NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 28 March 1918, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

i : ! I Tiae sow should be chosen from a large litter rather than from a small one, and from a second or third farrow in preference to a first. ; Before the war Germany produced on " 10 acres of land enough food to support 70 to 7.5 people, whereas in England the same quantity of land only supported 45 to 50 people. I Mr Prothero, president of the British i Board of Agriculture, in a recent ad-j dress, ; said that a welcome change had taken place in the attitude of farmers to science. Quite true. Agricultural scientists are< becoming more practical and farmers more scientific. The aim in experimenting with fertilisers should be to ascertain the minimum dressing for the largest return, or to put it in other words, JJie maximum i ■'yield for the minimum oPfexpenditure. | Profits as well as yield must be consid- j ered. Farmers can afford to dress liber- j ally with fertilisers, when prices of • farm produce are high. <§& "— ! Direct experiments have demonstrated that 5 tons of fresh farmyard manure are, on an average, reduced to 4 tons if stored until the manure is half : rotten; 5 tons are reduced to 3 tons if allowed to ferment till it becomes "fat or cheesy"; 5 tons are reduced to 2or 2£ tons if allowed to remain until com. pletely decomposed. The following is a simple cure fpr j ringworm, discovered by an army vet§r- | mary surgeon:—Powder carbide of calcium,, (anybody with acetylene light keeps this). Cui. the hair round the spots and wet them; apply the powder to well cover them, and leave it on for thirty seconds.'by the watch, then wash off. If carefully done, the case is cured. The hair will com© back. Now and then a spot'may require a second application. But nine cases out of ten are cured first time. Test acts as an alarm hell to point ont any falling off from the normal j milk yield. It enables the owner to i get rid of all cows that are not worth their salt. It is an indisputable" report on those cows which are to produce stock for. future dairy work. In short, a systematic weighing and testing of milk yields is the key to profitable dairying, and no dairy farmer can afford to forget it. '/ ..The Christchureh Press states that owing ip. his going into _qanip/ Mi- H. S. S., Kyle, the well-known veterinary surgeon, has decided to 'Hell: liis' Clydesdale stallion Scotland Stamp, the winner of many prizes at shows, and prob_ ably the best colonial-bred horse in the Dominion. He is being sent across to Sydney, arid will be offered for sale under the direction of Mr H. E. B. Watson, of Tai.Tapu,-who purposes attend, ing! the Royal Show and:sa;lesiri:; • . The executive of the Auckland; Farm- : ers' Union has resolved to send the fol-' lowing remits to the general conference: '■•;. (a) That in view of the large demand for nitrogen for fertilising purposes, the Government be urged to proceed at the ■ earliest possible moment with a scheme for harnessing the water power of the * Dominion. !; ; * (b) That the Government be urged to push forward afforestation, especially with regard to quick-growing trees, with a view to supplying the needs of dairying and fruit farming industries on land suitable for other purposes. , (c) That occupiers of National Endowment landsTtoa granted the option of purchasing the. freehold, and all to be thrown open on those terms as required. ' (d) That in order to enable purely cooperative companies to permanently maintain the co-operative principle, they should h'av;4 the right to resume their own sharejf in the same manner as provided, in "the Dairy Companies Act. • -. ' ~