FARM AND HELD

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1073, 28 March 1917, Page 7

FARM AND HELD

<>RIQrNAL ARTICLES. (H.<r F. 0.8.) SPRAYINC FRUIT TREES. For some time past it has been practically useless on account of the heavy and "almost incessant rains to attempt to spray the various orchard trees, while even the work of pruning has been greatlv delayed. As soon as this is completed, however, and more favourable weather conditions exist no time must be lpst in thoroughly dressing the trees with either Bordeaux mixture. lime, sulphur solution, harbas, red oil, or other effective fungicides and insecticides. In the material applied the grower must be guided by the object for which it is used. If for destroying fungoid diseases Bordeaux mixture, vermorite, or lime-sulphur solution is a safe and effective remedy when properly applied. If on the other hand, the trees are infested with mussel or other scales, red mite, aphis, or other insect pests, harbas or red oil is the most effective remedy. The dressing of all orchard trees is an important and very necessary operation, and should in no case be neglected. The number of pests that nearly every fruit-grower has now to contend with, not only with insect pests but fungoids and other insect diseases, can only be overcome or even kept in check by thorough and persistent dressing. No person growing fruit trees should neglect to use the means at hand to protect the trees and fruit from the various pests. The material, with full directions, how, and at what strength to apply, is procurable at any of the seedsmen.

The advantage of winter spraying is that material can be applied while the trees are dominant at greater strength than would be safe when the trees in leaf. Peaches and nectarines, even though sprayed during the winter, should be again well sprayed when the buds are swelling and just before bursting into growth. This assists to check the foliage being injured by leave curl, though it is by no means a sure cure, as adverse weather conditions in early -nring has much to do with the spread of this disease.

CROWINC PEACHES. To what extent the orchard should be cultivated after three years from planting the trees will depend upon the season, and the crops grown after the third year from setting. Half of the last season's growth should be cut back. That may reduce the quantity of the crops a little, but the quality will be very much better. The fruit will cost less to pick, and the breaking down of the trees will be very much less. Experience teaches that the trees live longer and do better every way than trees not cut back. The cutting back should be done just before the sap begins to rise in the spring. Peaches should be picked and handled very carefully, and picked and packed at the right time of their growth. That ensures most profit. Another important item is to see that only the best fruit gets into the lower part and centre of the package, as well as on top, where it can be more easily seen. In packing peaches, or any kind of fruit, it is best to adopt similar principles. It pays best : in the long run.

THE HEAVY-WEIGHT CHAMPIONS OF THE POULTRY YARD—THE LICHT BRAHMA. Without exception the Light Brahma is the heaviest breed of fowl, and ou that account is chiefly noted as a meat bird. The standard weights are twelve pounds for cocks, nine and a half pounds for hens. Cockerels and pullets weigh respectively two and one and a half pounds lighter. When the birds are property managed the full-grown fowls are pre-eminent. They are much appreciated as layers, and produce best when eggs are high in price, and the i eggs, being brown in colour, are greatly , in demand, as the flavour is excellent. 'As mothers they are docile and attentive, and for limited range are favourites, because they scarcely fly at all. The Light Brahma, being the largest fowl raised in a general way, holds a I similar relation to the poultry industry , as the Shorthorn bears to cattle. Il stands what may be called "stall feeding'.' well, and will produce more pounds of meat for the amount of food consumed than any other variety oi fowl. When bred with a egg pro duction the hens have made records a; high as two hundred and twenty-five ! eggs in a year, and there are somt strains which are almost now sitters i Because of their -profuse feathering I they will stand more cold, weather thai anv other breed, and fhnx wTiah nra

)] periy cared, for. rank well among pro j oncers of winter That is a vei-j • -fcrong point, in their favour, becausi winter eggs are high priced. Anothej '< advantage is that only about a four- " foot fence is necessary >to keep them in, because they do not fly much. Almosl no other fowl excels them in ability to " thrive well in small enclosures. They are market birds, and will fatten wefl when mature, and command the highest market prices. .When one year old, cocks weigh ten to fifteen pounds, cookerels nine to eleven. pounds, hens nine to twelve pounds, and pullets eight to ten. At, ten weeks of age, chicks are ' ready for broiling at about half a pound .in about ten weeks. On reaching these ' weights they are fairly quick. Another good point about the hens is that they \ seldom steal their nests. . j BROWN LEGHORNS. The Brown Leghorn is the most [yidely distributed variety of all the I ■ jeghorn family.; The white variety is f probably kept in larger numbers in close proximity to a market, where .exceptionally large white fresh eggs are in great demand. The brown Leghorn is reputed to be a better layer than the white, but to lay a somewhat smaller, and •_less nearly white egg. There are, however, strains produced by careful selection, which lay as large eggs as the whites. Like their cousins they rarely want to sit, are very active, excellent foragers, well adapted to farm range, but not to confinement in small yards. The larger strains make excellent broilers and small roasters, but as egg producers they are. most notable. A large number of people can make them profitable in that way than by rearing almost any other breed. The reason for that is, probably, because they are less likely ,to be put out of condition by injudicious feeding, and they are hardier than other layers of white eggs.

VALUE OF PROTEIN. In colder countries, where handfeeding is systematically and generally practised, dairymen naturally study feeding problems very closely. They look at the subject from various points of view, amongst others being the value of the manure produced. They endeavour to ,grow as much of the food consumed as possible on the farms, but are careful to provide what thev terra balanced rations. One authority says: the farm crops should be fed on the farm. Good, prompt, handling of the manures leaves about 85 per cent, of the fertility taken from the land in the crops. Protein is the mainstay for making milk. It is also necessary to furnish repair material for wasted tissues of the animal. Carbohydrates and fat furnish fuel and enorgy for the living machinery. Each pound of digestible protein is good for about ten quarts or milk. Now, protein can be used also as fuel to furnish energy. If the fuel given in carbohydrates and fat is not enough protein will be burned up. If more protein is furnished than necessary it will be lost in the manures. While one pound of protein is good for about 10 quarts of milk; as pure it furnishes less than one-tenth of what is required by a cow for a day. Used as fuel, therefore, protein is very expensive. Seventeen and one-half pounds of clover hay furnishes enough energv and repair material a day _ for a 1,000 pound cow. But it gives nearly a half pound more protein than is required for repair material. That is, what would make about 4J quarts of milk a day is lost in the manure. With milk costing a penny a quart to produce this loss is 4id. a day, or £6 17s. 3d. a year. That is a serious loss. If the same kind of mistake is made in adding the milk ration —for a milk ration must be added to that furnished for energy and repair—it is easy to run this loss up to over £lO Bs. 4d. a cow a' year. The cow's machinery is made to furnish a certain amount of milk. It cannot do this unless the ration is balanced so as to keep that machine well repaired, well cleaned, well oiled, and well supplied with go*bd fuel and good milk making material. Many a cow that is hardly breaking even with her feed would make her owner a good snug profit if she were properly fed. The economy which cuts down the cow's ration is short-sighted.