ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14809, 12 October 1911, Page 4

ON THE LAND.

. . - > BUTTER-FAT PER ACRE. The manager of one of the ■ progressive Australian factories has greatly interested the suppliers by calculating bow much per aero of their farms the butter-fat produced was worth. The highest was £9 per acre. The lowest was £3. This disparity in return has mado' the farmers think of what they are ' losing by grazing unprofitable cows. An equally progressive policy, is the decision of . an. agricultural society to offer a prize for the highest acreage yield of - fat per acre based on the factory returns. It is thought that this plan will not only encourage standard raising, but , fodder conservation. The dairyman who depends upon grass only for. his stock— many do in Australiais not a true farmer, and it would probably surprise many if they reckoned up their per acre earnings, compared it with the yields of the best cows on one-cow-per-acre farms, and saw how much tho robbers owed them. -

ITALIAN MEAT SUPPLIES. The crisis in meat ha<i spared no country in recent years, and consequently not even Italy. Much has been written upon its causes, which certainly ar© - complex; but the chief cause, it appears, is the increase in the consumption of meat, which is to the increased well-being of the lower classes. In fact, it appears that, while in 1903 the : annual average . consumption of meat per inhabitant was 21 kg, in 1903 it rose to 25 kg, to arrive at 30 kg in 1910. At the same time the employment of animals in agricultural work has also increased. It is then no wonder that, as meat is an article th© quantity of which', it is not easy to increase, an increase in supply has not been able to keep pace with this rapid increase in demand. To meet the difficulty, recourse has been had, to importation, which, in only three rears, has increased tenfold, in the case of < ttl© alone • rising from 12,000 .head in 1907 to 122,000 in 1910. At th© same. time exportation has diminished. All this has given a new impulse to tho rearing of Italian cattle, which has also derived advantage from th© young cattle imported from abroad. Th© census of cattle, in 1908, in fact, showed an increase on the figures of 1881 of 1.427,000 head of horned cattle, 1,344,011 swine, 2,567,000 sheep, and 698,000 goats. Yet neither th© ; increased importation nor th© natural increase of native cattle, nor the diminished export, sufficed to prevent an alarming rise in price both of live cattle and of butchers' moat. vi

DAIRYING AND FERTILITY. A ton of ? butter contains only 2s 6d worth of fertility, and that only in -what casein is left in the batter, whereas a ton of cheese contains about £6 worth of fertility. Consider, says the Dairyman, what must be the final effect on the fertility of a. farm "where the milk is constantly sold off. If the owner of the farm realised what he was about and purchased fertilisers to make up this drain the farm would not suffer. But not one farmer in a hundred will do this - until it is too late. The milk of every cow that gives 40001b a year contains ;v about 25s worth of ; fertility. -If fed to calves and pigs after the butter-fat is -taken: out fully 60 per cent, of this fertility is saved to the farm. This would amount to £1 "per cow. Suppose the milk-shifting farmer has 50 cows: jThis would amount to £30 a year. Now. * will the , milk-shifting or cheese-making farmer buy £30- worth of fertiliser a year to make up for the loss of this fertility ? Not one in a thousand will do it. ' And yet he must do it or else his farm will be steadily drained iof its fertility. Good dairy-farming con- ; I sists,, first of all, in ;so managing as to keep up the. fertility of the land; next, in the - production of ; the right kind of crops, and-the'- curing of • them (in a .way that . will yield the . largest" amount of nutriment to the cows ; ' and lastly, in so managing as to have the best cows possible to feed; the crops to. Hero arv the three I cardinal principles of dairy-farming —good land, good crops, good cows; but at the bottom lies good land, and a farmer wise enough to keep-it good.

PRUNING APPLES. At a recent meeting of. the Clarence branch of the Tasmanian Board of Agriculture the following paper on lateral growths, by Mr. W. A. Goodwin, was read :— "As there hare been many opinions expressed as to the value of lateral growths on your fruit trees, I would like to take < this opportunity of giving my own experi- I ence on the question. With regard to the Jonathan variety, I would like to say that, during the first few years of its age I pruned it in accordance with the old system of leaving the straight limbs and no side shoots. Therefore I did not get- many apples, but my, experience , told ,me that I was not right; so the following year, the trees being six years old, when pruning time came round I removed f all inside lateral growths and left all the outside small laterals. Of course, I did not ; leave any long shoots, but only those .which I thought would form into nice fruit spurs. Following upon this plan I got splendid results; in fact, more than the, trees could carry. One thing I must say as regards

the laterals, and that is I got really good marketable fruit. My next experiment was with: the. Scarlet Pearmains. Until I left all the short lateral shoots _ I could hardly detect the good fruit from bitter pit. This year over three parts of my Scarlets, as well as the New Yorks, are free from this disease. Anyone can, by encouraging the small lateral growths on the outside of fruit trees, get a splendid result. Ido not •• recommend the long growths, as they are apt to swing about with the wind and break, and therefore damage the tree. The question as to whether young pear trees could be made to bear fruit earlier is one that I have been carefully considering. Many orchardists when they are pruning the pear tree trim it up to a few straight limbs. This, in my experience, does not appear to be a desirable or profitable practice to follow, because when these . are removed all: next

year's pears are practically "cut away, which no doubt many growers .will admit is true By my system I can make a pear tree bear almost as much fruit after the second year I as can usually be obtained only after many ; years. My idea is that when one com- | mences to prune young pear trees one i should choose the main limbs first, and then if there are, say, four more left, take hold of the ends and : twist them round the tree in- opposite directions.: Any fruitgrower who tries this system will in' the second year get plenty of fruit off the branches that are tied round, and this will save him waiting for years for fruit, which, if only a few, are useful for eating purposes. On young plum trees I recommend the leaving; of , all laterals, .'because it' is on these that fruit is borne. ' It is particularly so with me, but I may be wrong" or instance, I had a visit from a gentle* man from Hobart, who said, when he saw my trees, ' You are -the only man I have ever seen who can grow pears ,on a! lot of young trees.' The early fruiting of my trees at. once caught his eyes, and he said that he had not 'seen it before, .and thought that it was a splendid idea. Many growers think that it makes the , trees look ugly to follow • this plan; : but the small shoots only are wanted, and'in' the following 7 ear, they ? can be ■ shortened to ojae's y own ?liking.'-' ■ . ,

" Jl INSTITUTE OF AGRICDLTObJ^^B j Tho supplement to; the 4 July » the.Bulletin of Agricultural Statistics,"*" . £f] lished under the direction* of, Professor' berto Rioci,, contains ' information j^-SvTiV-£7* at the Institute ' during the -last decade "i 1 i July. Of especial interest are; fcrpjfeil i showing tho production of -wheat in jy!V ■ I which is now given at 55,350,000 ■"/" ' ■ the production of wheat in i which is now estimated at 26,000,000 qutn! $ if tab', ~and in the United States; where th''" I" production of spring wheat is eSI • t--66,629,149 quintals, as compared witj! Ti 62,976, quintals last year. The total"|Ss|!i| [|j duction of wheat for the 13 countries : |i have famished official data is thus broSiti® f> up to 493,719,223 , quintals, as agjm-i 1 473,376,777( quintals in 1910. - The i \l numerical statement of the productionTu*? ? tho ratio in percentage figures between if*. * ? estimated' production in 1911 and th® duction obtained in 1910, for the group reS *y countries considered, which in the: for July was 105.4 is now 104.3. ' ■ ' —— ' FOOD AND FERTILITY. I? Mr. G. P. Darnell-Smith, of the burea* IP I of microbiology, recently read a paper ai] ' fthe Science Congress* on "The Influent# v, | of Food Upon Fertility in Stock." T&S- I author pointed out that it was a eomewJuj | remarkable fact that, although numennu I experiments had been undertaken to deter. 1 mine the effects of different method* 'if.fi 1 treatment upon - wool, meat, or milk pig. I duction, no systematic attempt had btea § ado till quite recently to deal with fac- ■ If tors which influenced fertility in live stock, I : In-this paper some of the factors whieJ* £

| militated against or promoted fecundity I i were examined, and it was indicated* I I while the lower animals were largely J®, I I fluenc-ed by external stimuli the higher, I animals were more influenced by internal I stimuli, and not the , least important ot I these , was the nature of the food. Thai the generative system of animals was pecu- | liarly susceptible to changed conditions ofi® « existence had been recognised from early days,. Darwin, alluding to the facfittotfe domestic animals bred oftener and produced larger litters of young than wild animals belonging to the same specie*, f attributed the increased fertility of *tW f former .to a long habituation to : a rep.®? I lar -and copious food supply without the I labour' of seeking for it The nature and K the "amount of food was then on©: oi' the ft main factors in producing sterility or feiv 8 tility. The influence of. certain foods isp: if diminishing the birth-rate of rabbits: and II i| of H rata - was noted, and; the influence if 1 sugar, molasses, and .linseed in diminish £} ing the birth-rate'when given to caltls, §jj their - effect/ according to Marshall, fog" If produce abnormal ovarian metabolism, 'sill II phenomenon that * possibly % took" place | [ pM,11 all animals that were allowed -to becoine - fe too fat. V There was an accumulation of . 1 evidence " which seemed to indicate that Wf| the character of the district was not *rith- S out, its influence on the fertility a breed f ; of sheep, and that the quality and qiiai-||| | tity 'of ; the' food supplied affected the cot- 1 dition of the sheep and so 'influenced their 1 capacity to breed. Flashing or the giving 1 of an extra supply of special food to sheeps I at the approach of f the breeding J season | had - much ; to■: recommend - it. ; Statistical of - the results of H this process regarding , | various Scottish flocks showed that the \ 4 percentage ;of lambs born was, as a rule, V largest among flocks which had been | ject to special feeding. No statistics ■.wftfeM 1 available ; as to • the influence •of food npoi, 1 cattle, bat since a low condition, if asecci- .7 j ated vrith wet or .cold/,. was a cause 'of." I temporary barrenness,, special feeding at ! the approach .of i the breeding; season appeared desirable. ~ The , curious custom iof 1 bleeding cows or mares that had failed to " : I conceive possibly had- its origin in the ob-. i servation of 1 - the fact that" animals-that I were too fat were frequently barren. "Thai. - | general opinion of / breeders'.was.that the h sir© should be highly fed, and it was sng->jS@ gested by the* author that this high-feeding i might be overdone. - Fertility , was a racial tM characteristic, 1 and was capable 'of : here- || ditary - transmission. There - was fa; considerable amount or evidence that flock Jjl l] masters by breeding from twin ewes and " employing '.the services of twin rams' "had -, : t| aeen able permanently to increase the fer- J] ility of- their flpek. The paper included,"M| arith an expression' of the i desirability of . || Australian records of fertility being : kept | with especial reference to the influence j:E food and heredity. ,

" BREVITIES. -|jjj ' "When ; the}. calf ; is v 10; or IS •* days - old on# % g pint/ of i skim-milk can be added' .to?three pints of, whole milk. ~, ' II It is crael -to n withhold water * from the i?; |j calves, : especially in ' warm % weather, eves g when they get A, very liberal supply of milfcf|i||| „ . Remember that the appearance of th« ,ft package, as well as the way the butter i» packed, has • a great deal to do with r || selling price, r •; » . Heifers should be bred when 13 to 22 - If months old. ilf bred later they will ' too often 3 acquire the . habit oi putting on too; much ft§ 3 flesh before calving. • | : Here, should be no smoking about wheroSJ I the milking is done, or about the milk a»&t" B any time. > Milk i absorbs the bad \ qualities ■ of tobacco; smoke quickly. M 1 ' . . . " The good citizens of Antwerp are anxious 8 about* the purity of - their milk supply* Out of , 80 samples 155 (were found to . com tain over a million noxious germs., - ' — ' '' ' ; In the 'light of present knowledge it is, impossible to feed fat- into the :milk: of a 1 . = co in normal ■ condition. The?* quantity' of |S 1 milk , can be influenced- by < feeding.' I The system of ensilage is not so modem" § as ..-many £ people < supple. The f. ancients m practised the preservation of forage -on * > is large scale in' big subterranean vaults. ~ , B One of the latest systems of some import- ' m ance, introduced into [Denmark ■in ; ; oonnec- l tion' with' the improvement, in butter, .li® - J grading of the milk; on its arrival afe ! §§ factory. . \ 11 Remember . that the quart of milk front - B the poor cows which you are producing at B a ; loss is taking • the place : in 5 the market of fj| k the quart of milk from the good ? cows If which pay you a profit. ' L L. " . 1V* v* Ever* -encouragement i and inducement -.J ■§§ should be given to the rising generation to 1 learn the art of milking. 'and by •- offering substantial prizes at all agricultural show* much good might be done. ' : . ■■ — : Hie butter should' be 4 taken from the churn in the granular "condition, and 1 the salt sprinkled over it; before -it has been - s worked together. Usually a : scant ouncq | of salt is added to each- pound of butter. * On many dairy farms a few sheep could sl -find profitable grazing in pastures too scant * to s afford ? sufficient • sustenance for* dairy f| cattle. In this capacity -a' few sheep ccula®B ; be" kept without interfering with the dairy - "I, business., ■" • _ .• •••..•.• |> :In most instances when , the milk passes 8 through the ; strainer nine-tenthsof tW |§ bacteria and all the bad flavours in tß.o| I milk pass through also, and all that ; ie» g| mains is some coarse matter, which can do' j|g no harm. . ■ ; Hand-separated cream produces bett«* ■'§§ butter than that separated by any other gj| method. " The deep can surrounded "by 4 |p cold water is second best; pans and crocks |f| •are < third - best, : and the water-dilution •• H? method comes last. . . " Old bags may in the opinions of some if; people serve to act as suitable coverings for-' fpj expensive agricultural implements. Far*, m mors who adopt such inadequate makeshifts B aro bad friends to themselves, although w good fellows"' in -the eves of the maau* "||| facttirere. " ' I Nearly all butterf sold by the farmer it 11 of poorer quality than it should be.#BS^B : more careful handling - and • better methods w ! there is no reason -why this prodacV|'|p should not only be improved <in quality»: -E| 1 ; but a better : price • should be received ' foi bE i In.- the -case of ?& young cow being tfK ; jaß steady and troublesome at first, -be persoa ,; M • attempting to , milk' her ; should .' be ; assist»teSS| by another, the latter taking up a positioote|S| at the animal's head, and holding it, at "Q| same time scratching the forehead and jowl. K which plan will; distract the/animal's atteJK-' Jfl;; twn from the milker $^to; some extent alKl<<9| ■deader her 1 more oak>t, and ? <uKrr>i«ir». vst : ssi