NEWS AND COMMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19884, 13 May 1936, Page 10

NEWS AND COMMENTS.

Finishing the Pigs. Every effort should now be made‘ to finish the porkers and baooners on’ before milk supplies are completely finished. If the pigs are making slow progress it, would be advisable to increase the ration and thus turn the pig into proilt more rapidly. It would certainly be preferable to spend more money on concentrates to send the pigs away early than to have to carry them through the winter, a de» finitely uneconomical project. Hand Milking v. Machine Mllklng. Thorough cleanliness and hand milking, states .\lr J. G. ‘Holmes. of To Awamutu. are the two reasons for his mammitis free herd. After each row is milked the hands of the milker are disinfected by washing in Condy's rrysials and thus there is no possibility of harmful bacteria being transferred from one cow to the other. Taking into consideration the claim of Mr liohnes that during 12 years" milking: operations ‘he has had no case‘ or hard quarters, mny farmers would do well tn pay heed to his advocacyi oi' thorough cleanliness as the main esential in the fight against mammitis.

Interest. In Fig Keeping. Increasing interest is being taken in pigs by farmers in the Gordonton district. and following the decision not to have a community piggery, they have been learning as much as possible about modern methods of pigkeepinsi At a lecture given by Mr H. M. Peirson. recording officer of the \V’aikato Pig Recording and Research Association in Gordonton this week, there was an attendance of 40 and judging by the pertinent questioning at the conclusion of the lecture, the gathering was a particularly attentive one. Jersey Field Day. An instructional and enjoyable field day was held by members of the Morrinsville Jersey Club at the farm of .\lr J. A. Sanders in the Morrinsvills district yesterday, Mr Senders’ small “Kingsmere” stud of pedigree Jerseys is an indication of his excellent farming methods and general management. The feature or this breeder's system of management is the fact that he‘ tests all the members of the herd under the group system and thus env sures that every cow is an economical unit. The herd is always well up in the Morrinsville group and this, despite the {act that Mr Sanders retains some of the older cows for breeding purposes. Other pedigree breeders would do well to emulate .Vlr Sanders in the group testing or their herds instead of placing just one or two outstanding members of the stud under test. Control of Glut-throat. Generally the most satisfactory method of preventing club-root in tur—nip growing. states a Scottish writer. is the use of mercuric chloride, lime and ryana‘mide. These may reduce the damage caused by destroying the organism responsible. by producing conditions unfavourable to the latter. by stimulating the growth of the crop or by romhiuing these several effects. Lime has long been known to produce conditions unfavourable to the clubrcot. organism by rcnderinr: the land loss acid. and since it is inexpensive it is in common use as a method of ronirol on a farm scale. A dressing of three to four tons an acre should he. applied. preferably before planting the crop proceeding the susceptible one. The lime should hc \\‘9ll worked into the soil. The Grassed Drain. In the European Arountryside Icon—siderablc use is made of the “grassed" drain. a system of drainage which has many points in iis favour, The drain is very wide with gradually sloping sides and can be harrmved when necessary. The drain can also be grazicd by the cattle, and thus. be—sides serving its primary purpose, will also provide no small amount 01’ fod—der, thus eliminating land wastage associated with the open drain. 0! the two principal drainage systems common in New Zealand neither is without disadvantage. The tile drain, al—though serviceable and efficient, requires a substantial outlay in material and labour. and when siliing occurs. cleaning operations may become involved. The open drain. while. it is ineXDensive at the offset, requires fre—quent attention in the way of cleaning sides and bottoml Flavours ln Cream. At. a gathering: of factory managers at. the Dairy ficsrarrh institute. Pal—merston North. Mr .T. \\'. Smith, superintendent of tho Massey College factory, where the institute is con~ dueling some of its experiments. de—tailed the work that. had been carried out to track down the cause of flav—ours. An endeavour \\'as made, said

Mr Smith, to co—relate the feed flavours of the Manawatu and \\'ailiato. and it was 'found that the flavours from the Manawatu pastures were nothing like those present in \Valkato cream. \Vhen it came to the butter made from the cream both \Valkato and .\lanawatu could make a finest article suitable for export, but possibly not suitable for all markets. 1 l Investigations In Walkata. ‘ Mr Bruce Levy, in detailing the tn-i vesttgatlons carried out in the \Vsikato. emphasised again that grassy farms were low in feed favour and that those with ryegrsss dominant pastures were the best. Farms heavy in clovers produced highly tainted cream. A peculiarity of the \ankato peat farms was that they were exceedingly low in feed taints, mainly because clovcrs did not. grow well in peat. lt‘ suckling clover, subterranean clover and sweet vernal could he rllmlnated from the \\'aikato in one swoon. the pro-blom would be largely solved. \\'hite clover also gave mints, but they were not so pungent. Mr Levy. in stating the results of individual cow. trials oonrluoterl at Massey Collego.‘ said that rye—grass fed pure produced no fee-d flavour whatever. Port on rye with a percentage of white olovor,‘ the morning cream had no flavour, but. 1 this could not. he said or the night‘ rream which was fairly strong. - iti seemed that one had to get down tot 65 per cent of grass and 35 per cent: of clover to ohtnln :1 cream that would ‘ pass as finest. Another point, of im—portnnro was the. keepingr of the herd off clovrr feeds for the four hours prior to milking, as expr‘rimf‘nts had shown that this had a great influence in eliminating feed taints. ] Planting of Fruit Trees. i Pr) sclerting a site for the young: orchard due consideration should be given to securing; good wnrm land favourably situated as to aspect, to sun. natural drainng'o and provision of shelter. stairs .\lr R. G‘ 'llnmllton, orchard instructor attached to the Hamilton Branch of the Department of A‘grirulture, writing: in the Journal of Agriculture. The area intended to ho sot. out. with now plantings should ho thoroughly tilled and put, in ilnr con« dition. if the ordrr for trons has not nlrrad)‘ horn given. no further timl' should inl lost in Marin: 11. tin wall—drained situations in tho \\'1ll‘lll|‘l‘(ll‘1‘(l.‘~', tho plantinr of irons may be I‘omiur'n—rml at tho Purl of nullunn; othrrwis': it. should he mrrivd out in the sprinu, \\livn llir land is in suilnlnlc romliliun. \L planting I.lm trrrs should rrreivr up to til» 01' n plmspliniir nmnurv~ to In-i‘olimx-ed in tho spring with n rlrvssin: of up to ill» or nitrogrnous fertiliser. Thn provision of adequate shelter is ol‘ paramount iinluorinnro. and it is sul—\isul\le to rslnhlisll shelter preferably two yours in ndvnnre of settlm.r out new plantings, so that. tho mum: ‘plantstion will not be threshcd by l prefi'sttms wings, , _