Farm Notes.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 3902, 25 May 1899, Page 4

Farm Notes.

THE MANURE HEAP. Tho manure lioap docs not receive one-half the attention it deserves The system on which farms are managed here, as a role, does not tend to the aooumulation of manure as in the old oonntry, where oattle are housed in winter and littered down with staw. Nevertheless there are around all farms ' quantities of matter and materials which, if property cared for, could be made into excellent manure, and could be applied with most beneficial effect to the soil, but which, in most cases, are now exposed to the weather and become dried, worthless iitter, useless for every purpose. In the old county manure is carefully rotted in pits on every well-regu-lated farm. If that is, bv experience, deemed desirable in a temperate climate, how much more is it necessary in our climate, where the tempera ture is so high aod the evaporation so great ? Where the soil is of clay, or so stiff that it can be puddled, a pit simply dug in the ground is snfficient; but where the soil is porous, briok or cement lining is usually adopted, so that there may be no escape by percolation All waste stuff around the farm suoh as blood, flesh, bones, slops, and refuse of every description, should be consigned to the dung pit—nothing on tho farm need bb lost. If too dry, or if there is straw or other fibrous matter, the contents of the pit should be sprinkled with water to hasten decay. On the other hand the pit should not be situated so that surface drainage shall run into it. Check surface drains should be dug around it. It is well also to have a second, but smaller, pit for the reception of drainage from the manure pit or heap, and the liquid from this can either be used as liquid manure, cr it may be utilised by being thrown back on the manure pit or | heap, as the case may be. To prevent the escape of ammonia, sulphuric acid, dilated with water, should be sprinkled over the pit; failing this, gypsum will have the effect of fixing the ammonia. Where neither of these is available a thin layer, several inches thick, of soil should he spread over it. This covering will absorb the gases which become freed in the process of time. The cost of a manure pit will amply repay itself —if properlyattended to—the firstyear. In the manure pit no lime should be used, as its sets free the nitrogen which is contained in the manure, which thus escapes into the atmosphere and is lost; but lime should be freely used in the compost heap, which is another most valuable adjunct to the routine work of the farm. The compost heap should, however, be kept separate from the manure pit.

GO-OPERATIVE BACON FACTORIES The breeding and fattening of pigs follows naturally in the wake of the dairying industry. Consequently, with the great extension of cow-keeping that has taken place recently in this colony, there is a proportionate increase in the number of pigs kept and fattened. This is a baanch of the export trade in which dairy farmers are deeply interested at the present time, for they have begun to realise that unless the by-products of the cheese and butter factories can be turned to profitable account, they do not reap the full benefit of the milk they produce. The low price of grain is also conducive to the extension of pig keeping, so that the problem to be Bolved is how to dispose of the increase in hams and bacon to the best advantage. Most farmers can cure a few hams for home use very successfully, but their methods and conveniences for entering into the business on a large scale are quite in. adequate to meet the requirements of an export trade. The co-operative system is apparently the way to overcome this difficulty, and the establishment of bacon factories on the same principle as that adopted in regard to butter and cheesemaking seems only a matter of time in every dairying district in the colony. There are one or two such factories already in existence and prospering, while many more are being talked about, but generally there is a slowness in the movement in some localities wliioh is much to be regretted, seeing the great opportunities that exist and can be commanded. The raising of pigs and the manufacture of bacon is an old, tried, practioe, in whioh there is a certainty of a profit being realised, and the fanners should not hesitate about going into the business most heartily. It would be different if it were some new enterprise which they knew nothing about. Wherever there is a butter factory, there is room for a bacon factory as well. In fact, the latter is indispensable if the former is to succeed and be permanently prosperous.

A DURABLE WHITEWASH. The White House at Washington—so named because it is painted white—has first and last exercised a good deal of Yankee ingenuity in the way of producing a brilliant and durable whitewash, Nobody need be reminded how much brighter any farmhouse or its outbuildings appear when painted with common whitewash. The following mixture was applied to the American House of Congress some years ago, and it is Btill the admiration of all visitors ; —Take one half bushel of unslacked lime, slack it with boiling water, cover it during the process to keep in iho steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer, and add to it a peck of salt previously dissolved in warm water, three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin consistency, one half pound of powdered whiting, and one pound of clean glue whioh has previously been dissolved by soaking

it well; then hang it o -er a slow fire for an hour in a small kettle within a larger one filled with water. Then add fire gallons of hot water to the mixture, Stir it well and let it stand for a few days ojvercd from dust. It should be put on hot, and for this purpose it can be kept in a kettle on a portable furnace. About a pint of the mixture will oover a square yard on the outside of a house. Fine or ooarse brushes may be used, aooording to the neatness of the job required. It answers as well as oil paint for wood, briok or stone, and it is cheaper. It retains its brilliancy for many yearß, and some of the American farmers who have tried it say there is nothing of the kind to oorapare with it either for inside or outside walls. Colouring matter may also be put in with it, and made of any shade desired.