FARMING TOPICS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 139, 8 March 1941, Page 8

FARMING TOPICS

“Foods And Feeding

I have received a copy of a substantial booklet entitled “Foods and Feeding,” issued by the Department of Agriculture, Victoria. The booklet is a 1939 revised issue, written by Mr. A. C. T. Hewitt, M.Agr.Se., Live Stock Science Officer, and explains in the clearest fashion food values, their comparisons and differences, and finally deals with nutritional requirements of all classes of stock. An authority on feeds and feeding to whom I lent the booklet gave it the highest praise, both for its soundness and the clarity of its explanations. So recommended,/1 shall keep it by me as a handy reference, and expect to from time fo time make use of its material. Butter From Argentina. We don’t believe it.—A recefit cable from Buenos Aires declared that “the British Purchasing Commission has announced that 85.000 tons of Argentine butter are stored in warehouses awaiting shipment. It could not buy more because of the shortage ot shipping.” In consideration of Argentina’s butter production and export of late years, this cable is impossible of belief. In recent years Argentina has exported less than 10.000 tons of butter a year, and very recently shipments _ fell to under 3000 tons. A figure of 85,000 tons appears to have an extra “0” added to it. We comment upon this cable because it may have caused alarm among dairy producers who happened to have read it. Modern Armies’ Horses. The news that some 1200 horses would arrive by six special trains at Foxton Camp this week may have given some thought that our New Zealand Army was a bit backward for this age of mechanization. As it was the German Army which put mechanical power “on the map,” it is of interest to note that authoritative reports declare that the German Army of this war is using more horses thnn it used in 1914-18. In the Polish blitz more than 200,000 horses accompanied the invaders. Neither in war nor elsewhere is the horse a mere museum piece.