FARMING CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5757, 30 April 1880, Page 3

FARMING CORRESPONDENCE.

FOOD FOR PIGS. "A CORKESPONDKNT' enquires as to what grain is the best and cheapest food for pigs. That must depend, of course, upon the price of the grain. Those wlio have experimented and gone into the subject of the chemistry of pig-food, state that it takes 3J lbs. ofstarch to make oue pound of fat, and it takes five pounds of barley or maize to make one pound of pork. Beanmeal, barleymeal, crushed corn, and peas are perhaps the be3t food of that kind that pigs can have. Professor Voelcker has said that "Indian corn is richer in fat-forming matters than almost any other description of food. The readymade fat in corn amounts to from five and a-holf to six per cent. But animals shou'd not be fed entirely on Indian corn, because the matter in it is small. Beanmeal supplies the deficiency." Pigs, like other animals, thrive best on a variety of food ; and if they have a mixture of sbiin milk, pulped or boiled roots, and crushed maize, they should do well. I use the farmers in the South, now that oats are so low in price, are enquiring as to their value for pig-feeding. The last issue of the Jfeio Zealand Country Journal has the following : —" The abundance of the oat crop coupled with the low price for this cereal has caused several farmers to institute enquiries as to the value of oats for feeding pigs, and the relative value of wheat and barley for the same purpose. In answeriug questions of this kind there are many points which must first bo ascertained, such for instance as the price of the various cereal?, weight per bushel of each, their component parts, the breed of pigs and general management. Given wheat at 3a Gd per bushel of GO lbs., barley at 3s Gd per bushel of 50 lbs., and oats at Is Gd per bushel of 40 lbs.; —according to some agricultural chemists, wheat contains 4S lbs. nutritive matter per bushel; barley 32 lbs. per bushel of 50 lb3. j and oats 22 lbs. per bushel of 40 lbs.—accordingly the same money's worth of oats should produce about equal results with wheat, and coasiderably more than the same money's worth of barley. The American hog-feeders find that it takes 5 lbs. of Indian corn steeped in water to produce one pound net of pork. Experimtnt has shown that it takes 5J lbs. of crushed barley to produce one pound net of pork, which at 3s 6d per bushel for the barley, would make the pork cost about 4£i per pound. Assuming that the analysis given above is tolerably correct, the result would be more favourable to the oats as feeding stuff, owing of course to the low price. These results it must be observed are simply a record of the meat producing power of the several kinds of corn experimented upon. Experience has shown that the same amount of grain given in conjunction with turnips, mangels, or potatoes produces more meat in proportion, and enables a larger number of animals to be fattened at a less cost. It is a good plan to crush the oats, and if moiateueJ with milk waah, or even water, so much the better; numerous trials have proved that mixing the meal with water aud given as slops, is a wasteful plan; many of the most experienced feeders of pigs use the meal dry, letting the animals have access to water, the theory being that the pigs had to consume much more water when the com was given in the slop state than was necessary, thereby weakening the action of the stomach, aud rendering necessary the consumption of a certain amount of food for the purpose of bringing the water up to the temperature of the body ; this ia

particularly the case in winter time. These may to some seeni- unimportant pointß, but they are far from being bo, the neglect or otherwise of such considerations must determine the amount of profit and loss attending the pig-feeder a operations. We believe that w>th a good stock of well-bred pigs, properly managed and with oats at their present lowprice, and pork at not less thau 4d per pound, a very handsome return may be realised.' W hen in Auckland the other dav my attention was called to the fact that crushed or coarsely-ground maizj of a very superior quality, for pig-feeding could be had at 6a 6d per cwt. At this price it is much cheaper than sharps; indeed about'the cheapest food that can be purchased. L went to look at the article, and found it'waasplendid stuff. It is not the common, but the white Fijian maize; and if regular supplies can be obtained, and the price remain about the same, there Ehonld be a good demand for it. The industry should be encouraged—indeed, I do not sje why it should not be ground fine and sold for human food. In regard to the value of maize for swine, I may further add that a farmer in giving advice to his brother farmers, says : ".Let them consume their 3ats, sell off both wheat and barley, aud buy Indian corn and brail. Indian corn is about the same price as barley, but 60 lbs. instead of 52 lbs. to the bushel. A bushel of barleymeal is generally supposed to add ten pounds to the weight of a pig. I have found in my late experiments that a bushel of Indian corn produced an increased weight to a pig of fifteen pounds." SPECIMENS OF GRASS US. The following is from Mangapai : "To 'Agricola.' Mir,—l have lately fojnd the accompanying sample of grass on my farm. Could you give me any information as to its name and qualities as a fodder plant, and also if it is likely to be hard to eradicate should it be desirable to do so ! An answer through the Weekly News will oblige yours, &c., North." I cannot give the mine of the grass, or indeed any information about it. 1 should judge it to be one of the Australian grasses. Its value may soon be discovered by observation. If it throws out plenty of feed, or is likely to do so, and if stock are fond of it, is the way to test it. From its appearance, I should not think it of much value, and it should not ba difficult to eradicafcj.

'To Agricola.'' Sir, —I send yon samples ® two Australian grasses grown from seed sent by a friend in New South Wales. No. 1, he describes as, large stool, bears drought well-the one with the branching panicle. No. 2, tender, close, sweet—the one with the slender panicle?. He mentions that kangaroo grass is not much esteemed, being considered coarse. I sent you seed of this kind some months since. I should mention, however, that kangaroo grass was the chief food and highly esteemed for sheep when I resided in Yictoria, 25 years since. I caH send you a little seed of these grasses when ripa if you wish, and if you can give any description of the class they belong to I shall be obliged.—l am, &c., K. Pickmere. Hemuera, March 18, 1880." I have no work on the Australian grasses, and cannot, therefore, give any description as to the character of the two sent. _As far as growth is concerned, they seetn likely to do well in this country. I may state that out of the 6009 grasses already known, there are in New South Wales some 150 distinct species—some, of course, invaluable, and others very inferior. Within the past two or three years, all the Australian grasses have been classified by Mr. Beiitham and Baron Mueller, and a complete account has been published in the seventh volume of the "Flora Australiensis"—an expensive work. In the classification of these grasses, and in defining the limits of species, a great work has been accomplished by these botanists ; but hopes are entertained that their theoretical labours will _be supplemented by some popular treatise on the uses and Vjtlne of the grasses, giving not merely the common or local names of species, bnt indicating the purposes for which they may be utilised. It, the Agricultural Keport of Victoria for 1874, Mr. Bacchus, assisted by Baron Mueller, threw out some valuable suggestions on the properties of particular kinds. He remarked "Tallow being composed of oleum and stearine, when the former is in excess the fat of animals is soft and wastes readily ; when sterine predominates, it is hard and durable. In localities when the vegetation consists to some extent of oil or sugar-pro-ducing plants, the fat of the animals grazing on it will be soft and liable to waste. They should not be sent for aale far from home ; but stock from places where the vegetation is of a nature to produce an excess of stearine may be dispatched to distant markets, with a probability of arriving in good condition. Some of the native grasses wh : eh cause stearine to predominate in the fat of stock consuming them, appear to be kangaroo grass{A iithisliria), thejfoas, Fescues, Danthonias, Eriachne, and others of the tribe Avence; while among grasses, which cause the fat of animals to be soft, are species of the Panicum tribe, particularly those of which the seeds are largely consumed, and tome sorts of Andropogon." As so little has been done in the chemical analysis of grasses, it may be premature to go so"far as Mr. Bucchus has done in the preceding pars, graph ; but credit is due to him for having directed the graziers to a matter of great importance, for it is certain that cattle fatten much sooner in some localities than they do in others, and that, from some cause or other, they lose less fat in travelling from certain stations than they do from others. So says an Australian authority. Agricola.