RURAL NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3112, 25 June 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

RURAL NOTES.

Cows Hard to Milk.—lt often happens that a cow ii extremely hard to milk, and cannot in consequence bo milked clean. This is very certain to cause the flow of milk to diminish, for if any milk is left in the udder it becomes more or less inflamed, and the milk falls oil in quantity. The hardness iu milking is caused by the hole in the end of the teat being too small; and Professor Sheldon recommends that it. may bt, distended by the insertion of a small plug or cone of ivory, bone, or hard wood, well oiled, when the milking is over, and leaving it in th teat until the next milking time. This may be repeated until the cow becomes easy to milk. If made of the right size no harm will result, and in a short time the orifice in the teat will become permanently enlarged, and tho cow will no longer bs difficult to milk. Charcoal fok Stock.—One of the most simple albeit efficacious medicines for stock is charcoal. This is finely powdered, and given in water. According to "The Farmer," charcoal has proved to be one of the best cures for that common complaint known as bloat, or hoven in cattle. Cases in which tho sides were distended, and as hard as a board, were almost immediately relieved by giving half a cup of charcoal. In the majority of iustances of stock ailments, the digestion is at fault. For this charcoal is the most efficient and rapid corrective.

American Store Cattle—Mr Moreton Frewen, says the Breeders Gazette (Chicago), the English gentleman who proposed the shipment of Wyoming cattle via Duluth and Canada, still manages to occupy a share of public attention in England, wherever he can manage to get in his word, and to "cold" Yankees it does not seem as if his statements were much calculated to advance the caive of the importation of American live cattle from any quarter. He addressed the Newcastle Farmers' Club on the occasion of the last annual meeting, and has been announced for a more formal address in March. He appears to have a fondness for round figures —no ordinary sum seems to be thought by him as at all worthy of attention, and his oftentimes sensible talk on cattle importation is always more than counterbalanced by an impression he everywhere creates that if the " bars are let down " the 01(1 Country will be overrun by myriads of cattle from the vast American herds. The other day he placed the number of cattle " in the west " at about 44,000,000 head, of which England could have all she required. But this is about the real number of cattle in the whole United States, east and west, north and south, and of all ages, of which perhaps one-third are milch cows. The real fact is, thei*e is no immense surplus of cattle in this country—not any vast number which can or will be sp;ired. We are, perhaps, much better off in proportion to our population than Great Britain, but not enough to bring us to the point of " pushing " cattle on to any market in overwhelming numbers. If our live cattle were admitted to England to-day without restriction there would be something of an increased movement,but not enough to exercise any very serious effect upon the English market, nor in such numbers as to cause any anxiety to British farmers, or bring about any general change in British agriculture. Prices at Home on both feeding and fat cattle for export would take a somewhat higher range to accommodate themselves to their value on the other side and Englana would get just what she get now—a trifling surplus, which dead or alive, we contrive in some way to induce her to accept. There need be no fear in the English mind that in any event cattle are to come to her as grass-hoppers come upon Mr Frewen's ranges, or that we have any 44,000,000 cattle to exchange for gold, or that we could even spare a single million at one time without very serious inconvenience.

Cooking Food fob Pigs.—The Prairio Farmer, in a recent article on " Cooking Food for Pigs," asked that correspondents would express their ideas in relation thereto. Mr H. A. Varnura, of Chase County,, Kansas, writes as follows " Noticing an article under the head of * Cooking Food for Pigs,' reminds me of some things I have heard in times past, that I think will apply in this connection. I once lived in Northern Vermont, where every farmer had to economise all rouud to make a success of farming 1 . Upon one occasion several of us were looking at a very nice pig when the question of feed came up. One said : ' I never had better hick than when I fed dry ground buckwheat and slop or water as I happened to have them.' After this I went to a distant town and to the mill to buy meal for mv horse. When I paid for it, I remarked my preference for fine meal instead of cracked maize (evenly ground to three to six pieces to the kernel) whereupon the miller assured uie that the cracked maize was really better for my horse, and illustrated by telling an anecdote of his apprenticeship. "He said: ' One day I Was grinding feed, and a farmer brought some damp oatn. The head miller noticed it ground slowly and raised the stone a little. The farmer objected. The miller answered : ' Your pigs are always squealing ; you feed them enough but in the wrong way. You grind fine ; then swill or soa!; all the feed; the eonsequence is that tlie pig never gets enough in him at one time to satisfy the craving of his appetite. Ido not object to fine-ground feed, but if you will feed it dry, and be can get no water or slop, he will eat his fill, drink, and what next ? Simply the process takes place that nature lias fitted his digestive organs to perform; first, food has to swell, as it will in your swill-tub, and while it is doing this the pig is lying at his ease. The expansion of the dry food keeps him full ; lie wants nothing, and will do about as well and grind his (own feed if his teeth do not get sore.' " "The above instances were enough to convince me; and I believe if the advocates of cooking will try two lots of stock, cooking for one, and feeding the other dry ground feed, they will never cook food for pigs afterwards."