AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19254, 17 February 1926, Page 16

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

In the first few months of its life the pig turns a greater proportion of food into meat than any other animal does.

Pigs are omnivorous animals and, therefore, never should be given foods of poor composition and of indigestible nature.

The volume of the world cheese trade in 1924 amounted to'about 670,000,0001b., compared with about' 620,000,0001b. in 1923.

Nearly all commercial fertilisers are used for the sole purpose of increasing the crop to which applied, or for direct profit, from the increase of that crop.

Future trouble is avoided by careful handling during the first calf period, for careless, rough handling of heitsrs makes nervous or bad-tempered. cows.

Beet is a vegetable which should be extensively sown all through the summer. Seedlings are easily procured, they transplant, readily, and seldom fail.

Many farmers use ready-made compound manures, and, when experience has proved that good results are obtained, the farmer will be wise to continue their use.

For more than eight centuries one firm at North Walsham, Norfolk, has been making baskets. The business was established 42 year 3 after the Battle of Hastings. ' .

A pig that has all he needs in the way of minerals, is a more contented pig than any other. Pulverised limestone, such' as is prepared at any limestone quarry, is suitable for a mineral mixture.

According to the live stock census the number of cattle in England and Wales this year again shows an increase, and the addition is greater than in any re- • cent year. The 1925 total exceeds the average of the ten. years immediately I preceding the war by 354,000. . .

Two varieties of the turnip family cultivated in, this country are the common white turnip and the swede. The dominant requirement of both is for phosphates, and there is probably no crop on which a suitable phosphate manure acts with so much effect..

Without the application of scientific research, and tho use of scientific methods in agriculture there can be further progress in the producing industry. The producer has gone as far as he possibly can without the aid of science, and, if he is to advance, further modern scientific methods must be applied.

Extensive experiments have conclusively proved that with the help of a proved sir 6, even the most ordinary herd may, during the course ol a few short years, be improved out of sight, and those who have Sailed to do so in the past should make a start with the present season to rear calves to replace some of the duds in the herd.

Great Britain furnishes the best market for cheese, and consumes about ,45 per cent, of the total world exports. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand furnished 283,651,000ib. of the total. British imnorts of 323,620,0001b. in 1924. Small shipments were also made in 1924 to England by Switzerland, Italy, France, and the United States.

Many points mult be considered beside actual udder capacity before ascertaining the milking qualitites of a cow, as every dairyman knows. And not the least of these is the important question of disposition. Disposition is, as in human being, hereditary, and controlled—to' a certain extent—by environment but it varies considerably in different breeds of cattle.

_ The most critical period in a pig's life Too ,?* X \ tw ® lve weeks ol ago. Too often the handling he receives at dooms him to the tviso mßp of his B ood bacon tie nfei t l cas f s a violent change in fellow b£ fl "? P l! Ce ', giv ' D K the little leaves ite* mill ' and oce that