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Farm & Station

PIC BREEDING. POINTS TO OBSERVE. A point of great importance when selecting young p'gs for breeders is to make sure that the sow is not/ only prolific, but a good milker, one that will furnish a good supply of milk for at least eight weeks so that lior pigs are bound to have a good start in life. It is also now becoming realised that a boar of a good milking strain is far more likely to begets sow pigs which will grow into' good milkers than will a hoar the. son of a. sow which is a poor milker.- There is no doubt that prolificacy is also inherited from the boar as well as from the sow. . Probably there is no single quality more frequently inherited than had temper, and rn no variety of live stock is bad temper a greater misfortune than in pigs. It is especially iso in a boar, as Nature has furnished him with 1 a weapon of defence or offence which is brought into use wiith most disastrous results to the man or animal attacked. Restlessness is almost always an accompaniment of had temper, and this is a great drawback to the thrift and meat making of pigs and is not confined to the particular pig suffering from restlessness, but to all its companions which may be in the fatting sty with it. Tho pig which makes the most use of the food which it consumes is one which spends the major portion of its time resting or asleep. Tt- is equally as important when selecting a boar pig for breeding purposes to select one with a good udder, one with at least twelve teats, equal in size and evenly placed along the bodv, commencing as near as possible to the fore legs, as to make this a point with the- sow pig. Some persons assert that tins is of oven greater importance with the boar than with the sow, as the former of the two parents has the great influence on the form of the joint produce. 1 1 certainly has been noticed that irreg-ular-sized tents, unevenly placed teats and blind teat's, or those which the little pigs are unatJe to suck, are more certainly io be found on the young pigs when tho boar possesses these defects than when the sow alone possesses them. An old pigman used to declare that when selecting pigs for breeders he always made a point of selecting those with* wide and not very long heads, and possessing both long and whle quarters. Ho declared that pigs tiilb two good ends nearly always had good middles. There is no doubt much truth in this. With a wide forehead you get plenty of brains so that the pig is bound to be good tempered and free from restlessness, and with welldeve'oped hindquarters a length and depth of bodv is assured. A goodhn mined pig 'almost always has » thick flank, and this is one of the truest indications of plenty of lean meat in the carcase. This is of special importance now that R is a_ common plan to intl’eed live stock in older to increase early maturity. When farm animals were what is termed unimproved they possessed naturally much more muscle, and that of a coarser texture, than do the improved animals of the present day. ** There is not the slightest doubt that the o'd pigman was on tho right linos when he mentioned the porno, not. a very long head, as an annual possessing a iong head is generally a long-legged, light-middled animal. Who has seen a long-headed man with a large waistcoat. He may require a long waistcoat, but not a bulky one. This point of a fafrly short head, is not probably of so great importa.Tr* in a sow as with a boar, as a female with a longish head is almost invariably a bettor milker than one with a short head and thick neck. Many persons make the mistake of calling a long-legged ‘ animal a big one; it is true that pigs long on the leg pen up well to the eye of a novice: Uut this extra length of leg is very frequently accompanied with want of depth of body. Extra bone i.s very expensive to grow, and when grown is of little actual value and is a loss rather ihan a gain to the housewife.

BREEDING OF PIGS.

KEEPING HERNIA IN CHECK

A study of hernia in pigs has been' made at Wisconsin Agricultural Experimental Station, in America, and the conclusion is that rupture is an inherited characteristic. In selecting pigs for hernia, the experimentalists obtained 7.49 per cent, of cases. from male pigs ruptured in, the original herd, 14.28 per cent, in the first generation, 42.0 per cent, in the second, while the third generation had 43.18 per cent, of the males sniftering from Ihe affliction * . In tabulation the child practical considerations which are the outcome of this study, the officer in charge of the experiments makes the following recommendations: Never use for breeding purposes a boar which is. or ever has been, afflicted with internal hernia. This includes -animals m which the hernia has disappeared naturally as well as those in which it has been reduced Hy operation. Whether hernia would appear among the immediate offspring of any isucli hoar would dopend upon the hereditary make-up of the females with which lie was mated. In any case all his offspring would carry some of the factors responsible for inquinal hernia. This would make it very probable that hernia would leappear in later generations whotevei individuals of certain genotypes even though themselves normal, happener to he mated together. The officer advises farmers to discard any normal hoar which has sired one or more herniated pigs. Such a boar will transmit factors, for hernia to more than one-half of his offspring, and hence would tend to carry it on to the herd, even though the sows to which he is mated should he entirely free from the- taint. Do not select breeding stock from sows which have produced one or more inguinall.y herniated pigs. Do, not retain for breeding purposes litter mates so mgumally herniated boars, especially males.. Some of these will probably be free from the hernia factors,. hut it woulu require extensive breeding determine which they are. The eamniation of all the progeny of. boars which have ffeen known to hire mguinally herniated pigs would also be advisable. Probably in many cases this would not be practical.

WOOL IN EARLY DAYS,

GLANCE over history

King Edward'lll. is the first Prince after the Conquest who is. found taking any notice of commerce. At the Parliament held in the eleventh year of his reign, the export of wool was put under a ban. Tho king also caused that-premiums should be ofFered to such foreign olothworkers as could tie induced-to settle* ifdthin out borders. In spite of this it was not until Elizabeth’s reign that whollyn '• inanuf&c-’ tures can be said to have taken firm root in Britain. As early as the reign of Richard 11. efforts were rnado to advance the trade by various merchants and others. One John Churchman, a grocer,in this reign, “for tho quiet of merchants did newly build a certain house upon the key (quay) called Wool Wharf ... to serve for troynage. or weighing of wools, in the port of London. In virtue of this the king agreed to pay to the said John during his life 40s a year at the terms of St. Michael and Easter.” Probably as early as the middle of the thirteenth century the wool trade was distinctly associated with St. Mary Woolchnrch in Walbrook Ward, London. In fact-, the name of this church had its rise from the erection of a beam which was placed in the churchyard for the “troynage” of wool. WOOL HEAVILY TAXED In August, 1362, the staple or man/ of wool was removed from Bruges, a town in Flanders, and fixed at Westminster, near the king’s palace. In September, 1358, Parliament enacted that the staple for wool and other things should be for ever in that- city, and m such other places as the Act named. In consequence, the trade of Westminster increased vastly, as also of the Metropolis as a whole. So great, indeed, was the traffic to anci from the staple that the road between Westminster and Temple Bar became “so worn and miry as that it was dangerous to pass upon it.” A further proof of the extent of the trade done at the staple is found in the fact that .the merchants, with the aid of the parishioners of Westminster, built the church of St. Margaret, whilst King Edward 111. increased his revenues by this means to the sum of £llO2 per annum. The taxes of the country were largely raised on wool. Sometimes 20s 8d was levied per sack and sometimes as much as 50s. King Henry VL had six wool houses in the staple, which he granted to tho dean and canons of St. Stephen’s. The amount- of wool exported in the year 1854 was 31,6511 sacks, at an average of £6 per sack, making a grand total of 189,909.

EARLY INTEREST IN WOOL-

GROWING

SiV Thomas More, in his “Utopia.” inveighs bitterly against the mania which possessed our countrymen in the matter of sheep farming at that time. This was in the early part of the sixteenth century. “Wherever,” lie says, “it is found that the sheep of any soil vic'd a softer and richer wool than ordinary, then [he nobility and gentry, and even those holymen, the abbots, slop the course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns that they may lodge their sheep in them.” An historian of the seventeenth century points to the Vale of AylesFlury, in Buckinghamshire, as supplying “the host and biggest-bc-dicd. sheep in E'mdaml,” when it was accounted as nothing io give £lO or more for a. breeding ram.

AGE AND PRODUCTION,

WHEN IS A COW AT ITER, BEST?

The production of milk and butterfat by dairy cows under normal conditions increases with each year up to the fifth and sixth years, when the cow is at her best. The length of time she will maintain her maximum production depends on her constitutional .strength and the care with which she is fed and handled. A good dairy cow should not show any marked falling off until after ten years of age. Many excellent records have been made by cows older than this. The quality of the milk production by heifers is somewhat better than that of older cows, for we find a decrease of one-tenth, to two-tenths of one per. cent, in the average fat content lor each year until the cows have reached full ago. It is caused by the increase in the l weights of the cows w-ith advancing age. 'At any Tate, there appears to be a parallelism between the two sets of figures for the same cows. Young animals use a portion of their food for the. formation of body tissue, and it is expected, therefore, that heifers will require a larger portion of nutriments- for the production of but-terfat than do older cows. After a certain age has been reached—on the average about seven years of age—The- food required for the production of a unit of milk or Huttorfat again increases as regards dry matter and the digestible components of the food. A good milk cow of exceptional strength kept under favorable conditions, whose digestive system has not 1 pen impaired, should continue to be a. profitable producer until her twelfth year, although the economy of 'her production is apt to be somewhat reduced before the ago is reached.—W.B. in “Farmers’ Gazette.’’ . '' NOTABLE DISCOVERY. MANURE MADE IN BARN. The story of the discovery of the immense deposits of phosphate on Nauru and Ocean Islands reads like a, romance, but it might not even yet have been of commercial value had it not been for the discovery of the manurial element known as superphosphate. A kief account of that is given in a recent issue, of Farm Economy. V Just over 80 years ago, states the journal, a young fanner named Dawes, of Rotham stead, England, made some superphosphate on the .floor of his barn, the first that had ever been produced. He then tried it out on his turnip crop nearby and as a result gave to agriculture the discovery of superphosphate, and the knowledge of the value of artificial fertilisers. What, followed is known the world over wherever farming is practised: how . this great agricultural experimented’ founded the Rothaimstead Experimental Station, enlilstod the help of his friend, Dr. Gilbert, and in partnership with him, commenced a soil research and experimental work which has revolutionised the farming of our nation and of tho world. .’.From that first small heap of superphosphate ‘there has sprung an enormous fertiliser industry and developments in farming that have brought prosperity to millions of people.

By "RUSTICUS"

ECONOMY OF YOUNG CATTLE. EXPERIMENTS' IN AMERICA. Tho beef o.ntt.Te;G,odu®try. .has dur\ ing recent years; been subjected to many conditions Avhich have resulted in considerable revolutionising in the business. Probably as big a. single factor as we have had to contend with is that representing the change in the demands of the , consuming public. This change is one which has’ become very marked, and its effect is •indeed -,very - far-reaching; ■ Modern methods of living have resulted in a very large demand for small steaks and chops, which can be made ready with comparatively littlo cookings As a result to-day wo find the most popular beef to be that of the lightweight carcase, produced in the main by a steer or heifer that has been fattened and sent to market at an age of from one, to one and a-half years. From such carcases small, relatively economical cuts can be obtained. There is no denying that the cut from a large, prime steer ‘might have, more flavor, and even to-day is the more desired article with a few people.

In connection with this demand for young cattle it has been proved during six years’ experimental work# conducted at the' University of Nebraska, that young cattle are by far the most economical converters of farm grain, hay and grass into finished beef. These experiments have shown that the big steer gains very rapidly for a short feeding period of sixty to ninety days. Til the future most of the large cattle that are fed will doubtless be handled about this length of time. THE SEX FACTOR, The feeding of young cattle has shown another marked advantage in the case- of the heifer. Experimental work which we have conducted during several years past tends to show that heifer calves p aced on fattening feed at weaning time and marketed the following spring sell piactically cm a par with steers of the same age and breeding. These same heifers, if held until one or two years older before being fattened, produce carcases that are rather too heavy and wasty to suit much of the trade, and consequently sell at a discount as compared with the price the lighter heifers bring. Furthermore, these older heifers do not gain as rapidly as the heifer calves under fattening conditions. In June, 1926, we marketed fiom the University of Nebraska groups of experimental heifers that were three years of age, two years of age, and one year of age at the time they were .sold. The oldest heifers brought. 89.09 dollars per head, the heifers one year younger or just two years of age, brought 37.;56 dollars, while the heifers one year of age brought 66.06 dollars. Thus we see that the heifers two years of age when sold, brought only 7.50 dollars per head tKan"those that were twelve months old, while the heifers that were three years- oki brought only 15.53-dollars per heaa more than those two years of ago 1 From this it can .lie seen that older heifers did not bring enough addittionai return to justify having carried them over.

Experimental work at the University of Nebraska has shown 'consistently that heifer calves will .gain almost as rapidly as steer calves, and that they will actually finish to a merchantable degree more quickly than will steers, although the 'heifer does ndt continue to grow to the s’lme extent that a steer does.—H. J. Gramitchb Tn “The Shorthorn World."

HEREDITY OR ENVIRONMENT?

WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT IN HAIRY COW?

At the meeting of the Jersey Herd Society in Melbourne last month an interesting discussion took place as to whether environment or heredity played the more important part Pi the development of the dairy cow. The discussion was initiated liy Mr. IT. E. B. Watson, of New Zealand, who judged the Jerseys at the Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne Royal Shows this year. He said that the reason given by prominent breeders for the Jersey having slipped back or lost type was that it was absolutely impossible, under climatic conditions, to keep die Jersey Island type in Australia or New Zealand. Heredity played a most important'part in tlie beast. Environment and feed and care could only develop that which an animat'inherited Nothing new could be created b]y feeding, and heredity meant nothing; if there was nothing there to start with. Mr. Watson contended that if a calf of the dairy breed was heavily fed its condition would eventually come off unless there was a meaty beast in its pedigree to.-which it would throw back. Very'largely success .in breeding depended on the heredity aspect. Another speaker pointed out that, the dairy cow of to-day bad been evolved from an animal that- had barely sufficient milk to feed a calf. In their breeding experiments Breeders found that the tendency of nature was to throw back to the original, and breeders must always be on their guard against that factor. In dealing with the present day animal it was essential to conform to. all the principles upon which the animal had been artificially evolved. Care and attention must fie paid to'these factors. In the excessive feeding of calves the dairy quality -might ’ be spoiled by the ]h oduction of fatty tissues and its - development. In Queensland leading breeders refused to heavily feed their yearling heifers for show' purposes because they considered it ruined their future dairy cattle. ’ ADVICE ON SHEARINC. ITOW TO PREVENT TROUBLE. When shearing- is in progress quito a noticeable number of ewe-hoggets, ewe lambs and 'sometimes older ewes are accidentally damaged in What is really a very serious way by one or both teats, being clipped off through accident or carelessness. Usually the fact of this having occurred is not noticed at the time, and it is only when the ewe bears a lamb or twin lambs that it is realised that as a Consequence of the loss of one or both teats she is unable to rear the lamb or lambs. It is advisable, when wether and ewe' hoggets are running together, to .draft the sexes into two separate mobs for shearing ; then the ewe hoggets can be oulled for breeding purposes, and the shearers having a straight line of females to work upon will, be likely to exercise more care in avoiding damaging the teats. In the same way more care in avoiding the pizzle of the males when covered wit, 1 ' very thick Belly wool will he likely to he exercised. -

Wellington, October 19th, .1928. ■ As Metropolitan of this Ecclesiastic;! I Province I - deem it my duty to again give the Catholic body of Now Zealand right guidance on the matter of Prohibition—National Prohibition—with which it is threatened. 1 hope such a calamity will never befall it. The position of prohibition advocates Us altogether untenable. If they argue that alcoholic drink is an evil in itself, they run counter to Scripture and the emphatic teaching and example of Christ. If they argue that alcoholic drink is not an evil in itself, then regulation of its traffic is surely the moral course to adopt. But if prohibition is urged on account of the misuse which some niake of alcoholic drink, then, to bo morally consistent, . the same people should demand the suppression of many other things, for • instance, printing, theatres, dancing, and "numerous other uses, but this is against reason and common sense. .f '

REFORM IS NEEDED#NOT PROHIBITION^ reform wise and numerate and pa-' fcient in the light ofrexperience-. education, and true morality; in the interests of the body of the public, and especially of moderate men, who constitidfe the majority of the people. 'for brand New Zealandens, who are generally a sober community, as a drinksodden people, demanding drastibnegi station, is a vile and monstrous calumny. The whole scheme prohibition is a great step backward; it would he an odious and 'inquisitorial tyranny, foreign to the basic principle and spirit of British law. PROHIBITION JS INDEED FATAL >tTO jJIBEETY, beoau# it involves a serious outrage ngairwt t;h<j namral fights and liberties /of iiyUviJjalsf |and! contemptuous!/ cEs/egarfls /hjj cjpms of disscnjing(uflinorificq? If. iff also fatal to TEITPER ANOBv. /j them am not a few somiistically Moonfotfhjff temperance witri Temperance is a grc|vth, lik® fiLf moral laws, in the individual sKutliho community. Prohibition proposes to establish temperance according to the' _ Criminal CodX-jJrempei-ance is positive, and appealsto man’s sense of self-control, to his reason and conscience. Prohibition is negative, and appeals to the sense of fear,, to pains and penalties,, and utterly ignores man’s habits and education. Temperance is the development of man’s Righteousness and self-Jpntrol. Prohibition is the reduetionlof a man to a position of compulsory national total abstinence bv the criminal law. Temperance is the heritage# nd ll l essing of a free peop'e. Proj/fition is the yoke which a country/ofistnicts for itself when it confesjps jits inability to self-con-trol, agio fjom which it will take long wjfhrs £to tree itself. Temperance Iks thefbadge of seif-respect and orderliness.! There arf many other cogent reasons why enlightened New Zealanders shoiildfreject prohibition- From the purely temporal standpoint of efficiency, prohibition idoes not prohibit—as the examplJj of America outstandingly proves—mnd never will prohibit so long as fjnen exercise their birthright in 41 matter thar God has left them fi®. From the ethical point of view ftmperance, or sglf-control and mod§&tion j in the use of things, is finidral virtue, and as suoji postj|lnteJ[|rr« in. the PR ftj™ S^° L .All SthJ sir* encourageflient of sly drEiki®g, iWm utter 1 aohf of control, tie Jisence of all authority, the vile dlcoJpons served, a# sure to gcnernlo I low moral atmosphere of great- piiwhief. And such places of sly flruiijng greatly appeal to the young.wDnce lot a y/ung man Ipcome contaminated byjjfhe moral tone of the “slv grogs,” h/will he damaged morallv, if not /utterly ruined. Prohibition will ujfloubtedly generate lawlessness. IJs extreme character, its far-reacjpng measures, its enormous penalties, stamp it as a grinding desnotjjfrn—the fruitful parent of disorder# PROHIBITi/n IS AS DESPOTIC AS ANY lAW OF THE WORST / DESPOT. It utte/y disregards and tramples under fqpt the undoubted rights of minoritjfs, whom it grossly insults by til# why it flaunts their wishes and imstroys their privileges. The min/ity under it would obey or suffer Jbutragoous penalties. Wherever it prevails it is. monstrous in every way and grossly insulting to the intelligence of the . large minority. If it is carried in New Zealand we may expect that shortlv the land will be tilled with dens, all of which will be’ schools of hypocrisy, evasion, lawlessness and deception. One extreme It gets another. Prohibition would plunge us into a course of folly, bringiing turmoil into the' politics of the country, perjury and evasion into the courts, and deception into the people. Let it not he argued that “slv grog” would become an impossibility when throughout the whole of the Dominion there would be no liquor to be procured., for what could prevent the manufacture of sly grog in the country and its introduction by a • WIDESPREAD SYSTEM OF SMUGGLING? But in any case this plea is no excuse for ita£> inherent and rampant tyranny. $ , . In a publication regarded os authoritative hv the No-'L-icense Party, those words occur:—“l recollect on one occasion, in conversation, one of the brewers ,■ said to a prohibitionist, ‘I bate the drunkard as much as yon..’.. The . prohibitionist replied: ‘That remark. defines the difference between us. You hate the drunkard : T hate the drunkard-maker.’ ” Tt is this very extenuation in teaching which is sure to add to the list of the drunken. Nay, it destroys all morality. This teaching would render morality impossible. Anarchy and lawlessness would be rampant. ‘T hate the drunkard-maker.” In terms of logic, he hates the hotelkeeper who sells wine, the'barman vho serves it, the commercial traveller who represents wholesale houses which stock" wine. A STEP FURTHER . He would hate the wine-grower,' the laborer in the vineyard, and the carter who carries the wine, and so on. In large drapery establishments certain persons practise shoplifting. Prohibitionist teaching would exonerate them and Id a me the d racers. “I hate not tho thief, Hut the thiefmaker.” Such a doctrine- .would abolish tho Ten Oommnndmcnts. To shift the responsibility from the man who drinks to excess to other person?; is to encourage sympathy with the drunken, and still more is this wrought hv absolutely stopping the supply, not only to the' few- lawless, but to the. whole community This remedy is fatal to morals. Ibis fatal to set up ■ a compulsory and ascetic

.total abstinence society for the peo- | pie and to enforce its rules, by a- drastic criminal code. A .true educational development undoubtedly means that the whole of man’s attributes are to be brought into true harmony. Hero lies the worth of the individual and THE TRUE GREATNESS OF THE STATE A mere .negation such as prohibition would never accomplish this: in fact,a greater violation of-its principles can hardly bo conceived This National Prohibition craze is mainly the work of a handful of fanatics. . a LIQUOR. FOR MEDICINAL. SACRAMENTAL AND INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES, jr I shall be told that we aem no danger in New Zealand oL#cir being_ deprived of'alcoholic lirumr for medicinal, sacramental mm industrial purposes. Jr We have hadfthe assurance of tho leaders of tl# No-License League, together with the Government, th nM satisfactory regulations will he m#?e to allow wine to be procured#!nr these purposes, but let all goo#olii is--tians lie timely warned. L#m not at all. convinced that tLiesa#regulati'ons will be satisfactory.-#Eir.st of all, what are they? ]#sbody seen.. Them, and they jyflletb be made, I understand, only#n the event of National Prohibit on being carried. IS IT REASONABLE to ask Catholics to vote for National Prohibition on the strength of regulations not yet made and about which we know nothing—whether they will bo satisfactory nr otherwise ? But even though the present Government may be perfectly sincere in

its avowed purpose to make 'regulations that will be entirely satisfactory, what guarantee have ivc that in a few* years, once national prohibition is the law of the land, other Government —on the ground, say, that the exemptions are being abused—may not insert an amendment in the Act doing away with all exemptions, even for sacramental purposes? We have had too much experience of '“rush” ' legislation on the part of ouypParliament not to fear similar legislation m iegard to sacramental wine. I cowfder, therefore, that I would he jbmng in my duty did I not warn owsr people of J’-. ‘the DANGEROUS POSSIBILITIES that are before! them. Jibe we in this pretended free *to depencL for the exercise of suCaturai and divine right on any Jrallible and fallacious. Government#or set- of politicians. Such a th#ng : is an insult, an outt a"e aMr an indignity. It implies a \ pryiWr’and inquisitorial interference pilar in the Dominion. I jail, therefore, on all Catholics. in Dominion to vote dead against national prohibition, as they value ; common -.sense and liberty Let them >, band with the best men m the Do- r minion, the majority of g.-od and moderate men,' io st-apip out this noxious thing, national prohibition, for ever. Let suen mquisifoml - . and grinding """tyranny ' never ' curse this free land. The vho votes for national prohibition in the present condition of, this Dominion is true neither to his common sense nor his love of freedom, nor his loyalty to his holy religion. Let him east his vote patriotically and religiouslv against it. in this and everv other election. Let him not become the slave of a' false system msp.red bv narrow-mindedness and fanaticism’***

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Bibliographic details

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 12

Word Count
4,769

Farm & Station Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 12

Farm & Station Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 12