ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18277, 19 December 1922, Page 14

ON THE LAND.

DAIEY BKEED TESTS. 'At tha Royal Show in England much interest was centred in tho milk and Gutter competitions. Dairy Shorthorn men ware glad to find ono oi their breed taking the championship in tho chief class comprising the big types, the honour falling to Fair Rosamund, a 12-year-old cow belonging to Major Yates' herd at Banbury. Major Yates' milk champion gave over seven gallons at the two milkings, upon •which the comparison* &r<fl made, and tho quality of her milk was also high, coming close to 4 per cent, of butter-fat. Mr. J. M. Strickland's Keyingham Dairy Maid sth (the 1920 champion) gave more milk than tho champion, her total being 72.81b., as against 70.81b., but aha lost points on quality. The charnpionahip for cows of intermediate weight fell to an Ayrshire of ten years old; and this breed made an excellent show with twice the entries and no disqualifications. The Jersey breed again showed itself supremo as butter producers, and the little Kerriej also gave evidence of remarkable milking qualities, the of them giving close upon 5£ gallons in a day (at 3.17 per cent, butterfat), which, as far as bulk goes, beats tho Channel Island animals, jnd even somo of the prise-winning cowsi of the bigger breeds. THINNING FRUIT. Tha practice of thinning fruit is far beyond the experimental stage and its value hns long been recognised, states Elwin O. Wood, of the Washington State College, Pullman, in Better Fruit, and can be summed up in the following ten points; — 1. Thinning helps to maintain the vigour of the tree, and thus tends towards the animal production of normal crops. 2. Thinning increases materially the size of the fruit 3. Thinning increases the percentage of extra fancy grade. 4. Thinning decreases greatly the percentage of culls. 5. "Dunning helps to control pests and disease. 6. Thinning deemasee the number of windfalls and drops. 7. Thinning prevents tho breaking of many branches and maies propping unnecessary. 8. Thinning s-ives labour in picking, grading and packing which more than compensates for the , labour of thinning. 9. Thinning increases the value of the crop and the orchard. 10. Tniming pays dividends which should range from fave hundred to a thousand per cent, of the cost. When the value ot thining can be summed up in such important considerations as these, what orchaxdist cannot ;ifford carefully to thin his fruit. GROWING MILLET. Japanese millet, which is probably the least drought resistant of tho millet" family, gives the best results in warm districts with a fair summer rainfall or where irrigation water is available. The plants will grow on a wide range of soils, but they thrive especially well on warm, well-drained loam. The preparation of the land for the crop should bo as thorough as possible. The seed is small, consequently, although fair results are often obtained where it is sown on freshlyturned stubble, it is. advisable to work the ground until a good fine seed bed is obtained. Sowing may take place a» soon as all danger of frost has passed, and may be continued at intervals up to as late as January. Where the seed is broadcasted, or sown with the ordinary grain drill, about 10lb. of seed per aero will be required. If the summer rainfall is low it is advisable to 3OW in rows, about 3ft. apart. It is then pcssiblo to cultivate between the rows, and thus conserve as much a3 possible of the moisture that is received. Under these conditions a smaller quantity of seed will suffice—from 21b. to 41b. being all that is required. Owing to the smallness of the seed sowing to a greater depth than lin. will result in a poor germination. A dressing of superphosphate with the seed will be found to increase the yield. In feeding off millet care must bo taken to prevent los 3 of cow 3 through "bloating." The cows should not be put on to the crop when excessively hungry, and other precautions should be taken to minimise the danger of bloating. If these precautions are taken millet is no more harmful in this respect than any other green feed. The most satisfactory results will be obtained if the millet is sown in several small paddocks, so that each can be grazed in turn.. In this way the new growth is given a chance to come on, and the carrying capacity of the crop is greatly increased. Where hay is required the crop should be cut just at the flowering stage; if left later the stems become course and woody, and the hay is of poor quality. TRAINING HORSES. The training of animals, wild and domestic, is attracting a considerable amount of noti(» at the present time, writes " Looker-on" in the Mark Lane Express. A regular crusade has been got •up against animals trained for the circus, and, as has been the way with crusades, an interminable amount of nonsense has been talked on both Elides. With the training of animals I have nothing to do, except" the training of horses for their work in life, whether it bo in saddle, harness, or on tho farm. It is essential in training horses that the horse should know that he had to deal with his master. That is the first thing the breaker or trainer has to see to. But this is not done by bullying or abuse. If you begin to abuse a high-spirited horse it may end in your having a long way tho worst of the encounter, and it is almost sure to end in your having a more or lcs3 vicious animal in your possession instead of a perfectly well-trained one. It is sufficiently obvious, if a man will think for a minute, that the first thing the trainer must do if he wishes to do any good in his profession is to gain the confidence of the horses he trains. This he can only do by exercising kindness, patience, and firmness. He must persevere til! ho gets his pupil to do what he wants immediately he gets the signal —" tho aids," as they are called in school riding.

The trainer has one very great advantage when he is at work with a horse, and that is the extraordinary memory of his pupil. I do not think there is any animal which has such a memory. But though this memory ; s of immense value t/j the trainer, it has its difficulties, for a horse never forgets. Therefore, it is essential that the trainer should thoroughly maJce up his mind what ho intends to teach each time he takes his pupil in hand, and he should he very careful to use the same signals always. A horse never forgets the signals to which he has been used. Occasionally we Fee examples of this when 6ome signal is given undesignedly to a . horse that has been thoroughly "broken to school methods. Then, much to the discomfiture o,f his rider, he will go straight through some entirely unexpected performance. There is not a doubt that some of the horse breakers and trainers are severe with their charges, hut there is not the least necessity for it. Firmness is, of course, essentia). One thing also rnust bo borne in mind—horses must not be played with or teased. A horseman never does ei'her, for he knows what the result will he. The. man or the woman —ladies are often transgressors in this respectr-who plays with or teases the horse generally does it from conceit. In training a horse it should be borne in mind that education, to he of any use, must be progressive, and that_ one subject or one division of the training must he mastered before an attempt is made with the next. When breaking and training a horse it is alwavs advisable to give him some reward when he has done something well. A pretty long experience with horses has taught me that the horse has no strong affection for his master as the dog lias. I know the poets have a lot to say on the subject, hut as a rule poets are not horsemen. But if the horse has not much affection for his master he has a Seat liking for delicacies. Hence, when J" has done well, give hm an apple or a p-ece of sugar; he w, 1 soon get to connect the two, and w,!l learn all the nu"cker for it. But great care must be Ul en not to give him these delicacy too frequently, or they will have no good effect.

ORCHARD COVER CROPS. Interesting results and deductions are referred to in Better Fruit, regarding experiment* that have been carried out by th* superintendent of the Montana Horticultural Sub-station to determine the value of cover crops in the orchard. The work was taken in hand in 1908, the main objeot being to determine the effect of different cultural prs.ctices, and find, if possible, 6ome economical method whereby the fruitgrower might not only maintain, but increase, the fertility of his eoiL Five plots were selected for the purpose; but the enumeration of the crops grown during the last 14 years on each plot would occupy too much spaca. To summarise tho experiments, it may be pointed out that on a plot where clean cultivation during one year was followed by two years of clover seeding, tome of which was cut and the hay was removed before ploughing in the stubble, shows definitely that the use of an orchard for the production of hay is not conducive to apple yield; another plot, in which clean cultivation was generally followed by two years of pea-planting, ar.d tho nlaughing undter the crop, indicates that peas do not compare favourably with clover as a cover crop, whereas another plot demonstrates that clean cultivation continued over long periods will permanently injure the trees. BUDDING CITRUS TREES. In those orchards where the owners have laid out their own nursery beds to supply themselves with trees for refilling j blank spaces or for the future extension of the grove, the budding of the stocks may now be taken in hand. Several of our more successful citrus growens have adopted the practice of establishing small j private nurseries. Soon after planting j out their main blocks with trees they sot to work and planted seed to supp]y stocks for future requirements. The Seville orange has been chiefly used for supplying the stocks. Washington Navel buds have then been obtained from trees that have shown good bearing characteristics, and which have produced a good class of fruitj. Using these "to work the stocks they have been enabled to go on steadily increasing their areas at relatively little cost. They also have had the advantage of knowing that as these newer areas come into bearing thoy will probably bear more uniformly heavy crops of fruit of good quality thcr. might bo expected from trees ; that have been purchased at random. In carrying out this season's budding operations the greatest care should he taken to see that no buds are taken from trees of the Thompson's Improved navel variety. With fruit now on the trees there should be no risk of making such a mistake. More complaints have been heard regarding tho Thompson's Improved this season than in any previous year. Them is little doubt" but that these complaints will continue to increase in number. The budding of the stocks is carried out in much the same manner as buds are inserted into deciduous trees, the main care necessary being to see that ribbed or pinched budg are not used. Good, round buds obtained from known trees will be most satisfactory in every way. When preparing the stocks it is better that, instead of making the ordinary T cuts, the upper one .should take the form _of a crescent. If this is done an incision is made that corresponds more accurately with the cut made when severing the bud from the stick, smd "as a result a better fitting union will be obtained than if the old form of catting across at right angles to the perpendicular incision is followed. PEACH PRUNING. Early varieties of peach trees, such as Briggs Red May, and Hihh's Early Canada, have shown a to cast their buds just before the arnvfcJ of spring, and, as a consequence, many growers have adopted the practice of not pruning the trees until after their fruit hae set. This appears to be the ordy method of treatment by which a grower can assure himself of obtaining some kind of crop, and even this is by no means reliable. The old-time practice of pruning the laterals and leaving a sufficient number of fruit buds to distribute an even crop over the surface of the tree has so often proved unsatisfactory that it will be only a matter of a few years before it is entirely discarded. With the fruits actually on the trees, growers are enabled to see what twigs and lateraJs have failed to set any fruits. Within the next week or two they will be able to go through tho ( orchard and cut back these growths to serviceable spurs or to tho basal buds, according to which is preferable, and at the same time they caai shorten back any laterals that have a long barren space between their bases and terminals where a fruit or two may have set. Numbers of growers prefer to postpone this work until fadrly late in the year, probably because other fruit trees are in need of spraying, or on account of cultural work that cannot be lon.j delayed. But the earlier the work of thinning out can be dono after the fruii;s have reached the stoning stage the better will it be. These useless growths should not be allowed to remain to shut out the light from the interior of the tree. Moreover the earlier tho work is perforned the greater will be the opportunity for the buds, to which the growths are cut back, to break out and commence the furnisliing np of suitable wood for the production of subsequent crops. As a general rule it is better that these barren laterals should be cut right out than that they should be shortened in with tho objection of extending growths from the spur that will result. Furthermore, if it has not been already done, all strong-growing laterals near the tops of the leaders should be removed, so that there will be but the one growing point instead of a number competing for the leadership. By keeping the growth into the one channel more pressure will be exerted on tho buds nearer the middle of the tree, and this will assist in " the furnishing of the branches with a desirable type of fruiting wood. AUSTRALIAN SUGAR. To the total of 200,000 acres must be added at least 50 per cent, to show the acreage under actual cultivation or fallow by farmers growing sugar cane in tho Australian tropical areas. The number of theso farmers approximates 6000,, and their annual production of sugar cane is valued at £4 000,000. They employ .sonie 16,000 workers, and give additional employment to many thousands more in connection with the shipping and supply of tho requirements of the industry not locally produced. Besides the farmers there are 37 raw sugar mills, which employ nearly 7000 workers, and six refineries, afso employing largo staffs, in Bundaberg, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. A Royal Commission in 1920 placed the value* of the lands and improvements, mills and machinery, and the refinerioj at £12,000,000, and since then further capital has been invested. Tho production of the industry averages 300,000 tons of sugar a year, which, after refining, is sufficient to supply the'whole of the requirements of Australia. Our illustrations in last week's pictorial supplement afforded some typical glimpses of this great enterprise. The settlement created by it is dotted along the coast from the northern rivers of New South Wales right up to the Cairns and Mossman districts, lying a few degrees south of the equator. Much of this country was at one time dense jungle or feverbreeding swamps. To-day it has been drained and the jun K lc cleared, until the towns along the seaboard are as healthy na those in any other part of Australia. There is still much country to be settled and, obviously, the sugar'industry is the best means to that end. Today there are at least 100,000 white people "direct ly dependent upon the production of sugar in Australia, and in the near future with the increasing demand for the product that number may easily be doubled. What the industry means to tho waterside workers and the seamen of our merchant ships may best be illustrated by the one concrete fact, namely, that last year the actual cost of hardline the sugar on the Queensland district wharves and bringing it down to the refineries amounted to no less than £600,000, the greater portion of which comprised wages. If, as stated by the Royal Commission, there is ample land to double the present output such doubling will mean an additional 100.000 of white population and an added expenditure of £12,000,000 capital.