FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 294, 28 May 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Lo>don Milk Si'itlv.—Moro trouble !ur the British dairyman ! An enterprising Frenchman, hailing fruin Cherbourg, is now arranging to deluge London with daily contracts of milk. Ho is said to havo becomo possessed of the secret of a new antiseptic steriliser, which is eaid to keep tho milk round and normal. + + + S'cai! in Potatoes —A Nebraska farmer describes in the American Agriculturist the way he treated his seed potatoes so as to have the crop fiee from scab. He says:—"After pieparing my potato seed for planting last season, 1 sprinkled the greater part of it with sulphur so that each piece was thoroughly coated. The remainder I planted in the same field, and gave all like culture. When digging time came those treated with sulphur were almost free from scab or other disease, while the untreated seed produced tubers almost worthless because of scab." + + + WtT on Dry Milking*—On the question of wet or dry milking, " farm, Field, snd Fireside," has the following ; —" If a person miiks on the tugging or stripping system, I should not care to have him also adopting the dry method, for tho reason that a lubricant is required to lessen the friction of the teat, and the milk is the easiest of app'ication for this purpose. Even the squeezing system there is some friction which would be lessened by moisture. The objection to wetting the hands is that it tenrta to taint the milk, and as it leaves the teats wet, they are apt to get chapped or otherwise injured." + + + Frozen Milk —The latest application of artificial cold to the preservation of the most perishable of human, food, rendering possible its conveyance from oue country to another without deterioration, appears to have been successfully accomplished in Denmark. At a little more than a hundred miles from Copenhacen, in the heart; of a grazing country, a Danish engineer, named Cas*e, has Bot up two milk-refrigeratine; factories. From this place the milk is sent to Corjcnhagen in blocks. Those who receive it have only to thaw it, and, chemichl'y spifcking, they have it as Iresh as when it was carried in the pail to the refrigerator. But this solid milk travels much farther than Copenhagen. Same of it has been sent to Paris, where, although it arrived six days after it had left the cow, it was shown by analy-is to be fresh milk of excellent qua'ity. These facts were lately brought before the notice of the French National Soc : ety of Agriculture as a rew departure in applied science that might in course of time become formidable to the dairy farmers who supply Paris, unless the Legislature stepped in to protect them from foreign milk. ' + x + The Manuring ok Potatoes.—From the newly-published annual on "The Chemistry of the Garden " by Mr Her bert H. Cousins, lecturer in chemistry at the Wye Agricultural College, Kent, England, we give the following extracts re the manuring of potatoes :—Potatoes cannot be grown satisfactorily without dung or a similar organic manure unless the soil be in a rich state from high cultivation. Experiments in manuring potatoes have been carried out in Wiltshire and other places ; while the manuring of potatoes on the agricultural scale has been carefully tested at Rothatnsted over a series of years. The results vary greatly in themselves, and we have yet much to learn before we can predict the most profitable manure for potatoes on any toil of known composition and fertility. The general tendency of these experiments, however, goes to show that a " complete" manure produces the best results. A mixture of superphosphate, sulphate of ammonia, and kainit suggests itself as the cheapest concentrated fertiliser at present prices. Five pounds superphosphate, 21b sulphate of ammonia, and 31b kainit per 40 square yards or 3oz of the mixture per yard of each row would provide a fairly balanced dressing. x xx Bacteria in milk. —A fruitful source of the bacterial in f ection (says an Australian writer) is the "foremilk," or that which lies at the opening of the teat, where it is possible for the bacteria to enter. The first two or three spuits of milk should never be allowed to mingle with that subsequently drawn. Other sources of infection are unclean vessels, dust and dirt on the animal herself, on the hands and clothing of the milker, and in the yard or shed. The following suggestions for diminishing the number of bacteria in milk for the factory could easily be observed:—l. Reject the first spurts from each teat, in order to prevent the imfection of the foremilk. 2. Use either truly boiling water or steam applied for a considerable time in rinsing, and utilise the geim-killing properties of sunlight in the drainage of the vessels. 3. Keep the cows clean, ami lightly moisten the udder and flank before beginning the milking, so that the dust on them may not be dislodged and fall into the bucket. 4. See that the milkeis take the greatest possible care to keep their hands and clothing scrupulous'y clean. 5. Never give the cows, just before milking, dry todder of any kind for either food or litter. 6. Leave the milk as short a time as possible exposed to the dust and air of the cowshed. + + + Argentine in South Africa.- i lt is to be hoped (remarks the Melbourne Age) that the matter of encouragement of Victorian trade with South Africa, to which considerable attention was devoted some time since by the Chamber of Manufactures and other bodies, will not be allowed to be forgotten. Victoria has in times past exported considerable quantities of flour to South Africa. It would now appear that the Argentine, which is already a sevtre competitor with Australasia in meat, wool and wheat in the European market, is tnrning its attention to the Cape aud neighbouring consuming markets. A special correspondent of an American milling paper, writing from Buenos Ayres, says : —" A very good inquiry is springing up from the Cape of Good Hope, both for flour and wheat. An inquiry is now at hand for a shipment of flour, on samples of Indian and Australian flour. Our wheat, however, makes a rather stronger and slightly daiker flour than either of the above, and this may not suit t ie Cape market at first, but they will very likely waive thi3 point when they really know what splendid flour our wheat makes. Business is improving between this country and South Africa. The latter is buying freely of our grain, hay, and live stock, and shortly we may expect to seud them froz v meat, which they get from Australia and New Zealand. From our geographical situation, we are the country that should supply the Capewichall food products. Weare nearer Australia, aud we can supply cheaper. It will.all come in time."

It 13 claimed that Lake Erie produces more fish to the square mile than any body of water in the world. In Germany a man who bus lost both hands in an accident can claim the whole of his life insurance money, if he be insured, on the ground that he has lost the means of maiutaining himself. " There can be two opinions about everything " but aa " there is no rule without an exception, the exception proving the rule," there cannot be two opinions about The Waikato Argos having the largest circulation of any paper in the four counties in which it circulates—viz., Waikato, VVaipa, l'iako and Raglan. The advertising public are fully alive to this fact, as the columns of the paper prove.