FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 115, 3 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

4> THE WEATHER. —We arc now enjoying typical Waikato autumn weatherbright balmy days and rather cold nights. Vegetation is making steady growth, and everywhere the root crops are looking veil Although, speaking generally, the " take " of swedes has been rather patchy, in most cases the gaps have been re-sown with soft turnips and these arc rapidly overhauling the slower-mowing but more nutritious swedes. 4- + -*• TußNirs.—Last week turnips from Tasmania were bringing as much as IT) per ton in Sydney. x \ x Weasels and Sheep.—The Hastings (Hawko's Bay) Standard reports that at Makauri a couple of sheep have been found doart, with no evidence of disease of them, but marks on their heads point to their being destroyed by weasels, xxx Sale of Pedigree Bekk>hirk Pigs.— Some high prices for Berkshire pigs were made at the sale of Mr Edney Haytor's herd at Whitchurch, Kngland", when the champion sow Higbclere Gem Ist was sold at 83 guineas to Lord Carr.arvan, aud others made 31 guineas, 25 guineas, and 21 guineas. + + + Winter Ploughing.—We would strenuously enforce on our readers the necessity of having stubble lards intended for green crops nloughed at an early period iu April or May. Tho earlier it is clone tho better, for the longer timo that the upturned soil is acted upon by the influence of the woather, the moro it will tell on the after fertility of ttie soil ; if the stubbles have been well harrowed immediately after harvest all the better. At tho same timo, the second ploughing of stubbles to bo effective must be deep—not the scratching apology for tillage which we find iu so mauy cases, not only with small farmers, but also with thoso who ought to know better. —Exchange, xxx Competition in the Egg Trade.—A recent Board of Trade return (says the Pall Mall Gazette) serves to show how keen is tho con-petition in tho egg business. Russia has 57 million hens laying against the rest of Europe. They average a yearly output of 4000 millions of eggs, and beat the French and German layers by about 500 millions. For every egg a French hen layc, a German hen naturally lays auother ; but, th_>ugh these rivals, one may take it for granted, lay for all they are respectively worth, they are so nearly equal in productiveness that it is not the edds of an egg upon either. Spaco in our own littlo islands is limited, and we have only room for 30 million hens ; still, hen for hen, and egg for egg, we beat the best, though our best is not not good enough for as, and we have to import 1500 millions. In the fight far the honour of supplying us, Germany beats France by 50 millions, and France beats Russia by 90 millions. Perhaps this latter victory is just as well. Somo Russian eggs are laid a couple of thousand miles from the frontier. By the time those eggs get oa a London breakfast table they would have ceased to be new-laid eggs. They would not even bo fresh eggs. They would be simply eggs. According they are exported without their shells as a " preparation," in iron receptacles, and their uses are the ghastly uses of cheap confectionery. + + + Wheat Peospects.—The folllowing interesting letter has been received from J. M. t-inclair, general agent for the Victorian Government in London :—" London, January 5.- My own opinion is that low prices in wheat are over for a few years on account of the accumulated surplus of several bumper seasons in America, Russia, and elsewhere now having gone into consumption. India will also receive a severe check and have a lessened acreage under cultivation next season. England has an estimated average of 33 bushels of wheat per acre, an estimate I can scarcely believe, having travelled through a great portion of the country at harvest time. I saw many short, light crops which would' not average more than irom 12 to 15 bushels, and not many which gave an appearance of going over 30 busha's. The crops were heavy in Scotland, more rain having fallen there. I had a letter from the Argentine Republic three weeks ago, dated 25th November, and the accounts received then at Buenos Ayres from the interior were very conflicting re-' garding tho probable wheat yield. The locusts haJ done a great deal of damage, the maize crop being reduced one-half by them. There was a possibility of last year's export tonnage of wheat being reached—viz., 1,200,000 tons—owing to an increased area being placed under crop, but at the same time until actually harvested this estimate might not be reached by several hundred thousand tons. My frend inforned me that the locusts had deposited their eggs over a large area of country, giving proiniso of further trouble next season." + + + Fattening Pork.— 'lhero is quite a difference of opinion regarding the best mode of fattenngi hogs, and different methods have been tried. There are those who advocate feeding grain whole, especially corn; others who would cook nil the food before feeding, and still others who would feed the meal raw. In tho direction of feeding, experiments have been conducted, and the eAidence derived from them has been of a character favourable to feeding ground grain in a raw state. It has seemed to the writer as though meal that was cooked, or partially so, by being mixed with scalding water, wonld make a more desirable food than if fed uncooked, but scientific men make the claim that albuminoid principles in feed are more digestible and more easily assimilated in the state of nature than when coagulated and hardened by the principle of heat. It is plain to anyone that the value of food depends upon ils digestibility. If food is wholly indigestible, then it possesses no feeding value; then, if any process is employed by which tho digestibility of food is impaired, it is clear that it is to a certain degree damaged as a food. There is in progress a decided change in tho public taste and demand for pork with less fat und more lean. It is not the lean caused by poor or scanty feeding, but that kind of meat which is produced by breeding the choicest class of animals in the direction of marbleised meat, finely streaked with alternato fat and lean. Tho hog which i.< a mere lump of lard is no longer acceptable to the consumer of fresh pork." Theso romarks of "Thistledown" in the Australasian are worthy of the consideration of our local pig feeders, for there is no rmestion that the well fed, meaty, handy-weight porker finds the most favour with the pork butcher who of course has the tast'3 of his customers to study. x + 4Maize Fodder Stooking.—A practical demonstration by Professor Shelton of tile American method of stooking and preserving green maize for fodder is thus described by the Queensland Times : " When the patch of maize was reached, the professor explained that it was a little over-ripe for the purpose of making good fodder, but that it would suit his purpose. Ho pointed out that cornstalks, if used at tho proper period, made excellent feed for milking cows, the proper peiiod to pre serve the stalks was when tho grain in tho cob had passed the milk stago and had become glaxed. When the grain was very young it was of a watery sub-tanee, and then it began to harden and boeome glazed. That was the proper time to cut it for fodder ; the stalks were still green, but the cutting of them would not interfere with the proper ripening of the grain. With a reaping hook he then proceeded to cut down some of the cornstalks, holdthem iu his left hand to prevent them fall-

ing to the ground. Tho first dozen or ho of stalks woro then stood upon the ground, ami tboir tops twisted about each other to keep thin in an erect position. Further stalks wore r.hen cut, find wore imsitly laid around the central column. In this way a largo stook or " shook," us it is culled in America, was soon bnilr. up. Taking u wreath of wild convolvulus, which grow abundantly on . Win farm, Mr. Slieiton next bound the stook sicurely togetherone circle passing round ir, about a foot from the top, and the other a little lower down. Of course, bind, r twine i'lrorurally used for the purpose. When finished it was found that the stook was ■' us firm iiH a rook," so to speak, and certainly would have taken u very strong push to level it with the ground. Mr Shelton explained that when built in this way the greenness and nutriment of tho stalkß were presoned, and they could be used as fodder as required all through the winter. Before being used tho maize cobs conld be severed from them or not, as ciicuinstances decided, but that was a matter that oould be done as the farmers found most convenient. The fodder conld either bo fed whole or chaffed. Mr Shelton assured his listeners that what ho had shown them was no mere experiment ; it wns a method of doing things that, was common in America, and was now being introduced into Now South Wales. The providing of winter feed for milking cows Was a very important matter, and the result obtained by following this practice would more than repay tho extra expenditure of labor. THE PASTORAL INDUSTRY. INCREASE OF THE NUMBER OF FLOCKOWNEKS. One of the most satisfactory features of the Colony is the extraordinary increase in the number of flock-owners and of small flocks that has taken place during the past, few years. Between the years IS9I anil 1595, the number of flockowners increased from 12,293 to 16,898 ; and it is instructive to notice that this increase did not take place at a bound, and under the impetus of any sudden boom in sheep farming, but was pretty evenly distributed over the four years The addition to the number of flock - owners i->, of course, largely due to the cutting up of runs into smaller leaseholds, and to the subdivision of large agricultural estates. In the autumn of last, year there were in New Zealand 11,326 flocks of under 500 sheep, and 2,500 flocks of between 500 and 1000. This shows that the agricultural ami pastoral industries are becoming thoroughly amalgamated, and is one of the most encouraging features of farming in the colony, for when there is a flock of sheep to be found on almost every farm (leaving out the dairying country), it is evident that the system of agriculture pursued is very far from being of a wholly exhaustive character. It is needless to say that mere numbers either as regards sheep-owners or sheep, are not everything, and statistics, as a measure of progress, are apt to be delusive. Generally speaking, medium-sized ■ind large flockß are better managed and of better quality than very small ones, and of the 11,326 owners of flocks of under 500 sheep, it may fce taken as a matter of certainty that there are a large number who know very little about sheep and their management. So rapid an increase in the number of small flocks must necessarily mean the 'addition to the ranks of sheep-farmers of a large number of men whose experience amounts to next to nothing. Still, in so essentially a sheep-farming country as this where the very atmosphere is almost redolent of sheep, and where men whose talk is of sheep foregather so frequently at the numerous saleyards, not to speak of the writers on pastoral subjects, of which we have not a few, a man of intelligence and observation may soon acquire a good deal of information on flock management. It is, at any rate, satisfactory to learn that in the quality of our small flocks we compare favourably with our neighbours in other colonics. " Bruni," the well-known writer in the Australasian, in commenting on the small flocks of this country remarks : —" During my visit to New Zealand I was greatly taken with the quality of the sheep I saw on many of the small farms. Where in Australia one would see a fleck of nondescripts, exhibiting all the qualities of poorlykept mongrels, in lNew Zealand there were excellent grades of Southdown, Shropshire, Leicester, or Lincoln sheep." These remarks are flattering, and very true with regard to many of our Finall flocks, some of the best sheep in the country being kept in small flocks, but it is a safe, if not a very original remark to make, that in many of our large ones, there is plenty of room for improvement. DECREASING NUMBER OF SHKKF. Since the year 1894, however, there has been a. great falliug-off in the total sheep-stock of the colony. The returns for this year are not yet to hand, and although they will probably show an increase, the increase is scircely likely to make up for the great decrease which took place between 1894 and 1896. The seventy of the winter of 1895, and the consequent losses of sheep on the back country accounts to a considerable extent for the falling-off in numbers, but by no -means for the whole reduction, and the question naturally suggests itself whether the export trade is not drawing too heavily upon the flocks. This seems hardly likely, f«r it is a very unusual thing tor any farmer to sell more thin his surplus, and leave his land unstocked. It is quite possible, however, that too many ewe, lambs may have been frozen, and the country may one of these days unexpectedly find itself with an insufficient stock of breeding ewes. The increase of acreage under grain, owing to improved prospects of wheat-growing has doubtless had some appreciable effect on the number of sheep, and the cutting up of large estates for sma.ll settlement and general farming purposes, which before were almost exclusively devoted to sheep, must act in the same direction. WHAT THE FREEZING OF MAIDEN EWES TENDS TO. There ia hardly room to doubt that the great annual output r.f fat lambs must ultimately have an injurious effect on the character of the sheep-stock of the countiy. When a ewe lamb is fat there is always a great temptation to sell it, for with tho fluctuations of the sheep market, it is always a question whether it will ever be worth as much money as a grown .sheep, and selling a lamb fat always means ready return, and even at comparatively low prices, substantial profit. Therefore it is the custom to pick out the fattest and most mature of the lambs, and sell them for freezers. This takes place year after year, and all over the country, and it is obvious that such a custom must tend, and tend rapidly, in the direction of lowering the standard of the sheep-stock. Culling out annually the inferior members of a flock is a most potent means of raising the standard, hut if, instead of culling out the least profitable sheep, the most thriving sheep arc picked out and sold, this process must have an equally strong tended- y in the opposite direction. The majority of ewe iambs that are left may bo very fair sheep, but early maturity, and tendency to fatten quickly aie two of the most important elements in a profitable Hock, and they are both qualities that arc hereditary. If the ewe lambs possessing these qualities in the highest degree are sacrificed for the sake of immediate profit, the aptitude for fattening and coming early to maturity must become less and less a feature of the flock. What h true in this respect of a single flock holds good for the whole country, and unless 11. ck-owners retain the best of their ewe lambs for breeding purposes, instead of selling them for f.cczjrs, it is impossible that the sheepstock of the country can lie kept up to even a fairly good standard. It is frequently reported that the sheep of the

Argentine, our chief rival in the frozen meat trade, are being steadily improved. We may be improving our flocks in some respects, but all our attempts in that direction must be rendered to a great extent disappointing and ineffective if the practice of culling the ewe flocks at the wrony end is continued. A g°od ewe Hook i? the. foundation of a sheep fanner's prosperity if he is to prosper at all. If his eweu are inferior he may get the best of ranis, but the resu't will still be unsatisfactory. F rmers who sell their lest • we lambs do not alwuys exerese the greatest, of judgment in the choice of rams, and when inferior rams are put to secondrate or infeiior ewes, it does not take a very w : se man to foretell the results. Cons : dering how very indifferent many farmers are in this respect, and how ruthlessly they sacrifice the best of their own limbs for immediate profit, to say nothing of the laruc number of maiden two-tooth ewes that are • sent to the freezing chamber, the wonder is that tho sheep stock of the country is as good as it is. Let anyone visit the annual ram fairs, and note what a large number of rania there are offered for sale destitute of type, constitution, or breeding, and yet these rams are bought and used, simply because they are cheip. They cannot pay the breeder, and they certainly do not pay the purchaser. What arc known as '" floek rams" arc very often animals whose real value is represented by their skins and tallow, and yet they are tun ed amongst the ewe flocks of the countiy to perpetuate their own miserable qualities, or rather lack of quality. INFERIOR SHEEP NEVER PAY. It is an old threadbare but very true saying, that much of the breed goes in at the mouth, but while we are about it, it is quite as easy to put food into the mouth of a good thriving animal as into one of an opposite character. It is certainly much more profitable. The sheep is the appliance by which the raw material, in the shape of feed, which costs money to grow, is worked up into the marketable commodity ; and what is the use of a farmer going to the expense of getting the best implements for tillage purposes, spending money on artificial manures, and incurring all the risk and expense involved in growing a crop of turnips, or in laying land down in artificial grass, if when he has the feed grown, his profits depend on the output of mutton and wool from a hungry, weakly, ' unthrifty flock ? No sheep farmer was ever known to prosper who kept inferior sheep, for the simple and sufficient reison that out of nothing, nothing comes. The growth of the feed, notwithstanding the best efforts of the farmer, depends largely on the seasons, but the profitable use of the feed depends very much on the character of the sheep that feed it off. THE COMING WINTER : A SATISEACTORY OUTLOOK. The Autumn is a critical time for the sheep-farmer, for the character of the weather affects in a vital degree the price of sheep and the prospects of the winter. The showers which fell during the past harvest, and up to the time of writing this article, have brought on both turnips and grass, as well as stubble feed, and the country has been saved from that stagnation of the store sheep market which existed at the corresponding period of last year. Within certain limits which are ruled by the price of wool and frozen mutton, the state of the market for store sheep depends on the rainfall in the autumn. If there is a prospect of an abundance of feed both in the autumn and succeeding winter, farmers will buy sheep to eat, even if they have to give prices above that which the state of the export market seems to warrant ; but the price of frozen mutton precludes the possibility of very high prices for stores this season. Nevertheless, the sight of plenty of feed growing has a wonderfully cheering effect on a farmer's spirits, and in buying store sheep to make use of the feed, he is apt to buoy himself up unduly with the hope that by the time his fat sheep come into the market things will have improved, and he is thus sometimes led into giving a higher price for stores than they are worth. Country Journal. AN INEXPENSIVE METHOD OF MANURING. IS THERE ANYTHING IN IT? WORTH A TRIAL AT ANY RATE. The item "manures" figures vcit largely on the balance-sheets of Waikato farmers and considerable sums of money are sent from the district annually in payment for artificials. Whilst we thoroughly believe in the wisdom of manuring, and believe also that the farmer who neglects to manure his fields is not only robbing his farm but his own pocket, wo at tho same timo should like to see him save all that is possible in this direction, consistent witn maintaining soil fertility and securing a payable return from his crops. With this object in view wo have much pleasure in laying before our readers tho result of some experiments made by a Mr Salter a farmor at Wal Wal (Victoria), and which appear to have been attended with astonishing results. Tho cost is comparatively nothing, and should Waikato experience bo as satisfactory as that of Mr Salter, grain growers in this district would be in a position to compete with the farmers of the South, .vho aro able to grow grain without the aid of artificial manures. Mr Salters method is entirely original, aud has been followed by most surprising results in the way of increasing the yield. In every case in Mr Salter's experience he has found his practise to be productive of double the return gained from whoat or oats sown in the ordinary way. His returns for 1894 were 13 bags to tho aero ; iu 1895 he obtained 9 bags ; and last harvest, a poor one in the district, 7 bags. Tho dift'eienec in cost in comparison to the ordinary method of manuring is as 7d. to 7s. Ho writes : —" The manure I use i« superphosphated Maiden Island guano—price, £5 10s. per ton in Melbourne—and I am asked to state whether I allow my seed wheat or oats to steep ? I answer, No. The process is as follows : —I just take one bag of grain and put it in a trough. I then take il gallons of cold water. I add to this water ] lb. of bluestoiis pounded lo a power, thus making a liquid pickle. 1 then take this liquid, and throw it over the seod grain in the trough, turn it a few times as quickly as possible with a spado so as to prevent the liquid from escaping. Then I take the manuro (14 lb. to f bu~hels of seed—lho quantity L sow per acre—or about 5G lb. to the bag of seed crain) and mix it thoroughly through the moistened or damp grain, with a spado as before, until all the grain becomes coated. 1 next bag while moict and take it away to the paddock, sowing by hand broadcast while in the moist state. 1 would not recommend sowing by a broadcast machine. But this process 1 think might bo improved by using a drill sower. t>ced should not be allowed to dry if possible, as if dry tho coating would have a tendency to fall oil' Of course tho amount of manure used is at the discretion of the fanner. Ho may use as much more as he likes, but not less than 14 lb. to tho seed put on each acre. This is my practice, If more manure than 14 lb. per acre (not bag) is used, then a littlo more water ,vill be necessary. I us<; about 4\ gallons of cold water to one hag of seed grain, and about 50 lb. of the superphosphate Maiden Island manure to the bag of sjod grain. The old system of sowing broadcast manuring weeds and crop alike, I feel certain, resulted iu a great percentage of tho manure being lost. By m-ing in solution greater economy is produced. The small quantity of manure tried in solution places tho manure direct into the root of the plant, therefor-i there is nonu lost, aud it hits as soon as germination takes places ; it assists the crop and forces

' growth in the cold weather. I have never tried it on grass seeds, but it acts i qually as well on peas. I always fallow my laud and sow the last week of April or first week in May. I write ! ins as a guide to those who son- earlier and largely-. Ido not know lmw the manure wonld net 011 seed if it had to w-nf -i Ion;* period for " ant i f rain. (»-o of toy paddocks had tu waii s-.-veii we-is to germinate and then it grew ail i':-.hr. I sow 1 bushel oats, Algerian, to tho acre, and J bushel r,f wheat. Last season was a terrible one hero : no rain to do the crops any good no illy the whole of the time the}' were growing, so th it, it was a wonder to s:e any crop, let alone such a one as I had, viz., 7 bugs of wheat to the acre." From the foregoing it will he noted that Mr Salter's method docs not do away with tho usual uttinuon in keeping t l ic soil in good heart, but tho treatment tho seed receives enables it to gor, away vigorously, and, further, puts in a po.-ition to make tho best of its surrounding conditions. FARM MAXIMS. Draining adds to the ai-ea of tho farm. Inspect carefully so that your farm will pass inspection. Youv farm has special advantages—take advantage of them. Find out wh it you can do best with the land—then do your best with it. Liilht soils" lose ■ heavv soils gain by cxposuro to the action of the atmostphere. To take a tour of inspection round the farm is better than to fill up time by doing work a boy can do. Do the work that you can best dr—leaving work you cannot well do to be well done by others. Do not think tho timo spent in thought is wasted—an hour of consideration may save a week's labour. Manuring is all very uood; but, as you work yonr soil, so nature will help you in fertilising it. An experiment undertaken now and then with some now fodder plant may turn into a profitable undertaking. An analysis of a manure is often necessary—you don't want to buy stuffs of which plenty is lying on your farm. Don't, buv feeding mixtures when you can make them with less cost; don't make them when you can buy them cheaper. Remember the turnips can often boeome worse than usoloss as feed—tho stringy frozen turnip takes a deal of warming in a sheep's belly. Remember thero is nlways a market, for your stock if your stock is marketable—a good beast commands a better price than a bad one. Is your soil lacking in one ingredient ? Find it out and supply the want; don't spread expensive manures indiscriminately—men don't lime a limestone soil. Breeding is essential to aline of good stock—a cheap badly bred animal oats more, fattens slower, and is not so profitable in the long run as a comparatively dear but well-bred beast. One aero of green crop may mako a ton of buy, but the same crop would produce say, three tors of ensilage. The hay would feed a cow at the rate of sGlb per day for 40 days, and the milk would be poor, and the butter white and flavourless. The ensilago would give the cow 561 b per day for 120 days, greatly to the benefit of tho milk and butter. As a recognised authority on the matter exclaimed when spoken to on this subject: "Print the advice in lettors of gold, thero is wealth iu following the hint. " Of course cattlo cannot live by ensilago alone, and a change of diet such as bran, crushed grain, molasses, oil cake, etc., will, in lime, add to the dairy banking account. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS " De worl' may owe me a libbin," said Uncle Sam, " but I finds d»t I goiter wo'k like de dooce toe collect it." A good thing to prevent lice on a sitting hen is to lay a few slices of onions between the eggs and the lice will leave. Don't feed your colt on grain too soon, as tho teeth should be well advanced to grind the food before milk is stopped. Tho man whose horses come to meet him in tho field, and whose chickens will eat out of his hand has some of the symptoms of Christianity. Tho health of a horse depends on tho soundness and proper adjustment of his teeth. They aro the millstones that grind his'food, and frequently need attention. Eg,jn partially cooked, say dipped in boiling water for about one minute, closes up the poivs of the ehell, and thus hermetically sealed, will keep for months. Tho New Zealand Mail gives the following recipe as an excellent ointment for sore backs and shoulders, and for wounds and abrasions on stock generally ; Beeswax, 4oz. ; lard, Boz. ; resin, 4nz. : honey, 2oz. Mix and boil slowly ; while boiling add one pint spirits turpentine ; stir until cool.