ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13796, 8 July 1908, Page 12

ON THE LAND.

SHOULD" COWS BE STRIPPED? Bhobxd cows be stripped after milking or - 3 Discussing this question m an English ' journal, Professor McConnell, the eminent English dairy expert,, says that he is one of those Who all his life was accustomed to see cows stripped out by a responsible person, •who followed after the regular gang of milkers; but recent events caused him to change his mind as to the advisableness of the practice. Many authorities have pointed out aforetime that, as the milk secretion was intimately connected with the nervous organisation, the stopping of the milk and then coming back to start it again was doing the cow harm, as it amounted to restarting the : nervous energy. About a year ago Professor SfcConnell stated his belief that stripping was absolutely necessary. He now begs to take it all back, as since then he has tried his cows*-th«r other way. with the most satisfactory results. They are now milked nut; ;at one sitting, and if a small quantity he left -in the bag, tho professor argues it does the cow no harm, but helps to swell the total yield at neat milking time. If there is any possible gain, then, in stripping ho < , tends that it 'is discounted by the harm done to j the cow by the stripper in starting her ner- ; vous force once more. Alongside of the cessation of stripping, however, another practice has also been abandoned—that is, the changing round of the gang of milkers, so that , each cow is milked by each milker in rotation : every man now slicks to his own lot of cows, and as one cow drops out and another comes in, the lots are kept as equal as possible. As far as Professor McConnell can see, the results to the cows, to the milkers, and to the milk yield are eminently satisfactory, and he for one will not go back to the old system. -THE STORAGE OF MILK. .■;.:■, | When milk is set away in pans, crocks, or cans it begins at once to grow stale. One of-the constituent parts of milk is the casein :or cheese part., The,-instant milk begins to | grow stole, this casein or cheese part begins i to coagulate or thicken. It first forms a j sort of invisible net or web all through the j milk, and this web grows gradually thicker ' and thicker, until it forms the solid curd or clabber of sour milk. This web cannot easily be detected until it has become very thick, but it is there, even though we do not, see it. As this web forms it entangles and holds fash many of the .butter-fat globules The force that skims the milk must be strong enough to pull the entangled fat globules out of this cheesy net, or a considerable portion of the. butter-fat will be left in- the- slummed- mijk and be lost. ...... j I ""IMPROVEMENT IN CATTLE. .That which lies at the foundation of all ] stock, or the successful management of it, i is "the fact— common, but too muchneglected axiom— "like produces like." This principle extends to form, constitution, qualities-predisposition to and exemption from; disease, and to everything that can j render an animal valuable or worthless. It equally applies to the dam and to the sire. It is the foundation of scientific and _succlissFiir breeding.-Leslie Steel in J Agricul- j tural Journal of tlie Cape, of Good Hope. j CLAY SOIL& ' .-Clay soil is regarded as harder soil to. work than loamy or sandy soil, and so.it is. That is"; why it is "called a heavy soil. Wrong methods used in the handling of clay soil makettlt most -tmsatSsf for gardening purposes. But when it is treated in the right .way - i ; -ia the most satisfactory soil that can bVJountt, principally because it is, very ~ re- ' tentive of moisture arid fertiliser, l Some kinds of fertiliser that would not: last long on sandy soils, 1 on" account being-easily water 'soluble, and hence' quickly leached down below ' the strata of tillable soils,' can ; li -used to advantage on heavy clay soils. Some gardeners say they prefer clay soils, , though it takes yean to get them into right condition. ' '~' -—•---■ '■:''"' .-- All- sandy soils have in them natural drain* agei conditions, but clay; soils mhst be completely; drained to gins good results. ..The X,' lateral movement', of. water . in/ all soils is i mucKUesß. rapid than most people suppose, in clay soils it is very small. Therefore, ''-'- to-give such: soil - thorough ; drainage, the drains must be placed quite /close together ; alid 1 ; about" -3ft' below, the surface of the ground- How near, together".they, should be . placed, mustlie determined by the character blithe.* soil, for no two soils are exactly alike. -The effect of these*drains is to draw off the surplus water, and it is surprising ho* much the texture or physical condition of soil V'-,is changed in a few years. v-.->l r -___ SPRAYING PAYS! - ■': -"= Vj".T*>"'r*"-v'^.. 'BT iJ&i-^/i'l ■,'-'■'■ ■■: ••:■' The Government experimental farms and - orchards, although they come -in for a certain amount of ' adverse criticism in some quarters, have undoubtedly had a beneficial effect ~i upon the fruitgrowing ;:.. industry. Years ago, when growers worked under the go-as-you-please system, an ■•■ orchard -was a very uncertain source of profit to the owner. - So. much depended upon what sort of a "aeason it woiiid! be for " the grub" in apples . and -pears, and for" some sort. of blight or other in , the peaches and pl~ms- . In those clays the codlin moth held high revel in every orchard throughout the t apple season, the market was glutted with "mothy". fruit, and poor prices realised for apples and pears, varied only' : occasionally by g>ing a;little, lower, y; . . - •" , -Fortunately, • however, that style of fruitgrowing is a" thing of the past, and to-day, thanks to the ; efforts of the Agricultural Department of;,the. Government',, first in showing how to keep an orchard clean and later by compelling growers to keep their ; orchards clean, the industry shows decided signs of becoming very extensive and highly profitable. The up-to-date orchardist needs no egging on" by Government inspectors in the matter, of spraying, because he sees for himse,\f that it is utterly absurd to grow fruit for the market" unless he sprays his trees thoroughly and at the right time. ' „ Mr. H. A. Buscombe, of Henderson, is one among the -;aany commercial orchardists who have made fruitgrowing a success, and •a. visit to his orchard constitutes a good object lesson in its own line. Mr. Buscombe has been engaged in the industry for a number of years, and he was one of the first in this district to realise the true value of'systematic spraying; and his faith in it increases, if possible," each year. *■' "";';' ~ Knowing that the experiences of a thoroughly practical mar. would be 01 more -alue than a whole bookful of theory on the subject of spraying, I called upon Mr. Buscombe, and lie kindly gave me a brief resume of his last season's work and its results. In the first, place, he maintains that spraying is an art, a thorough mastery of whicl can only be obtained by experience, bj careful watching of trt.es under certain treatments, and by well noting the results : It is impossible to ; work 'an orchard witl time-table regularity, as, so much depend: upon the weather each year, and certainb no rule can be laid down as to when spray ing shall be commenced and continued ' cither for fungoid diseases or insect pests With the Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide Mr. Buswmbe prefers to use the full-strengtl - winter spray (If—1040), leaving the opera t'on. until as -la :e :as ■ possible—that is,. unti 3us€ before the buds are actually bursting. ' of the codlii moth is the one great object -which.. a' growers seek, to attain, and in. this direotio Mr. ■■- Busebmbe'; met " with j; vfery satisfactor results • last .season^ r particularly" with r " th pears, as they were attended to with'the u most care and, regularity. Commencing i the time when the truit was well' set, tl operations were continued at intervals - about three weeks. *■ Altogether, the tre wer.» grayed si:; times',, and rewated in 8 ~. ««it of clean fruit. On 89me trees': .Shi all could be l:oand..

i *; The appleis were not sprayed quite so ' often, al»d consequently yielded only about SO per cent, of clean fruit. Mr. Buscombe does not hesitate to say that had the apples been sprayed equally with the pears the results would have been quite as good, and ho is quite confident that the better the spraying is the better the results will be; and when perfection has been reached in spraying the codlin moth is completely- " knocked out." / , . ; As s«_ insecticide, Mr. Buscombe finds Disparene or arsenate of lead (they are practically the same) bettor than Paris green or anything else lie has tried, and he uses it in the proportion of from ljlb to lilb to 40 gallons of water, the greater strength being used.to start with. From - seven and a-half acres of pears 2000 cases of fruit were sold, and being good sound fruit,, of course, commanded top prices. The total output from the 2Ai acres of orchard was 3860 cases of fruit, including plums, peaches, pears, apples, lemons, and grapes. These'figures show that Mr. Buscomb handles sufficient fruit of his own growing to place him in the front ranks of commercial orchardists, and his verdict that "spraying pays'" is well worth consideration by those few who may bo in doubt. FEEDING VALUES. "While tho protein content of different kinds of feeding stuffs, forage included, docs not comprehend tho entire feeding value, by any means, yet it affords a very good guide as a comparative view in this direction, especially where plenty of carbohydrates are raised on the farm. When there is abundance of protein raised on the farm—and this condition obtains where alfalfa, clover, and pea hay are grown— i carbohydrates and fat become more important factors to consider in the selection of feeds. Wo therefore givo tho amount of digestible protein, carbohydrates, and fat contained in a ton of each of the different feeds named. CarboPro- hytein drates Fat Name of Feed lb lb lb Alfalfa hay ... 220 792 '.; 24 Red clover hay 136 716 34 Oat hay ... ... 86 928 so Timothy hay .66 866 28 Ked top hay ... 96 938 20 Oat straw 24 772 16 Cottonseed hulls ... ... 6 662 34: Wheat straw , 8 726 8 1 Corn stover ... 36 648 34 Teavine straw ... 86 646 16 Corn silage ... IS 226 14 Wet beet pulp ... 12 145 — Mangels ... ... 22 108 2 Sugar beets ... 22 204 2 Green alfalfa ... ... ... 78 254 10 Green red clover . ... ... 58 296 14 Green peas and oats 36 142 4 Oil meal (old process) ... £86 802 140 Oil meal (new process) ... 664 802 66 Cottonseed meal... . ... ... 744 338 168 Aiax flakes ... 462 741 216 Gluten feed ... ... ... 446 962 50 Dried brewers' grains ... 314 627 102 Malt sprouts ..: ... ... 372 742 34 Bran :.. ... ... ■•■■ ... ... 244 772 60 Corn chop ... ... ... ... 158 1.334 86 Ground barley ... ... ... 174 1,312 32 Ground oat» ... ... ... 180 946 84 Middlings .-.. ... 256 1,060 68 Wheat ... ' ... ... ... 204 1,384 34 Corn and cob meal ... *.. 98 1,260 70 Hominv. feed ... ... ... 150 1,104 * 136 Bermuda hay ... 115 760 27 Japan- clover hay ... ... : 150 806 - 42 J BREVITIES. ' A prominent and successful dairyman says that he can raise a heifer at the age of two years at a cost of £4, including the value of the calf at birth, a.ad he has been offered £10 for some of his h v ifers at that age. o A wise ; old farmer once said, "The cow is either mado or unmade in the first 15 months of her life." More good cows are spoild by neglect and unsuitable food during the" first 15 months than from any other cause. '. To many dairymen a bull is a nuisance. Sometimes he is* let out with the cows during r-the ;summer to .be a I menace to- th© passers-by, but more often he is left in the stable or barnyard to spend his timo bellowing for company. .•' ; - -_ ' It. is tho cow that is up in good flesh that does her ; best. -When she' is thin and hungry all the timo she will surely put the biggest part .of what _you give her to oat on her back. That means less for you in the pail and in the butter-tub. ,' V Farm 'butter that has been well worked and washed _in the granular stage to expel as much moisture as possible will keep good for a considerable time, say, from 10 days to; a fortnight in summer, and up to six 1 weeks in winter, if stored in a cool place. > ' When cattle chew leather, wood, or old i lionesit indicates a lack of phosphate• of . lime in, their food, which is required to supply bone material. A teaspoon ful of bonemeal given daily with their grain will correct the habit and supply the deficiency ' which induces it. I -''•'•"''. ' ; - —- ■ - ' - ; " The transportation of milk over long distances has long been attended by difficulty, on account of the churning effect of railway carriage. A new method of maintaining its freshness, and that without the use of preservatives, ■''.. has just been discovered.' The milk is sprayed through a series of fine 1 nozzles, with the result that the fat is broken tip into the smallest possible particles, and : their aggregation is thereby rendered impos- * sible for some hours, cord over hundreds of 1 miles. Should the method stand the test oi . further experience, it uhould prove a great » boon to the dairying industry. :-i i • . -.-■' ~ " On the evidence of the Wisconsin experiments the pronouncement is made that a 1 cow; is at her best during her fifth and sixth s years, .up to which time the production of r milk and butter-fat, if the animal is in normal condition, increases each year. As to the length of time that a cow will maintain her maximum production it is remarked 3 that this will depend largely upon her coni stitutional strength and the care with which r she is fed and managed, and here again j general experience is in entire agreement with the verdict of searching investigation. A good avtage cow, properly managed, " should maintain her highest standard of , production almost unimpaired until after 1 ten years of age, while it is found that a j considerable number "of excellent records , wer* made by cows for some time after they 1 passed that age. t >"• - . ____: ' . Those who arc of opinion that Spain as ? a sheep country is of little standing will s be surprised to learn that the last official 5 returns give the number of sheep there as over 13£ millions. The quality of the 3 Merino wool grown is divided into three 7 classes, as in Australasia. The finest qudl--5 ity comes from the province of Estremadura, medium from La Mancha, which also pos--3 'sees.•'the largest-framed sheep, and strongwool from Andalusia. - Clothing wool sheep \ are found in Aragon and Valladolid, and *' Aragon, and coarse wools (British breeds) in 1 Navarre. Good Merinos are also found in - Logrono and Leon. The British breeds are r mainly Cotswold, Shropshires, and Oxford Downs, and these have also been successfully crossed with • Merinos. ' The flocks in La 6 Mancha and Estremadura have to summer t in Avila, Segoria, and Salamanca. A wellknown Australian breeder, who is making ( . a tour through the sheephreeding centres of America and Europe, intends to visit some of the best of the Spanish flocks, and his a notes thereon will no doubt be read with interest on his return. ' f ■