FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 1736, 24 January 1913, Page 3

FARMING NOTES

(By "Man on the Land.") li.o grossest care should bo exercised in the election ol" breeding ewe*. Farming is now a profession requiring more shrewdness than the l:n\. and -more, uprightness than ;religion.

Cultivated land under no rotation is sure to lxxwmo infected with harmful diseases, which feed on the crop.

If 1001b of -milk were evaporated there would he 1231b of dry food toil, all good and easily digestible matter.

A sow is in Lor prime at from three. to seven years, but if well managed will do good service for a much longer period.

The fertility of the rich blade soils in Russia is -showing ■signs of deterioration, and artifieial manures will be needed very shortly.

An American paper recommends clipping the flanks and udders of cows to keep the milk clear and f'-eo from harmful bacteria.

The products of pigs that farrow large litters of even-*,ized pigs, fatten more quickly than pig:, of small litters from weakly .sows.

• The time occupied in weighing and testing milk will soon be saved by stopping the milking of even one cow which i-s found to be a passenger.

Disc ploughs are useful in ploughing'heavy lands-'when hard aind dry, in burying manure, grass or weeds, and in exposing heavy soil to the action of sun and frost.

If farm manure is spread over the land when fresh it economises time and labour, relieve* the farmyard of a nuisance, 4 n d brings to the soil the greatest amount of nutriment.

If asb material be withheld from the food, poor teeth and deficient bone construction will bo the result; if protien :s short, the flesh and blood will suffer; wliile a want of carbohydrates and fat will affect the energy and general thrif tineas.

Whatever the haphazard manager may say, the man who makes most money in the end is the one who plans to carry sufficient reserves to keep his stock going wheln supplies are short.

Seventeen Shorthorn cmvs from the herd of Mr R. Cornelius, of Cheshire, England, averaged £B9 13s Bd. The highest price paid was 200 guineas, for a heifer. H.M. the King gave 135 guineas for a cow.

To manure originally meant to work with the hand, being derived from the-Latin manus, .a hand;., and opus, work; through the French manoeuver.

Kohl,rabi. or tairnijvrooted cabbage, is well recommended for sheep food inyt&ad of turnips, as being little 'affected by diseases •which attack sivcdcs.

In culling your ewes, do not judge by conditions only. A ewe may be in good condition simply because she has not reared a lamb; while another, in poor condition, may have roared twins.

Lime, if applied alone, and the land cropped every'-year. the soil. When used with farmyard' macule, green manure or chemical fertilisers, it proves very beneficial in most cases.

! 'flse shoulders of working horses should- be 'carefully looked to, and where scalding is detected careful attention shoaild.be paid to the affected part. There are numerous specifics for soro shoulders, but the best preventive is cleanliness.

I No farmer is justified in working a «ick oi" sore horse in his team. Apart from the cruelty involved in doing so, it is "bad business" from a '.standpoint of economy. The pracI tice often costs more than the few days' spell necessary to set things right.

I It is remarkable that Ireland, the home of the potato, has been leas troubled by the wart diseases, which makes of the product an article of no value, than have been other parts of , the British Isles in the season just concluded.

I Says the novelist, Sir Rider .Hagigai'd:. "English farming is still the I best in the world'; we still grow'more ; corn per acre; we still breed the best beasts." It is an assertion quite ! true, if not new, in spite of pessimist declarations.

No cow will wear out sooner or bo-, come -unsuitable for dairy purposes to liberal feeding, and as this is usually accompanied by good care in other respects, it generally happens that animals thus treated remain worthy occupants of the dairy long after their less fortunate sisters have been turned off.

Some practitioners of the system of poor feeding defend their methods on the grounds that, if run fit 'high pressure, the cow will wear out sooner, and. that low feeding and longer life will give hotter results in the long run. Such a statement cannot lie defended on any points of economy. The bodily temperature of a cow is about 98 degrees, and this degree-of heat is maintained hy the- simple process of combustion of the food eaten. Tf the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere is cold an increased amount of food must be eaten to keep the heat of the body at 08 degrees, nnd conversely if the air is warm less food is necessary to maintain the animal heat. Some remarkable instances of fecundity in swine have, been recorded, but the. following passage, quoted from David- Law's "Domesticated. Animal-, of the British Islands," will take a lot of beating: "The sow frequently gives birth to To, to 20. nay. sometimes she has been known to produce upwards of 30 at a birth, although she has not mamma! to nourish such a number."