FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 238, 22 January 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Breeding Sows.—One of tho greatest mistakes made in pig-breeding is that of killing the breeding ?o\vb whilo they are still immature, and after they have borne one or. perhaps two litters of pigs. A really good I reeding sow should be kept till she learns bad habits, such as opting her pigs or breaking enclosures. The litters from old sows aro more generally uniform than from young ones, and start off better. + x +

An Inch ok Fain.—Few people can form a definite idea of what is involved in the expression "an inch of rain." It may aid such to follow this calculation :-An acre is equal to 6,272,610 square inches. An inch deep of water on this area will bo as many cubic inches of water, which, at 227 to tho gallon, is 22,000ga1. This immense quantity of water will weigh 220,0001 b or 100 tons. One hundredth of an inch (001) alone is equal to one ton of water to the acre.

American Demand for Mutton.— One of the most noted features in the mrat consumption of the United States is the incrcas'ng demand for mutton, which Coleman's Rural World puts at about 15 per cent. p=r ennum. It now takes from 15 to 14 million Ehccp and lambs a year to supp'y the American demand. From January 1 to September 14, 1897, the Kansas City dressed ineut houses killed 600,584 sheep, an increise of nearly 30 per cent, over the rccoid for the corresponding period of last year, and there has bren a considerable increase in price.

A Remarkable Cow.—A Home paper gives an illustration and descriptiou of a wonderful Dutch cow. Nothing is said about her rations, but her performances would pay for pretty good feeding and something over. She is cow 12 years old, and during the last seven calves has given 1 1,300 gal of milk, weighing 40 tons Bcwt. She has during that period been in milk 339 weeks, and averaged 33ga1 lqt per Meek. Her heaviest milking period was in 1892, when she gave 33qts per day—that is, 4gal at each milking and a quart over for the family baby. When the paper was published in September Inst slie was giving Cgal per day after being in miik 18 weeks.*

' Bran Water Makes Milk.—A far mer writing in a Home paper advocates bran water as a milk stimulant for cows. One cow thus treated, he says, gives all the milk required by a family of eight, besides yielding 2601 b of butter in a year. Here is his recipe : If you desire to get a large yield of rich milk give your cows every day water slightly waimed and slightly silted in which bran has been stirred at the rate of one quart to two gallons of water. You will find, if you hive not tried this daily practice, that your cow will give 25 per cent, more milk immediately under the effects of it, and that she will refuse to drink clear water unless veiy thirsty. But this mess she will drink any time atd ask for more. The amount of this drink necessary is an ordinary water pail at a time morning, noon, and night. + + + Death from Anthrax.—The malignant nature of anthrax was forcibly exrmp'ified in the case of a man nan.cd Henry Balman, whese death was the sur jeet of inquiry before the city coroner a 1; Guy's Hospital. Balman, who was 41 years of age, was employed by n fi ni of skin dealers in Bermondsey, and it was part of his du*y to carry in his van quantitcs of hidis imported from abroad. On going home one night Balman complained to his wife of an irritation on his neck, which he thought was caused by a boil. As it got worse he went to Guy's Hospital, where the house 8U geon at once saw that it was a case of anthrax. Nothing could save the man's li'e, and he gradually succumbed to the venomous disease. Mr Eedgrave, who represented the Home Office, said the Home Office had made very exhaustive inquiries into the question of anthrax, but they had cot been able to discover anything that would kill it without injuring the tkins and making them useless. At Brstol the men wire compelled to wear a tippet, which fitted so closely round the reck that the men could not scratch th mpelves. The jury returned a verdict of " Death through anthrax pcisoning." + + + New Method for Preserving Butter, —" Recently," says the Ai.ales de la Socitdnd Rural Argentina, July 31, 1897, " a new method for pieserving butter has been tested with very satisfac ory results. The method consists in employment of the following composition : Water, 98 parts ; lactic ac : d, 2 pans ; salicylic acid, 1-5000th part. Butter of good quality can thus be kept in good condition for an indefinite period of tim •, even at a high temperature. If the butter has any trace of decomposition, the amount of 'aljcyl'c acid must be increased to as much as 1 per 1000. The inventor s'ates that butter thus treated only contains 1-IOOOth part of its weight of salicylic acid provided that there is not more than f> per cent, of water. The acid flavour communicated by large amounts cf lactic acid is not unpleasant, and can, be removed by wash ng the butter in water, or better, skim inilk, adding a little bi-carbonatc of soda to prevent coagulatiui cf the casein. Thus both lactic acid and the salicylic acid in solution are got rid of, no appreciable traces being found with the strong reaction of ferric chloride. The method is simple and cheap, only costing a fraction of a farthiDg per 2 : Hb."

Cbuelty to Animals.—The Lyttelton Times of the 23rd says :—'A peculiarly gross case of ciuelty to animals was brought under notice at the Addington live stock market yesterday, and it was one which, by a very little trouble, might hays been avoided. A three-year old bullock which enme down from the North Island in a mob had its horns ingrowing to yuch an extent that they had pierced the head just aboye j;he eye to the depth of over an inch, and the poor animal was unable to close its eyes from the fast that the muscles of the upper eyelids were contracted by the pressure of the points of the horns, Upon the agent's attention being called to the matter he at once at ranged to have the tips of the horns cut off, and the operation was speedily performed with an ordinary tennant saw, without causing the beast any pain. Upon the points being examined they were found to be povcred with blood and matter for fully an inch wh?ro they had bepn forped into the head. It is astonishing h°w tjip owner of any animal could have allpwcd it to have suffered the agony this one must havo undergone, when such a simple operation Would have given it relief. Tliofc who object to dehorning fis a cruel process would have had an instiucpiv-e lesson by y".giting };he yards yesterday, as, besides the anjmal mentioned, in the same mob were three or four bullocks with their horns broken off and bleeding, while the sides of nearly all of them were badly gDred. Another matter which should be put a step to as quite unnecessary and cruel is the practice indulged in by at least one buyer c>f fat pigs of punching a piece out of the ears of all the animals he buys when they could be as easily marked with raddle. The animal", which are full grown, arc very thick in tho ears, and must suffer considerable paiu from the penjtiou,,''

BEET v. WHEAT. Australian and New Zealand farmers and capitalists would do well to ponder more deeply over the licet sugar business (writes the New York ccrrcspon-deut-of the Melbourne Age on December 3rd). At the large beet sircar factory of Claus Sprcckles, in California, the average yield of beets was 14.0 G gross tons per acre, and the average product of sugar from the same was 34551 b. The farmer was paid an average of four dollars per ton, or 56 dollars per acre, for the beets. With the present duty upon imported raw sugar, it cannot be laid down in New York or San Francisco, duty paid, at less than 3 h cents per lb. Therefore to pay for the sugar product of the average acic of beets productd near Watsonville, California, in 1606, will require 124 dollars, or 165 biululs of wheat at 75 cents per bushel, or the product of 8} acres of land at 20 bushels per acre. Good land well prepared should yield an average of 12' f tons of beets per acre, or a sugar product of 30001 b. 'Jhis gives the farmer an average return of 50 dollars (£10) per acre, and the refined sugar, at cents per lb, gives the lefiner 105 dollars (£2l) per acre, or a margin of 55 dollars per acre for his services in converting the beets into refined sugar. For the past seven years the avenge yield of wheat per acre in this country has not exceeded 13 bushe’s, and the farmers have not received more than GO cents (2s 6d) per bushel for it. At 20 bushels per acre and 75 cents per budrel tire farmer only received 15 dollars per acre for his wheat crop. At 50 dollars per acre for be.ts ottc acre yields us large returns as acres ol first-class wheat.

THE FIRST BEET SUGAR FACTORY SOUTH OF THE LINE.

SOME INTERESTING PARTICULARS. To Victoria belongs the honour of possessing the first beet sugar factory in the colonics. It is situated at Maffra, in Gippslaud, and is now rapidly approaching completion. In the course of an illustrated article on this important industry, the Leader says Industrially there is no part of the colony which will command more attention during the next few mouths than Maffra, Here the first attempt at the manufacture of beet sugar on a large scale in the southern hemisphere is in process of realisation. Six months from now we shall know whether the experiment is likely to prove a success, industrially and financially. At present the industry is in an interesting embryo condition. The enormous factory is more than half finished, the costly and elaborate machinery, specially made in Germany, is nearly all in position, and there are 1700 acres* of sugar beets in the midway stage towards maturity. Thus it is possible to gauge something of the nature and magnitude of the industry, and forecast the possibility of its success. THE FACTORY. Maffra, which has been chosen for this experiment, is a pleasantly situated township right in the heart of the Gippsland district. It is about 130 miles from Melbourne, and has Sale a few miles to the south of it, with Bairnsdale 10 miles further east. The locality was chosen after careful experimenting with the soils and climate, and it would certainly seem that this of all places in the qplony was the one best adapted to the growth of sugar beet. The land round about Maffra is flat and comparatively free of timber. The district is watered by the Macallister, Thomson and Avon rivers, and the subsoil is always moist, an element essential to the growth of rich beets. A quiet, well-designed and attractive little township it is, without pretension to anything larger than the usual country buildings. So it comes somewhat in the nature of a surprise to the visitor to sec a massive brick building directly he alights from the train. It at once strikes him as out of all proportion to the buildings forming the town on the other side of the line. There are probably few country factories in the colony of greater magnitude, certainly none with a more expensive or model equipment of machinery, than this. It covers about one acre and a-half of laud, is some 300 feet in length, half that distance across, and its highest point will be a massive chimney stack, G feet G inches in diameter above the base, and towering to an altitude of Mo feet. In every respect, both as to building and machinery, the example'of the most successful mills m Germany is being followed. .Germany, above any country, has shown the world what potentialities of wealth there are in the sugar beet industry. It is no use entering on this important industry in a cheap and slipshod manner. To give the thing a bad name at the start is to handicap its progress several years. Bcpt sugar manufacture must be done on a large scale or not at all. So the directors have taken every precaution against failure so far as the factory is concerned. THE MACHINERY. It was impossible to get the machinery in the colonies, for the simple reason that there had never been a demand for it. Thus it came about that every part essential to the equipment of an up-to-date beet sugar factory was specially made in Germany. With it came a supervising engineer and seven expert fitters to ensure its proper fixture. Most of the machinery is now in position, and on entering the building one is amazed at the peculiar disposition pf it. As much is In the air, so to speak, as on the ground. There is a huge iron water wheel here on the ground floor, which gathers up the beets as they flow in on water, and hands them over to the washing machine ; up there on the next floor is an intricate set of machinery for slicing and infusing and doing various other things to the beets; and away still further up near the roof, at tlic other end of the building, at an altitude of about 50 feet, are some bulky crystallising tanks, which weigh something like 30 tons. Under them fire ipore tanks used ip the crystallising process, pud these (ire big enough for an average family to domesticate in. Then, dotted about the building arc all sorts of separate plants for the abnormal number of processes through which the pale-coloured beet has to pass before it becomes white crystal sugar; for that is the saccharine product to which the factory will chiefly devote its pttentiop. THU PROCESSES. The whole thiiig is rcplly a concatenation of chemical processes, soilie of them so delicate as to require the most expert chemists for their supervision. These experts will be brought from France and Germany presently. Altogether, some 18 distinct processes separate the beet from the crystal sugar. Here arc a few of them ;—Washing, slicing, diffusion, heating, boiling, first saturation and filtration, second do., evaporation, crystallisation, separating crystals, cooling, sorting and so on, to say nothing of the purely chemical processes. Allot machinery of the most elaborate and novel type to each of these processes, and you have some idea of the quepr spectacle this vpritablp toyn pf machinery presents. The exquisite beputips of tup machinery pve lost on thp average layman, bqt to a rpau reared ip the ptpiosphere of stpcl and irpp thp tiling is an inexhaustible feqst of riefips.' Even Jfr galptnay,' tjip manager of the factory, who is not so much expert in engineering matters as in chemical and agricultural, goes into raptures over the machinery on the least excuse. As this is the most expensive part of the undertaking it. is as well that some attention should be devoted to it, particularly as it is proposed that when once the engines are set going they won’t stop a minute until the uttermost beet is turned into sugar. As soon as the beets arc out of the ground the quicker they arc turned into sugar the more chance is there of success. >VORKING OF THE FACTORYr|’o- stop the wh'plp of this netwprk of machinery at the usual daily and weekly periods would discount the profits enormously. So it is proposed to have three eight-hour shifts, paid at the prevailing market rates for such and keep the thing going night and day, Sundays included, for about three mouths, which is the estimated timp it will take to put thfopgh t}rp yiplfl of bppts, Tjus wi}l h e ilt the fate of some 400 tons a day, which is quite moderate compared with some of the older established foreigu factories. The Chino factory, in California, last year treated MCO tons a day, and that lias only been in existence seven years. One thing the directors have taken great pains about is to have the factor}- replete with every requirement. Thus it will generate its own electricity for illuminating purposes, and there is a workshop attached for making or repairing any piece of machinery in the whole set. This workshop is as large as a good-sized engineering establishment m The factory will also make jts

own lime, which is essential in the purifying process, and considerable employment will be given to local carters in carting limestone from the other side of Sale to the kiln. It is also proposed to use wood as fuel throughout. This will have several advantages. It will be cheaper than coal, it will give a lot of work to wood choppers in the district, and it will help to clear the land of timber round about, which will aid beet cultivation materially. About 10,000 tons of wood will be required during the season, or “ campaign, as the Americans term it. This “campaign” will not last more than live months at most. When the beets are put through there will bo the residuum to deal with and some “seconds” to work up. Thus the factory will be closed about seven months in the year, but as tins will coincide with the period of cultivation, the men engaged in the factory will be able to go on the land. STOCK FEED. There is one commendable element in this industry, and that is that little or nothing is wasted. In foreign countries, where stock feed is scarce in the winter, even the leaves of the beet are stored to make good food. Here there is no need to do that, owing to climatic conditions giving plentiful food all the year round—drought time excepted, of course. So the leaves will be the only thing thrown away at Malfra. The beet slices, after the saccharine matter has been extracted, make the most excellent fattening food for cattle. On the Continent they are dried, and made quite a separate article of commerce in themselves. Here they will not he dried just yet. That is a process requiring a comparatively expensive plant, and the prospective demand is not large enough at present to justify expenditure in this direction. What the directors propose to do is this. To every farmer who supplies 100 tons of beets, 110 per cent, of the pulp will be returned to him free of cost. All above that, or to outsiders, will bo charged for at the rate of 3s 6d per ton. FLOATING IN ON THEIR OWN JUICE. There is another little item in which there will be a saving in the factory. As already stated, the beets in the first instance, will be floated into the factory on a stream of water which will be pumped from an adjacent river. This pumping is, of course, an item in the cost of production ; but it will be greatly reduced in this way. Each beet on the average contains 90 per cent, of water. In dealing with 400 tons of beet a day it is obvious that quite a volume of water must be extracted—something like 80,000 gallons. This will be worth saving, so there will be an apparatus to catch it and use it over and over again until it gets too dirty to float in the beets. CROP PROSPECTS. In 1890 the Chino factory, in California, started by cultivating 2100 acres of beet. That area has now grown to 30,000 acres. The Malfra factory starts with 1700 acres at its command. Whether it will emulate the example of Chino factory remains to be seen, but it is well to know that there is an area of 100,000 acres of the same land as that under cultivation available for planting within a radius of ten miles of the factory. Already the few hundred acres under crop afford a welcome relief to the eye wherever they are met. The restful colour of the olive green leaves of the beets makes quite a refreshing break in the otherwise monotonously dry yellow aspect of the landscape. So the beet has even an artistic element to recommend it. The 1700 acres is thus parcelled out:—The company itself cultivates 300 acres, the directors privately have 100 acres, a syndicate formed in Maffra has 270 acres, Mr Mills has 100 acres, the Powers-court Estate has 200 acres, and some 70 or 80 farmers have the remaining 730 acres between them. If the. experience of other countries counts for anything it is likely that the Malfra farmers will find beet growing as profitable as any kind of cultivation they can engage in. Looking over the ground at the present time one can only say that the prospects are most encouraging. The beet seed was sown late in September, and it is expected to mature somewhere in March. Next year the sowing will commence in August.

The width of the rows has been fixed at from 20 to 22 inches. This gives ample room for the horse hoe to stir up the soil aud get rid of the weeds between the rows. Tho question of weeding is an important one in the general result, and has to be diligently attended to. Weeding between the plants has to be done by hand, and a good many boys and a few women have been engaged for this purpose. For the pulling of the roots a newly-invented machine is being sent out from Germany. This is an ingenious contrivance. It is worked by three horses, and it not only pulls out the beets, but also brushes and stacks them at the side as it goes along. Iu this way 7 acres a day can be harvested by one machine. A man could not do more than half an acre a day. As to whether the growing of beets will be profitable to the farmer depends upon two things, viz., what his yield per acre will be, and, secondly, what the price of sugar is in the market when he sells to the company. It has been arranged that the price to be paid for beets shall be regulated entirely by the market rates. This seems a reasonable arrangement, as the fanner will participate in any rise in price that may take place, though, of course, he is not so well off when there is a fall. But the law of compensation may be trusted to work out fairly satisfactorily to all parties in this instance as in most others. PROSPECTIVE YIELD.

Looking at the plants as they are now, Mr Salatnay is couutiug confidently on a crop of 20 tons per acre. This is rathpr sanguine for a first trial, and with a particularly wide planting. Twenty tons an acre is pountcd fairly prolific on the Continent, where the cultivation of beets is a perfected art. So that while we may hope for the realisation of Mr Salafuay's estimate, there is reason to believe that the yield will be a ton or two less than he expects. It is reckoned that 10 tons of beet will produce one ton of sugar, and thus, on Mr Salatuay'e figuring, the Maffra factory will extract some 3400 tons of sugar from the 1700 acres under crop. The present average market price cf sugar is £2'2 a ton (say, the farmer recpives £ 1 a ton for the, beet, the company would thus ]iave a margin of £l2 over the cpst of t}ip raw material ou each tou of sugar produced to pay -the cost of manufacturing, etc.) Assuming that the Maffra article fetches this sum a simple sum in arithmetic gives the total earnings out of sugar alone as close on £75,000 for the first year. That is a rosy view, indeed, to take of the commencement of this expert ment, and for the good of the colony, as well as of those enterprising shareholders who have invested their rnpuey, to say nothing of thp Govpni]iient, which has lent the modest sum of £oo,ooo to the undertaking, it is hoped that everything will turn out as prosperous as present conditions indicate. The factory will cost £07,000 to complete. It is expected that this completion will be effected by March, and that on Ist April the machinery will start to make the first beet sugar of any importance ever manufactured in the Southern Hemisphere.

Many men take a rest as if they were taking something that didn't helping to them. H. H. Jlovdcn, Jew< Her, Hamilton, can supply splendid Nickle Lever Watches at 35s each ; guaranteed good timekeepers, Forwarded tp any address on receipt of P.O. Order, If yon are suffering from boils, pimples, Llotche!>, eczema, rheumatism, dyspepsia and other complaints arising from impuiitirß of the blood, take Hanison's Bl< od Purifier— a certain cure, Price, 2s 6d acd 4s 6d per bottle. Sole agent for the Waikato, A. E. Manning, Hamilton and Cambridge. According to the New York Tribune, en organisation has just been formed in Chicago whose members propose to substitute a phrenologist fpr Cupid. The working plan uj thjs asspejat:on, which is said to have a rapidly-iii-creas:ng membership, is to hpld what are called ma'rimenial picnics every few weeks, at which all the candidates of both sexes for the marriage state submit; their heads to the examination pf the qualified officials for the recording of churactms'ie bumps. After the pomparisons and consultations, a list of men and women whose traits are found to supplement each other are told eff, and all possible encouragements offered to induce their speedy marriages. At a recent matrimonial picnic 60 men and women had tlr ir cranial bumps felt by the professors, and a number of marriages of " affinities " are expected to take place shortly. A great deal of scientific interest is taken, it is said, in the experiment, and careful records will be kept of each union. The society has a comprehensive programme, including a scheme for providing suitable starts in life for 6iich of its members fis need assistance.