FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 301, 27 August 1908, Page 6

FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Various means have been tried in many parts of Australia to get rid of sorrel, but the only successful method is to turn sheep on to the infested land. They soon get a liking for it, and will, by keeping it from flowering, cause its gradual extinction.

Cows are calving rapidly now and farmers are getting a good percentage of milk considering the stage of the season, remarks a correspondent of the Hawera “Star.” Calves are still dropping under the head of the axe, except those from extra choice cows.

Mr A. G. Simms, the Government pomologist, states that at Rata, Mr H. M. Downs, a native, has planted on his farm 300 mixed fruit trees, most of them being three years old. He intends to plant an additional 100 acres this season. The soil is well adapted to fruitgrowing, and Mr Downs intends to give his white brothers a lesson in this important industry.

> Lambing is becoming general in many districts throughout the Ashburton County, especially those near the sea beach (says th? “ Lyß telton Times ”), and so far the percentage of deaths is reported to bennrisually low. A number of this season’s lambs were offered at the Tinwald Yards last week, and the bulk were of a very healthy character. During the mild weather fresh'feed has been springing very fast. The percentage of lambs is expected to be well up to those of former years.

Mr W. Froggart, the New South Wales entomologist, who has been on a world tour of investigation of orchard pests, has gained no evidence of the reliability of parasites. He thinks orchardists had better stick to spraying and fumigating, and let the parasites help. Mr Froggart states that millions of mangroves are the home of fruit-fly in India and Ceylon, the Indian species of fly, which is the same as the Queensland.

A sheep farmer near Dannevirke was greatly troubled with dogs amongst his sheep and lambs, which is rather a serious thing at this time of the year. He had a suspicion that the mongrels belonged to a Maori pah close by, so he determined to put a stop to the worrying propensities of the dogs. To make himself safe he advertised that poison for dogs would be laid on a date mentioned. The sheep farmer purchased poison, which he gave to his shepherd to place in the paddocks. The shepherd poisoned some meat, and put it where he was told. Taking into consideration what happened afterwards, it is thought the Maoris saw the shepherd lay the poisoned meat in the paddocks, which they collected and gave to the shepherd’s four dogs, for they were found dead on their chains next morning, and showed unmistakable signs of having been poisoned. The police were immediately informed, with the result that two Maoris have been arrested, and are to be charged with poisoning the dogs. The dogs were valuable animals, and the loss to the shepherd is severe in more ways than one.

English farmers are beginning to find out that cooking the food of a dairy cow largely increases ordinary profits—presumably during the winter months. The method adopted by them is to steam the chaff for 12 hours ; this produces a slight fermentation. Warm drinking water is advocated instead of cold, the contention being that cold drinking water lowers the temperature ef the cow's system, and makes demands in the form of more food to repair this waste. Some even advocate moistening the chaff with separated milk, and contend that even if the milk be worth 2d per gallon results justify the outlay. When warm food is given bran is especially valuable and excellent milk is produced. Experiments in Germany have shown that there is no advantage in cooking food for fattening bullocks (stall-fed), as such food invariably causes them to go back during a cold spring. But it is quite otherwise with dairy cows, and more attention might well be paid to the subject. Be-

yond question the water used affects the quality of the milk. This is mentioned with all seriousness, for it has been proved that Derbyshire milk sent to London keeps the longest owing to the goodness of the spring in that county, while milk from Kent and the homes counties does not keep sweet so long.

A Masterton sportsman, who spent a day or two after rabbits in the Kaituna and surrounding districts, states that there are dead cattle lying about in all directions —starved to death. The utter absence of feed has meant the loss of cattle' worth hundreds of pounds to farmers on the upland country.