LAND STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 144, 29 March 1928, Page 6

LAND STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENT. (By "The Tramp,") Nitrate of soda is one of the most useful of chemical fertiliser* for forcing along green vegetables and, finishing them oif, when used by skilful hands, but in careless hands can do. as much harm as good. The chief substance it supplies is nitrogen,, and therefore the plants that conserve most of it, such as cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks,, spinach, etc., will benefit more than others. The horse bot-fly looks somewhat like a honey bee, and the eggs- are laid on hairs of the horse, especially, about the legs and shoulders. They are licked off by the animals and pass into the system of the horse. When the resulting larvae are full grown they pass out of the system of the horse and complete their life history in. some protected place.

Good tillage counts for much.. Unless the soil is properly prepared for the reception of seed, weeds uprooted and cleared off, the full benefit of any fertilisers that may be applied will, not be obtained. Tbe small farmer is in a position to put more labour into his 1 land than the large farmer, though the latter may employ the more up-to-date machinery.

The loin of the dairy cow should be flat, as this provides a marked spring, of rear ribs. Cows that do not possess a fat loin, do not have this spring of rib, and therefore do not have width of barrel, and cannot consume the large amounts of feed which are so necessary for heavy production.. The. rear ribs should be wide, flat and long;, they should spring outward, as this gives both width and depth to the barrel.

In catching a sheep there is. a right way to hold the strongest ram,, and a wrong one. The wrong, one may let him go and will cause a bruise that takes two months to heal.. Wise shepr herds know that the skin is only lightly attached to the flesh, and that by holding by the wool tears this! tender skin loose from the flesh even farther than the hand's grip. The resulting bruise not only is painful to the sheep, but damages the carcase for market until it heals.

At about four or six weeks old a little crushed oats may be given to the calf. A handful fed dry at the bottom of the bucket after feeding with milk is the best way to commence. This may be increased with the addition of a little bran and crushed maize, as the calf gets accustomed to heating hard food.'

When, drilling mangels it is a good plaun to mix a little hard turnip or swede seed with the mangel seed. The turnip, being quicker to germinate, will show the rows more distinctly, and in much shorter time. This allows of horse-hoeing between the rows several weeks earlier than if mangels are sown by themselves. -

If Danish farmers are able to compete on the world's butter market, notwithstanding the fact that the cost of production in Denmark is certainly greater than in any other butter-ex-porting country, this is because Danish butter, by reason of its good qualities, is able to command a considerably higiher price than the products of other countries.

The objects of cultivation is practically the same. The general condition of the farm work dictates,, to a great extent, the particular time when the seed shall be sown and the amount of preparatory work which shall be put on the land, therefore it is very important that the farmer fully understandswhat is required in order that he may make no mistakes. '

In the days when only mature stock were put up to fatten;, the question of breed did not count for what it does to-day. The later-maturing breeds, provided they were heef: sorts>. were just as popular <asf any others, .but today the early-maturing breeds and crosses are naturally in most demand for the production of young beef.

Though in domestication two. crops of lambs per year could certainly not be recommended on account of the drain on the year all the year round, and consequent loss in wool growth, there seems to be no valid reason why we should not especially prize and cultivate ewes which produce twins once a; year (says "H.8.T.," in the "Otago Daily Times"). The experiment has frequently been tried on a small scale when mothers of twin lambs have been selected from the flock and mated with a ram, one of twin lambs. Ewes which have once borne twin lambs frequently do so in subsequent; years while their female progeny, if sired by a ram, himself a twin, should inherit a very strong tendency to give birth to twins.

In one instance in Marlborough a farmer who interested himself in raising his percentage of lambs by this means, started with a flock _ of fifty good flock ewes which bore twin lambs, is reported in the course of a few seasons to have reared! them from a flock producing an average animal percentage of one hundred and seventy-five. These twin lambs, with the exception of a few of those born of two-tooth ewes, appeared to make equally rapid growth and to fatten as well as single lambs.

In some instances, but not frequently, favouritism appeared to be shown by the ewe. Where this occurred the neglected lamb was invariably so stunted as to be almost worthless.