ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13839, 27 August 1908, Page 9

ON THE LAND.

- BLUE MILK. V A FKBMEXTATIOX which causes" the milk to develop a very decided bright blue colour is a very rare occurrence in practical dairying. Although there are several bacteria known to produce such colours, they commonly act so slowly that the milk is usually consumed before they have an opportunity to produce any noticeable effect. Other pigments are occasionally produced in milk. Indeed,"" milk is such a good medium for bacterial growth that almost any saprophytic bacteria may develop in the milk..if opportunity occurs, and pigment-forming bacteria will be sure to produce their colouring mailer in the milk. Orange-coloured milk, .green milk, yellow milk, amber-coloured milk, indigo milk, have all been described by bacteriologists. <■ MILK YIELD AND TOP-DRESSING. A brochure has been issued, giving an interesting account of experiments on topdressing of pastures, carried out by Mr. 11. G. Sergei, Lower Stewart Road, New 1.-]j-mouth. The object of the experiment being to determine in how far the mill: yield Mas affected by the mammal treatment of the pasture, it. was necessary to coinpare for a fairly-long period -lie yields of milk from equal areas of land manured and unmanured. For this purpose, a block of fairly uniform land of firstclays quality (its present value is about £33 per acre) was selected in a conveniently- j situated paddock, and two plots, each four acres in area, carefully measured off, side by side. In July, 1907, the following mixture was applied to plot 1:—lowt, 30 per cent, potash manure and 3cwt basic slag per acre. On October' 15, four cows were selected from the herd, and of these, two were placed on each plot. The cows were known to be, when treated alike, all about equal in milk-yielding power. Commencing on October 15, the milk of each cow was carefully weighed morning and evening for six weeks. At the end of that period the cows were interchanged, so that those which had been on the. manured land were then transferrd to the unmanured land, and vice versa. The yields were then recorded in the same manner as before for a further period 'of six weeks. By interchanging the cows in this manner, it was hoped to eliminate any difference which might lie due to the individuality of one or other of the two lots of cows. The net total increase was 258j1b of milk from four acres of land in 12 weeks, equivalent to 64jlb of milk per aero in 12 weeks. Assuming that the ratio of manured land to unmanured land would have remained the same throughout the milking of 38 weeks as it was during the 12 weeks recorded, the difference would be, in round numbers, 2041b increased yield of milk per *crej i.e., practically, 20£ gallons. HOW TO DRY APRICOTS. Mr. George Quinn, the South Australian horticultural expert, gives the following iniormation concerning the drying of apricots:—"The apricots should be "thoroughly ripe, but not too soft to handle. The best way is to judge them by tho flavour as well sa the colour and firmness. They are dissected by a clean cut along the. sutural-line, where the halves unite. They are then placed with the cup-shaped portion upwards upon wooden trays, the halves just about touching each other. The finest-looking product is made upon smooth board-trays, as against tho lath-trays often used. As soon as the trays are filled, they should be stacked in the sulphur-house- for treatment. The sulphur-box or house need not necessarily bo air-tight, for if there- is a very slight leakage of air oxidation of the sulphur is more likely to l>e carried on effectively. The escape of the fumes will avert overcharging the fruit with sulphur. No definite quan-, tity of sulphur is used by all driers, but enough to fill the house-tor box with dense fumes should bo placed in an iron vessel before being lighted. The sulphur should be set well alight before being placed in tho sulphur-house. Many driers find that the most economical method is to keep on cutting and stacking in tho sulphur-house during the day, and to do the fumigating at night by lighting the sulphur the last thing in the evening, and letting tho fruits remain subjected to its fumes throughout the night. This is a popular method, and until more accurate knowledge is available I would suggest its use. Most driers agree that tho fruit should be exposed to the sulphur fumes until a largo quantity of the juice oozes out into tho cups of the fruit. The fruit is then placed in tho sun or in the evaporator to dry, and is exposed until no water will exude under pressure. With regard to your drying-house, I would point out that tho defect in all evaporators, whether solid structures or machine construction, is the difficulty which prevails in drawing off the mois-ture-laden air. It should be borne in mind ths.t it is not a very high temperature that ib required, but one that is evenly maintained, and which allows a draught to pass through the house or evaporator at the same time.' In connection with your house, without a forced draught, which would need wind, water, or engine-power to maintain, I Would suggest that you might possibly overcome the trouble by having air-vents at tho bottom near the pipe-flue, and outlets at the top of tho house, so that there may bo a constant current of air coming in at the bottom, and passing out as it becomes heated. These apertures should be made so t:iat they are readily opened wide or closed up, to such an extent as may be deemed d&- ■ 'rub o. By this method you may lose in degrees of heat, but you will gain in the matter of dispersing the moisture-laden air." MANURING OLD HAT AND 'PASTURE LAND. As tho result of experiments in- Cumberland, Northumberland, and Durham, the I following suggestions for the manuring of old land hay and of pasture are made by Professor D. A. Gilchrist, Armstrong Col- j lege, under whoso management the experiments were carried on: — " 1. On soils in poor condition a dressing (per acre) of lOcwt high-class slag, with, on the lighter soils, the addition of 2cwt muriate of potash (or about 6cwt kainit) is likely to be very generally useful. If dung has been used on the lighter soils, however, the potash manure can probably be. omitted. For the after treatment of these soils and for the general treatment of soils in better condition, the application of about scwt bs-sic slag of best quality per acre every three years, with the addition of lewt xnuriate of potash on light soils, is likely to give good results. If dung is available, 10 tons dung and lOcwt slag is a good first dressing per acre for poor soils, and this may be followed with the same dressing of dung every third or fourth year and a dressing of scwt basic fclag of good quality every three years. For soils rich in lime superphosphate may be preferable to basic slag. 2. Basic slag and the potash manures will give the best effects if applied early in the winter. The distribution of all the manures must be perfect, and they should be well harrowed in, especially if the herbage is at all coarse and benty. It is advisable that when the turf of an old land hayfield becomeß matted it should be grazed for one or more years with cattle, as this class of stock is most effective in treading down turf; such land is also greatly improved by harrowing in spring with heavy harrows. It is desirable also that the aftermath of Old land hay should be grazed and not mown,' as the former does much to keep the turf in fine condition. A. CHAMPION EAR OF MAIZE, f his ear of maize was awarded a grand championship in the United States, and sold for £30. The oar was lOiin long, 7Jin in circumference at a point 3in from the butt, 6 s in at a point 2in from tho tip, had 20 rows, and 1095 kernels. The weight was 19 ounces. The kernels were 19-31 in deep, 5-16 m ro width, and 3-16 in thick. This ear of corn was generally conceded by the best judges and all present to be of outstanding excellence,,