FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 275, 16 April 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

The Weather and The Farm.— Turnips are showing the effect of tho continued dry weather, most of the crops, we hear, being smitten in a more or less degree by the aphis blights ; the bulbs, also, are not nearly so forward as they should be. Newly-sown grass and oats would also derive great benefit from an early fall of rain. The drought prevails throughout tkc colony, with the exception of Southland, and tho dry, hard state of the land is retarding ploughing operations. In Southland, the rain is not welcome, as it is interfering with harvest work.

The Wheat Market. Since last week there has been a general advance of a shilling a quarter in the Home markets, and Hard Duluth wheat is now quoted at 43s (os a bushel). The importation of wheat from New South Wales to the Southern provinces has been entered upon to some extent, and this has detrimentally affected the tone of the market ; but the further rise in the English market will prevent any decline in value. The threshing mills, reports the Press, are going merrily, and some of the North Canterbury farmers have already banked their cheques for the season's grain, though a few prefer to hold.

" Foukpenny " Cheese.—A Liverpool dealer has been summoned before the Stipendary Magistrate for selling what Is there termed " Fourpenny " chee e. It is made from skim milk, and fortified, so to speak, with beef fat, finding a large sale in poor districts of towns. The coun se' for the defence urged that the addition of beef fat rendered the stuff more wholesome and digestible, and also urged that the case did not come under the Adulteration Act, iuanmuch as cheese was a compound substance, to which various ingredients wens added for the purpose of determining ita nature and quality. The magistrate imposed a penalty ot £5 and with liberty to appeal ; giving it as his opinion that manufacturers and vendors ot" " fourpenny " cheese must adopt a specific name for the compound, so that purchasers could form a proper idea of what they were buying.

Bust in Wheat and Underground Dkainage.—The following is au extract from a letter received by a Queensland resident from his nephew, who is a successful agriculturist in Scotland :—" I have read all about the woe from which your wheat-growers on Darling Downs Buffer from wheat rust. You will find that when proper and systematic under-, ground drainage is adopted the rust will disappcir. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that because the surface conformation of land is such as to speedily carry off surface water underground drainage is unnecessary. Some of the greatest benefits derived from systematic underground drainage on this farm are most apparent on braes." Probably this correspondent, comments the Queeaslander, is unacquainted with the nature of our climate, and of the heavy sub-tropical rains of our summers ; but an experiment in the direction ho indicates might be tried on one of the experimental farms. + + +

Why Yotr Are Not Making Money. —Agaiu we repeat, that until every dairyman has a Babcock tester and thus knows exactly what each of his cows is doing—he will never be able to make dairying pay. He may by chance have a class of cows giving a uniform richness of milk, but more often he is feeding in a haphazard manner a nondescript lot who may or may not be eating their heads off. Providence may be in the know, but he certainly is not. He is working blindly, and along the crudest and most antiquated lines. Even if he has been wise enough to improve his herd by culling and the infusion of better blood, yet experience has proved to conviction that dairy form is very deceptive. How many dairymen there are who have boen astounded at the result of a buttet-fat teet; the very animals they considered the pick of their herd showing a ridiculously low percentage, and have had to be passed on to the butcher to make way for more profitable milkers. And this is no rare exception; it is in fact surprisingly common.—N.Z. Dairyman.

The Australian Potato Crop.—A potato famine is one of the probabilities of the coming winter (says the Warrnambool Standard) judging from the manner in which the crops in this district are becoming exhausted. The early crops in tho neighbourhood of Illowa have inmany cases been dug and sold, and it is likely that consignments going forward in future will bo mnch less than during the last six week 3. Owing to the absence of rain, growers have been unable to pit their potatoes this season, and for the same reason the late crops will give infinitesimally small returns. There eannot be a doubt that, as the season advances, the export from Warrnambool will fall off materially, and it is not anticipated that either tho Ballarat or Gippsland district* will be able to send out big lot*, Consequently Tasmanian potatoes will have to bo relied upon to supply the intercolonial markets iu the winter, but the orops there aro not promising, though present expectations may be doubled or even trebled, if there happened to be a good fall of rain in a few weeks.

Feeding Pigs fob the Market.— The South Coast district in New South Wales is the chief dairy district in tint colony, and it is also an important pig raising centre. For the most part thn pigs are fed on tho returned skim milk from the factories. Some green fodder is added and corn is used for firming the bacon. Those who read the article of Mr Sanders Spencer, the noted English pig breeder, will remember that he is a strong advocate of green feed for pigs, that is. allowing them to graze on pastures. The milk-fed baconers do well on the market in New South Wales, the bacon being sweet if rather luscious, find when maize is mixed with the milk diet a most palatable and well streaked article is the result; but the same complaint is made in that colony as here, that there is a tendency to rush the pigs on to the market as soon as they are thought fat enough. " I cannot help thinking," writes the Shoalhaven correspondent of the Sydney Mail, " that this system operates against the interests of the farmer as well as agains the reputation of the bacon. When a young pig is nearly filled out to the eye it is just beginning to solidify the meat that has been rapidly fed on to the carcase. A week or ten days on the milk and, if possible, a bit of corn will add to the weight very quickly ; the pig will ' die well,' and the farmer will get a better price if he sells to a good judge—aud most men buying pigs are very good judges where their own interests are concerned,"

Milk Testixg for Cheese.—ln America tho principle of paying for milk for cheeso on the basis of the fat it contains i 8 regarded as much more accurate than payment by weight, and this is certainly true. When the milk tests between three and four-tenths and four and one-tenth per cent, fat, the amount of cheese made from the milk is practically proportionul to the amount of fat present in the milk. Now the average of milk tests between these points and the test can therefore be used because the butter value and tho cheese value of the milk are practically the same. If the milk is poor in fat, a pound of milk fat will produco more cheese, and this of course commands a higher price than the cheese made from the poorer product. An average return from lib of milk fat i tf about two and six-tenths pounds o

cured choose. The variations depend almost entirely on the richness of the milk. The following figures chow how the production of cheese varies in proportion to the richnrss of the milk in lacs : iSTiI k testing 32 per cent, fat will make 2'Sib of chojsa from lib of fat : from a 3.4 test 2*7lb of cheese from lib of fat ; from a3G test 2 - Gib of cheese from lib. of fat; from a 3 8 test 2-(slb of cheese from lib. of fat ; from a 4.1 tejt 251 bof cheese from lib of butter fat ; from a 4 - 5 test 2'4lb of cheese from lib fat. The fat tests can bo used in cheese factories for arriving at the payments to suppliers just as it used in tho butter factories and creameries. The quantity of cheese that can be made from a given quantity of milk can be ascertained approximately by first determining the total fat in the milk an I than multiplying by tho amount of cheese tint cm be made frjm milk of that standard.

The Effect of Lime in Southland. year Mr R. E. Franco, who at one time resided at Tokomairiio, and is well acquainted with the use of lime there, decided, says the Southern Standard, to try it on his farm at Merino Downs. On tho land that was limed, Mr France has crops of wheat, oats, turnips and grass, and all are in splendid condition. Growing with tho wheat and oats was some clover (sown down at the sarao time). It was of luxuriant growth and of very superior quality, and this Mr Franco attributed solely to the lime. The quantity of lime used by Mr France was about two tons to the acre; but, lime is not in itself a manure, and he therefore applied in conjunction with it of artificial manure If more than two tons wore applied, Mr France thinks the ground would be weakened. The lime used (Milburn) was railed to the Otakurainu railway siding and was carted thence to the farm. A truck of six tons cost £3 18s and £1 16s Gd for railage, making a total of £5 14s 6d ; or 13s a ton for the lime and 5s a ton for railage—total expenditure, about 19s a ton. Mr France is of opinion that lime would bs beneficial to any kind of clayey soil, or to soil that is dry, but that it would be useless to apply it to wet soils. On the Tokomairiro Plains, he pointed out, lime increased the yield of wheat from 30 bushels to 50 or GO bushels pei acre. So pleasod is he with the result on his own farm that he has already ordered 50 more tons for future operations. Mr France's method is to tako a dray and distribute tho lime with a sbovel, leaving it in small heaps about seven yards apart.

Gorgonzola. Cheese.—This fanoy variety of cheoso is about the uearest of all to the epicure's idoal, because it U the most " blue-mouldy " of all. Tho ordinary whole milk is used, and like the Stilton, Gorgonzola cheese is the product of two curds. In this case when the curds are mixed, one is cold and tho other warm and frosh. The milk of one day is brought to a temperature of 80 to 85 degrees and then tho rennet is added. The renuet is put into a piece of cloth and then squeezed through it into tho milk, where it is subsequently thoroughly stirred. When the curd is fit for breaking it is cut into very small pieces, and these are gathered up into a cloth and hung on a beam oversight for the whey to drip out. The temperaturo of the apartment should be kept between 60 and 55 degrees. The following morning the fresh milk from the cows is treated in the same way. Tho new curd thus formed will be warm, sweet, and moist, while the curd of the previous day will be cold, dry, and slightly acid. Any kind of a deep mould of .wood or metal can be used. First a layer of the fresh, warm curd lines the bottom of the mould ; then a layer of the previous day's curd is pressed over it, and so on alternately until tho mould is full. The only thing to be sure of is that a layer of the fresh warm curd oovers the entire surfaoe of the cheese. These two curds act and react upon each other. In two days the Mirfaee of the cheese is then thoroughly salted with very fine salt. This salting continues daily from two to four weeks, the oper/itor rubbing tho salt in tho cheese thoroughly, If tho blue mould does not then appoar upon the cheese, it is pierced" with metal skewers, which admit the air. In Italy the Gorgonzola cheese is taken to the oaves to ripen, at this point; but nearly as good result can be obtained in a dark, cool cellar kept at a temperature of 55 degrees. It takes from four to five months for this cheese to ripen. During this time it will havo in turn a dark fungus mould on its surface, a dull red, and a blue mould.

Ensilage.—There are three questions which are asked, aad which are very important to the man who contemplates building a silo: —Why is some silage sour ? There are three oauses for excessive acidity in the silo. The corn was too thick on the ground, so the sunlight could not get in to do its full work in developing and perfecting the corn. No more than 10 quarts of seed should ever be put in on an acre. It is put in the silo boforo sufficiently matured to be at its best. In both cases it is simply a lot of water hold by immatured woody fibre. Or it may be the sweet corn is used in which the carbohydrate is in the form of sugar and the*necessary fermentation develops acetic acid. In all cases wo want the corn planted thin enough and sufficiently ripened so that it may contain the largest amount of starch, and if then properly put in we may be sure it will como out in the best condition. Of course all silage will be slightly acid, but if all the conditions are right there will bo only a mild form of lactic acid and not at all injurious to the stock. What causes white mould ? Often large places will be grown together with a white mould, and sometimes the whole silo will be one solid mass. There is but one reason for this—too little moisture. No matter how tight the silo may be or how well it may be filled or how carefully packed, unlees there is sufficient moisture to completely fill the material white mould is sure to come in. It may be that the com had become too ripe, or it may have been cut so long before being put into the silo that it became too dry, and in either case, unless sufficient water is added to the corn as it is put in to make up tho loss, white mould is sure to be found. This is the cause always, and the sure preventive is to either put in the corn before too ripe, or put in as soon as cut or before it has lost much of i's natural juices, or run in with the corn enough water to make up the loss. The better way is to put in just at the right Btage. What causes silage to rot ? Occasionally large places in the silo will be found entirely rotten. It will be black and wetin fact, like manure from tho yard. This is caused, and always caused, by the entrance of air. There are small cracks or holes where the air has come in or tho corners have not been sufficiently packed, and a hole has been left where the air has has gono down. The preventive is to make the silo absolutely air tight, and then see that tho silage when being put in is so well packed about the sides, and especially in tho corners, as to exclude all air. With all these conditions looked after and complied with, no one will have canso to regret building and filling a silo large enough to feed all his stock at the rate of 401 b per day to tho 1001 b of live weight of animal—sheep or cattler—Colman's Rural World.