CASUAL ITEMS.

Northern Advocate, 3 September 1919, Page 4

CASUAL ITEMS.

The Danish Government is paying .1)15 per ton, including sacks, for bran exported from Great Britain. Is the sire at the head of your herd good enough to effect some improvtMiient? Tf he is not 'he is losing money for yon every day you keep him. Breed up, not down. An order nas been issued by the Government fixing- prices for butter within the metropolitan area of New South Wales as -follow; Firsts, whoilesale, f>6lb boxes, per cwt: seconds, 177s 4d; and thirds, 172s 8d per ewt. Labour is demanding a higher wage and shorter hours; production costs are soaring every day, and every day they are- striking back at. the (labourer. Meanwhile farmers are equipping their farms with labour-saving implements in order to withstand the siege.. The time is coming when someone will call "quits," and then we will get down to a reasonable basis, and transact our business of living and' tiiiding- in a sensible manner. —"Farniers' Advocate."

Apropos of iMr A. V. Tait's remarks, that a farmer up Kaponga way had taken an average of £17 per acre off his fartn this 'last season, a record put up by Mr Griffen, who supplies the Riverdale factory, will be read with interest. Mr Griften farm>s 48J acres of first-class land on the Main South road this side of ltainie road. From this farm he was paid by the Itiverdale factory for of fat, which, at 2s per lb, equals £ 1280. Allowing even a small margin for pigs, ealLves, etc., this works out ut roughly, £27 per acre. Mr Griffen, of course, farms intensely and farms well, but it only again demonstrates that small areas of first-class Taranaki' land, whereon hi-, cerne, root crops, etc., are grown, and where a g-ood class of dairy caws is kept and properly managed, a very g-ood income indeed can be made. If the training of the heifer does not commence when quite young, she should always be taken in hand six or eight weeks before she is due to freshen. As she becomes heavy "with calf she has a tendency to be docile, but that is not enough. She ought to be handled and fondled daily. Give her as near as possible the same kind of treatment that the other caws receive. Give her a. general rub down nnd rub her udder gentfly as it distends, writes an American, correspondent. When she drops her calf she may not be as agreeable to handle as an old cow, but 'her objections will be only temporary, and the calf will not be more than two days old before she is as quiet and tractable as she was previous to calving.

That cheese forms a cheap an whdlesonie substitute for aneat ha long been received as a househol truth now Aye are likely to be tmor fully instructed as to its value as preserver of health. A Swiss inves tiga.tor advocates that it is valuabl not only for its contents of protek and carbo-hydrates but for the us> ful bacteria found in it. Anothe interesting aid important assertion : to the effect that persons who mal cheese a considerable part of thei regular diet are very resistant t many intestinal diseases, such as d; sentery, and the dreaded typhus fe er which has desolated Serbia. A cording to Jji. Burri, the daily me* ration in the Swiss army has alread been partly replaced by cheese, wit excellent results.

Practical farmers express the opinion that there will be a very considerable shortage in the area devoted to wheat this season (writes the Geraldine correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times"), and they anticipate that next harvest will not nearly supply the requirements of the Dominion. It appears that several causes have contributed to deter farmers from growing more wheat. One reason is that sheep need less labour and are more profitable. Another is that the cost of labour, for cultivation and harvesting has increased materially, as also has the cost of threshing , , and farmers are dubious as to whether labour will be available for 'harvesting. Still another reason has been stated, and this is that farmers' wives and families, being unable at times to secure domestic help, find that the work of providing for harvesters is too great a strain upon them. Farmers recognise that a short supply of wheat may be a very serious thing for the country, especially considering- the possible difficulties in connection with transit, but they ask "What can we do? We must consider ourselves." Dairy-fed pork and milk-fed bacon live terms that have long , been used to express the height of perfection of richness and delicacy in the production of pig-flesh, says the "Live Stock Journal." A deal of stress is laid on the question of how a pig has been fed by purchasers who intend to salt and cure for their own house-

hold consumption, and when satisfied better prices are invariably paid. It is throuigh feeding rations well balanced that gives a ripeness and flavour which makes our bacon in

most cases superior to that which is imported. With regard .to the food to make the bacon pig it is evident that barley meal and potatoes form the best and most nutritious food. In the former, barley is <a cereal of a heating nature, while the potato contains a large proportion of starch and other feeding properties, and the two combined are superior to any other diet. A-U domestic, animals may be fattened upon vegetable food alone. Vegetables, therefore, imust contain all the substances which are necessary to build up the several parts of fl.nima.l bodies and to supply the waste attendant upon the performance of the necessary functions of animal life. The food must supply the waste'or increase of fat in

animals.