FARM & DAIRY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 October 1925, Page 16

FARM & DAIRY

PECULIAR ANCIENT LEASES. SOME STRANGE CONDITIONS. OBLIGATIONS OF TENANTS. We live in an age of high rents. Tliev were happier in. the old' .days, though some of the\ conditions ot ancient, leases in Britain must have been difficult to fulfil. The law books contain many an instance of strange conditions upon which estates used' to be. held, or even: still are held. lor instance, one Solomon Attfield liela lands at Re.pland ‘and Atterton, m Kent, upon condition that, as often as the King should cross the sea, the said Solomon should accompany him and “hold his head,” should he have the misfortune to be, sea-sick! M'any nobles held manors in return for the service of carving for the King at annual feasts, or serving him, or guarding his person. The lord of the manor of Houghton, Cumberland, was obliged to hold the King’s stirrup when he mounted his horse in Carlise Castle. The Lord of Shirefield had, the duty of looking after His Majesty’s laundresses, in addition to measuring the gallons in the royal household, and dismembering condemned criminals. To carry a hawk for the King; to present him with a grey hood or cap or a white ensign whenever he warred in Scotland; to attend with proper arms, a horse, sword, lance, or simple bow and arrows, whenever their services were required, were the duties imposed upon other manor lords. The service of cornage, or hornblowing, was very common, especially in the Border counties, subject as they were to frequent Scottish raids. The owner of Kingston Russell, Dorset, had the very peaceable task of counting the royal chessmen and putting them back in a bag when the King had finished his game. There is a large estate in Yorkshire which is held on condition that' the tenant pays a yearly rental Of “a snowball at midsummer and a red rose! ‘at Christmas.” A queer, old-fashioned condition was attached to. the holding of the manor of Leaston. This was that 1 the tenant I 'should find our lord the King two arrows and one loaf of oat bread when the sovereign should hunt in the forest of Eastmoor.” Geoffrey FrumbTand and his heirs hold sixty acres of land in Suffolk as long as they pay the sovereign a yearly rental of two white doves.

One of the safest holdings is that of a certain Scottish duke, who relinquishes his estate only if the weather should ever become warm enough to melt the snow on the highest peak of the highest mountain in Scotland. For over seven liudred years the Corporation of London lias annually discharged two quaint ceremonies—the cutting one faggot with a hatchet and another with a billhook —as quit-rentß to the sovereign for certain lands still supposed to 1 be held by them in Shropshire and Middlesex. Though nobdy now knows where the properties stand, the ceremonies have never been forgotten. PASTEUR AND FxYRMERS. Milk, or wine becomes sour on exposure to air. Pasteur showed that when organisms from the air are excluded, no change takes place. In the interior of the grape no germs exist. But crush the grape and expose it to ordinary atmospheric agencies, and fermentative and putrefactive changes run their course. The application of these facts to surgical operations in the able hands of Lister revolutionised surgical practice. Pasteur’s discoveries in fermentation inaugurated a new era in winemaking and dairying industries. Empiricism, hitherto the only guide, was replaced by exact scientific knowledge, and the connection of the phenomena of disease with a controllable cause was thus established. After a study of the diseases of wines which had a most important practical bearing, an opportunity came which not only changed the course of his career, but had a great influence on the development of medical science. His friend Dumas urged him in 1865 to investigate an epidemic/ and fatal disease in silkworms in southern France— -a, disease which had almost ruined the French silk, industry. He succeeded in determining the cause of the disease and in suggesting methods of preventing its recurrence. His work resuscitated the silkworm industry of France. It was the first of his victories in the application of the experimental methods of the trained chemist to the problems of biology.

CATTLE FARMING IN JAPAN. Some interesting data regarding the present conditions of cattle farming in' Japan are furnished by the Department of Agricutlture and Commerce of Japan. According to the statistics of the department the figures for cattle at the end of 1922 were 1,408,603 head. These numbers appear to be the largest recorded for many years. A large quantity of beef is imported from China and other countries to meet the yearly increasing demand. A small proportion is derived from Australia, including small shipments of mutton to Kobe. In farming operations cattle are largely used for draught jiurposes. For this purpose cattle are imported from Korea to the extent of upwards of forty to sixty thousand per annum. The Japanese breed of cattle is generally supposed to have developed from the Zebu and Bantin. The method adopted for tillage is to use the eattle. for draught (purposes, and then fatten them. Farmers who fatten stock three times a year usually market the cattle in October, January or February, and again in May. The proportion of draught cattle slaughtered for beef ranges from 63 to 67 per cent. At one time milk was so rare in Japan that it was regarded as a medicine. The demand for milk by foreigners who.came to settle in Japan has of late years been met by the introduction of milk breeds, such as Holstein, Ayrshires, Shorthorns, Devons, and Jerseys. The Japanese favour the Holstein breed because they give most milk. ■ Ayrshire.* come next in number. The Government of Japan arrange for lessons, lectures, and practical directions on the improvement, propagation and management of cattle.—M.T.J. KEYNOTES OF N.Z. SUCCESS. Under this heading Professor Macklin, of Wisconsin, U.S.A., who recently investigated 'the dairying industry in New Zealand, accounted on his return for the success of the New Zealand cooperatives :

1. They grade every gallon of milk received at a factory when received. The system in Wisconsin is giving dairy farmers .100 per cent, for the rottencst milk turned into a cheese factory. 2. They pay for quality. They will not buy one pound of milk that 'is ungraded ; then they pay on the basis of quality.

3. Management. No co-operative enterprise can run in competition with private business without following business principles. There is going to be no real co-operative success in Wisconsin until you hire the other fellow's best help.

A PUBLIC ISSUE OF PIGS. A French company which specialises in the breeding of pigs is now engaged in raising capital by a public issue—not of shares, or perhaps we should.say of bonds, but of porkers. The subscriber is asked to buy a sucking pig from the company, and pays a lump sum, including cost of insurance, transport, and rearing. The pig is marked with- a number and the number is sent to the subscriber. The pig is then reared by the company for a period of four months and sold at the current market price, the net profit being divided between the company and the purchaser, who also receives back his capital with the profit. The subscriber may turn over his capital with a profit three times every year in this way. There is no limit to the number of sucking pigs that may be financed, but it seems that on the occasion of a previous offer the “issue” was oversubscribed, as there wore not enough porkers at that particular moment to go round. >

GENTLE BULLS. LIKE UNLOADED GUNS, KILL MOST. - • •* i m "V?f; “The gentle bull —there's no such thing,” Says my good neighbour Franklin King. * ‘ The gentle bull, like the unloaded gun, Kills tlie most, when all’s said and done. The bull that’s ugly you give wide berth, - Wouldn’t go near him for all the earth. Unless you’re tired of your bed and board, Unless you want to be trampled and gored. , Don’t trust your bull —that’s the safest plan. Keep away from him as far as you can. When you lead him, use staff and ring.” That’s sound advice from my neighbour King. ’