FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 509, 4 November 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Tiie weather has been showery during the week, though no great amount of rain has fallen. An unpleasant feature of the weather has been a strong southeasterly gale wh : ch prevailed during the early part of the week, and which must have done considerable damage in orchards by tearing off the bloom and young fruit. Waikato orchards are as a rule less protected on the south-east than upon any other quarter, and will have felt the full force of Monday's gale. This visitation is to be regretted, as a good crop or fruit was promising and prices are expected to rule higher than was the case last season. The prevalence of spring showers has, however, caused a fine growth in the gras3 and young grata, feed being now abundant, and seldom have the wheat and oats been more forward at this date or with a better colour. If there is a fault it is that the young grain, especially oat o , is showing rather a rank growth for this early stage of the season, and if the weather should continue damp and warm, as it did last season well on to the New Year, then there is every prospect of a repetition of the laid crops which caused so much annoyance at last harvest. The only remedy for this is feeding off with " sheep, a plan Nvhioh might be more generally practiced than it is ; but the opportunity has pissed for this season.

Potato crop 3 will now require hoeing and cleiniug. The sooner the horse-hoe can he got to work between the rows the better, and it is essential that eorrel, docks and other weeds be hoed up or preferably pulled out. Early potatoes with the late genial rains, are making good progress, and will soon be on the table. The market prospects, however, of the potato season now opening are none too bright, new potatoes being ahead}' in full supply in the Auckland and S »ithern markets, and are selling at lower prices than for Borne years past. SI earing is now in full swing throughout t';c district, and a few weeks of fine s ttled w a her would be of great benefit. The markets for fat stock and produce aro f i )y firm. Fat cattle have sensibly advanced in value, but sheep show no change, the maikets for this class being largely supplied, in fact glutted with full mouthed ewes and other sorts not suitable for freezing. When these are worked off better prices may be expected.

Fresh butter continues in good demand but with tho increased supplies coming in, prices have dropped a penny, Auckland quotations being 6d to 8d per lb for best dairy, and up to 9Jd for separated and factory bntter. Eggs are in good demand at from 6d to 8d per dozen in town, locally a penny loss. Young pigs and fat poultry are still making full rates, but fat pigs and bacon are dull of sale.

A Nkw Method.—An Irish correspondent writes to the Rural World :—Farmers are often to be heard oomplaining that they cannot get their horses into condition. A specific which is very simple and at the same time most effectual is to rub the horse over with the oats left after their meals. Try it.

Unprofitable Businsss. A woman has been summoned at Bristol for extensively selling margarine as fresh butter and without the brand ' margarine.' Sho pleaded guilty. It was stated that she bought nearly two hundred pounds of margarine a month, worked it up into round pats to resemble butter, printed an aoorn on top of each, and in the garb of a country woman, with a basket and clean white cloth, sold the pats to many customers as fresh country butter. She was fined in all £2O and costs. The fine may be thought heavy, but, says a' Home paper, we are not at all sure that it is sufficient to meet the justice of the case. Stablings. Starlings are much in evidence (reports the Western Star). At Waioola we have seen immense nights, and already we have heard of their depredations to sprouting grain. The starling was long considered a splendid farmer's friend, and by eating the grubs which attacked tho English grass, they have materially assisted in promoting good crops of this fodder. They have also a?sisted the sheep to get rid of ticks, and any day on a sheep walk you. will see them perched on ' mutton's' back pursuing their congenial occupation. These facts are strongly in the starling's favour, but it Eeems they are turning their attention, in some parts of Wallace at least, of pulling up the grain and destroying it.

Pampering Animals for Show Purposes.—The Duke of Portland is an outspoken opponent of the practice of highly feeding animals for show purposes. At the recent show of the Bothal tenants he renewed his criticism of highly-fed animals at shows, and said that to improve farm stock, they did not want tho class of animal that went pot-hunting from one show to another, sweeping up tbo prizes, but they wanted hoalthy, wellbred, well-nourished animals, shown in good natural condition, and not overfed. Such animals are, or should bo, the Datural possession of every tenantfarmer, and for that reason he was glad to think they had striven to become the owners of such animals as he had described.

Potatoes fcr Cattle.—Are potatoes a Bafe feed to give cittlc that are constantly out in the fields graz : ng ? and what weight can be allowed per head ! a subscriber asks N.B. Agricultuiist. The answer is: Yes ; potatoes can be given to cattle, and a capital good feed they ae when plentifnl and cheap, commencing with five to seven pounds each end of the day, gradually increasing up to 151 b and 20ib morning aud night. Oa account of their starchy nature, if large quantities are given they sometimes ferment in the paunch, and distend tho stomach with gas. We recommend them to be put through a turnip cutter, as, when given whole, the cow is apt to get one into the gullet. Old potitoes will have very little nutritive value.

Teaching a House to Walk.—You will get but small result in the way of improving tho slow horse if yon hitch him up with a fasi one. You will, however, drivo the fast ono distracted, and have about as disagreeable a pair as you well could harness together. The only way to increase tho walking pace is to be patient, prevent the horse breaking from a walk, and keep continually urging him on. In this way, and this way only, can you get him to walk faster. Keep everlastingly at it. Take him back if he attempts to trot or shuffle, but keep him touched up with the whip. You may get some improvement this way ; indoed, undoubtedly you will, but the time to teach a horse to walk fast is when he is first broken. Patience is the remedy in this case, and keeping everlastingly at it.

The New Stamp of Clydesdale.— Mr Young, one of tho threo Taiere farmers who went homo in connection with the purchase of draught horses, says the stamp of hor«o that takes prizes in tho colony would bo passed over at tho Highland Society's Show. Everything nowadays gives placo to activity, and size and weight aro not considered "to the extent they were a few yoars ago. The Clydesdale of to-day moves with a spryness not often observable in New Zoaland horses. While weight is not altogether relegated to the Hmlo of the p»st, it is made subservient to activity of movement. Horse talk, too, has undergone a change. A horse has no pasterns in the Old Country —they are now ankles ; and tho colonial who wishes to appear wise must feel his way bofore ho expresses himself before a coterie of draught stock judges. Tho whirligig of time has wrought these changes, and the man who, in New Zealand, imagines he knows all about horses, finds himself at sea amongst his confrere at Home. The new ' make' of horses is

probably the result of the vastly improved paving of tho streets in tho cities of tho Old Country and elsewhere. On wood blocks a light, active horse can ' lift' a heavy load, and, once started, travel much quicker with it. Cooked Food for. Milk Cows.—The systom of cooking certain foods for cows in milk has long been practiced in Great Britain in some herds, and has probably made considerable headway in recent years. That the practice does possess substantial advantages is not disputed, but that them ire certain countervailing drawback■- to bo urged against it seems equally evident. In tho paper on winter dairying, which he read at the Irish conference of the British Dairy Farmers' Association, Mr John Benson appropriately alluded to the merits and demerits of the system, and, from the evidence he adducjd, it would appear that tho eligibility of tho prastioo depends entirely opon the system of cowkeeping pursued. He found in his own experience, he said, that the chaffing and cooking of straw was an advantage in rendering tho straw more palatable and productive, but he declared that too much and onoking was prejudicial to tho health of tho cattle. The cows were not so healthy when fed with cooked chaff. They seemed delicate, took cold quiokly, and were diffieuU to keep in good condition. The same pampering effect seemed to descend to the offspring of the cows, for their calves in spring weredelicite and difficult to rear. Another condemnatory result was that the cows seemed more liable to abortion. If these disadvun tages have any solid foundations in general experience they should be sum*. oient, as Mr Benson observos, to prohibit the use of cooked foods in herds where breeding is combined with milk-produc-tion. Where quantity of milk is the main object, and where the cows are sold off as they become dry, and replaced from time to tirao by pothers in full milk, the cooking method may answer satisfactorily. Cutting and Tailing.—The lambing of farm flocks should bo over ere now, and the lambs cut and tailed before the end of the month. Hot. close weather should be avoided for operating upon the lambs, nor should they bo unduly hustled about before being rjone. It is a good plan to get the yarding up done in the cool of the oarly morning, and let them settle down for a while before beginning operations with the knife. Many farmers w ill not do iheir horses in the heat of the day on any aocouut, saying that the only safe time is in the cool of the evening. That is very true, and if there are only a few hundred lambs in tho case, tho plan can be followed ; but when large numbers have to be put through the work must go on and chance a few deaths. With careful handling and a skillful operator the mortality is very slight, unless the weather happens to be excessively hot and oppressive, in -diioh case it were better to suspend operations than run much unnecessary risk. Lambs are often lost through being' left too long before they are castrated. There is much more danger in doing them at two months old than at one month, —in fact, the risk is about doubled. Opinions differ about the details of the operation, and there are some farmers and shepherds who hold that it is more dangerous to cut off the tip of. the scrotum for tho extraction of both testicles than to make two separate incisions. Quicker healing follows tho latter method, but if suppuration should take place there is no outlet for the pus, and inflammation might thereby be caused ; moreover it is a more tedious way, and just as painful. It in to be hoped that there will be a good percentage of lambs marked, for the wholo country overstocked, and a good crop of lambs will mean larger exporting power in tho autumn. If the ewes are strong and have plenty of milk to nourish the lambs, twins are to be de-ired, but one good lamb is to be preferred to two stunted ones. It is said that a sure way to got prolific breeding ewes is to Bave the ewe lambs of twins for brooding from. I havo not tried tho plan, but I have heard of a farmer who did so for four or five 3 T ears. and out of 150 ewes ho never had less than 140 with twins.—Agrieola, in the Otago Witney.