THE COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 55, 5 March 1909, Page 7

THE COUNTRY.

•A. WOOL BITTER'S COMPLAINT.

"We want good wool, and we are \ killing to pay good prices, but we cannot get the quality of the fleece that -ire Tequjre," declared one of the buyers, ai the last Auckland wool sale when interviewed by a "Farmer" representative. "Any falling on that there has j been in values at this sale is not be- j cause of an actual drop in the price of | svooli We are out for good lots, and we ', are paying go°d prices when we can gel ; iiem."But the difiiculty is to do so.) Take a -walk through any of the wool j stores and just have a look at the wool, i It is got up anyhow, m the majority' of cases. Unskirted, shabby fleeces, are baled indiscriminately with the better camples, and it is difficult to get. projjerly classed lots. If the prices received for well-prepared lots are turned' up, it will be found that there is no drop ;ii prices. Here, for instance" —and he 'inrned up his catalogue—"here you will sand the-one grower receiving 9Jd for his iialf-bred fleeces, for his crossbred fleeces, 7£d for his lambs, and 3}d"f6r the locks. That man will be satisfied. He got his wool up well, and itjaidhim to do so. We want good lots, and are willing to pay good prices but the real reason of the apparent decrease in vahies_at this sale is that the wool ; icas. schadly prepared that we were not ■wining to enter into keen competition. 1-tc fact, it was so far from what the imerican firms wanted, that I don't beleve the American buyers bought 30 lots during the whole sale." "i&lffi YOU A BUSINESS FABMER? • .The modern farmer is a business man. 'A good farmer, no matter whether he owns hundreds or tens of acres, keeps a correct account of every shilling received, from what source it was derived and to what fund it is applied when it is expended. At any time, with a few min..irtes calculation, he can tell the exact amount of his indebtedness, his expenses for the month or the year, the amount of cash received, from whence it came and the amount of profit realised on the transaction. Not all of the latter day farmers are of this kind. Are you a business farmer?. The man who pursues the oldtime,- slip-shod methods is losing money every year. Why not patch up that hole in your pocket-book ? There are farmers among us who never will wake up to their opportunities, but there can never fa any justification for continuing such methods.—"Farm Life." STAKING RUNNER BEANS. It is really wonderful how quickly these plants grow when once the runners form, and if the weather be warm. Runner beans, peas and all kinds of plants that cling to stakes for support always grow more quickly after the stakes are placed in position There are various methods of staking runner beans. Some growers use the tallest of ordinary pea sticks, others put in single rows of plants and one row oL upright stakes, while others, again, grow two rows of plants in parallel lines and stake them as shown in illustration. Gne -stake is placed to each plant, and they are crossed near the top; then a low of stakes are laid in the openings formed by the crossing of the sticks, made secure by twine B to the stakes C. A tow so treated is practically stormproof. WHAT mBREEDING MEANS. The meaning of inbreeding is breeding _*n animal to another when there is Hood relation. There seems to be a great fear in the minds of many as to the-danger of inbreeding. They forget : ;that left to itself that is Nature's way Mating animals with tfleir kind tends to produce progeny of equal vigour so there is no deterioration, ~.hnt rather an intensification of peculiar characteristics generation after generation.

All our different kinds of pure-bred hve stock have been the result of inbreeding, and the different families of such, of pronounced excellence, have been PWf wb&t they are by judicious mating Wanrmals more or less closely related. When I have animals with desirable .■panties which I desire to perpetuate, . fiaaccompanied by equally prominent defects, I believe that it i s a wise thing to Kate such, even though they are closely ..related. For instance, in breeuipg grades i(always using a pure-bred sire) where I *N to obtain the characteristics and lorm of the pure-breds. I always breed tae daughters back to their sire, prnvidm gthe latter are such that I care to perpetuate. In this I have not only 75 per «nt of,, the pure blood, but also the W'amount of that particular strain on wttcl I am working. Therefore I fix • Wepure Woodcharacteristicsmore surely ■i *»a v ?apd}jrthan where I iave a sire of

tho same breed but not of the same strain. I have followed this with cattle and sheep, and it would be a very difficult matter for a stranger, in most cases, to distinguish in the third generation between grades and pure-breds.

How far would I carry this? In the 1 next generation I believe it is wiser to i secure a sire of the same type, with a i preponderance of the particular strain of blood I am using, than to breed to the ! 1 grand-sire. There may be defects in the -1 ancestry of -which I know nothing which i undue or too close mating will bring out. 9 Breeding to the son is to be commended, i In such cases one must always stand ready to discard any progeny that show defects or fail to come up to the stand- i ard. —W. H. Underwood in the "Farmer's 1 Voice." BAB TIME TO KILL. l " Never kill an animal that is losing ' flesh," is a maxim followed by butchers, and observation points to a logical reason for the saying. With an animal failing in flesh the muscle fibres are shrinking in volume and contain correspondingly less water. As a consequence the meat is tougher and drier. When an animal is gaining in flesh the opposite condition obtains, and a better quality of meat will be the result. Also a better product will be obtained from an animal in only medium' flesh, but gaining Tapidly, '-than from a very fat animal that, is at a standstill or losing in flesh.—" Xor , West Farmer." LONG-MILKING COW. It is marvellous what can be accomplished by a good cow in the way of continued milk production if properly fed and well treated. At Liverpool (N.S.W.) there is an Aldemey which has been milking for three years and seven months, and is now yielding 2A quarts per day. A few years ago a more remarkable case was reported and authenticated. This was a Shorthorn of the Lee strain, which milked at Bathurst for oi years without a rest. She kept a family of seven persons in milk for the most part of tha term she was milked.