FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 297, 4 June 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

" Trotting " at Sales.--At a meeting last week of the Gerakline Farmers' Club, tho practice of " trotting" at auction sales came up for discussion, and was condemned by the members present. It was decided to consider at a future meeting the best means to adopt and abolish the practice, and the club's delegate to the coming agricultural conference has been asked to bring the matter forward at the conference. Christcuurch Markets. —The following were current prices paid to farmers, f.0.b., Lyttelton, on 20th May for direct shipment from country stations and free of commission, except where otherwise specified :—New wheat : Good to prime quality pearl 4s 9d to 43 lid. Tuscan 4s 8d to 43 lOd, Hunter's 43 8d to 4s 9Jd, second quality wheat about 3d lower. Oats : Prime milling 2s 9(1 to 2s lOd, good stout fe.-d 2s 7d to 2s 9d, fair short feed 2s 6d to 2s Bd, Duns 2s 6d to 2s 7<l, Danish 2s 5d to 2s Cd. x + * Price of Fat Stock —The representative of a Christchurch firm of stock agents who has just returned from a visit to the North Island informsme.( writes Straggler in the Weekly Press) that fat cattle are getting very scarce, and that the local price will have to advance at least £1 per head before importations can profitably be made from the North. The chief reason of the limited number of fat cattle available is that owing to the dry weather and the bush fires they were rushed iuto the market itud were taken for freezing purposes : no fewer than about 6000 bullocks having found their way to the factories this season. Fat sheep in the North Island are also getting scarce, and while about lis is now being given for freezing wethers, 12s 6d has been offered fer delivery next month. A line of fat sheep from the North islaud, Lincoln wethers and owes, were in Aldington yards on Wednesday, the wethers making 13s 2d and the ewes 10s lOd to lis. + x + CRors for Fattening.—"lt is a wellknown maxim to farmers that, taken year by year, the growing of crops without the combinatiou of fattening off stock is a poor system. After harvesting there is always enough left on the laud to fatten off a small flock of sheep. Even if such were not the case, it will pay to grow green crops that alter being fed to stock will, when ploughed in, eurich the soil to a considerable extent. Rape is a crop that will grow in places where it is not easy to raise turnips, and rape is also one of the best of green manures, By means of wire getting and a few stout sticks it is not difficult to fold a small flock in a large field, and let them eat it off in patches. This will well repay the farmer, especially if he has a lot of crossbred lambs that only require topping up. Even if the returns are not large the deficiency is made up fey the manure the soil receives. In New Zealand, where conditions are more favourable, most farmers utilise forage crops for stock, but I have seen the reverse in this colony, even where the system could be successfully curried on."—Sydney Mail.

The Mongrel-bred Bull.—Professor Sheldon, tho eminent authority on dairying, speaks his mind on the vicious practice carried on by many dairy farmers of using scrubby mongrel-bred bulls, as follows :—Look, for instance, at the weedy miserable bulls that many farmers aro content to use in their dairy herds, wretched brutes that should never he allowed to live beyond the age of veal. Some men may say by way of excuse " my poverty but not my will consents." Yet on the other hand it may be remarked that no man can really afford t» use inferior, low valued bulls in his herd, That any man should continue to do so year after year can only be regarded as a kind of heedless infatuation which precludes all hope of improvement. " The bull is half the herd "is an axiom which should be drilled int.") the mind of every farmer's son who is himself to bo a dairy farmer, drilled in until he fully realises what it means. That there are many of tho present generation of farmers who do not half comprehend the vast importance of this is greatly to be feared, for it is plainly enough seen in the inferior bulls that are kept by many of our dairy farmers. It would be interesting to hear the answers such men would give to the following question :—What sort of stock do you expect such u bull will get ? or, Do you really expect to pay your way as a farmer by using a bull like that ?

+ x + The Effect of Irrigation.—Mr E. W. Hamner, of Ashburton, has, in common with a large number of others in various parts of the district, been trying the effects of irrigation on a limited scale. His first cop of raspberries were a total failure on account of the drought, and the new canes were so puny that there was but a poor prospect of a crop next summer. Mr Hammer accordingly gave them two or three liberal so.ikings of water with a two fold and highly satisfactory result. Vitality was restored, and just recently a good crop of ripe raspberries were gathered, and the new canes have made most vigorous growth. —"This," said Mr G. W. Russell at Yaldhurst on Friday night, holding up an immense potato as he spoke, " is Mr Guy's speech iu favour of irrigation." And certaialy Mr Guy, when speaking later on, advanced no argument more powerful than this specimen of the results of a plentiful supply of water. The particular potato exhibited had at one end a small excresence somewhat larger than a pigeon's egg. This, the local experts agreed, was the potato as it existed before the application of water. After that application it began to grow afresh, and developed into a magnificent tuber weighing 2jib. It came from a section which had been partially irrigated. From the irrigated portion the crop obtained was at the rate of 14 tons to the acre ; the portion not so treated yielded S tons per acre.

To Prevent Contacion or Tuberculosis. Recent developments, together witli the historical data concerning tuberculosis among the bovine kind, have excited some curiosity among thinking people as to the possibility of rendering animals exposed less liable to the disease than would seem possible under average or normal conditions. Physicians and veterinarians generally have arrived at the conclusion that one of the greatest dangers comes from the germs floating in the dry air or dust. To this end they argue that persons with consumption should not be allowed to spit upon sidewalks, on floors in tho house, about the streets, in street curs or any other places frequented by others: not that there is danger from the spittle as such, but from the dried residue, which is regarded as the most potent factor in spreading the disease from one person to another. The reasoning seems plausible, and if it is true of tho human subject, it should apply equally forcibly to the animal kind. The Ohio experiment station assumes this theory as correct, and since the disease had developed among their stalled dairy herd, the plan has been adopted of keeping the stable atmosphere constantly moist. The floors are of cement and are swept clean twice a day. Bef are each sweeping the entire inside is lightly sprinked, just sufficiently to allay all dust. After sweeping and while the floors are yet moist, sale of an inferior grade is thinly scattered over them, aiding materially in keeping tho atmosphere of the entire stable in a moist condition, and thus reducing the chances of germs being transmitted in the dust. Animals in the same stables not affected are less liable to receive germs, and the attendants enjoy gaeater safoty, if, as it baa been alleged, man can contract the disease by working among auiuiuls affected with tubercu-

losis. In addition to tho moist tieatment, tho barn is opened and thoroughly aired every day, even in tho coldest weather, and every precaution is taken to prevnnttheatmosphercfrombecoraing close or stuffy. This practical work seema to demonstrate that the cattle are in no way uncomfortable under the treatment, the attendants enjoy as good health a*s ever, and the spread of the disease has been reduced to a minimum. New Zealand Ayshires.—Under the heading " Those Now Zealand Ayrshircs " Sylvan " has tho following in tho Sydney Mail: —" The importation of 30 head of Ayrshire from New Zealand has created some interest in the dairying districts of this colony. ISobody seems to be able to get the correct hang of this transaction. When the scheme for importing dairy stock was first announced the Minister was credited with saying that tho intention was to improve the herds of the colony, presumably by the infusion of imported blood. He said that arrangements were being made to purchaso some cattle in England, and that already 30 Ayrshires had been bought, and would soon bo on the way to New South Wales. This loft room for tho inference that the Ayrshires were coming from England ; but that seems to have been incorrect, because 30 Ayrshires have arrived from New Zealand, and there is every reason to believo that these were referred to by the Minister. I wrote recently that a good authority had described these cows as a scratch lot, and I have since confirmed that statement. Also I am told that the total purchase money was a long way under £2OO. Surely the authorities do not expect breeders here to accopt tho statement that milking cattle at such figures are going to raise the standard of New South~\Vales herds and iucroaso production all rounl. Cattle of this class may bo just as useful for eating the grass on State farms as any others, but cattleman fail to see why tho Government should have gone all the way to New Zealand for such stock."