ON THE LAND.

Northern Advocate, 18 January 1921, Page 1

ON THE LAND.

FEEDING FOR MILK

Of all th e many and varied circum. tances that affect the yield of milk, none is of more importance than feeding. It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule, and the, nature of the food must more or less depend on the kind of foodstuffs " grown on the f arm or most cheaply purchased. There is a potential milk yield in every cow, and all the feeding in the world will not make her go beyond it. As far as possible feeding should be made an individual mat. ter. Too much food is better than too little, within limits. Cows ajttst live before any of the food $iey consume can go for milk secretion. There is also bodily waste to repair and warmth to provide, also -the strain of calf bearing, and if cows are expected to milk well and look well sufficient food must b e provided. Food not only influences the yield of milk } but the amount ".of buttai that can be made from .it. Special richness of milk cannot be produced by special feeding, but the continuous us e of rich food will stimulate a cow to yield as much and 'as ■ good milk a s she ig constitutionally i capable of giving. The preparation of food is of importance in aiding digestion, and in furthering the afesimilation of a greater amount hi material. For this reason it pays to chaff the whole or a part of tHe fodder, slice or pulp the roots, and cmsh' all cake. Any change in fdqd must be made gradually, or disorders are apt to arise, milk cows being particularly sensitive in this respect, and show it in a decreased yeld at first, though the flow will gradually return if the change of food b e for the better. VALUE OF DAIRY PRODUCE The value of our dairy produc e this year will act as a fortunate set-off to the depreciated value of wool. Reurns for the first four months of the season show a remarkable increase in production, and with an increase of 55 per cent in the export value of butter, th e season's yield from dairyproduce may be expected to attain record figures The returns for the i whole Dominion show that up tQ, 31st* no less -tbVffn 12i,&&

Governed by t his, it is interesting to learn that the horses remaining on these farms, and which were doing practically the work which the tractor could not do did about 75 per cent of the tractive work on the farm, the tractor doing the remainder (25 per cent.. The investigation brought out that the tractor was used for an aver, age of twenty-nine 10-hour days per year on th e fann for which it was bought and no record was obtainable for any amount of work done for customers (i.e., on other farms to which it had been hired out). On the average a three-furrow plough tractor on these farms, did the work of eight and a-half horses in ploughing, discing, harrowing and harvesting. After purchasing the tractor the tilled land on these farms ( the arabl e portion) was increased by 22 acres, or 6h per cent., on th e average: The final and main conclusion arrived at is that "the prinicipal advantage of a tractor is its ability to do heavy wovk in a shorter time than it can b e done with horses. , ' TOPICAL PARS Put your farm machinery in sheds and fix it up in tip-top shape this winter. A shed will cost some more than formerly, but th e advance in building materials generally has not been nearly so great as that on machinery. A mixture prepared as follows will keep the agricultural implements from rusting: Melt together lard and powdered resin, one part of the latter to three, of the former, and ** it * s desired add a little lamp-black. Paint the iron or steel with a brush. j

A saving of 300 dol. or more was was made by farmers in Kent county, Del., who bought binder twine collectively last summer. They bought 15,000 pounds through a local dealer. A firm outside th e county bid a trifle lower, but the buyers decided to place the order with th e local firm that made the best bid.

"They arc rubber. Weather won't hurt "em/ . So some folks leave their machin e belts out in the wet and cold. Think how few years the belt has lasted that has been served that way; then take in the new one you had to buy, and see how much longer it will last. You will find it will last from one-third to one-half longer.

There are many reasons why cooperative creameries and cheese factories should, handle patron's ■bu#s£and eggs. No additional equipment is necessary; there are facilities for storage; patrons can save time; poultry supplies can be purchased collectively for patrons; eggs can be shipped in th e same car as dairy products.

cwt of butter had been delivered in to the cool stores, this quality being equivalent to more than one-third of the production for the whole of the previous season, and more than double the production in the corresponding period of 1919. The deliveries of cheese also show a considerable increase the total for three months being 172.412 cwt., representing about one-seventh of last season's output. It is not surprising that the proportion of butter and cheese has greatly changed. During the vrar period the demand for cheese was greater than for butter, and for several seasons the Dominion has produced three tons of cheese for every ton of butter. Now, firm prices have been secured for butter under the Imperial contract, with freedom from such difficulties as the recent increase in freight on free cheese, mor e butter-making plants are being brought into use, the e arly returns for this season showing less than a ton and a-half of chees, e for every ton of butter. FARM HORSE v TRACTOR According to recent visitors to England, the farm tractor is being extensively used, and the recent trials held at Lincoln showed a high standard of excellence. During the agricultural "rush" work of the war period it had chances of being demonstrated that are not ordinarily available. To that reason, therefore, may be ascribed the fact that its Use has grown more in England than in the Dominions. An interesting inquiry has been made as to the effect the use of tractors has had on the farm horses by the American Department of Agriculture. Th e part of the United States selected for the inquiry was the centr e of the cornbelt where the use of the tractor has become more general than in any other part of the country. It was found that the number of horses disposed on the 141 farms, with an averagg of 346J acres per farm, on which tractors had been used for a full year at least, was just 25 per farm on the average. The average number of tillable acres per horse kept increased at the same time, from 26J to 38i, after the purchase of the tractor. It was also found that "the number of horses' displaced by th e tractor on these farms was govemej by the number it was necessary to retain for corn (maize) cultivation and other work current at the same time which the tractor could not do."

It is a mistake to put off ploughing until late in the winter or early spring. The ground is often heavy and sometimes actually too wet to plough in the fall, but the action of the frost will repair all damage, or most of it, at least, if the ploughing is done early. In the spring, ground should not be ploughed unless it is dry.

Your farm may be in yourname and it may be fre e from the heavy hand of mortgage, but are you not simply holding it in trust? Your children will call you blessed if you leave two blades of grass growing where only one grew before. Everything comes from the soil. Give it your best and you will be rewarded; take all from it and you rob the soil, and also yourself. At the Bristol Shorthorn show and sale the Prince of Wales secured champion prize for males with Chief Trumpeter, by Boquhan Magnate, sold for 150 guineas to Argentina. He also secured the Prize for the best trio. The other two bulls realised 250 guineas and 90 guineas respectively. At the DubHn sale, Colleen Crocus 2nd., eight years old, was sold for 1300 guineas, her dam w e nt for 920 guineas; while Colleen Crocus 7th., a three-year-old heifer, made 1200 guineas. The farm income is steadily being increased by the mor e efficient marketing of farm crops and the more advantageous purchase of farm supplies. To illustrate it, in California about 8000 citrus growers marketed a crop valued at about 50,000,000 dollars in 1917. The selling expenses were about 1.55 per cent, That is, they saved in the aggregate several million dollars in lower selling expenses. On the average they save about one million dollars a year through co-operative purchasing of supplies in larger volume,