of a good cow, and found that ho was governed almost wholly by what may be termed tlio Shorthorn build, a form that is rather of the beefy order. He said lie liked to have a cow show a good deal of substance, straight back,rathcr heavy thigh and shoulders. Ho did not like the thin, racehorse build, so many men declared for. T - .i avoiding one extreme he was driven unconsciously over to the other When we asked him what lie wanted a dairy cow for, what was the prime object or function be was after, he replied: "Oh, milk, of course; but I don't see why a cow cannot give as much milk and have a body that will take on considerable flesh at the same time" Now this man was much astonished when wc told him we wedd take less for the cow he picked o''t than for any other in the herd He was in the frame of mind a vast number of other farmers are—carrying a false type of form in the mind, all of which has come down through generations of dual-purpose training. Andyet he declared vigorously that he did not believe in the dual-pur-pose idea, if a man were looking for the best possible profit in dairy farming. The farmer then asked us how he could establish in his mind the best and truest idea of standard of the dairy form of cattle. In other words, how could he become a good judge of cows. We answered by saying: "Study cows systematically. Do it with pencil and paper. Take a dozen good herds and ask the owners to show you their very best and poorest cows. Then note the agreement, if posible, of various points in each. Note how few among the good ones have a straight Shorthorn back, how many agree in having the high pelvic arch, deep paunch, then incurving thighs, high arching flank, large udders, and well-developed milk veins. A good cow looks like a good mother. We said, 'Don 7 t study tliis question loosely, but do it systematically, and be sure to saturate your mind on all points of j the dairy question by the best reading matter that can be obtained. The best students make the best dairymen.' "

TO PROMOTE BENEFICIAL ACTION AND BACTERIA. I.—The bacteria which fix the atmospheric nitrogen, require for their growth and development, air, light, warmth, and moisture, and for their nourishment vegetable matter yeilding carbonic acid. 2.—lt is therefore necessary to aerate the soil by tillage, so as to give free access to the air, light and moisture, and to bring it info a favourable condition to retain moisture. 3.—The beneficial action of the nitrifying bacteria takes place only in the layers of soil to a depth where air, light, and warmth penetrate easily and abundantly. Such soil may be called "mellow." At a greater depth, to which the air penetrates with more difficulty, another species of bacteria of ah unfavourable character comes into activity, viz., those which retransform the available nitrogen into inert combinations. j 4.—Therefore the soil should not be turned up beyond a limited depth, which, according to my experience, should not exceed six inches. Below this depth the sub-soil should be broken up so that the plant roots could penetrate to get mineral food, but it should not be brought to the upper layers. s.—Organic manures and green manures should certainly not be ploughed in more than dx inches, and it is necessary to be careful not to plough into the subsoil the top layer of six inches, as it is propable that plants find in this top layer their nitrogenous food It is, indeed, believed that the nitrifying bacteria perish in the lower layers from want of suitable environment, and that inimical organisms occupy the ground.

LIME J*J THE SOIL. The amount of limo present in the soil varies greatly according to the soil; but no soil can be regarded as fertile unless it contains $ per cent, of lime. This may sound very, little, observes a writer in "The Smallholder," but since in good agricultural loam the upper 9in contains about 3,000,0001b of soil to one acre, i per cent, lime represojits 15,0001b, or G.t tons. Five per cent, or even ten per cent of lime, which are found in some soils therefore mean a tremendous store of this most important soil constituent, and the usual three or four tons of lime applied at long intervals to the soil represent only a very small fraction of one per cent. . Jt is not necessary to describe here the exact process which is going on in the coil when lime has been added, and we will frilly deal with the facts. These are, first, that the lime improves and sweetens the soil, that it enables other manures to act better, and that it keeps down certain pests which flourish in sourish or limefree soil.