On the Land

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3176, 13 December 1927, Page 8

On the Land

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS

Top-dressed areas remain green for a longer period than those that are unmanured, thus providing succulent feed for a longer period and diminishing the danger of fire. * » * * To get the best out of a pasture we must keep it as nutritious as possible, and also make it palatable by presenting the feed in its most attractive form |to the grazing animal. * * # A co-operative'association is not, operated to make a profit on invested capital above the usual rate of interest, but to profitably market the products of its members at the lowest possible cost. * * * Nature does all her breeding by the ruthless method of culling. Darwin called it natural selection. Culling alone, purposefully followed as a practice through the years, will result in a great herd or flock/'

* » * » The heaviest planting of early potatoes in the history of the industry on the north-west coast of Tasmania has taken place. Fifty per cent, more superphosphate has been used this season than last. * * * Frost depresses bacterial life, though activity is rapidly regained with milder weather. The lower layers of soils are not favourable; in this respect deep cultivation, admitting air to penetrate the lower layers, is of advantage. * * * Alberta is the premier sheep-raising province in Western Canada and shows constant growth there from 133,592 at the 1922 census to 476,000 in 1926, the numbers at the intervening census years being: 1916, 294,690; 1921, 431,----479. * * *

A stunted pigling with the same amount of feeding will never overtake , others of the same litter. And when you have to feed pigs with expensive meals in order to make them grow a little faster you are on the wrong track to catch profits. • • • Milk producers, as a whole, are well aware that the keeping quality of milk and its general fitness for use in manufatcuring our various dairy products and for the fresh milk trade, depend on the extent to which bacteria may be kept out or kept in check. j i * * * ! One pig for every producing dairy j cow, to consume skim milk; one per ' farm to consume table waste; and I enough more to clean up waste from the grain field, is about the right proportion to be kept in most areas where raising swine is a side-issue to dairying, j * * * / I Outdoor exercise is especially beneficial, but pigs should be protected from cold winds or a very hot sun. By the time the young pigs are three or four weeks old they will have learned to ! eat. If at all possible it is a good plan to give them a trough to themselves. * * * The progeny of a cross-mating between two purebreds can be expected to be very uniform in type, but if these crossbred pigs are used for breeding the next generation will consist of very mixed types. Breeding from crossbred pigs is, therefore, to be discouraged. » * * A' recent issue of the Australasian contains the following interesting commentary:—The demand for agricultural land in Western Australia is so great that the Ministry is speding up the survey and classification of new 1 country. ' Surveyors have been released

from wor kthat is not considered urgent, and roads are being laid out and blocks subdivided between the southern end of Lake King and Southern Cross, where the surveyor-general estimates that he will get 150 blocks of good land. One hundred of these should be opened by the end of the year. Further subdivisions are being made east of the Esperance railway. !** * » I i Many cases of malnutrition in ani>mals due to mineral deficiency of pasture have been recorded. « # * * Consumers when they go to the retailer find everything just as dear to buy, while the producer is losing heavily on everything he has to sell. » # • A motherly sow, which is good-tem-pered and successfully rears her litter, is a valuable asset, and she should not be parted with until her best days are over*

"A horse is as sound as his legs," is an old saying. Almost equally true it might be added, "and his teeth." Bad teeth mean faulty digestion, and consequent loss of condition or colic and the loss of the horse. It pays to have the teeth seen to by a veterinary surgeon at least once a year. » « • • At the beginning of the present year there were approximately 2,800,00 farms in the United States with a telephone installed—l4 per cent, of the total.. Although the number of farms in the United States has decreased by 76,000 since 1920, the number of farms having telephones has, increased in the same period by 300,000. * • » • When bulk is required, whether of grass or crops that are grown for their foliage, nitrogen may be freely applied, but in the case of root crops, where sound and well-developed bulbs are required, nitrogen must be used in very moderate quantities, as any excess tends toward coarseness of growth, and also keeps the plants growing late into the season. »• * * *

Where a fertiliser is applied in the early spring, say August or September, the pasture is stimulated into early growth. A strong root system promotes good top-growth. With another dressing in the early autumn, about the end of February or in March, autumn and winter production is thus secured. * * * j A god time to get lime into the land that needs it is when preparing to \ plant corn. To get it distributed evenly a lime spreader or sower should be used. Hand spreading is better than not treating the land to lime, but the crops, especially alfalfa or clover, will show where the lime has been distributed unevenly. * * m

The dairy cow's udder is an abnormally developed gland, the result of centuries of selective breeding. It is complex in its physiology. Functioning as it does under high tension, for maximum milk production during the most of the adult life of the cow, this marvellous structure is subjected to a veTy great physical strain. * • * • A dairy cow with a healthy and somewhat nervous temperament is generally considered the best milker. Still it does not follow that the phlegmatic cow will always prove a bad milker. No cow will yield well if she receives rough treatment from cowmen and boys. These should be picked because of their kindness to the cattle.