FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8319, 28 July 1890, Page 6

FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

[BY OUH ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL CORRESPONDENT.] London, May 30. THE PLEUROPNEUMONIA BILL. This measure was read a third time in the \ House of Commons last week, and is now 1 safe, as the Lords will pass it quickly ; enough. Thus, after a hard tight for many ycur", the advocates of a sensible policy in relation to this mischievous disease have triumphed. Fully twelve years ago a few 1 of us were arguing the necessity of central action for the suppression of pleuropneumonia. At first the great agricultural association.? and the farmers generally with--1 held their support, and it has required the 1 reiteration of arguments, year after year, to bring agricultural opinion up to the mark. At last there is a fair prospect of i ridding the country of a disease which has cost it millions of pounds sterling in direct expenditure, and millions more in the prevention of breeding and meat and milk making. DAIRY TOPICS. ' in my last letter I mentioned the issue of a new number of the Journal of the > British Dairy Farmers' Association, with- ; out criticising the contents in detail. On examination I find very little in the 1 original articles worthy of notice. Perhaps the best of them is on; on the advantages i of keeping a milk register ; but the subject may bo summed up in a tew words. It is , unquestionably an advantage to keep a . record of each cow's achievements, in order that; any unprofitable animal may be fat- ' toned and sent to (.he butcher; but Mr. Joseph Paget, the writer of the article, : goes at great, length into his plan of registering and its results. He shows the advantage it has been to him in enabling him to cull out bad milkers, and so raise the • average yield of his herd. From February , Ist, 1 NS7, to January ;»lst, 18S8, the aver--1 age yield during the time the cows were i milked (he allows 40 weeks to each cow) was I'JUlb per cow per week ; and for the same period of ISBB-9 it; was 153£-lb ; and ' for the same period of ISSf) 90 it was 1701b. Thus, in two years there was a gain of \ IS l ,lb per cow per week. Mr. Paget does not claim the whole increase as the result of keeping a register, because 1880 was a wonderful year for grass ; but he maintains that, without keeping account of the performances of his cows, he should never , have attained such satisfactory results. .Another paper in the Journal is on winter ; feeding and management of cattle, by Professor Long; but this is a report of a lecture delivered in December, and has appeared in print before. The details are ! applicable to this country, and not to the I very different circumstances prevailing in i New Zealand. WENSLKYDALE CHEESE. Wensleydale, in Yorkshire, is one of the districts to be visited by those who will j attend the Dairy Conference, and a description of the manufacture of the cheese of that district, given in the journal named | above by Mr. T. Fir bank King, who farms ! in the dale, is very seasonable. A great | improvement has taken place in the mak- j ing of Wensleydale cheese since HS7, when i Mr. Nuttall, the famous maker of Stilton, attended a cheese show in the district as a ; judge, and gave some advice which the | more go-ahead of the dairy farmers at once adopted, and which the slower ones I followed when they saw the success of the new system. The night's milk is renneted as soon as it is drawn from the cow-*, in the proportion of loz of rennet to 4 gallons of milk tested to contain 10 per cent, of cream (cream presumably being added to milk of poorer quality). After the milk lias coagulated, the curd is cut across with a sharp knife, and as much whey is taken off as can be got. The curd is then carefully broken up, and hung up in a muslin bag | until the morning. The morning's milk is | | dealt with in the same way, ami the two j lots of curd are carefully broken up and mixed together, Goz of salt being added for | every *2411) of curd. After this the curd is put into steel hoops, each holding'24lb. No pressure is applied, the hoops being simply turned over every night anil morning, until the cheese will allow of a binder being put round it inside the hoop. This having been done, the cheese is replaced in the hoop, and a clean binder is put on every other day until the cheese will stand : without the assistance of the hoop, when it ; is taken to the cheese-room to dry, and j turned every night and morning. Cheese ] thus made should equal a Stilton in rich- ' ness, though milder in flavour. It is essen- ] tial to deal with the mill; before the animal heat Kisses away, for if it once becomes cool, it can never bo made into the same quality of curd as that dealt with while warm. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. Some rather unfavourable criticisms upon the conduct of certain shippers of New Zealand produce have appeared in this .country. Rubbish inside trusses of hay sent to Australia, loose salt' in kegs of butter exported to Engfand, and inferior fibre in bales of New Zealand flax — reports of such tricks are calculated to do irreparable injury to the trade of a country. Probably the delinquents are very few in number, and the vast majority of New Zealand people are as strongly disgusted , with their conduct as the persons they 1 dupe can be; but a few rogues can do . enormous injury to a national reputation, and the tricksters cannot be too promptly detected and prevented from doing further ; mischief. HORSE-BREEDING. ! The third report of the Royal Commission | on horse-breeding has just been issued, , nd the commissioners justly congratulate j the country upon the success which has I attended their labours. For each of the last 1 two years they have had £5100 placed at 1 their disposal, £.1M(>0 being the sum formerly ' given for Queen's Plate at races, and £1740 ! the extra amount voted by Parliament. ; With this money they have been able to ' offer premiums of £'200 each for twenty-two j thoroughbred stallions to travel in ten t districts of Great Britain at low fees, for l the purpose of getting half-bred horses. In 1 18S!) these sires served IOSM mores, and as s they all had to pass a veterinary exumina- I tion of soundness, their services have been ' a great benefit to farmers. The chief fault ) is that they have been allowed too many j mares, and it is partly in order to obviate , this that the commissioners ask Parliament , to increase the grant to £10,000, to enable ; them to increase the number of horses, and .<■ to give premiums to mares served and to their produce. There is a special reason - for an extra expenditure of £600, as the ! Royal Agricultural Society have withdrawn ' that sum, which was given in 1889-90 to ' three stallions to travel in one of the (lis- j tricts. This withdrawal will create a very } bad impression, and jwople will naturally i j point to if. as an instance of a State grant j [ paralysing private efforts. Ido not believe that Parliament will increase the grant to £10,000, and [ think it unwise to ask for the increase. There is no need to give premiums to mares served, as the owners I are sufficiently benefited by getting the ( j services of first-rate and sound horses at I j very low fees. The whole sum given by J j the State for agricultural and dairy educa- ; tion, apart from the little that is done in i I training teachers of elementary schools in 1 I agriculture, is only £5000, and it would be s I anomalous to give twice as much to horsa- j breeders. i | HE DUKE OF ARCYLE'S CROFTER < TENANTS. ( The Duke of Argyle is one of the i staunchest champions of the commercial j principle in contracts for the lease of land, I and he is opposed not only to State inter- | ference with rents, but also to laws pro- ■ i tceting the improvements of tenants from I confiscation. The members of the Land Court appointed under the Crofters' Act have just shown their appreciation of the Duke's doctrines by reducing the rents of his crofter tenants in the island of Mull by '2!) per cent., also wiping out two-thirds of the arrears of rent. The Duke's tenants on the island of lona have had their rents re- 1 duced by '27 per cent. This is not cordis- ' cation ; it is restoration, or rather partial restoration. The chiefs of the clans in the Highlands, many years ago, induced cor- 1 ritpt Crown au thorites to grant them a right of property in lands which had been 1 the common property of their clans, and : then they imposed rents on the clansmen, and as the latter increased, and the ' demand for land became in excess of the :1 supply, rents were put up, often on the * buildings and other improvements of the poor tenants. The Duke is a man of 8 plausible words, and those who do not f know him well might suppose that he was one of the most benevolent of landlords. In ■' reality, however, he is a close one, and I ,s have no doubt that the members of the Land Court are justified in reducing the K rents he has exacted.