FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 414, 25 March 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Indications are not wanting that the drought is about over, some light showers having fallen during the week, and though a few oppressively hot days, and sultry nights have been experienced, the wind hanjs to the north and there is an absence of that clear dryness in the air, which betokens settled fine weather. Some heavy rain is needed to soften the land, and give the grass a start before tho cold weather sots in, and it is of the utmost importance that this should come soon. Springs and streams are lower than at any time during the season, and manv farmers are taking the opportunity to burn out the low-lying and swampy portions of their holdings, a work which will do much good by clearing away a lot of dead stuff and rubbish, and give the better grasses a fresh start, particularly if some fresh seed is sown over the burnt spots It ia surprising how well the seed will take after a burn even though the ground is hard and the supply of ashes small. Caution must, however, be exercised in starting fires at this time ot the year, much damage being annually caused to plantations, fences, etc., through reckless firing when everything is as dry as tinder. A considerable amount of useful work is now being carried out in the way of cleaniug drains and water-courses, ani no time should be lost in getting this completed as heavy rains are probable once the weather breaks. Dipping sheep is now being carried out on most fams and statious, the bulk of the work being got through the present month. Equally good, if not better results may be obtained by dipping in April, (the last month allowed by the Stock Act,) as with more wool on the sheep the dipping mixture holds longer. On the other hand, an increased quautity is required, which means additional expense, and the sheep are also more awkward to handle. An interesting discussion on this question took place at the last Agricultural Conference, experienced flock-masters holding widely different opinions, based apparently on the general scarcity of water at certain periods of the year, and also upon the advisability or otherwise of dipping the flock during the tupping season. The general opinion, however, seemed to be that the end of April was late enough to dip sheep ; but if dipped much before that time they were liable to become dirty before shearing. In Waikato, flock-owners occassionally dip shortly after shearing so as to give the lambs a better chance ; but this necessitates dipping twice, experience having proved that sheep dipped, say in December will not go through the following winter without getting full of vermin particularly if a stray sheep gets among them. Of the various dipping mixtures on the market Cooper's Power seems to be the moat reliable, but to obtain satisfactory results, even with this, it is absolutely necessary to have the bath kept up to the required strength, and the sheep immersed in it for fully ouo minute. The markets have not shown any material change during the week. Stock are in fair demand, bub at lower rates than have lately ruled, breeding ewes and dairy cows being the principal exceptions. The former are required for the production of fat lambs, of which Waikato should see a large output next season, and the scarcity of feed, with consequent rise in the price of butter, is causing more attention to be given to dairy cows. "With the serious loss that has befallen the turnip crop, young stock and ordinary steers can scarcely regain their former values during the balance of the season, but useful classes of cattle and sheep that can be turned over in a few months will, no doubt, be at fair rates directly the rain comes or the swedes oommence to be stocked.

In produce, no change can be reported in potatoes or onions, but better prices are anticipated when the Aucklandgrown lots are cleared off. Dairy produce is better, fresh butter having risen Id per lb during the week. Cheese is still dull of sale. Poultry are plentiful and in good demand at late rates. Eggs are in request at Is and Is 2d per dozen. The glut of fruit is practically over for the season and prices are improving. Unfortunately very few kinds will keep for any length of time owing to the prevalence of the codlin moth. A Fact. —The man who cannot bo gentle and tender with his co-v\s should not be a dairyman. CALF-FEEDING. —In calf-rearing, when milk is scarce, or only to be had skimmed, Dr George (eays the Rural "World) recommends a mixture of 3oz of linseed and maize meals per quart of skimmed milk. Also good hay tea, made by .steeping 2|lb of the best hay in four gallons of boiling water, and adding to the skimmed milk when blood warm. Feeding Young Hobses.—There is no economy in not supplying abundant feed to young horse 6took. Tho oolt that is stinted in feed is permanently stunted in growth, and will never acquire a normal development of form or »ize. They should learn to eat before they are weaned; they should have some grain, mostly oats with bran frequently mixed in, and plenty of hay. This is for a feed through winter, and if the pasturage is good, light feeding will keep them in satisfactory condition. Gas Lime foe Land.—lt is comparatively little known how useful gaa lime is to land, aad how it should be uned ; few tenants are taught the secrwt. Our theoretical writers advise far and away too light dressings. Many havs followed the directions given by incapable writers, and seeing no benefit for their pains the 7 have discarded what might have proved, if used in proper quantity, a valuable application. It is useful as a manure as an insecticide, to kill weeds, and to pulverise the soil.—Rural World. A Useful Timber. —There is a timber which has, like white pine, been greatly neglected. I (Hawke's Bay Herald's Bush correspondent) refer to Hinau. For fencing material it canuot be surpased. Grand lasting wood experience has proved it to be, and another unusual merit is its fire-proof qualities. -It alone of all the timber used for fencing escapes the ravages of fire. On innumerable occasions a fence line in which hinau had been largely used has stood through the fires which used periodically to sweep the bush. Why is it not more extensively used ? The reason is simple. Because its merits are not sufficiently known. Farmers here of lengthly experience swear by it, and there is no reason why it should not be adopted by people who are content, for want of better material, to use timber whioh is neither lasting nor yet fire-proof. The supply of it is very large, and its use would give employment to a very large number of hands. Washing Seed Wheat.—Mr F. C. Dyer writes as follows to the New South Wales Agricultural Gazette on the important subject of dressing wheat and other grain from smut. I obtained a largo packing-case, tin-lined inside, mado it water-tight, filled it nearly full of clear water; next, a barrel large enough to hold a bag of wheat I bored tho barrel with an inch bit, making each hole 4in apart; covered each hole with a piece of perforated zinc on the outside. In the centre of the barrel I cut out a large oval hole, lOin by Sin ; the piece taken out formed the lid, like an ordinary barrel churn, and hung in like manner, and placed over tho improvised tank on a gpindle. Having put tho wheat inßide and fastened it down, also tho same as a barrol churn, turned the handle rapidly for about fivo minutes, so that each grain got thoroughly washed in tho cold water, bofore sowing. I assure you, with the [abovo simple method, used for several years, my wheat and other grain is freo from smut, besides giving the grain a healthier growth, far superior to dressing with sulphate of copper."

A Hint on Bird Poisoning.—Here is a hint that may be valuable to those troubled with small birds. It was, at last Saturday's meeting of a show committee, remarked by an obsorvaut farmer that in his experience fat-hen seed, which most farmers can get from the cleanings of grain, when phosphorised is much more fatal to small birds than the grains generally used. Tho birds are very fond of the seed.

The Peach Arais.—A correspondent of the Australasian has discovered a cure for the peach aphis, at any rate he says he has. He piled up quite close to the stem of each tree a kerosene tin full of wood ashes j the result was a complete success, and for several years past no aphis has been seen on the trees. Tho ashes were used in the winter season, and were simply laid on the surface, without any digging or disturbance of the toil. Another correspondent, who recommends the use of tomato vine for curing of the peach aphis, suggests that the tomato plants in the autumn, when the fruiting season is over, may be dried like hay ; then in the springtime an infusion could be made and sprayed on to the peach trees affected.

Tcwercdxosis in the Udder.—An inspector, writing to the North British Agriculturist, says:— The milk from a tuberculous cow should not be sold or given to another animal in the raw state, because there is always—apart from the question of how far milk is dangerous if tho udder be not affected—the chances that the uddor is tho early seat of the disease, as 7 per cent, of all tuberculous cows have tbeir udders affeoted; but against this I find from the same records, taken from public slaughterhouses and otherwise, that the amount of tuberculosis as existing amongst superior and good medium oows has been greatly overstaced, but the third rate cow and group of predisposed animals sends up the average with a bound. The general belief that a cow is far advanced in the disease before the udder becomes affected is unhappily not the case. Cows have been found very bad with tuberculosis in the udder, yet the animals were in very good condition, and on post-mortem examination very little tubercle was found on any other part of tho body. When affection of the udder takes place there is no doubt about the deadly nature of the secretions, 60 much so that all diseases of that organ must be watched with suspicion, as a tuberculous udder for long continues to give milk, and while no one knows what mischief it has done, its probabilities are appalling. The Weighbridge Again.—ln the course a lecture, Mr W. S. Ferguson, the well-known breeder, of Pictstonhill, Perth, made the followintr remarks:—l would like to say something about the question of selling cattle by live weight. I think really it is matter of surprise that the practice is not universal, because we have come to know that it is the only just and true way of selling cattle. It seems absurd when we think of it that, while wo sell our potatoes at, say, 30s per ton, our hay at, say,£4 per ton' and our grain in tho same way, that we shonld dispose of our beef, which is worth £SO to £GO per ton, by tho rule of thumb. Farmers, and I include myself amongst them, are a good deal to blame in this matter. They have the whole thing in their own hands; if they insisted upon it a little more than they did it would soon become general, Not long ago f had a butcher npatonoofmy farms to buy a lot of black polled bullocks I had for sale. On the way up he insisted that the weighbridge was of no use, and that no man who knew his business would trouble with it. I said nothing, but when we got to the farm there was a difference of about £1 per head between us in the price. The buyer, on giving another look through the cattle, says, "Oh! what marks are these ?" I replied that, when he went into a shop to buy anything, he generally saw tho merchant turn up the corner of of the article for some marks that he had. These marks, I said , might be hieroglyphics to the buyer, but might mean a lot to the merchant. " These (referring to the marks) are my trade marks." " Then you have all the cattle • weighed, said the seller " Yes," I said, but you don't need to mind that, you don't believe in the weigh-bridge." The fact was I knew what I was giving for the price offered and the buyer had to como to my terms before he got tho animals. About Hides. —What is worth doing at all is worth doing well applies to the taking off of hides as to anythiug else—in fact, a hide may be so injured in removing it from the animal that enough will not be realised 'for it to pay for the time occupied in doing the work. The National Provisioner, speaking of removing tho skins from cattle and calves, gives the following hints, which it will pay any farmer or stock raiser to make note of, for even though one may not kill any animals for eating purposes, no one is so fortunate as never to lose one by accident or disease. In skinning beef hides and calf akins keep the back of the knife close to the hide, and draw it tightly .with the left hand. This is a simple rule, but by following it the liability to cut or score is considerably lessened. On the foreleg the knife should go down to the armpit, so called, and then forward to the point of the brisket. On the hind leg the cut should be made from the hoof of one down to the back of the leg, semi-circular across one to the other, and on to the hoof. Tho throat should never be cut crosswise and the horns and tail bones should always be removed. The operation of salting is equally important. To salt hides thoroughly a water bucket full of silt should be used to each 601 b hide, the quantity for large and sma'l hides being in proportion. After this they should be rubbed and rolled up. Independent of cuts and scores, hides which are not taken off in the manner specified are c'assed as No. 2's, and if dried on fences or exposed to the sun or weather are only fit for the glue maker. A butcher's skinning knife should always be used, and no employee should be perm ited to take off hides without one, as the loss from one hole in a hide would buy several such knives. These few rules are nimple enough, but the adoption means a great deal to the country slaughterer. Laying a Cement Floor.—A good many coment floors aro put down, but owing to the faulty laying some do not stand traffic. In a recent Australian paper oocurred the following, which should be read with interest by country readers :—Best material to mix with the cement is coarse sharp sand and finely crushed stone ; and with these materials ten parts of stono can be used to one of cement in the lower four inches, nnd four parts of sand to one of cement in the upper four inches. You may use gravel for the concrete, and screen sand out of the gravel, using a sieve with one-fourth inch meshes. In making the concreto measure either by counting the shovelfuls or by using a bucket, putting eight parts of gravel to one of cemont in a heap, then shovelling it over three or four times so as to mix thoroughly. Tho last time of shovelling sprinkle tho heap with a watering pot so that it will be thoroughly dampened, but not enough to drip. Now begin laying the floor, which do in sections about 4ft wide beginning at the end opposite the door. For a horse stable floor uso Bin of concrete and lin of topping ; in the cow stable, oAJn of concrete and iin of topping. Stake down a scantling 4in or Gin wide, as the case may be, about 4ft from the wall of the stable, and finish tuis section bofore laying another. First put in tho concreto an inch or two at a time and tramp it solid with a broad-faced rammer and continue until within lin or jin of the top, using a straight edge with a notch at each end so that it will drop down lin or Jin as desired. When this is put in you are ready for tho finishing coat, which is made of two parts of clean, sharp sand and one part of coment, which is thoroughly mixed dry, and then wot and tempered to the same consistency as would be used in cementing ; a cistern

then pour it in, filling the mould to the top, turning the edges over, notched side up, so that it will be just full to the top. It will be neccessary to use a trowel around tho edges and in the corners. In order to prevent horses slipping on it make grooves 4in apart and sometimes over iin deep, for a distance of about 2ft. at the rear part of the stalls. These aro made by laying down a broom handle, tapping it till its beds one-half its diameter, them move 4iu and repeat, thus making paralled groves -lin apart. Also make these grooves running the other way in front of tho door where the horses are led in. When a section is finished carefully lift the stakes and move edge piece over and stake it, and so continue until the floor is finished. The Portland cement does not set as quickly as the cheap grades, but usually in twelve hours it is hard enough for a man to walk over it, and for the next ten days it should be sprinkled with water thoroughly twice a day ; this prevents danger of cracking and makes it harden more slowly, insuring a better job.