FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2973, 4 August 1891, Page 4

FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

—♦ • 11 k.ii Prick ton a >tallioN —What U v.inl to be the highest pi ice ever paid for a .-I til lion by auction was paid at the Fi lirnary m!oj at Lixington, Kentucky, when Mm l'J-yoar-old Auto-o by Elec-tioneer—-Columbine, was knocked down for £11,01)0. It should he i-aid that the puivhaser was already his kitlf owner, and lint tho sale was to chisu a partnership he however Was sold next day for £IJ,OOO.

<,'!'.-\tirv or A.vhkiCA.v ami Canadian Cue; si . -The choono committee of tim Home and Foreign Produce Exchange Jiuv... issued circulars to the American and Canadian cheese makers, in which they complain of a falling oil' in tho quality of .:,., chee-o sent last/year, U,o make showing " tis-'ht, hard, unkind curd and a dryness which has in some casus created a suspicion of skimming." It was also marketed in an unripo eonditiou. Tiik Australian Bustard—lt has been decided by tho Victorian Government toeutirely prohibit tho destruction of tho Australian Bustard or wild turkey, on tho ground of its usefulness as a des troyer of insects, particularly locusts. This action has been taken as tho result of a suggestion made through the Department of Agriculturo some months ago by Mr French, Government Entomologist.

Pleuro-i-neumosia.— A herd of 55 dairy, cows on tho farm of Mr Clarko, of Cathoron, noar Rugby, who is engaged in tho London milk trado has been slaughtered, pleuro-pnoumonia having broke out amongst thorn. Only two were found to be diseased : but the rest had been in contact with them, and these, together with ten animals from a neighbouring farm, which had been with the herd, were destroyed, Captain Sponcor, of the Hoard of Agriculture, is endevouring to traeo tho orgin of the outbreak. What Horses Die ok.—A Now York horso life insurance company, insuring only sound and generally young animals, worth between 109dol. and -lOOdol. each, reports that of 70-1 horses dying within tho past five years, 183 died of colic, 77 of inflammation of the bowels, 74 of kidney trouble, 51 of pneumonia, 32 of sunstroke, 30 of pinkeye, 37 of lockjaw, 23 of broken logs, 12 of epizootic, 10 of heart disease, 4 of blind staggers, 9 were killed by runaways, 4 were drowned, 2 were killod by lightning, 128 died of unknown diseases, and only 8 were burned. Tub Profits of Maplk Sugar-making prof. Cook, of Michigan State Agricultural College, states, that the annual expense of working u 20 acre " sugarbush " of 600 trees is about £36, this including 10 per cent ou the £260 invested in land, building and machinory. The annual yield of sugar being worth £18 to£6o, there is a profit of from £12 to £24 peranum. Prof. Cook impress upon American farmers the need of fostering this industry, and tho protests against tho reckless manner in which the maple trees of tho United States are being destroyed by tho settlers. A Vein of "Natural Cheese."—-A case of the " Wildest Western imagination " is thin recorded: — " Patrick M'Glinn, a farmer living in lowa, while digging a well tho othor day, struck a veiu, of natural choose, 3Jft thick, a" a depth of 83ft. Ho has just received an analysis from a chemist, who says it is a cheese of a very high grade. It is of a beautiful goldou colour and will keep any length of timo. It is considered one of tho most remarkable discoveries ever made in Iho Wost. [Wo should think so.—En.] Mr M'Glinu has refused ati oiler of £10,000, made by Scott aud Hicks, of St. Louis Mo." —Mark Lano Express.

Pkui-it in Horse-breeding — Horse broediug does sometimes pay, or the following story related in au English journal is fiction: —'A farmer, whose early predilections hud not nltognthur been for horses, was porsuaded by a relation to accept a thoroughbrod horse as a country sire at £50- Ho picked tip a mare here and there, irrespective of breed. Their average price did not reach £25. Ouo in particular, I kiiow, cost him £'6. Ho has now moro than a score, and I do not think he has given moro than £100 for any of thorn. His stallion was recently covering at 150 guineas a mare, and was moro than full at the price ; and several «f his yearlings havo sold for upwards of 1000 guineas. Last year the produce of his £5 mare fetched upwards of 2000 guineas. Elay i-'ok Butter Production.— Tents conducted at one of tho State experimental i*tntioas in America, the results of which havo recently bcou published, tend to prove that tho opinion of old-fashioned farmers that thore is no better feeding for a milch cow iu winter than good hay Was correct. Tho experiments referred to show thut hay produces a higher percentage of butter fat in milk thau almost any other kind of food. It was tried both in March and May iu conjunction with a small quantity of graiu, against not merely various kinds of artificial food, but green pasturage, with tho invariable result that the highest percentage of butter fat in the milk was obtained from

the hay ration. Tho only kind of artificial food which camo near hay in its results was cotton cake. Of course it does not follow that hay is the most economical feeding. IWM.'KNIfE OF Fe.MAI.D.S OJf MALKS' Progeny,—Although the influence of the malo on tho female is well knj.vvn, it is not so jfcneiully admitted ihat the female exerts influence on the mule when mated with subsequent females. To prove this, I will ask permission to give two cases that came under my observation. Some timo since my son had two Belgian hare rabbits given him—a buck and a doe. Tiie first result of their being mated was a litter of six young ones, all true to colonr. Not caring to keep tho buck, I gave him to tho son of a neighbour, when ho was turned in with a number of silver

grey, yollow, and other coloured does. After tho young rabbits wore weaned I sent for tho same buck. In duo course the doo produced a litter of seven, only two of which were true to colour, tho other partaking of the colour of silver grey and other coloured tame rabbits. I mentioned the s.-tnio to a celebrated breeder of Welsh black cattle, aud he said that would ex - plain what had hitherto been a mystery to him. He had allowed his pedigree black bull to serve ordinary Welsh cows, gome of which were red ; and although he hud none but pure black cows in his herd, his bull bad s;ot several rod calves. Shkkp. —Ewos will now bo comimr forward for early lambing, and should be kept na much as possible! out of wet pad docks, and supplied with a littlo sweet hay or oaten straw, and a few roots thrown on tho grass, or have access for a few hours daily to where roots aro growing, half a pound of oats per head per day till lambing, would ensuro a dropping of pwd vigorous lambs ; it is advisable to leave a few lnmps of rock salt about tho paddocks for tho sheep to lick. To have flood early lambs lit for the butcher, it is indispensable to have a paddock of rape or turnips, or rape and seeds, ready to turn the owes into us they lamb. Sheep kept in paddocks will require to have their feet earjfully looked after and ~; i red, the iiefdoet of which is frequently the parent of foot-root, aud much ultiiuato loss. It is a Rood phm to drive the sheep across a bed of fresh slaked lime, but the less ewes in lamb, or with lambs at foot, are driven about tho better, will bo tho result. Ewes and lambs should havo a gooi bito of sweet, succulent herlaze, iye, clover, and ryegrass, or good aft -Harass, kept fur tho purpose, to enable the lambs to havo a good supply of milk. If the lambs stunted in growth now from poverty of keen no after care will restore them. CAiiti-Kui. Sumo of the most prosperous farmers on small holdings are tiio inhabihints nf (he Island of .lorspy. At tho Dairy Conference, lately bold in Jersey, one of the Jersey Farmers who attended said ho pays £370 a year for leas than fifty acres of land, and yet lie makes that land return him a good revenue. lie grows only ten nores of potatoes, and his other crops aro chiefly for tho consumption of his stock. Ho keeps sixteen eows and mari their offspring and he makes butter, lie and his uon do

newly all the work of the farm, and hidauiriili r- manage the dairy. The scent, "f ni.ikitus a (,'ood liviiifr after paying £7 10-t per acio in the shape of rent is — oiieful cultivation, constant application, economy in nil points, combined with a line -aiil aud climate, aud tho nearness to London n- a first class matket for all he rai-us. llh does not wai-to a single foot, of his farm. The very be-t, liedife rows irrow herbs for the Kuglish m'uket, and every odd corner has its grapes and other fruit. Ho pays n big rent, but ho makes the land earn it.

Sli'ißTllouy lli:i.I.:-i. — L'uio t-horlhorn hulls have :i .-truiiir ebiim uj-on the ntMi tiou of the duiry farmer as a powerful agent ofthu work of improving? his milking catllo. In America highly sati-fMetmy results have been obtained iu way of the improving the crossbred dairy herd by usinf; pure ,-horthorn bulls Apart from the fact that there are «ood milking families among beef producing shorthorns, there is n law of heredity which favourably affects the shorthorn breed as a whole iu the matter, of improving dairying cattle. Mr L. B. Arnold, one of the best authorities upon American dairying, says ; —"All history ooneurs in making the production of milk the characteristic of the originial shorthorn cow. Tho extraordinary tendency to flesh and fat, the fine form of tho shorthorn of to-day are tho werk of modern brooders, and have taken tho place of a tendency to milk. In crossing with natives the shorthorns, in which the capactiy for milk has run low, thelatteracquisitions «ive way and dropout, the progeny 'takes back ' aud tho orininal form of the early shorthorn and tho tendency to milk revives. It is on account of the inherent tendency to milk that shorthorn bulls, oven when that tendency has beeu well bred out, are so notorious for producing good milkers when crossed with the native cow." Tho same authority warns breeders against expect ing good rosults from " graded " or crossbred shorthorn bulls. How many of onr dairy herds possess puro bulls of any breed P—Australasian.

How a Jerseyman Treats His Cow. —The following short description of how the cow is generally treated iu Jersey is taken from a paper contributed by the agricultural department of the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society to the Dairy Conference, and read by Colonel Le Coram :—The Jersey fanner endeavours to regulate the calving for tho spring of the year, when the vegetation speedily advances. In the winter, the cattle are housed at night. When they come in they each receive, after milking, about three quarters of a bushel of roots and a little bay. This done, they are left till 8 o'clock, when they receive their additional hay or straw. The following morning they are attended to early, and having been milked, receive roots and hay as on the previous evening. At 9 o'clock they arc turned out, if the weather permits. Cows are dried a month or six weeks before calving. Bran mashes are frequently given to them about the time of parturition, and continued for a fortnight or so after the calf is born. Bull calves intended for the butcher receive the cow's milk for a month or six weeks. When the calf is a heifer, she is always reared and kept in the island until she is two years old, when she is sold or exported. Two weeks or so after calving, if the weather is fine, she is turned out to grass in the day-time. It is the custom in the Island to tether the cattle, and they are moved frequently during the day, generally every two or three hours. Water is given them in tho morning, oa leaving the stab'e, and at noon. In the summer they also have it iu the evening. About tho end of May they are allowed to remain out all night, and this practice continues until the eud of September, when the system of housing recommences. A cow is considered in her prime when she is six years old, and continncs good until she is 10 or 12 years old. Some of the cows are milked three times a day, and a good one will give 121b or 111b a week, though the general run is from 91b to 101b of butter per week. This refers to cows fed on grass only, without additional food, and although the above remarks apply generally to the treatment of cows, there are fanners who feed the animals more liberally and get a corresponding return for the outlay. As a rule in these cases, little or no cake is used, but chiefly bran or farinaceous food.