THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 914, 6 September 1889, Page 19

THE FARM.

SALTED HAY FOR STOCKHaving 160 cows in milk, which are getting daily one good feed of clover hay, two of oat straw, one of unthreshed beans and peas, and one of steamed chaff, in addition to which they have been allowed 51b each of a mixture consisting of decorticated cotton-cake, bran, barley men 1 , crushed oats and oat dust, with a run in pastures for three* hours, yet are not yielding nearly so much milk as many of the same animals did last winter when they got very sparsely supplied with hay, together with oat, barley, and indifferent pea straw, along with 81b each of a similar mixture of cake, &c., as recorded above, with a run in pastures, but no steamed chaff, I should be very glad to hear from any authority on dairying whether the fact of my having salted all my Lay when stacking it, to the extent of lcwt of the former to 1 ton of hay, will explain the reason why cows are milking badly. I was induced to try the experiment of salting from a suggestion I saw advanced,l think, in the Agricultural Gazette or Live Stock Journal during summer, the contention being that it not only made hay more palatable, but induced cows to. drink more water, hence a greater flow of milk. Cows have free access to water, and are usually dried off for two months previous, to calving. I have fifteen milkmaids who do not stick to their own cows, but milk promiscuously, yet the animals seem quite a.customed to this mode of procedure, a-ul I am reluctantly coming round to the opinion that it is nothing but the salted hay which is the cause of the restricted yield. If I am confirmed in this opinion it will involve my selling the whole of my very large stock of hay and buying a fresh Supply. I should be glad to know if cabbages really impart a taste to milk ; opinions in this district are conflicting on the point, and I should be further pleased to learn the probable daily yield of 160 cows for 365 days, fed as I have indicated above —minus the salt—during winter, with the best of grass in summer. Malvern', [The amounts of food given this year and last are so different that it would be impossible to say if you could expect the same flow of milk ih the two cases. We should judge that if the”cows are in health, and their excretions show no signs of purging or other disorder, that the salt is not the cause. We must also remember that hay and straw are inferior this year to lant, and that 81b of cake, &c., last year was more liberal treatment than 51b this year. A more improbable statement than that cows by eating salt, would drink more water, and therefore yield more milk, we have rarely heard. The cows certainly would drink more water because the salt would naturally cause a flow of fluids into the bowels of the cow, and produce purging. This is the well-known action of an excess of salt. Milk is secreted from the blood and not from the food direct. Salt finds its way into the blood, and causes, if in excess, evacuation into .the bowels and bladder—heiice thirst. One cwt of salt per ton is a very large proportion of salt, and it is evident that a cow eating 1 stone of hay would consume nearly £lb of salt, and 2 stones of hay would give her a dose of lJlb of salt. We should be obliged by contributions to this subject from correspondents. Cabbages only impart an unpleasant taste to milk if fed in excessive quantities. One cow should yield on an average, if well fed, and of a good sort, 600 gallons of milk in 365 days, and 160 cows would yield 96,000 gallons. In ordinary dairies, when cows are dry most of the winter, 500 gallons, or even les3, might be expected per cow.—J. W.] [There may he other' points at fault in the management of your stock which do not appear in youc description, but it is certain that the salt is one thing that is a mistake. It is a good plan to put a little on the hay, but not more than 201 b to the ton ; and, as you have put on six times too much, it is certain that a foddering with such hay must do harm. You must mix with other fodder or straw, so as to ‘ dilute ’ down, that each animal may not get more than two or three ounces of salt per diem. Cabbages are not so liable tp. impart a taste to milk as turnips are, and, in fact, if the outside withered leaves are removed, there is nothing objectionable ip their qse, - but rather the reverse, A goad covy should yield at least 600 gallons of milk per annum, hut fOO is not too much for a Shorthorn.—P. M‘C.] , THE SCALE-EATING LADY BUGS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. Mrs Carr has given a very interesting account of her conversion to belief in the imported Australian scale-eaters, because of the deeds of the new lady bug, Verdolia cardinails. Reports from Los Angeles county, where the chief part of the lady-bugs are now domiciled, are abundant, and, as might be expected, some controversy L being engendered as to whether insecticides should be laid aside and trust be placed in the natural foe of the icerya. It is a proper subject for debate, in order that as much light as possible may be brought to bear upon the issue, But, after all, the choice must be made by the individual according to the conditions prevailing in this case. In view of the discussions concerning the efficacy oh the scale destroyer, the rapidity of" its multiplication etc., we are to have from D. W. Coquillettj a eaiefully prepared statement of . fljQ introduction and progress of the insept u,p ' to this time as follows : * ‘ The first consignment of these l|\,dy-bugs was received last November, and/’numbered twenty-eight living siebiniJgns'of’Tirvae, pups?, aud beetles-thbj s&cohd 'consignment reached me ip T&cbmber, and contained forty-five ' specimens in their different stages ; and the third consignment of fifty-six specimens was received in January, making in all 129 ladybugs, which were placed nnder one of the tents at Mr Wolfskill’s. From the very start these lady-bugs made themselves perfectly at home, and the havoc they made among the iaeryas was surprising. By the latter part of April

I they had increased to such an extent that it was deemed advisable to send out colonies to different localities in the State, anci up to date 4000 specimens have been sent to various parties who have applied for them, while there are fully 2000 specimens still remaining oil the trees at Mr Wolfskill’s. These 6010 individuals are the progeny of the 129 insects referred to above, which will give some idea of the rapidity with which these insects breed. Several of the orange trees at Mr Wolfskills have been almost entirely cleared of the icer.vas by these lady-bugs, and on the other trees their numbers are becoming rapidly lessened through the persistent attacks of their merciless foe. Besides the 129 lady-bugs referred to above I also received two later consignments. One of these arrived on February 21st, and eonted of 35 specimens, which were colonised on an orange tree belonging to Colonel J. R. Dobbins in the Sail Gabriel Valley. A. much larger consignment, containing abeut 350 ladybugs in their different stages, was received March 20th. Someof these were also colonised at Colonel Dobbins’, while the rest were pi iced on orange trees belonging to A. Scott Chapman in the San Gabriel Valley. Altogether about 514 of these lady-bugs have been received from Australia,’ —Pacific Rural Press. SHEEP FARMING, AY THE CAPE. Cape wool is slowly winning for itself a better name than it has had in former years, and it is in the firm conviction that no country in the world is naturally better adapted for wool growing, or has a brighter future before it, that I venture to jot down a few notes on the subject, the result of some years’ travel and intercourse with the sheep farmers there. The subject is of interest, not only in view of the late vast improvement in Cape wools, but also because most of the advantages and drawbacks incidental to the Cape are peculiar to it, and occur in no other country. In fact, at first sight it would be hard to conceive of a country less adapted—in an Englishman’s eye at least—to sheep farming than the choicest sheep ground in the country, the great tableland which, under the name of the Karroo, occupies hundreds of thousands of acres of Cape Colony. Imagine a country utterly barren and sterile, flat, but broken up by numerous isolated hills, and seemingly producing nothing but a luxuriant crop of stones. Round the few and infrequent farms, indeed, yon may see fruit trees, and ploughed lands bearing heavy crops ; but elsewhere there are no trees, and the traveller may put behind him many a weary day’s journey without a glimpse of one green thing. There i 3 no grass, and the ground is bare, but in between the stones there grows in clumps and patches a little bush, perhaps a foot high, which is the favourite food of the sheep, aud on which they thrive amazingly. This is THE KARROO BtJSH, peculiar, I believe, to South Africa, but whioh will not long be so, tor it is found so good for the sheep that lately seeds of it have been sent to Australia to improve some of the sheep runs there. However dried up it may become with hot dry summers the sheep eat it greedily, and no drought seems i able to kill it out. In other parts of the country the pasturage —or veldt, as the farmers call it—is different, and in some they have good sweet grass, but nothing seems to suit sheep better than the Karroo bush. It is true that iu the Karroo droughts are frequent and severe, and this both lessens the number of sheep that a given area will support, and is apt to make the wool brittle aud scanty. But water can be had everywhere by sinking for it, and this at small expense, and it is wonderful co see how this barren-looking land repays the troublo of irrigation. It will grow everything, and with a profusion and luxuriance which would sound fabulous to English ears. As a rule farms in the Cape Colony will only support a small number of sheep in pmffortion. to their extent. Few will carry more than a sheep to from two and a half to three acres.' The herbage is too scattered and scanty, and water too rare, to allow of more in toe present state of farming, though there is no doubt that a proper system of fencing and paddocking, and the abolition of the kraal—of which I shall speak later would greatly increase the capabilities of the land. From this Btate.of things it follows that the sheep have to travel long distances for their food, and this, combined with the fact that all breeding is directed to the pro» ducing of wool rather than mutton, deter, mines THE CHARACTER Of- THE SHEEP- BRED,. In former years the sheep were the original breed of the old Dutch settlers, the large, big-tailed animals that are always ealled Cape sheep, But few of these are seen now. The merino is the favourite breed of the oountry, and is being constantly improved. Many breeders are showing” a great deal of energy and cnterpri e in importing good rams from the best studs. These imported rams are almost all Australian merinos, with a few Ramboillets. in either case the aim is to get a hardy animal, as well as one that, with poor feeding, will give a yield of wool heavy in proportion to its size. The merinos fulfil these conditions ; and the fact that they are animals upon whom high feeding seems thrown away, make them very useful in the Cape, where artificial feeding is almost unknown. These rams are run with, native ewes, and the result is & o£ medium size, hardy g,qd aotivte, ' giving heavy fleeces, and in>every way adapted to the peculiar condition's of the country ; and probqljly all further efforts in breeding will only bd directed towards imnjtviHg ’ this type. SHEAR TWICE A YEAR, With better sheep the leading, are s.toadijy introducing improved 'farming. The first indication of. 'r,efp/-z}» is the gradual l atiolitibn 1 of ' h/df /yearly shearing. It has I!been, tkaru,le to shear twice a year, and it i fa bar&ly necessary to stop to point out the j bad results that must fallow from such a system. Within a very few years it will, probably be the universal habit to sh%ir aoiy onoe. But an evil whioh is less, recognised, and to the full as mischievous, ia the pernicious habit of • KEAALING THE SHEEP AT NIGHT. To * kraal ’ the sheep, I may explain, is to shut them up in the enclosure, or * kraal,'

which all sheep farmers have close to their houses. This plan is probably as bad a one as could possibly be devised, whether for the sheep or the grass. For the grass it is bad, because it entails a vast amount of travel upon the sheep, and this wears and ‘tramples down the veldt. And it is bad for the sheep, not only on account of this extra and unnecessary travel and fatigue, but because instead of sleeping iu the open air upon the cool clean veldt, they have to lie upon accumulated piles of their own dung, and the urine soaks into it and stains the wool; and also because such kraals become infecte i with scab, are very hard to clean, and are a fruitful source of infection to thousands of sheep. The faults of the kraal system are obvious, and moat farmers are themselves ready to admit them, but it is not so easy to name a remedy. On the unfenced farms it is impossible to allow the sheep to sleep out. Thieves, both human and animal, are abroad. The villages of the native population are dotted all over the country, and the natives have very elementary ideas indeed of the difference between meum and tuum. They are fond of meat and get little of it, and the temptation to carry off a fat sheep under cover of night is too much for them. In nine cases out of ten they cannot be caught. The flesh is eaten, skin and bones are burnt, and nothing is left by which the theft can be brought home to them. Wild animals are the worst. ‘ Tigers ’ (a small leopard, measuring from nose to tip of tail anything from five to nine feet), baboons, or jackals invest nearly every farm in the Colony, and do an immense amount of damage. The only remedy seems to be fencing, and farms are too large, and farmers too poor for this to be practicable in many places. Fencing would not altogether stop depredations, but it would diminish them to a point at which they would be insignificant, for it is far easier to watch a line ot fencing than to guard an open tract of country. Until, however, farmers are rich enough to fence, or Government decides to give them substantial help in this direction, the kraal, with all its defects, seems the only alternative. A GOOD COUNTRY FOR SHEEP FARMERS. However, with many drawbacks, there is no country in which a sheep, farmer with brains and energy ought to do better than in Cape Colony. The Government grant land on very easy terms, and farms can be bought privately very cheaply. Farms in some of the very best districts don’t cost more than £1 per acre. Only a few days ago I heard of a large farm in the Hopetown district, a splendid part for sheep, changing hands at 5s per acre. Sheep at present are cheap—perhaps 10s to 12s for two-year-old ewes would be an average price for good stock. The farming now is of the very laziest and most careless nature. No ground is cultivated beyond a couple of acres close by the house, and the little helps of whioh English farmers so well know the value, such as the dairy, or fowl keeping, are quite neglected. Little fencing is done. Farmers only dip their sheep when scab is so patent that longer neglect will bring them within reach of the very easy scab law. And few indeed are the man who look after their sheep in any way that an English farmer would call efficient. The Boer counts his sheep as they pass out in the morniDg, and again as they come home at night, and sees nothing more of them except at lambing and shearing time. He puts up ho shelter for them in bad weather, and sinks no wells to provide against drought. And yet these men make money, and the few who really take trouble with their sheep grow rich rapidly. A fortune is waiting fox’ the Englishman who will introduce the patient, orderly, and systematic wayß of his English farm into South African sheep farming. BUTTERCUPS?.-. Many of the richest pastures are yellow with buttercups evqry spring, and yet every one must acknowledge they are"injuriout> weeds. Injurious in themselves, they take up the room of good grasses. I once heard person strongly contending that all pastures, in which they abounded ought to. be. broken up, well cleaned, and resoiyn, wi,th grass seeds. I think fe,w persons, practically acquainted with v a/liable, pasture wou,ld be inclined to tak.e this strange advice,, But there is one enemy of the buttercup- who is often a welcome guest at. our own tables, and ! that, is the goose. The goose ia very fond of buttercups, and showajgreat determination to get a<t their roots—the only part it eats. Believing as I do that no other poultry pays so well for keeping as geese, it often surprises me mare are not kept. Is it because its utility as a weeder of our pastures is not generally known ? Who ever saw a buttercup on a common fed by geese ? The bird 13 good to eat, pays well for its keep, and is useful in ridding our grass of an acrid herb. Why i 3 it not kept more generally ? Most persons hate monkeys-r-they are so much like ourselves ; are we, in the ease of similarly influenced ?— J. R. Pearson^ PREVENTIVE INOCULATIONThe Croonian lecture. before the Society was dpß.?er ( ed by Dr Roux, thq chief of the Paateur Laboratory, Paris, th,© subject feeing. *.Xies Inoculations Preventives,’ mainly jreferring 'to ' Pasteur’s discoveries that the ! virus 'in many infections, dispasqs is due to, microbes, especially ip fowl, cholera, Bplosjfl,fever, or- ohax-bon in cattle, and ruuguk or ‘ rsd.soldier,* a form of, swipe, fjeicor, and to .the ffie t that, by sujjabjp, station of heat in jabsence of airj tag,Visas'could be weakened iso tlifit. by inoculating animals with it ‘itqjnhr,/Sy would be provided against fcha idisease. The practical results are that, the agricultural societies of Franoe, Italy, and.. Austria practice this mparis, and the various insurance societies compel the adoption ot the treatment-s Some 250,000. sheep and upwards are annually treated in Fraaos. Pasteur’s laboprs in regard to rabies ox hydrophobia were, noticed, and the ratepa from the protection Q.t dogs to the treatment of man, the present result being stated at 1 per cent mortality after treatment and 15 per cent without treatment.