FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2522, 8 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

The Champion Milk Cow. — Tho world's inilk-yieldiug champion is Pietertje, of Cuba, New York. Her record is 31!,318 l-21b of milk a year, an average of 83 I 'lib per day. Oats kor Silage.—Tho increased use of the silo will tend to make oats more popular with dairy farmers. Crushed or ground oats make an excellent grain ration to go with the silage, and the oat straw makes the needed dry food.

Packing of Butter.—The making up of butter depends upon the custom of the market to which it is consigned; local tastes having to bo considered. Whatever form ia adopted it must be of attractive neatness, which well repays the trouble of the maker. It is recommended that fresh butter should be made up in a rectangular shape. It affords great facility in packing, and when at its journey's end, comes'out none the worse for transit.

Pigs Tails.—Theodore Lewis snys he could not think of cutting the tails from his pigs. The tails are the thermometers which indicate the animals' condition. If not feeling well, not thriving, if his food does nut ngree with him, the tail will begin to straighten. The sicker the pig the straighter tho tail. While the conventional curl retains its place there need be no anxiety about the pig. If a double curl bo seen he may be regarded as in perfect condition.

Bugs From Australia.—An evening paper says that tho fruit-growers of California recently imported from Australia, a consignment of a species of '• bug" which has been found to be useful in the Australian fruit gardens, as it preys upon the insects which are so detrimental to the well-being of orchards. The consignment appears to have satisfied the Cali-

fornians, as they wish Congress to sanction the importation on a large scale. If with the bugs the Americans could take a few thousands of their surplus rabbits,

the Australians would have no objection to increase their lists of exports.

Thinning Oot Fruit.—The principle of thinning out fruit is so simple that a child may understand and see the force of it. A tree or other plant is able to take up from the soil a certain amount of nutriment—no more, no less. The nutriment is equally distributed to the fruit on the limbs. Diffuse tho food taken from the soil to too great an extent, and the resalt is inevitably a lot of fruit of small size and poor flavour. On tho other hand, only allow a modorat« amount to remain on the trees, and the plant food ia concentrated—the result being largo and luscious fruit, which commands the highest prices.

Egyptian Corn.—Egyptian corn, or, as it is sometimes termed, Canaan corn, is in arid districts where irrigation can be applied, of great value to the farmer and stockman. Its uses are many and varied. Not even wheat is its equal in the many uses to which it can be put for man and beast; while for poultry feeding it is matchless. It requires less moisture than other grains. It is easy of digestion, and economical for harvesting. As an article of diet it is luperior to wheat in hot countries ; it does not beat the blood like corn or wheat. With irrigation, it can be planted at any period of the year. It is used green for feed or hay, or raised for the grain. For forage it is fine; stock readily eat it. For breadstuffs it is priceless. For grain, for poultry, or stock of all descriptions it has no superior. A Cool Dairy.—A dairy at Pino Creek is lined with sawdust in place of sods of earth. There are double doors and windows to it also. The cellar, used for wines, meat, and general provisions, is in the excavation 7ft. deep. This is covered by a peakeil roof of pine hoards projecting a foot or two beyond the sides of the excavation, and coming down to about lfc. above the natural surface of

the ground. Under this a room is built, The ground is a still clay impervious to water; and, except on extremely wet days, thero is no percolation. What there then is can be removed in a bucket, into which it drains. The ventilation of this cellar is pcrfect, It is effected after the manner of that adopted in steamships —an iron funnel-shaped hood projecting above the ground can he turned to face the wind, which is thus forced down the shaft, and discharged under the floor of the cellar.

Nkw Zealand v. N.S W. Mutton. —The Chief Inspector (if Stuck for New South Wales, in tii.s report for the year ISB7, refers to the manner in which carcases are sent to the market. Ho says —"It is of Ihe highest importance to owners that their stock should bo killed as near as possible to the pastures, and thus save a very serious waste and deterioration in the meat which the live stock trade entails, inasmuch as the beat oullet for our surplus stock is in the exportation of frozen meat, and that again will never be put on a pavable footing until we can place our meat iu prime condition (which the fresh meat trade will enable us to do) on the London market. It is only courting disappointment aud loss to offer inferior or wasted ■neat in that market. At present New South Wales mutton usually sells at from Jd to Ad per lb., or, say 6 to 13 per cent. less than New Zealand; and although this is to some extent attribu able to the New Zealand sheep bein crossbreds aud heavier than ours, tl condition and flavour of our mutton ha\ still more to do with the difference, Considering the rapid growth of th industry, and the large amount involve in these slight differences of price, it strange that greater attention is not pai to these details. Simple Rules for Butter-making. [Issued with the sanction nf the Dairy Commi tee of the Royal Agricultural Society of Eni land.J Rinse, in cold water, all dairy utensi to be used, such as churn, buttcr-worke wooden butter hands, &c. Now scald with hot water, and rin: again with cold. Always use a thermometer. The churn and cream to be at a tempo aturo of 56 deg. to 58 deg. in summe and 60 deg. in winter. Ventilate the churn freely and fr quently during churning, until no a rushes out when the vent peg is take out. Churn at 40 to 45 revolutions per mil ute. Stop churning immediately the butti comes. This can be ascertained by tl sound ; if in doubt, look. The butter should now be like grains i mustard feed. Draw off the buttermilk and wash tl butter in the churn with plenty of col water. Turn the churn two or three timi very gently, then draw off the water, an repeat the process until the water draw off is quite clear and free from butti milk. Make a strong brine and pour intochur through a hair sieve. Wash the butti thoroughly and draw off the brine ; tali the butter out of the churn and put it o the butter-worker, which use until ever drop of buttermilk is pressed out of th butter, N.B, —Never touch the butter wit your hands. The Scottish Agricultural Outlook. As Edinburgh correspondent writes a follows to the Dunedin Star under dat June 29 :— The extreme depression over the agri cultural horizon is but very slightly light ened by the better trade iti sheep an cattle, and by a fairly good crop last yeai When leases expire farms have to be le at much lower rents. As yet grain, espec: ally wheat, is very low in price, and th great influx of dairy produce from abroa is beginning to tell on the dairy farmer: who have hitherto escaped wonderfullj You New Zfalanders are now sending u cheese which, from some of th factories, such as the one a Gore, beats the Yankees, and have no doubt, with lessened charges fo freight and carriage, a great trade wil be created Quality is everything whei there is keen competition. The Wigton shiro farmers pay the host cheese-make in their country some £000 a year to ac as inspector or instructor. He goes roum all the dairies as it suits his convenient without; notice, and checks any careless ness on the part of the makers. Thi keeps the article up to the highes level as regards quality. I 100 l on Southland as likely to become a grea dairy district. Of course the Yankee have an advantage over you of chea] , freight. For instance, wheat from Chi , ca go to London costs 4s a quarter ; fron i New Zealand the cost is 12s a quarter— that is, before it is in the miller's handf Though the tenants and the landlords ant those dependent on them have Rufferec greatly, they form after all the greal minority of the penplp, and the fact ii | undoubted that the other classes of thi | community have profited largely by thei loss. Food being cheap, and wages good those last are comparatively well off. Fertilisers for Small Fruits. Opinions vary as to the comparativi values of commercial and farmyarc mautires. Most agree that the former ii more profitable as a supplement to th< latter. For heavy soils which requirt lightening, farmyard manure is excel lent ; and by the fermentation of the manure where not too old, the cold soils are rendered warmer and are altered. The artificial manures are easier of application, quicker in effect, and free from noxious weeds; and for small fruits their use is to be commended for their ease oi application and effectiveness. For strawberries ordinary farmyard manure is very objectionable on this account. The ex. pense of cleaning and keeping clean a strawberry bed for a second crop where stable manure has been used, or even in soils well seeded with weeds where commercial fertilisers are used, is an evil which lessens year by year. Stable manure of good quality generally contain a larger proportion of nitrogen to its other constituents than is desirable, tending to increase the plant rather than fruit development. Where cultivation is kept up during the season, the objection to stable manure on account of the weed seeds contained therein is not as great, as cultivation destroys the weeds. Still experience has been very favourable to the use of commercial fertilisers generally for smalll fruits of all kinds. For strawberries the stable manure, if not too rank and green, may be used as a covering applied in winter where the frosts are severe. Clean straw is better still as a covering, simply because it does not convey any foul seed to the ground. The commercial fertilisers to be preferred for strawberries, grapes, etc., are those containing a large percentage of potash. People on light soil use Peruvian guano in the early spring in preference to any other application on account of its quick action ; and where there is likely to be r. deficiency of foliage the practice is to be commended. Wood ashes of good quality have probably no superior for strawberries. Indian Wheat. The annual meeting of the East Indian Railway Company was held on July 2 under the presidency of Mr R. R. Craw! ford, who said he particularly wished to draw the attention of the public to that part of their report which referred to the wheat traffic. This traffic showed the worst feature of the half year, the r been 133,774 tons and £103,30, from the returns of the previous season. The circumstances of the Indian wheat of 1887 were, however, not

very well known. There was a failure in greater or less degree, everywhere. The exports of wheat from Calcutta, during the seqond half of the year, as compared with the corresponding period

of 1886, decreased by 58 percent., from Bombay by GO per cent., and from Kurruehee by SO por cent. From these threo ports nearly 000,000 tons of wheat wero sent away in tlie last six months of ISS6, and less tliun 200,000 tons during the same period of 1887. In addition to tho poor crop, and the larjrer proportion of it than usual being' required for local consumption, prices at homo had a deterrent effect on exports. The homo quotation for No. 2 Calcutta Club on Aug. 31 was 27s Gd per quarter—tho lowest quotation on record—whilo prices up-country ruled higher than they had done for many years; they were, at times, ;"js to Gs a quarter higher than Calcutta quotations. There had been a very largo traflio in grain aDd pulses during tho sncond half year of 1887. That bad boon principally due to the failuro of the crops in tho North-West Provinces, particularly at Agra and the neighbourhood. On tho lower districts there had been an abundant out-turn, and there wero.Jarge stocks to meet the demand up-country, Por the time being, Calcutta was shut out of the market, owing to the higher prices obtainable up-country; and tho returns showed a decrease in tho receipts at Howrah from pulsei. The principal despatching stations were the loop line generally (increase over R-i. 100,000), fiarrh, and adjacent stations on the Dinapore District. Tho upward movement from this cause culminated in December.