ON THE LAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9182, 5 April 1910, Page 2

ON THE LAND.

KEEPING MILK SWEET.

Considerable interest is being aroused in Australia by the remarkable method, whieh does not appear to have been made public, whereby a Mr W. D. Passey guarantees that milk can be kept fresh for an indefinite period. So far the results ar© reported to justify the claim, but how far the methods are sufficiently economical to enable the practice to become general does not transpire. A bottie of milk, which was said to bo about five months old, was some time ago handed to the public analyst for analysis. Mr Mann kept the milk for about a week before making an analysis, and he then reported as follows: —Total solids, 14.31 per cent; fat, 4.55 per cent; solids not fat, 9.76 per cent; ash, 0.73 per cent; specific gravity, 1.034 per cent. The milk has apparently been heated, but it is free from any of the ordinary preservatives, and gives a very good figure on analysis. It behaves in a peculiar manner 'in certain respects, which cannot be explained without, full particulars of the treatment it has undergone; but I see no reason to believe that it is in any way detrimental to health. Dr. F. Anderson, who was given a sample of the milk for bacteriological examination, said that the sample was stated to have been two months old, and ho kept it for four days before making his examination. The milk gave almost the test of normal milk. It.differed from any preserved milk he knew of in that respect. It formed almost a normal jun/ket. The junket was slightly softer than •that formed from ordinary cow's milk;

but that, from the point of view of infant's food, would be a very great advantage. Ho made twelve cultures from the milk, which remained sterile after four days in tho incubator. "To me," added Dr. Anderson, "tho most striking thing about tho milk was the way it remained fresh. After opening a bottlo, ordinary pasteurised milk only keeps for a limited time, and for a very short time once exposed to the air. I kept this milk exposed to the air three days, and drank some of it then, and though I did not re-examine it bacteriologically, it was perfectly fresh milk so far as taste went."

THE HEN HOUSE IN WINTER.

To keep tho fowls in unfailing health in the wintor time the floors of their roosting houses should be kept quite dry. Roup and other ailments are avoided under such a condition. If the floor is kept bare tho droppings mako it very unpleasant. If bedded with littery material. this soon becomes moist. Both the droppings and atmosphere induce this. It is an unhealthy attachment, which none should put up with. There is no better bedding material for fowl houses in winter than dry ashes. These are available to all. They absorb moisture and disinfect as well. They keep down smell and prevent unclean atmosnhercs. Tho ashes as collected in the house can bo put into the coops daily, and every three or four weeks clear all out and begin anew. Do not let them remain so long that they become mucky. They aro then in an unfit state. ROOT-PRUNING FRUIT TREES. It not infrequently happens that certain varieties of fruit trees are found to be very 6low in coming into bearing. This is particularly noticeablo with certain kinds of apples when grown on the freo stock (seedling apple), and the same remark applies to most pears on the free stock, also to stone fruits. When growing for market this is a serious matter, as all the expenses of cultivation have to be met, if the future well-being of- tho trees is a consideration, whether any returns are forthcoming or not, and as there is a demand for these varieties, it. is useless to suggest that growers should avoid planting them.

In a largo number of districts the production of fruit can be hastened by planting trees on dwarfing etocke, but m Fome cases this procedure cannot be considered a commercial success; on really rich soils these stocks are to be recommended, but, even then vigorous-growing varieties do not always come quickly mto bearing when left to themselves. When the roots are coarse and etriKe j deeply into the soil and subsoil, the shoots produced are also coarse and and fail to mature sufficiently to develop blossom buds, with a consequent failure to produce fruit. Fruit trees to bear freely must have a good fibrous root system, and thes6 root® must be near the SU Tre<fs growing in this way will eventually bea? fruit, and that heavily, provided that they are eufficieHtly far apart to allow of free extension, and that tne growths made by them are not too severely cut baok. Thinning the branches to about 18in apart, and removing the unripened points, is all the pruning that T"? ( , he Viven to trees growing with £c«Sve vSSr. Thi. .fi W«, production of fruit °? nslde ™/J' shoots grown under such oonditionsare very susceptible to attacks of canker m apples and pears and "gum m stone fruits • they are also likely to bo pulled out of place, perhaps broken, when laden with fruit, being too thin and weak to carry the orop properly. Growers should aim at the production of sturdy, well fired shoots only if quick returns are required, and when trees of even tho most vigorous varieties mskto more than to 24in of growth in a season it is a sure indication that _ tney arc developing some deep-growing coarse roots. Fruit trees, therefore, which aro producing wood at the expense of fruit, should be pruned some time in tne autumn. Trees root-pruned at that time quickly become re-established, and frequently make several inches of new growth be fore the ground becomes too cola, i left much later, new growth does not Mmraenco till spring, while if operate*, aro begun much earlier the shoots snrnel. Lifting and replanting should be the method adopted with tree® three or four years old; if longer established, rootnruning will be most advisable. In the case of pears and plums grown as bushes, pyramids, or trained trees, it almost always pays to lift about the second or third year after This usually causes them to develop fruit buds freely the following without giving an undue check. At this time the roots will be moderately plentiful and fibrous, and will therefore quickly make a fresh start in the sen!