FOR THE FARMER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 1859, 8 September 1923, Page 6

FOR THE FARMER.

It doesn't take long to clean up the milking yard, and the time is well spent.

There are at present 63 branches of the Dairy Farmers' Union in New Zealand with a membership of 4000. The operations of the union are at present confined almost exclusively to the North Island.

"Dairy cows have never been so low in prices for the past seventeen years," averred a well-known North Taranaki farmer to a News reporter. "It is not that there is anything in the state of the market or the prospects for the coming season to warrant the wretched prices. Far from that, for good, payable prices are assured for next year's produce, especially for cheese. The trouble is the weather of the past few months. First we had a succession of wet and miserable weeks; then came the cold winds and hard frosts, which cut off the grass as completely as if a gigantic lawn mower had been pushed over the countryside. There has been no growth since."

A dairy farmer once said that the mistake of his life had been that he had not travelled more and seen how the best men in the business managed their farms. "I lost ten times the money it would have cost me," he said, "in blunders and unwise efforts that I need not have made." He was right. There cannot be too much interchange of opinions and experiences amongst farmers.

A rather uncommon display of butter (says our London correspondent writing on June 22) is now to be seen in the miniature freezing chamber in the window of the New Zealand Office. One-half of the chamber is taken up with pound packages and a couple of hundredweight boxes, but in the other half is a picture executed in butter on a "canvas" of black velvet. On the one side of the foreground is a fern tree, on the other is a nikau palm, and these frame a pastoral scene with innumerable cows, a river and a mountain range. The exhibit has been done for the New Zealand Produce Association, whose name the picture bears.

There may still be some dairymen who have an erroneous impression as to the time occupied in weighing a. cow's milk and noting it down. It will be found in practice that the time occupied in pouring the milk into the pail, noting the weight shown, and jotting down the figure on the pad kept close at hand, is infinitesimal compared with the sterling advantages obtained.

THE BOT FLY. A CERTAIN CURE. A very important reference to the ravages of the bot fly in horses and a newly-discovered cure, was made by Mr B. Budden at a recent meeting of the Otorohanga Veterinary Club (says the Otorohanga Times). Mr Budden said that for 45 years past he had been experimenting and treating horses for the bot fly, but had never found a remedy that would kill the bot without at the same time killing the horse. It was not difficult to get rid of worms, and this had often been done, but as they might not be aware, the bot fastened on to the inside of the stomach of the horse with two hooked claws, and no remedy he had hitherto come across had succeeded in dislodging it satisfactorily. Accordingly, when Mr Carbury said that he had a treatment which would solve the problem he invited him to come out to his place, and last Saturday week nine of his horses were treated. The method was the insertion of a gelatine tube of poison gas down the horse's gullet, avoiding feeding the animal for some hours before and after the administration of the medicine. The effect was marvellous. The whole of the immature bots were cleaned out of the horses' stomachs, and the animals were now in the best of health and condition. He strongly advised members to get Mr Carbury to give their horses a treatment. The cost was not heavy —los for a single animal and less per horse for bigger numbers—and they would be surprised at the quick improvement effected.

SHEEP IN THE SNOW ZONE.

£3OOO OFFERED FOR SNOW PLOUGH.

Five million sheep graze above the snow line in the South Island, according to a statement by the memebr for Temuka (Mr T. D. Burnett), at a deputation to the Minister of Public Works. From these sheep, said Mr Burnett, was procured the most valuable of our wools at the present time —merino and half-bred—and when the heavy periodic snowstorms struck the country there were no means of getting these sheep out, because the country was not tapped by railway or main road. The only method, in his opinion, lay in the use of some kind of mechanical snow plough that could burst a track along the route. The

Mackenzie Country people had agreed to rate themselves to provide £3OOO to assist in the invention of a snow plough that might be successful, but, though they had communicated with different snow countries in the Old World, they had not been able to get any useful practical information, probably because conditions in those countries were different. He suggested ! that the engineers of the Public Works Department might be able to design a plough that would be suitable; it would enhance the productive value of that country by 25 per cent. AN ADMIRABLE PROPOSAL. At a recent convention of Ayrshire breeders in Hamilton, a scheme was outlined by Mr R. M. Somerville for the introduction of some high-class milk-record bulls from Scotland. The scheme ha*d been proposed by Sir Francis Clements when he met representatives of the breed during his recent visit to the Dominion. The idea was for members to guarantee a sum of £IOOO for the purchase of ten or more milk-record bulls from the best herds in Scotland, through the Herd Book Society, Sir Thomas undertaking to secure the desirable types through the agency of Mr Montgomerie, the famous Scottish breeder, and one of the finest men in the Ayrshire breed. Should the importation be made, and there is every reason to believe it will, the bulls will be sold at auction after their arrival in this country. It is sincerely to be hoped that Ayrshire breeders will support this splendid proposal. They are being given an opportunity of raising the productive standard of New Zealand Ayrshires they may never have again. We believe, however, there are sufficient far-sighted men now in the ranks of Ayrshire breeders to prevent this great chance being thrown away.—Dairyfarmer.

WHY JOHNNIE LEFT THE FARM

(Another Version.)

Johnnie bought a little pig with money lie had earned, He named her Nell and fed her well,

and lots of tricks she learned. But Nellie grew to be a sow, had piggies quite a few, Then father up and sold them, and kept the money, too.

Johnnie took a little calf as pay for hoeing corn, He loved that calf, and the calf loved him as sure as you were born. But calfie grew to be a cow, as all good calfies do, The father up and sold her, and kept the money, too. Now Johnnie loved his little pets, but father loved the pelf, So Johnnie left his father's farm and struck out for himself.

Said Johnnie's pa, one summer day, "I often wonder why Boys don't like life upon the farm, 'the Cities' is their cry:" "It always will be strange to me," continued Johnnie's pa, "It only goes to prove, though, how ungrateful children are." When Johnnie heard what father said, he gave a bitter laugh, And thought of his empty childhood and of his pig and calf."