ON THE LAND.
'HORSES' SHOULDERS. SaTS an Australian authority about horses' sore shoulders^—" 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure' is an old saying that we all know. While I do not say that you can cure sore shoulders, I will say that you can prevent them. If you will take the trouble to wash your horses' shoulders with pure water morning, noon, and night you will find that you will not have a soreshouldered borse on the farm. Do it for the first week or ten days after you commence bard work. Do not use sweat Dads, as they do more harm than good. I think that it pays to take the harness off at noon. The horses can rest that much better after a hard half-day's work. Some think it too much work to clean off their horses. I clean' mine off once a day, and from the difference in" the looks of a team that has been cleaned off and the one that has not I think it pays to give tbem a good brushing every day. I have heard it said, ' What difference do the looks make?' but I believe that if you will clean your horses every day they will work quicker and better, and will pay for the time it took to brush them off." -. ..- » .. FRUIT-GROWING IN JAPAN. The prevalent form of fruit training in Japan is restricted to the " table cordons" of the West, for sucb kinds as bear on spurs, as well as for vines. It is not uncommon in, Japanese orchards to find that pears, date plums (Diospyros kaki), chestnuts, and citrus fruit trees have the habit of fruiting in alternate years, and growers beliovo that such a state of things is not to be changed by human interference! The system of trainingon a horizontal trellis of bamboo canes on wooden posts— widely used because of convenience-of management; harvesting, and . the Control , of j insect enemies, the simplicity and- durability of construction, and the securing of the maximum surface to enjoy the full sunshine on the tree. Kaki, the Persimmon, has been the most widely cultivated fruit, but of late years more attention has been given to the peach. The" process of placing bags over the fruit has been extensively adopted by Japanese growers as a preventive measure against insects and fungi; and in South Japan,* where peaches, pears, and grapes are largely grown, bottomless bags made of newspapers are widely used. The time of bagging varies for different fruits;' in the case of peaches the work: of bagging is begun at, the time the fruit readies. the size of ripe cherries. In order to prevent the access of mildew the bags are smeared on the inside with a preparation of sulphur.
CURIOSITIES IN THE BUTTER BILL. • In desoribing the Butter and Margarine Bill in a recent communication (writes our English , agricultural correspondent) I pointed out, I think, that the standards of moisture, as the Bill stands, apply only to butmargarine, and "butter substitutes" made or mixed' in factories or imported, and not to British or Irish butter, made in creameries or farm dairies. Not' knowing whether this was an oversight, due to careless, drafting ,or.not, I applied tothe i representative of the Board of Agriculture in the House of Commons for information, and the Secretary of the Board informs me that the exemption. noticed is intentional is in accordance with the recommendations of the Select Committee on the Butter Trade. On 'referring to that report I see that, although hot' in the summarised list of recommendations, the following paragraph appears:—"Your committee have no evidence before them which would indicate that,the existing law, which provides that butter containing more than 16 per cent, of . moisture shall bo presumed, until the contrary is proved, to be adulterated, is .insufficient to prevent fraud or negligence with regard to the percentage of moisture in the manufacture by farmers and others of natural butter. So far as this butter is concerned, your committee see no reason for suggesting any amendment of the existing law as to moisture." I am also in-; formed by the Board that there is no inten- ; tion of applying a limit of moisture to what _is called " imitation > butter." Why not, it is.difficult to imagine. A "butter substitute," it may be well to mention afresh, ,is , defined as " any mixture other than margarine, ■ produced by mixing or blending butter with milk, cream, or any substance other _ than butter;" and "imitation butter" is defined as "any article off food which resembles butter, but which is s not margarine or a butter substitute." DAIRYING ITEMS. Break away from the old custom of being satisfied with any kind of dairy cow. The presence of hairs or dirt in a farmer's butter, or dirt on the creamery or factory strainer, is indicative of dirty and: careless dairy workers. ' " v . All the milk, should be poured, immediately it is drawn, through, a fine metal gauze strainer, or a few folds of fine muslin, or a piece of flannel. If the milk has to'remain in the can for some time the pan should be covered with a layer of muslin, and kept in a place where dirt cannot fall into it. - When cows are housed they should be groomed regularly. This will" get rid of loose Hairs and dirt, which at the time of milking might fall into the milk pail. ■ The flank .and udder of the cow should be wiped with a damp cloth, immediately before milking, in order to remove dust and loose dirt, but they should not be brushed at this timo. - ' - ~.,>.. - It is a wise calf which . knows its own mother, but he is a wiser farmer who prevents the calf from attaining this knowledge by the substitution of some method of artificial feeding. . The milk of the more sacred buffaloes of Southern India—-they are of. various degrees of sanctity—may bo drunk only by the dairymen priests. The Todas believe that if anyone else drinks it ho will die. A calf once starved or injudiciously treated never recovers fully, whereas one that has received proper attention in its early stages, even though forced to rough it at , some future, period, will always pick up condition when it is given a chance. Preparatory to calving the teats should be washed and rubbed once or even twice a day with some astringent lotion, such as alum water, two teaspoonfuls to a pint of water, glycerine of tannin, an ounce to half a pint of water, would be suitable preparations. Methylated spirit diluted with twice its bulk of water is another excellent application for hardening the skin. Get rid of the unprofitable, cows. Wilberfc J. Fraser, chief in dairy husbandry of the University of Illinois, gives some interesting" figures in one of the recent papers, that show that 25 cows, each producing 3011b of butter-fat per vear, will • return a profit of 783 dollars, while.it takes 1021 poor cows, such as are too frequently : found on our farms, to return the same amount of profit as the 25 good ones. See that your cows are not numbered among the 1021.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13484, 10 May 1907, Page 7
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1,197ON THE LAND. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13484, 10 May 1907, Page 7
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