AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18471, 7 August 1923, Page 10

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

England's daily consumption of butter amounts to about 30,000 . boxes. -

It is estimated' in trade circles that the holdings of wheat in Canada on farms stood, at 64,000,000 bushels at the beginning of March. '

The- best method of . securing • a good dairy herd is by keeping the promising progeny of cows with; good records, hay-, ing first purchased a bull of milking pedigree. :/";■,■■:.:■ f '■■' *,- •■■ •

The first official estimate of. the Argen. tine grain crops gives a :•■■ total ■"• of 5.231,719 tons wheat, 1,175,575 tons linSfied,.. 793,484 tons oats, 180,171 ..tons, barIcy, and 64,197 tons rye.

Stocks of old wheat in. Argentina on "December 31 last Were 290,033 tons. Adding the current season's crop, estimated at 5,281,719 tons, and deducting 500,000 required for seed and 1,360,000 for home consumption, the exportable surplus for 1923, would appear to bo 3,711,752 tons.

The official estimate of . farmers' reserves of wheat in the United States on March 1 is 153,134,000 bushels, compared with 131,136,000 bushels at the corresponding date of last year. It is, reckoned that the surplus available for export d*tween March 1 and end of July will be about 100,000,000 bushels.

Tho picking and • marketing of the succulent blueberry is an; important industry in certain parts of New Brunswick. Recently 40 families, comprising some 350, persons, migrated from their settlement to Restigouche County to pick berries ior shipment. This temporary employment is found decidly profitable.;

Marquis 111., a new wheat variety, bred in Alberta, Canada, is giving high yields. In tests carried out at the University of Alberta during 1922 Marquis 111. produced 35 ■ bushels, as compared with 26 for Marquis. In 1921 the new variety yielded 50 bushels as against 41 for the original, and in 1920 59 bushels to 49 bushels.

The South African Railway Bulletin for February reports that the construction of terminal grain elevators at Durban and Capetown, with storage capacities of 42,000 tons and 30,000 tons respectively, is in hand. Contracts have also been let for tho construction of 34 country elevators, and work has actually been started on 23.

- A cow in full milk is working as hard as a horse in heavy work. Such a horse must be fed oats to maintain his strength. Similarly with a cow. The cow works first for herself, then for the farmer. If it takes her all day to get""enough food for herself the farmer is going short. By enriching her food the farmer in increasing her working hours for himself.

For the women on the farm who are fond of dogs there is one source of revenue which may be exploited with profit. There is no better rearing ground for dogs than the farm, and, as almost every householder in the cities and settlements keeps a dog of some'' sort, there is a market for the good sorts. In collies there is money and the other breeds will sell to profit.. ':

Lucerne's long, branching roots penetrate far down, push and crowd the earth this way and that, and thus constitute a gigantio sub-soiler. These become an immense magazine of fertility. As sqon as cut they begin to decay and liberate the vast reservoir of fertilising. matter below the plough, to be drawn upon by other crops for years to come. i '-' (

Protein is a nitrogenous material used to form flesh and repair waste tissue— essentially a , body . builder. It is vitally necessary for ',all growing animals, all high-producing animals, and .all working animals: It is the most expensive element to purchase, and the whole success of any feeding policy; depends upon a right understanding and use of foods • containing protein. : '~~* " '■ . " -. ' ''

. Two dairy Shorthorn cows in New South Wales recently completed a 273 days' official test period with yields of 5001b. butter fat or better. , Molly 2nd of Glenthorne, owned by Mr. ,W. H. ■ Dudgeon, gave 13,7881b. milk, of 4-1 te?t, during the period, the butter-fat yield being 5601b. She was eight years old afe the start of the test. The .Darbalara} heifer, Melba 29th, which" 'is aged 3£ years, produced 11,8261b. of milk, yielding ,5001b. butterfat. ■:.'•. •;'•:•:" .•'" ■ 'v -■•

Apart from the possible money returns, the danger of not doing something more in the nature of conservation of our forests cannot well be over-stressed. Quite re cently, for instance, a well-known officer of the Public Works Department stated that if the TJrewera forests were cleared it would be only a matter .of time before the Rangitaiki Plain, containing about, 90,000 acres of some of the richest dairy land in New Zealand, would be covered with a fan of shingle. ; ' ; .

A peculiar point has cropped up in regard to the interpretation toy the New South Wales Lands' Department of the term "under .cultivation.'? It appears that country on, which wheat is grown is cultivation land, . but when the owner of a , holding which carries. conditions as to "cultivation" goes in for lucerne growing, he hag to be watchful of the department's interpretation. If he mows the lucerne he is . (according to the department) cultivating the land, but -if he grazes the lucerne patch, then he is not cultivating the. land.

Grape juice and catchup can be sealed to keep for years in quart bottles, with ordinary stoppers. After'- the bottle is filled with the properly prepared - mixture the cork should be pushed in tightly, then the corked end of the bottle dipped into melted sealing wax. When the contents of the bottle are desired the sealing wax can be readily removed by gently cracking it with a knife I handle. Melted paraffin may used in the same way, but it does- not have the enduring quality of the, sealing wax,: and; will sometimes melt away in a year or two, whereas the sealing wax will last indefinitely.

At the present time the judicious selection of and breeding from . the 'heaviest milking cows seems.the most feasible way of improving dairy ■ cattle. It takes time, of course for while one can make a selection of the cows in hand after one year's test, you require to wait for three years' additional time to realise on and prove the progeny of the same. On the ■ other hand it does not involve any direct' outlay and only a little trouble to test and select and eliminate the inferior cows, by either fatting off or selling for what they will fetch in the market, and thus raise the average yielding power of the herd.

To grow fat lambs for freezing it is necessary to start with a owe with a good constitution. It is not necessary that the ewe should be young— most profitable ewe to a small farmer is a station ewe which has bred already one or two lambs. He requires a ewe which will give him a good percentage— leas than 100 per cent. ; if up to 120 per cent., so much the better. But to get good lambs it is necessary above all to use good rams. The next consideration is to see that the ewe is not starved during the winter months. Then, when the lambs are dropped, , there should be an abundance of feed for the ewe. ■ : .'.'".' '■','■' ■'"' ■ '.'

. Federation wheats are evidently gaining in popularity in North America. The following statement appears in a recent departmental report:— Two valuable spring wheat varieties, Federation, and Hard Federation, introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture from Australia, have demonstrated their superior yield in the varietal experiments at the Sherman County branch station. 'The results obtained by farmers with these varieties indicate that they will likely ! replace all other spring wheats in Eastern Oregon. They also . have shown much promise in other .States,, notably;in South- ■ ern Idaho, under irrigation, and in esteem Montana," ' • -aHf- ' '':.'■ *