NOTES & COMMENTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1938, Page 3

NOTES & COMMENTS

ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. Value of Ryegrass. Mr J. K. Bone, an Ayrshire farmer, whose methods are described in a two-page “Farmer’s Weekly” article, is a great believer in the value of Italian ryegrass. In July this year much of his land was under potatoes, and as soon as the crop was lifted he sowed Italian ryegrass, 2 bushels to the acre, harrowed straight in. He now has a useful piece of grazing for bringing on store cattle, and what is more important, the land will have plenty of humus for the next crop of wheat, oats, potatoes, or roots, which will soon be going in. Mr Bone is emphatic about the value of the covering crop of ryegrass. He declares: “If you sow Italian ryegrass over part of your field and leave part bare you

can see to an inch in the following crop where the ryegrass went. An old man once told me that if - you leave your garden bare for some months, but cover a small part of it With old sacks you will get a heavier crops where the sacks had been than on the rest of it. That applies to ryegrass; you must keep the sun away from the land.”

New Use for, Milk. A new use for milk is developing .from an unexpected quarter. A‘ large cosmetic manufacturing company in the United States recently placed on the market a powdei-ed milk preparation, made principally of cow’s milk, for milady’s beauty bath. A handful of the powder, it is said, will convert a tubful of water into a white, foaming mixture resembling the product of the cow —and most refreshing and beneficial to the skin. If all the ladies of the land take to using it for their daily dip it should prove a big thing for dairy farmers.

Machine Milking Unpopular. In Denmark and Germany hand milking was practised on the majority of farms with machines on only a few of the bigger farms, said Mr P. C. Petersen, who recently returned from the World’s Dairy Congress at Berlin, when he was addressing the annual conference of the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers’ Association in Hamilton. In Denmark, said Mr Petersen, machine milking was definitely looked upon with disfavour. / Foot-and-hiouth Disease.

The British Ministry of Agriculture has decided to carry out experiments on a far larger scale than has ever been attempted to put an end to the menace of foot-and-mouth disease. Seven additional members have been appointed to the Foot-and-mouth Research Committee, and work at the Ministry’s experimental station at Pirbight, Surrey, will be directed towards two chief goals, namely (a) the discovery of either a vaccine or serum (preferably “deal” vaccine) which can be used with safety to give immunity against all types of foot-and-mouth disease virus; and (b) the testing of the theory of bird-borne infection, which is claimed to explain how the latest epidemic reached England from the Continent. Facial Eczema and Markets. There has been very little reaction so far in the Waikato sheep market to the losses caused through the recent outbreak of facial eczema. It was thought that the rush for sheep to replace the losses would be extremely heavy, but there has been no rush. One explanation is that finance is responsible. Most of the losers by the outbreak are primarily dairy farmers, and they have not had such a prosperous season that they can afford to pay

for a second lot ,of breeding ewes, or dry sheep, for that matter. They were mostly financed for the ewes which have succumbed to the outbreak, but the liability remains. The Government assistance offered will take time to allocate, as each individual case has to be judged on its own merits. Another factor in the lack of demand for replacements is the absence so far of any assurance from the authorities that they are getting any nearer a solution of the eczema trouble, and this factor is also affecting those farmers who sustained no direct losses, but who ordinarily would be in the market for sheep. Skim-milk for Orchards. The effects of skim-milk application to the soil around peach trees was forcibly demonstrated in an orchard at Te Kauwhata. During the early spring, just as the trees were com-

mencing growth, skim-milk was tipped around several trees. About four gallons were given per daily application. No. 1 tree received approximately 10 applications, No. 2 approximately five applications, and No. 3 no applications. A further two trees which received approximately 15 applications died immediately. At the beginning of November No. 1 tree had practically succumbed, No. 2 tree had definitely been retarded compared to No. 3, which was in a healthy condition. The trees were all the same age, and in the winter Nos. 2 and 3 were approximately the same size and No. 1 slightly smaller.