FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2736, 25 January 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

The Chicago Cattle Trad*;.—ln the second week of October 82,763 beef cattle, 137,833 hogs, nnd 50,078 sheep arrived in the stockyards in Chicago. The number of cattle is said to have beaten all previous records.

The Largest CRor ok Potatoes on Record.—Perhaps the largest crop of potatoes on record, says Farming World, in that just raised on a field in the Garscube policies. The measurement is 5 acres 1 rood 10 falls, and the tonnage 109 tons 18cwt. 2 qr., equal to 20 tons 14 cwt. per acre. The potatoes were of the Magnum Bonuin variety. The grower was Mr Robert Wallace, Chapelton, Bearsden, near Glasgow.

The Breeding Centre of the World. —England as the breeding centre of the world is sending live stock of all kinds over the knowa world. Tho oxportation of high class fowls is enormous." Within the last three months birds valued at about £2000 have hoeu sent to Australia alone, and now South America i» buying largely. Last week one lot of Dorkings was pent to Peru, and 11 trios of various breeds to the Argentine Republic.

Blinkers.—lt nppeara that in France the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have condemned blinkers, and have resolved to do their utmost to bring about their genersl abolition. In London blinkers are not used for horses on the tram cars, and this is said to be a decided advantage, as the horses are allowed to see everything, and iu time get accustomed even to road-rollers. Nervous backing and jumping aside, are consequently unknown.

A Smakt Exhibitor.—The wise men of Ohio who engineer the dairy department of the State Fair made rules for the testing of dairy cows, that allowed a credit of one "point" to each cow for every ten daysthat had elapsed—after the first 20 days—since the cow came in, and ovory 20.points thu9 made wap, under the rule, credited as a pound of butter per day on tho test. A fellow who was " smart" .saw the loop-hole through which he could drive his farrow cow, 19 months calved, got credit of 31b. of butter per day which hhe did not, and never could make, and thus beat all the dairy cows on the ground and captured the premium. Such rules need amending.

Chlorate of Potash for Milking Cows.—ln his annual report Professor C-irrol says : —"At the suggestion of an eminent medical man an interesting experiment as to the value of small doses of chlorata of potash in increasing the milk of newly calved cows hae been tried at tho Minister Dairy School. The results showed that there was a slight increase in the average yield of milk during , the time the cows were receiving of chlorate of potash per day. The cows kept in good health during the experiment, and there was an increase in their weight, showing that the increased yield ©f milk was not brought about by any drain on the system induced by the use of chlorate of potash."

A Mammoth Land Sale.—Tracts of land amounting to over 135,000,000 acres are to be offered in Europe at the upset price of 2dol. in gold per hectare, or about 3s 3d per acre, by the Government of the Argentine Republic. This is probably by far tho greatest land sale ever arranged for at ono time. The land is offered for settlement only, and not to speculators, and certain nationalities are selected by the Argentine Government, To the people of Great Britain over 46,000,000 acres are to be offered, an area larger than that of England and Wales. Large as the total acreage to be offered is, it is less than half the public land of the Argentine Republic. Hitherto the land of that great country has been too much the prey of speculators, and the new project is a move in the right direction,

Helping Russian Fakmers.—lt was not long ago that a system of national bank advances to farmers, on the security of their corn, was instituted by the Russian Government. Now, a further step has been taken to help the agriculturists of that country. The Czar has just sanctioned the rising of a loan of 170,000,000 roubles, in connection with which thera will be a State lottery. The money is to be devoted to the assistance of persons engaged in agriculture who have been the victims of unpropitious weather and other unforeseen circumstances. The conditions offered to subscribers aro very tempting, valuable prizes being promised in the lottery. The subscription wi!l be paid in instalments extending , over 17 months. What Gardeners in Germany Have to Put up With.—What have gardeners in this colony to say to the following, from the Berlin correspondent of the Chronicle? Gardeners iu the different nurseries are suggesting the organisation of a strike next year ; and, indeed, their domestic conditions are bad. Work begins in summer at 4 or 5 o'clock, and ends at 8. During the winter mouths the gardener has to work from 6to S. Generally he gets a house and 40 to 50 marks (shillings monthly). But there are nurseries—and this is especially amongst the larger ones—where the gardenei receives only 30 marks a month, without a house. We kno%v one of the largest Berlin nurseries where the gardeners' rooms are over a stable. Here the men slepp, 10 to 12 in one room, and as there is no accomodation for so many beds, some of the younger men have to sleep two in a bed."

Mohair.—Breeders of Angrora goats in the colonies will bo interested to hear that after years of depression, whioh mado the Angora goat industry languish, i\ firm tone likely to hist has overtaken the industry. When tho Victorian Acclimatisation Society, about tho year 186S, imported the Ansrora, and a spirit of enterprise prompted the introduction from Asia Minor of the animals to Australia, about the same time newspapers and stock breeders gave tho fullest information of the habits of the Angora, :ind the nupposed profitable business which was likely to result. At that time mohair was 3s to 3s 2d per lb. But the price was not maintained, and in a few years it fell to Is per lb. Thomas and Cook reported in their circular, dated London, loth October: —"For some time there has been evidence of a return of fashion in favour of mohair pieces for ladies' dresses. It is now upwards of 14 years since this trade practically ceased; but within the past week or two an extremely keen demand has set in for the best parcels of ' fair average ' Turkey and for good Cape 'first.' The value of the former has risen to 18d per lb., and the latter to 14d to lod per lb. But spinners are reluctant to follow the advance; and only a Tery limited business has been done at the extreme quotations." i

Kerry Cattle. —Nearly 400 head of Kerry cattle were brought to/.'ether in Killarney market placo on Saturday, November 9lh, in response to an invitation issued by the Royal Dub'in Society to stockowners in the neighbourhood. They were askt?d to send in ?£erries and Dexters, that a selection migl t be made of animals qualified for entry in the Kerry herd-book. As may be well imajjiued, the proceedings w( re watched I with great interest by a numerous concourse of country people. Hitherto only those animals have been eligible for entry in rhe herd book, which have been awarded prizes or commendation at oertain agricultural shows, but it was considered that there must be hundreds of pure Kerry cattle in their native district, belonging , to the small-farmer class, that were never likely to see the inside of a sbow-ynrd. Of course, larger occupie: 8 and landowners also availed themselves of the opportunity to havo their cattle inspected; and inspection of herds at the owners' residences have likewise been arranged for those who are willing to defray the expenses of the inspections. About; 50 per cent, of the animals satisfied the judges, who had previously decided that Kerries, to bo eligible for the herd-book, must be all black, except, perhaps, a white dug; and that Dexters may be red or black, and that a little white with either colour should not disqualify. The Kerriea and Dexters are coming to the. front with a regular rush.

The Victorian Farmers and the Grai.v Merchants —At a meeting of the Colao District Farmers' Association, Mr Boiisinsm read tin extract from The Age concerning a meeting held in Melbourne by the grain merchants (Messrs. Goldsbronffh and Co. and others), who proposed forming themselves into a setiiety for the purpose of iuflictiiif; inconvenience and expense upon the fanners, viz , of giving one month's storage instead of throe as at, present, each of the firms to doposit £500, which would be forfeited if tho rule was broken. The following motion was tabled in consequence: — " That in the event of the resolutions as read beinj; carried by the warehouse companies in Melbourne, the members of this association bind themselves as far ns possible not to con-ign any strain to the companies that should have reduced the time for fine utorajro from three months to one month, and that circulars be printed giving the name of every company that has resolved to reduce the lime for free storage. That a copy of such circular be handed to every member of this association with a request that they withdraw their patronage from such companies, as they have shown no good reasons for the change, except that they wish to squeeze a further profit from the fnrmers. Furthermore, that a circular letter be sent to every farmers' association in the colony requesting them to resist the charge to their utmost ability." The Golac District Farmers' Association think it is only another attempt to squeeze the farmer, and advises that if the farmers combine they can dictate to agents instead of agents dictating to farmers, as the unions are sufficiently strong throughout the colony to form a company to carry on their bnsiuess on the co-operative principle.

Sound Advice on the Value of Scientific Farming. — The Earl of Lonsdale, in addressing a meeting nf farmers at Penrith recently, said thoro were many reasons why farmers should pursue the scientific part of farming. He felt sure they would all agree with him that in these time.', when it was necessary for a farmer to raakeeveryr.hing he possibly could out of his produce, arable or otherwise, it was time to see where money could be saved. Among,-t the first things that every farmer ought to know, but which, he was told very few did actually know, was the different kinds of grasses and their values. His Lordship went on to refer to alleged impositions in seeds and in artificial manures. Some of tho lattev were advertised as containing , a large proportion of nitrogen. But perhaps if they were to take a small proportion of tho manure and burn it, they would be surprised to find that it consisted largely of ground leather. There were other instances in scores that could be mentioned. He contended, therefore, that farmers who were iuexperienced in detecting imposition in chemical manures of the present day would save a lar<?e amount of money and do very much better with their land if they would stick to the ordinary and common manure, and also have tanks to collect liquid manure for use on the farm, There was another advantage which he thought could be gained by these scientific classes, and that was that they could get a most thorough insight and knowledge of the different effects of food upon cattle. They also get a deep insight into the diseases of cattle. He also had seut to him a leaflet by Miss Ormerod, the entomologist of the Royal Agricultural Society. These leaflets have been largely distributed, and referred to the ox warble fly or bot fly. This lady had done a tremendous amount of good throughout the country, and deserved the greatest possible praise for the way in which she had done it.

Marketing Fruit is Germany,—A new mode of marketing fruit is commanding the attention ot consumers in Germany, which has for its object the bringing together of the consumer aud the producer. It is carried out in the following manner ---Fairly selected samples of different fmits of'from six to eight examples each are brought to market and put on plates together with a ticket, on which is written the name of the fruit, that of the seller, the quality and the quantity of the fruit, which is saleable, the price per Uilog., and per 100 kilog, the time of delivery, and the smallest quantity which can be sold. The buyer, after selecting the required quantity of fruit, places au order ticket on the plate, giving his name and address and the quantity required. The fruit so ordered is delivered to the buyer through the market agencies, so that these should have the power to compel adherence to the bargain. The seller delivers to tho market committee, and these to the buyer. If the seller does not send fruit equal to the sample, he is for the future forbidden the market. The market fees amount in all to 12 per cent. This method of selling is now becoming , very common in the country. Figures are always eloquent, and it is found that in ISSI eight sellers sold G2O kilogs. fruit for the sum of 141 marks; while in ISSO, three markets, over 100 sellers sold 44,600 kilogs. The kilog. (kilogramme) is equnl to 2204 lb. avoirdupois. The advantages of the system are that the fruitgrowers must always send fruit that is sound to the customer. He i* obliged to send to market his best fruit, and the bulk must be according , to the sample, so that he must likewise strivo to grow only fins fruit, and the better prices obtained for the fruit induces mere extended and better cultivation.

Improving tub Hhru.— Tho improvement of the herd simply by the process of selection m?~y seem a very slow process, but let us see what is possible in fivo yenra. The dairyman has, eay, 20 good cows. He introduces a pedigreed bull, and nt the end of tho first year has his 20 good cows and 10 heifer calves—supposing the sexes to be equal. At the end of the second year he has the 20 cows, 10 onlves, and 10 yearling heifers. The third year he has 20 cows, 18 half blood calves, 10 yearling heifers, and 10 2-year-old heifers, aud 5 g-blood heifer calves. Tho fourth year he has 20 cows, their 10 heifer calves, ten yearling , J-bloods, « yearling f-bloods, 10 2-year-olds, with their 5 j-blood calves, and 10 3-year-old i-blood cows, with their f-blood calves. At the end of the fifth year, the 20 original cows remain, with their 10 heifer calves, there are 10 yearling J-blood heifers, 10 2-year-old heifers, 10 3 yearold and 10 4-year-old cows, with 15 f-blood calves, 5 yearling g-blood heifers, and 5 2-year-old J-blood heifers, with 2 or 3 g-blood heifers. This is possible, and shows how fast milking stook may bs made to double up when all the females are saved. Each succeeding year would show a greater proportionate increase. The proportion of heifer calves miehfc be moro or less than half daring the short period of five years, but it would probably average about that. The increase is such that there is ample chance for selection, while the animals, male and female sold, would considerably increase the receipt?, even if the milch cows are kept down to tha original number of 20. To those who have never tried it, or witnessed the process of development, it is astonishing to observe the changes and improvements in the appearance and quality of the herd from ths third year, when the 2-year-old heifers come into milk and take the place of 10 of the original cows. The change is complete at the end of the fourth year, onlv grades —2 and 3 years old—appearing," with £ and J blood coming on to fill their places. So it does not, take so long nf tor all, to transform a herd ; and, if tho selection of blood is good, nothing pays the dairyman better, or gives him a warmer feeling of satisfaction.