Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 407, 25 February 1904, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

- 'ORIGINAL ARTICLES, W | fr THE APIARY, .'"; / Att Observation Bbk Hrsra."" IKtWO W tto boßt way to obtain practical q|AD|p knowledge of what is going on Mitak iaelde of a beshive ia to make an ii _: 'observatory hive and place it on the,verandah. Then one can Bee the workings of a beehive in a natural condition. One may .then see the field bees'doming in-.with their loads of nectar and pollen and 'depositing them in the cells. The horse bees may. then be seen feeding the larvaa, and the comb builder making comb; also may be observed the qneen in her arduous duty of laying two and three eggs per minute. Many visitors may come to inspect,' and it is possible that a great many extra pounds of honey ! ma 5....be; sold by means of the attraction. Ifyou arsi using in your "hivesi a moveable frame, the matter of making such a hive is very simple. Make the two end pieces, the bottom and cover, the same length and* height as the hives, but only wide enough for three.- frames of comb; five inches inside measure is about right. The sides should be made of good clear window glass. That constitutes the body of the hive. The hive cover has a hole in the centre 2£ inches in diameter, covered on the under side with wire netting, The hole is for two purposes. If the bees need feeding a pint fiuit jar can be filled with syrup, then' covered with one thickness of cheese cloth, and inverted dn the wire., It also serves to ventilate the hive in very warm weather. The hole should at other times be covered with a small block. Then at a suitable period t«ke three frames of hatching "brood from the parent hive, with one or more qu&kn cells, covered with adhering bees, and place into the observatory hive; put on the cover,.and adjust the hive in position. .Soma of the old bees will leave, but as those that are hatching out will make.it their home, it is best to have the shade of the foliage of some kind of vine to render it comfortable for the bees.

MANAGEMENT OF A DAIRY HERD, To the owner of a dairy herd the most important matter for consideration is how to make the herd pay. Many dairymen seem to think that it makes bat little difference with the profits what kind of cows they keep, and it is the general opinion that the returns will be based largely upon the number of cows and not on their quality. Even a careless observer Will gee that different cows produce different amounts of- milk and butter fat in the same period of time, but observation does not indicate whether the food consumption differs in proportion to the yield, or whether one cow actually manufactures more than another out of thß same quantity of food, The question fchen arises, Will two cows fed on like feeds yield the same returns; and if not, will the yield be in the ratio of the feeds consumed P In order to determine that question two grade dairy cows were selected having ho beef tendencies, and after both .freshened they were fed for one year on exactly the same kind of feed, being governed in amount by their appetites. Both cows ate practically the | same amount of feed. Reduced to exactly the same food basis, one produced three hundred and sixty-fcur pounds of butter; the other produced six hundred and fiftynine pounds. In other words, for every hundred pounds of butter produced bj the poorer cow, the other produced one hundred and eighty-one pounds. It must be remembered that these are the yields of the two cows on exactly the same kind and amount of feed, so if the cow yielding the smaller amount jus* paid for her feed and care, the other would have two hundred and nigsty-five pounds of butter clear profit for one year j and . what a larger amount that would be in several years. While there was a great difference in tbe profit derived from the two cows used in this experiment,'the difference is by no means phenomenal, as greater differences than here cited, may frequently be found among cows in the same herd; for the poorer cow was in reality a very good one, producing three hundred and forty-eight pounds of butter in a year. Had the better cow been compared with a really poor cow, such as may be found in nearly all dairy herds, there would have been a much greater difference in profit in favour of this cow, for she gave nearly five times as much as the average cow. , Dairymen are frequently keeping half of their hmda at an actual loss. They are perhaps .making a little profit on' the entire herd, and are apparently satisfied, while if they.would dispose of their: unprofitable cowa they would make more, money and . also save labour. Every dairyman should have a profitable standard of production for his cows, and any mature cow. that does not come up to this standard should be disposed of at once. What that standard is each one must determine for themselves, as it will depend upon the' cost of feed and care, and the value of the product in that particular locality, The standard, whatever it may be, should be gradually raised each year, by out the the poorest cows and breeding only from the beat. The only way that can be done intelligently is by keeping aV record of eac'i individual cow. Generally speaking, cows should not be kept for profit that do not produce the equivalent of two hun-

died and: fifty pounds of butter annually, la order to determine what the different individual cows in a herd axe doing, they should be given a .one-week; test every three months, and in that way can be determined very accurately what the cows are doing fo* a year, and at but slight trouble or expense. Daring the week the test is made, the milk from each cow' should be weighed at each milking, arid a fcmill sample placed in a fruit jar bear-

ling thß cow's name, and in which is a small amount of preservative to kjep the. milk from souring. At the end of the week the milk in each jar should be tested with the Babcock test to determine the amount of butter fat. If one does not own a Bibcock test he can easily have the testing dene at a creamery. After a fair trial all mature cows that do not come up to a profitable standard should be disposed of at osce. * A heifer may not do well with her first calf, but if she is a promising individual in other respects she should Btill be retained. If, however, she is a poor producer during her second lactation period, she should be kept no longer. After the cows have been tested for a year and the best ones determined, those should be bred to a eire of some dairy breed—one that is both an excellent individual, and whose female ancestors for several generations have been large producers, The ability of the dairy bull to produoe good milkers must be determined almost entirely by the record of hia ancestors.