THE MAN ON THE LAND.

Mataura Ensign, 26 September 1913, Page 7

THE MAN ON THE LAND.

Last week brought about a pleasant change in the weather conditions which have prevailed-in Southland for some time now, and such a fin© spell (which lasted up to yesterday) lias_ not been experienced since the beginning of spring, when the indications made many prophesy an early season. Such, however, was not to be, and the adverse weather experienced has kept the farmer behiud with tho preparation of his land for the crops. There will be .another shortage of grain this season, { as many farmers have not been able to j prepare so much ground as they anticipated, so that oats may reach a good price. This is most noticeable in the Waimea Plains district, and it is stated that only half as much grain is being sown there this season. Many of the Plains' settlers are going in more extensively for sheep this season, from which they anticipate getting as good a return as from cropping. This should have a beneficial effect in two ways: the farmer who has the cereals will reap the good prices that a shortage, may occasion, while on the other hand the agriculturist who. goes in more for! sheep wiil benefit his land by giving it j a spell from cropping. j Last week was an ideal one for farm work, and full advantage of it was taken. Sowing occupied the attention of most farmers, and a continuance of such weather with an occasional shower! will enable the farmer to get his oatsj sown in good order and also make him think that Southland is not such, a bad, place after all. , _ j [ A wonderful change is noticeable in l the country after last week's fine wea- | ther, and it presents a fine picture with its paddocks of green grass and the lambs which are gradually making their appearance everywhere. The lambing promises well, and although rough weather was experienced some time ago no serious losses arc reported. Lambing is not general yet, but should be so about the beginning of next month. Feed is coming away well, and it is confidently expected that large percentages will result. Present indications point towards a record year being experienced as far as the dairying industry is concerned. The price obtained by factories this year cannot fail to give the supplier a record price for butter-fat. The Mataura- Factory obtained 6}d per lb on trucks for itVsea&on's output of cheese, which is the best price that has ever been obtained by the factory. It is anticipated that the' suppliers will receive Is 3d per lb for butter-fat this season. The factory made a start last Thursday with ■SOO gallons of milk, and on Monday the milk received totalled 1100 gallons. "Rustic.us" in the 'Lythlton Times' says: The early spring i.> one- of tho most interesting sjcaso.: i,f the year, but it is also about the busiest. Crops have to he put in as fast as possiblein order that they may be sown before the season advances too far. See;! must be thickened as tho season advances, and on no account muso the pickling of Seed, both wheat and oat'-s, be neglected. Blue&tons is still tho mo.it general-ly-used dressing, but fanners should try a few bags of grain with formalin and then take note of the result. It will ho found that wheat dressed with formalin will germinate more quickly than _ that treated with blue-stone, and that is an! important point at this season of the, year. Manuring also lias the same effect, and is therefore to be recommended on that account if for nothing else. But in my opinion it also helps the yield even on fairly good ground, and gives a sufficient increase to pay for itself and for the extra cost of harvesting, threshing and so on which an added yield brings with it. Everything being favorable for getting in crop it is to be hoped that a good area will be sown. At lambing-time no doubt constant attention pays, particularly if there is any trouble with tho ewes in lambing. Some mobs require comparatively little attention ; others have to be constantly watched and cared for. Assistance in lambing, mothering up, giving one of twins to ewes that have lost their lambs are among the duties a shepherd finds that he has to perform at the present time, and it is wonderful what a lot can lie done in these directions towards obtaining a big percent-age of lambs. In fact, when we read of big percentages we may be pretty well sure that the mobs mentioned had very careful management and attention right through the winter and the lambing. When the rams wero put out on a given date, lambing should not last much longer than six weeks. Dairy cows, too, are now coming in, the month of September lieing looked upon as a suitable time for tJiis to happen. 11' somo green feed is provided and a paddock of early grass they will quickly come into full profit. And I hope that as time goes on we shall all make an endeavor io have only the best cows. It costs as much to feed a bad cow as a good one, and it takes almost as long to milk her. Better pay a few pounds extra for an animal from a well-known strain than to pick up a cheap article that- will only be a lodger and a bad paying one at that. If a cow slips her calf she should bo 1 kept away from the <uhors fi;r a time, j as a precautionary measure. Abortion is in Mono cases contagious, and it is well to run no risks. Some limes it noticed that if one cow slips her calf others will do likewise, though the cause may not be at all apparent. Clean milking cannot be too rigidly insisted upon. Any milk left in the udder goes into the ssytem, and tho secretion of milk becomes less day by day if the cows are not thoroughly -milked out. Weeds are now commencing to grow under the influence of tho warm sun. The best time to tackle them is when they aro in the seedling stage. Time was when the plough and the tine harrows constituted almost all the agricultural implements needed on tho farm. Then the disc, harrows had a big vogue, and they are still extcivsivley used, lint the grubber or spring lined cultivator is now the favorite machine for stirring up the soil and shifting tlie weeds. They need strength to pull them, but they do good work, and any implement that does that requires a big and a good team of horses.

The suggestion of forming a CowTcsting Association which was made by Mr Cockburn at the annual meeting of the Mataura Dairy Factory did not

meet with much support by the suppliers present, who seem to be quite satisfied to go on as usual. Mr Cookburn contended that a testing association would improve the herds and in time weed out all the culls. The best cows would carry the association's brand and would thus be known in the markets. Such an association would no doubt bo a good thing in the district. An Ederukie dairy-farmer told tlie writer that testing associations were more beneficial to butter factories. A cow with a 3.6 test was a more suitable animal for a cheese factory than one with a test of over 4, the latter being a good butter cow.