On the Farm

New Zealand Tablet, 30 March 1911, Page 598

On the Farm

During the year ended December 31 the quantity of pork exported to the United Kingdom was 10,029 cwt. which was valued at £20,736. The export of wool from New Zealand for the seven months ended January amounted to 296,676 bales, wh ; ch was 24,158 bales less than for the corresponding seven months of the previous season.

An exchange remarks that at two recent horticultural shows at which prizes were offered for blackberries grown in the district, gatherings from, roadside crops gained the first and second prizes.

Twenty-one imported Holstein cattle which arrived in Wellington by the Warrimoo on February 9 were released from quarantine last week. Fifteen of the twenty-one go to the Manawatu and six to the Wairarapa. The total number of bales of hemp graded by the Department of Agriculture during January was 9899, as against 12,296 for the corresponding month of the previous year, a decrease of 2397 bales. For the twelve months ended January 31 the number of bales graded was 124,417, as against 93,035 for the previous twelve months, an increase of 31,382 bales.

Turnips should never be fed in excessive quantities to cows in full milk. Turnips particularly contain a large amount of water, and are liable to taint the milk if not carefully fed. They should never be fed before milking, but immediately afterwards. _ The daily ration might very well be halved, one half being given after each milkin'’-. Probably the reason of turnips tainting the milk ts owing to the essential oils in the tuber, which possess a peculiar odor, and these oils exist in a more concentrated form in the neck, especially in swedes; therefore it is advisable to cut the necks off as close as possible to the tuber.

The manipulation of butter imported into England (says a Home exchange) lies wholly in the hands of two classes of people in London; these people are known as butter-blenders on the one hand and butter-fakers on the other—-and there is a considerable difference between the two. The blender of butter caters for cultivated palates, and blends imported butter in much the same way as tea dealers blend their teas; his industry is a well recognised one amongst butter dealers, and, practically speaking, it is the best market for Australian and New Zealand butter. ,ihe butter-faker, on the other hand, is given to the use of oleo-margarine, with which the imported butter is blended, and the product sold as Irish or French.

Denmark is a farmer State. ‘lt has a farmer Parliament, a farmer Ministry, a farmer point of view. Its legislation is that of the farmer, too. In Denmark tho people really rule. The Danish peasant is the direct antithesis of the English peasant, who wants to bo ruled by a lord. The State of Denmark, in short, is a peasant Democracy. Its ruling class is the small farmer possessing from forty to sixty acres of land, and with an outlook on life that is exclusively agricultural. The land is far from rich, the climate is not of the best, and the winters are very long. But the Danish peasant owns his land. This is the economic framework of his civilisation. The Danish peasant is his own landlord, and he has made use of the Government to promote the acquisition of land by the people.’

Regarding a pest of a particularly insidious nature winch, in the form of a grub, is severely attacking the potato crops of North Otago, the Otago Daily Times sa\s it is of a white color, with a black head, and is‘fully "a quarter of an inch in length, it is of a very active disposition, and, observed under a microscope, appears to be very ugly, while its powerful head and strong jaws «-ive the impression that it would without difficulty bore a way foi itself into the pulp of a potato. Two consignments of grub-infested potatoes have now arrived in Dunedin from Oamarn. The first, which arrived some days a<m was originally intended for export abroad, but, being condemned lor shipment, it was sent on to Dunedin, and has since passed out of the railway goods sheds into the hands of the consignees. A second consignment vs at present in the railway stores, and there yesterday a reporter had an oracular demonstration of the ravages which the grub inflicts upon the tubers. The method employed by the destroyer is briefly this: In the form of a grub it eats its way into the heart of the potato, and, having gained sufficient strength, it emerges therefrom and covers the outer surface with a disfiguring secretion. It then places itself on the outside of the bag, and there spins its cocoon, which is a white-colored substance of tough texture. The sacks a Inch our reporter inspected yesterday were covered with thousands of these cocoons. From the cocoon is evolved the fly, which m turn lays eggs. These produce the destructive grub, and so the process goes on.