AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18950, 23 February 1925, Page 14

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Pure butter, eaten in moderation, will furnish the oils required by the human system. In selecting a sire, look first at the head. If deficient there, look no further, but reject at once. One inch of rain, falling upon one square mile, is equivalent to about 17,500,000 gallons of water. It is many years since such magnificent fields of oats have been seen on the Canterbury Plains. Bulls that are pasturing with the herd should now be removed to avoid trouble with the earlier calves. Thousand-headed kale is a useful food, producing, as it does, an abundance of leaves which pigs are very fond of. Unfortunately the heavy rains caused lodging on the heavier areus and some crops looked as if a roller had been over them. All stacks should be thatched without delay. It is a good plan to keep one man thatching as soon as each stack is completed. A greater development of agricultural instruction in our schools, would probably do a great deal to stop the drift of population to the towns. It is universally recognised that the greater the care taken in selecting the potato sets, the greater will be the yield of next season's crop. If draining be done there should be a record of the depths of the drains, the size of tiles used, and a plan of the drains in each sub-division. The banana is the most prolific of all the fruits of the earth, being 44 times more productive than potatoes, and 131 times more than wheat. The modern farmer finds farm records a necessity. They increase his interest in farming routine and promote a corresponding increase of knowledge. The secret of the success of superagriculturists is the deep and thorough cultivation of the soil, elimination of weed growth, and the use of fertilisers. For the average Dominion farm the loose thatch and wooden peg system is probably the most suitable as it can be completed in one operation by one man. Green crops proper are a great help to the pig feeder, as in a favourable season they give an immense yield for a small outlay. The South Australian wheat harvest will coino little short of that of last year's record of 34,551,955 bushels, with an average of 14.29 bushels to the acre. The importance of developing our export trade in pork and bacon, has been stressed by the Department of Agriculture, and by the Meat Producers' Board. A rotational system embracing several crops is usually far more satisfactory than dependence on" one crop alone, as there is less risk, and the stock appreciate the change. The Taranaki Metropolitan Agricultural Society is taking steps to fittingly commemorate the jubilee of the society which takes place at the forthcoming show early in March. It is found that a sprinkling of hops in the brine when bacon and hams arc put in pickle, adds greatly to the flavour of both, and enables them to lie kept an indefinite period. It is impossible for all to have as good live stock as is brought out at the Agricultural Shows one visits, but most farmers could and should have a lot better animals than they feed. Wheat makes extremely useful feed and is relished by stock, but is .slower in growth than tho other cereals and, except in very <J r y districts, is less suitable for cultivation for fodder. The Aberdeen-Angus cow, Old Grannie, bred and owned by Mr. Hugh Watson, of Keillor, Forfarshire, Scotland, lived to be thirty six years old, and was tho mother of' twenty five calves. In Algeria, Tunis, and the desert of Sahara. French Military engineers, by boring artesian wells, have created many hundreds of rich oases that have added immensely to tho prosperity of those regions. The largest pedigree Shorthorn herd in Argentina, probably in the world, belongs to Mr. C. W. Drabble of Cabana Leon el. He possesses over 3500 head of pedigree Shorthorn cattle, practically all at Leonel. The bull New 1 ears Gift was generally admitted to be one of the best champions of the breed ever shown at Palermo, and did much as a great breeding sire in the Leonel herd. JNo less than 1400 pedigree breeding cows are kept on that property, while 860 pedigree Shorthorn bulls are used on all the properties.