JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12897, 31 August 1907, Page 12

JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

The weather at Coulgote (writes our correspondent.) for tne past few days bus been delightfully uiild, until Ihur-day, when alter a heuvy shower in tlie early morning, in exceptionally strong nor'-wester sprang up, and blew "without intermission nil d_,y. .Some slight dain.igo is reported, a telegmph post being blown down between Coilgato and Hororat.i. ono biiiail shed demolished, and the root deposited about 2UU yard. _way. _.>mo of the newly-, orked soil was blown into the fences in different placeThe improved feed pro&pect. brought about by the late rains has cau._ii l the .spring demand lor store _h<H_p Ito set in. But while thero are buyvr.. i thero are few Keller.., and the small eni try of storet. at the Addington yard.* yesterday changed bauds at considerably advanced rates, noggetu especially selling well. It is gratify ing to record that the efforts which have been made to attract people to the advantages oi settlement on the lands of the State are not proving in vain, (says the "Sydney Daily Telegraph"). Tho Agricultural Department rinds that the variou. training colleges and farms are being avail.*l of by a class of youth who ire destined "to become scientific cultivators of tho varied row; ret _ of the State. These training farms impart a thoroughly practical as well as theoretic drilling, it being _ recognised that under modern conditions of getting th© best out of the soil practice and theory must go hand in hand. Tho way the agricultural farms are being patronised by all . a<._\s of young men is an unmistakable evidence tliat more than ever parents are now seeing the wisdom of making their sons something more than mere shop assistants and clerks, and aro awakening to a senso that tho country lifo really holds more charm, and is far more profitable than the ordinary existence of tho city drudge. Now that the Public Instruction Department is doing its beet to instil somo lovo of agriculture into the minds of lads that way inclined, the Agricultural Department apprehends that in the no-distant future the agricultural colleges will be much more numerous. Already they aro doing invaluablo work in equipping the rising generation with information and skill necessary to get tho best results out of the land by means of tillage and so forth, and this work of usefulness promises to be still further extended. ... „,.,i Ninety English Leicester rams and sixty-two ewes of the some breed, were shipped by Messrs Dalgety and Co., yestirday, in the Moura transshipment at Duuedin to the Alaheno for Melbourne. ~ , Favourable weather has followed the good rainfall which commenced on the 23rd inst. (writes our Waimate correspondent). The winter-oown young wheat and pastures are showing tlie effects of tho much-needed rain, and. the prospects for spring sowing and cultivation are greatly improved. Lven after the fine rainfall the subsoil in many places has scarcely been reached by tW moisture, and still resists the plough with the crusty, obstinate hardness Caused by the prolonged dry spell. Owing to the severe winter experienced in the Wairarapa, cows are not coming in in the condition they should to be profitable from the commencement of the dairying season. It will take, in tho opinion of a correspondent the best part of two months from now before they will havo picked up what condition they lost during the winter, and instead of « certain profit eoina: into the milk pail. & Wll .' De „ r ? _ ouired to build up the cow > again. J his is a snbiect dairy farmers vi the Wairarapa f.o not study enough (says the "New Zealand Times"). There is little to be gained in turning cows out in the back country among sheep, for it cannot be expected that they will come in in the spring in _«>d condition. , An American company has purchased an estate of 2500 acres, to be stocked in the first place- with a thousand cows for tno supply of milk direct troui tne farm to tho consumer, ine whole system is to bo under the control of a scientific man who has been acting as Health Commissioner fur iiuttalo. The mil_ is to be drawn by machine, and passed from the machine into bottles, so that it will practically not be exposed to the atmosphere, although it is difficult to see how it is passible to exclude air altogether. Tim, however, is quite a different thing to exposing milk in open pails into winch it « drawn in the germ-laden atmoephero ot the cattle house or beneath, what w still worse, the germ _uden coat ot the oow. The bottles are to be placed in ion. and not handled: until they arrive at the home of the consumer. Iho chief object of this process of cooling is to prevent the increase of tho germs in number, for bacteria multiply by millions in a few hours at an ordinary temperature, but cooled, such germs as exist in milk lie dormant and inactive, and no multiplication takes place. Thus tho ice-cooled milk, never exposed to the air, never touched by the hand, never liable to the attacks of bacteria falling from the coats of the cattle, will be delivered in a pure form to the consumer, and cannot be mixed milk. The experts of the company believe that they will be ablo to produce milk at the cost of a penny a quart, and that it will cost another penny to market it, and tho company intend to sell the milk at 3d per quart. A method sometimes followed in laying down a lucerne bed is to plant barley or oats thinly with the lucerne seed (says tho "Sydney Morning Herald"). These varieties of our grain plants quickly germinnte, and soon have a foliage that will shade and protect the youne delicate lucerne plants at a time "when they most need it from tho- beat of the suii and the parching effcete of winds. Thoy will also a _jst in keeping the surface soil moist for the same reason, thus allowing: a free growth for the main crop. The method: .generally adopted in p_» t ; ng lucerne is to sow the'seed sepnr.rVly. To obtain a clean paddock for such sowing is very ne-es-snry. because any weeds or grasses which may establish th.mi_.ves when the lucerne is youn-z will tend to check tho after-growth of tlvs crop if they are not removed before the steeling out of the lucerne- takes place. Th- tho dual plantin.sr. barley and o_t_ b .112 annual_ there ■. iU . « l ; tt!e trouble in b .net quit of them the first year. Treats or barley could b» cut as rrreen feed once at lon .-. and then left fer a hay crop. Ry this system the unprofitable period of lucerne crnwi'-e i= turned to uce. Tlie known value rf barley and o>nt* ns cleaners of laic 7 . even to checking conch, is a fur Mi". reason why tb's method of c. rvhiner. «vrin_ is of m. re cc .oral n'!oa Men. TVr snr'nT treat-- r -t oats . •'!' y>" fo'lerl fb" *"•"-(• si'itab'e cron in'M. f be lueo'-Tin _f. -a n cimrintr r.* on* "f-t. p - |1 .-•t .rr A t,_Tt <_ , — f-~> p Inn p_ni-l"*■ nn n n!an+ the l'i-n--.c «■ _<•-!_ nn r ' .:~'-'V cor<-- T" •»"*!i-an .*• -■\-<. .V *.-*-.*■,-•- f.p.,1-1 rv«+.? ■ ? ..-_ .....-1 --..1 —-11' ;., ,n „.,.. -1-Tt;._ ~. r-.,„,T „ i,„»i. t rt "f *t-t ■ :_.,_ t?-„„„-„-i-. -,-:n ~!- i.- a - :,- *~ --:' _ cf - -:-i- --'-,-.. r--o -i.,-.vr • _ -.-„- *„ i;--:x -%- ----:--. -f ri'in*« *o «i' .if 3_>,».?t>ri. n.-••