FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 318, 23 July 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

The weather Ins s'.own a marked improvement <1 uri 11 lt the pist few days. Although cold, it. has been very line mrl clear, whilst tho keen s mtherly winds have dried up the rouls in a u'onderful manner for the lime of >uar. It is noticeable, also, how quickly the springs and smaller streams which flowed with quite a good volume during tin; lite rains have eea3ed running now that th<' weither has cleared up, indicating an unusual dryness in the Inver subsoil. The improved condition of the land through the above causes is being largely availed of by farmers to push the ploughing and harrowing ahead, creat aotiv.ty being observable on mo»t holding-, considerable areas being already in grain. The present is tiie last months in which winter wheat may he sown ; August being a favourite month for the spring varieties, and with the rapid clearance of tho turnip fields, no time should be lost in getting the land prepared. Tho absene of frost—since the severe visitation in the early part of the winter—has been very beneficial for late sown turnips and young grass, the latter making good progress during the past fortnight, and will—iu the absence of further frost—afford a good bite for stock in the spring. This is of great importance in districts where the creameries open early, the chief difficulty in connection with the milk business about that time of the year being the scarcity of feed in the pastures, hard-feeding having to be mainly depended upon to carry the cows through August and the first half of September. Dairy cows, generally, have wintered well," and are in better condition to commence the milking season than for some years past, which shows that milk suppliers are alive to the requirements of this business, a pior-conditioned cow being almost a dead-head for the first few months of the season. The markets for produce and live stock have shown no appreciable change during the week. Alosfc lines continue in good demand, seed potatoes promising to be bo * h scarce and dear. The advent of Tasmania!! apples has caused a decline in the fruit market, I local consignments to the Auckland'markets, fetching lower prices than a fortnight ago. The fat stock markets keep up well ; wkioh, in its turn, causes a brisk demand for stores, especially if in fresh Condition. Butter and eggs are selling well, the tanners being wanted in keg lines for export. Dairy cows at the local rates have been rather dull of late ; bnt the opening of the creameries is expected to put some life into the bidding. The Grass Grttis.—Mr T. E. Chamberlain, Muafertnn, writes to the Christchurch Press. —"In your correspondence column I see that Mr T. B. Howson asks which is the best method to destroy the grass grub. I have had over thirty years' experience, and have found that if tho grass land has not, been skim ploughed, it is munh the best way to let tho land, after ploughing lie for a month or six weeks befoie sowing tho seed. If the seed is put in as soon as the ground is ploughed, the grub will subsist on the grass until the grain starts to grjw aud then it will attack it. If allowed to lie till the grass is decomposed before seeding the grub will perish before the sued takes root." t t t Lumpy Jaw.—The Melbourne Weekly Times is responsible for the following : " N iw aud again a case of 'lumpy-jaw ■' is noted amongst cattle. Tho best euro is iodide ef potassium, (jive it in one and d half drachm doses, one daily at first, and after a week every second day, until Mb has been given. The iodide is equally effective in old cases and new ones, and instances are known in which the diseases has been wholly cured after it had progressed as far as to exhibit an open absess 4in in diameter. It must not bo expected, however, that it will restore the lost bone substance, but it will stop tho decay of iho bone aud arrest any further loss of it and heal the sore as well." t I t Butter Test of Jersey Cows.—The annual butter test competition for the medals given by the English Jersey Cattle Society took place at St. Heliers, Jersey, on May 12th. The cows were milked out the previous evening, and the next twenty-four hours' milk was taken at six o'clock in the morning and at the same hour in the evening. Mr Mourant's gold medal oow llelair, which had been 201'daya in milk, yielded 21b butter from 291 b of milk, a ratio of 14.50 and obtained -14 points. Mr Bncsnel's silver medal cow Compound Interest, 130 days in milk, yielded 21b 2oz butter from 401 b Soz milk, being a ratio of 19.05, aud obtained 43 points. Mr Buesnol's bronze medal cow Finance twenty-five days in milk, gave the extraordinary weight of 531 b 14oz milk, which yielded 21b 10/rOZ butter, a ratio of 21.03, and obtained 42'50 points. Twenty-four prize-winners averaged 90 days in milk, yielded 351 b milk, and 21b butter fat, giving a ratio lb of milk to lb butter of 17.73. t X t Sprouting Potato Seed—A writer in the New England Farmer tells that the most successful growers sprout potato seed as follows:—From six or seven weeks before, it is time to plant in the field the potatoes are cut in the usual manner, spread thinly iu a dry room free from frost, where they remain until quite dry, sav for three days. They are then placed in boxes of sand as closely as possible, the sand being damp —not wet—and one inch iu depth, Place the sets evenly over the whole surface and then cover with sand an inch in depth. Place the boxes in a light a'ry room where the temperature is from 45 degrees at night to 55 degrees in the daytime. The sprouts will soon push forth and grow just in proportion as light, aud moisture are afforded them. A slow growth is much to be preferred, as the. stems will be much stronger and more vigorous after tlu-y arc set iu the field To that end a low temperature, but little moisture, free circulation of air and all the 11u;11fc possible are essential. The boxes are placed one above the other in racks, with spaces between of six inches. ... t ... System is t Dairying.—There is very little work connected with dairying that may be called bird work—that is, requiring much muscular exertion—but to make dairying profitable everything connected with it should be done on time, and in a proper manner. Hence it must be done systematically, and when so dono it is neither disagreeable nor slavish work. System must begin in breeding, and be followed in the care and rearing of calves, aud in putting the dairy product on the market whothcr in the form of milk, butter, or cheese. On many farms all things connected with the cow and tho dairy were allowed simply to drift. The cows come iu fresh at any time of the year ; they are fed'and eared for on the principle that anything is good cuouhli for a no*', and arc milked at any time from daylight, until nine o'clock at night. Such ;i manner of dairying will make bard, disagreeable, and unprofitable work. A cow to do her best must b-s milked at a certain time, and if she is being fed. her meals must also be given at stated hours each dry. Cows, and, in fact, all animals, are good timekeepers, and are always ready for their feed when the regular times come ; and so it is with their milking. Jt is said to bo claimed by butter-makers in creameries that Sunday's milk is not so rich in butter fat as that given during the week, and I hey give as a reason that milking and feeding is not always done at the usual time on Sundays. Anything that causes restlessness or excitement has an ell'jol upuu both the quality and quantity of

the milk given, so that, aside from the convenience of doing the work at regular hours, there aro financial benefits to follow as well. t t + Diseases Common to Cows and Human Beings.—Little by little (says an Ameriem piper) we arc awaking to the fact that many of the diseases common to our cows are also common to the human family. Whether the cow got the disease from man or man from the cow will bo known We first found that small-pox was common to our cows under the mild form of cowpox. In our own day we have found that consumption in humans is iu cows what .ve call tuberculosis. Since these two disease';! arc common to both, :n iy it not be that we will find the lis; of diseases constantly expanding. These facts should be a warning to all having charge of cattle, to use the greatest of precautions, both to prevent diseases being transmitted from the cattle to the human family, and also from the human family to the citth. For this reason a person having consumption should not be, allowed to have the charge of or to work around cattle. The consumptive spits on the barn floor and the spittle dries up, the animal breathing it a few hours later. Wc fear that this side of the question is lost sight of. while we guard against human infection from the cows. t t t Preservation ok Fruit.—An interesting experiment in the preservation of fruit has, says a contemporary, been carried out by Dr. Brown at the laboratory in connection with tho Department of Agriculture, Victoria. The object has boon to preserve the fruit for sulficient time to cover tho journey to tho European market, and this appears to Lave been achieved. Fruits of several kinds were enclosed in glass jars and tubes inserted througbt the civet' to carry cut the process, which consists in forcing through the fruit a current of dry, sterilised air, deprived of carbonic acid gas, the jars biung kept iu a temperature of 40deg. The system retards ripening aud prevents decomposition. Grapes packed on March 10 retained their condition and flavour when opened on May 19 a trial of over sixty days, though they had been cut from seven to ten days bebre packing. The neaches were bruised aud disfigured by rough handling, but the preservation was fairly good. The preservation was most effective with grapes, apples, and pears. Apples packed on 24th February tamed out well after a trial of SI days, though for 12 days they were in a waim temperature reaehiug lOodeg. Pears put up on March 31 and plumbs on February 24 proved very satisfactory. i* I t Intensive Farming.—ln the introductory to the March report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, Secretary Coburn says:—Kansas farmers are learning year by year that their business, if profitable, must be so conducted that it is not the mere playing of a game of chance with the weather or with a single crop ; that a somewhat diversified, and yet not too scattering, agricultnro and a studying of an vlaptation to climate conditions, demands and markets is essential. Those who most fully recognise these conditions and most intetligmtly respond to their inexorable requirements are realising a fair or large prosperity. Others who persistently defy or deny them are ready to declare that farming is no longer a source of profit, that farmers are slaves of those in other pursuits, and that the times are politically, fir-an-cially and morally out of joint. Although no vocation is all pleasure oral! profit, the men who conduct the business of farming with the same energy and skill as the successful merchant or professional man, wfll reap the same and as a rule, a greater and more certain measure of reward : the time has passed, however, if ever it existed, when fortunes were made by unskilled owners of faring, large or small, anywhere. Muscle, to win, must be guided by brains. t ' X t Abortion in t Dairy Cows.—A correspondent of tho North British Agriculturist writes:—" Three years ago I had a very bad attack in my stock owing to having bought a calved quey at one of our public sales. After I got her home, I had no doubt sho had east calf. In about six months after my cows nearly all went wrong. As I had no place in which to isolate the aborting cows they had just to remain altogether. I am now glad to say that, I have almost got rid of it. Last year I had a few which calved from threo to six weeks before their due time; and this year, eo far, they aro all comintr right with one exception, although I havo been changing a good many of them. My only treatment was that. I gave them two teaspoonfuls of carbolic acid well mixed into a pailful of boiled meal or mash ovary day for one week, then missed the next, and so on for four weeks, commencing when they were about four mouths gone in calf, and continued to give for one week iu every month afterwards. It is no use giving it to one after you sec her preparing to calve. Treat tho bull also, if thoy do not dense within twelve hours aiter carving, I then wash my hand and arm well in tepid water and carbolic acid, and carofully remove the afterbirth. I then take tho ingestion pipe and svringe them well with water and carbolic acid of a strength of one to forty." t I t Reducing Bones.—ln answer to an inquiry addrossed by a subscriber to the Melbourne Leader for information as to the best and simplest means of utilising bones in country districts, Mr A. H. Pearson, the Government agricultural chemist says, the best methods of preparing bones in country districts for use as manure are: (1) Bones may be softened by mixing in heaps with quicklime and loam, thus—A. layer Gin deep of bones, on this a layer about 2in deep cf lime, then a layer about 4in deep of loam, and soon repeating u..til_lhc heap is made up to a convenient height, when it is to bo covered up with a thick layer of earth. Holes are then to be bored into tho heap from the top, and water poured in to slake the lime. The mass will become hot, and after two or three months the bones will be very, friable, and tho whole heap may be mixed up and will then bo ready for the ground. (2) The bones may also be reduced in wooden vats: or in trenches cut in the ground and lined with boards. For this purpose msterial should be taken in the following proportions : One ton bones, 1 ton wood a-hes (or as much ashes as available), 3owt quick-lime, and 259gtil of water. The lime should be slaked with a part of the water, and then mixed with the ashes. The material is then to bo placed in the vats or trenches; first? a layer of bones, then a layer of mixed ashes and lime, and so on the materials being then moistened with a part of tho water After a little while the bores will begin to soften. The contents of tho vats or trenches should then be turned over aud mixed with tho spado, and be finally moistened with the remaining quantity of water. Bones may also be ground by means of small hone crushing milks worked by horse-power, The cost of purchasing sulohuric acid and transporting it by rail to any great distance inland would be prohibitive. t I t Spraying Fruit Trees.—lt is agai" the season of the year when the work of spraying fruit trees will have to bo attended to. if good sound fruit is to be looked for. Sometime ago one of the Government pomologists went about the country to instruct fruitgrowers in the practice of spraying, etc., but so far very little has resulted therefrom. For one thing, some who heard the lectures did not come away with a very intelligent grasp of their subject, and-when they did spray their trees the result was disastrous.

Many who almost killed their trees at the first attempt at spraying have resolved never to try it again. But without spraying it will be impossible to grow s'Mind friiit. ro varied and numerous are the insect, pests the fruit.growcr.h.'is now to contend wilh. The first desideratum is a good spray pump, and of these there are plenty i'i tho market.. One can I;" purchased from any of the chief nurserymen, fitted with different nozzles as required. Anyone who has seen the difference between trees regularly sprayed and those left to grow as they please would, bo surprised. The former will have a smooth, clean hark, and generally healthy appearance, while the latter will be seen overgrown with moss, scale, etc. Tho first spraying of apple and pear trees should be done during the winter months or lather early in the spring, before tho buds start to expand, and for this purpose there arc a nural or of fungicides, but per haps the best is B rdeanx mixture. The next, snraying fur the destruction of insects should be applied just after the greater put of the blossoms have fallen. Bordeaux mixture, with an ounce of Paris green to every 12gal, well stitred iu, may be used for this. A third application of tho same mixture- may be made 10 days or so afterwards if deemed necessary, but, as a rule, the two dressings will suliiee to keep the trees clean. For plum and peach trees Bordeaux and Paris green should be sprayed as soon as the leaves are started and before the blossom opens, and again as foon as the blossom has fallen. As a rule these two dressings suffice, but a third may bo applied 10 days afterwards if considered desirable. Bordeaux mixture is mado as follows ;—Bluestono, lib; water, sgal, dissolve throughly in a wooden vessel, In another vessel dissolve lib of lime in ogal of water. When cool pour the lime milk slowly into the blue-stone solution, stirriug carefully all the time. Any less quantity may be made, and it should bo used shortly after making, as it deteriorates if kept any length of time