AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19918, 11 April 1928, Page 15

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

One of the first things to do when the cows are stabled is to clip tho thigh and flank nearest the milker. It will make it much easier to keep the milk clean.

The best size of a poultry flock has been determined by experts, who say that if a farm cannot carry 200 hens it should keep only enough to supply the family.

Do not waste time, money and services of the valuable stallions on inferior mares that produce worthless foals—likewise, do not waste time in breeding good mares to poor stallions.

There are now more than 17,000 purebred Holstein-Friesians of known breeding in Japan, and about 80 per cent, of the 120,000 dairy cattle in Japan are of Holstein-Friesiaa blood.

Don't feed a colt 'too generously when it is being broken to harness, especially if it is of a lively temperament. Let it be worked at the outset very lightly and for a few hours at a time.

It is known that the number of pigs in a litter is limited to not more than the number of female germ cells, commonly called ova, that are released at the heat period and the time of conception.

Take, away the stronger pigs first. Leave the weaker ones to suckle for a few days longer. This is well for both pigs and sow. When the whole litter are at once withdrawn the udder of the sow is often ruined.

Tho number of milch cows in Ontario has increased about 33 per cent, during the past 25 years, but the amount of milk produced has increased still more owing to a steady, but gradual, increase in the average production per cow.

Dr. Johnson defined oats as " a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." To this statement Lord Elibank rejoined, " Very true, and where will you find such horses and such men 1"

Cows will consume all the water they need if they are given the opportunity to drink two or more times a day with the water from 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. Better still is to have water available so the cows can drink wheneVery they want it.

A trial of beet cultivation implements is to be held in Denmark during the coming spring and summer. Implements other than of Danish origin will be allowed to compete, and the trials will include the weeding of turnips and beetroot, as well as sugar beet, and will he carried out on both light and heavy soils.

One of the essentials to maximum crop yields is represented by ideal germination conditions. This, of course, is dependent upon quite a number of different factors, such as the visibility of the seed, the influence of pickling operation, etc. But the factor which concerns us chiefly at present is the actual condition of the soil itself.

The object of the farmer is to turn over his expenditure on manures quicklv by (retting the outlay back with a profit by the biefger yield of the crop, and therefore, the modern farmer uses spring fertilisers that act on the crop rather than those kinds which become available slowly. He does not farm for posterity but for prompt profit.