THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 957, 4 July 1890, Page 14

THE FARM.

CUT STRAW FOR BEDDING. A German agricultural journal presents some cogent arguments in favour of chopped m * lace of wh-le straw for animi. l bedding 1 he first coiiHi'i©ration I*l the economy of j». which experiments have shown to be about thiri.y-live per cent. Ucoondly, toe comfort of the animal is better secured. In the u>e oi long straw an even distribution of it will rarely occur, and the animal will be treated to a lumpy conch. Furthermore, it is far easier t> separate the wet and soiled portions of a cut-straw bed from the dry. Also the chopped bedding is a better absorbent of the animal s droppings, and there is Jess waste of ammonia Hy evapo atiori. It is far more eaMly manipulated in the comp' st heap Again, as the absorption of fertilizing material has b.-en more equal in tho short bedding material, eo the compost heap in turn becomes more uniform and homogeneous—better forhti-d again- 1, external influsn.es tt „d less uire« to internal fermentation. Tiffs i a 'oint of prime importance, us man« w .Ltest who have exposed themselves to serious loss in their _ manure heaps by burning Important as is this matter iu the stable It is still l more so in the pig-sty. Swine, especially brood sows, should be furnished with cutstraw bedding rather than long straw. LAMENESS IN SHEEP. Foot-rot is said to be a preventable disease. r i nss i b!y tme as an abstract For not al^ ays c 3 ua Uy practicable, i or example, ewes heavy in lamb cannot be

handled and turned for dressing without danger, and the dressing of their feet is for this reason often postponed. A sheep lame from foot-root will always be found to have an exuberant growth of horn doubled under the sole of the foot, or splayed outwards in a ragged condition. The sheep should be turned, and every portion of loose and detached horn pared away. All fungoid sproutings should be removed by the knife, and the cutting should be continued as far as the disease has burrowed, or the hoof is detached from the sensitive foot. This we regard aB fundamental, and we repeat that every part of the horny portion of the hoof that is in the slightest degree separated from the parts beneath must be cut away with a proper knife for the purpose. Any fungoid granulation must be removed, and then a caustic application must be used. Washing the foot perfectly clean before applying the caustic cannot be objected to, but, in practice, the cleaning is more easily accomplished by direct paring with the knife. As to the ‘ dressing ’ which may then be applied, it is always of a caustic or strongly astringent character. Butyr of antimony applied with a feather is found useful. Also various foot-rot pastes which may be purchased at the druggists, or ary, powdered sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol, Speaking of ‘butyr of antimony,’ William Youatt says, ‘There is no application comparable to this. It is effectual as a superficial caustic; and. it so readily combines with the fluids belonging to the part to which it is applied that it quickly becomes diluted and comparatively powerless, and is. incapable of producing any deep oi corroding mischief.’ If the foot has been severely stripped of its horn, and especially if a considerable portion of the sole has been removed, it may be necsssary to bandage it; but in most cases, after dressing, the sheep is turned away without this safeguard, One or two dressings will usually complete the cure, but in a large flock it is difficult to get rid of it altogether. Prevention is better than cure, and the best safeguard against foot-rot is to dress the feet from time to time so as to prevent the wall of the hoof from growing to such a length as to double under the foot.

This over-shooting of the horn is the cause of Eellets of hard earth becoming inserted etween it and the sole, and this causes irritatation and inflammation. This evil may be prevented by care, and points to the necessity of supervision on the part of the master, and the allowing to the shepherd a sufficient amount of assistance to enable him to give increased attention to the health and comfort of his flock. Foot-rot is most prevalent upon marshy, low-lying, or stiff soils, and we frequently have experienced an outbreak when the. flock has. been removed from the uplands and brought into the richer and more unctuous portions of the farm. Lambs contract the disease at a very tender age, aud are evidentlv much distressed with it When this is the case advantage should be taken of the first dry day to * go round ’ them carefully, paring their little feet, and applying the reme.y already mentioned. FEEDING HORSES. The. food should be of the quality and quantity to impart strength, vitality, and elasticity ; and this requires some discrimination and care, as the food should be harmonised both to the condition of the horse and the severity of the labour to which he is subjected. As a rule, the stomach should not be distended with, food when prolonged energetic effect is required. This is to be especially guarded against in the feeding of hay. Greedy eaters can, and often will, eat so much hay as to unfit themselves, for active labour,, and it usually results in heaves, or broken wind. Heaves are always found in. the teamster's or carter’s stables, where there is no care in feeding. This disease is never found among racing horses from the fact that the utmost care is used in selecting the food, and feeding in small quantities, or in adapting it more perfectly to the wants of the system. It has been demonstrated beyond doubt, says a writer, that the reason horses improve so much in wind by eating prairie hay is that it is so coarse that they cannot eat it fast enough to overload the stomach. The quantity of hay Bhould be carefully regulated, and never as much, given as the horse will eat if at all voracious. The majority of owners pack a large rack full, either allowing liberty te eat too much, or making it unpalatable or unhealthy by being breathed upon. From 81b to to 101 b is about the average quantity of an ordinary roadster to be allowed in twenty-four hours more or less, according to size, the kind of work, and the quantity of grain given. Dusty or mouldy hay should never be fed, as it is liable to produce various forms of disease. The food should be clean, and in quality perfect, One writer asserts that hay is most perfect when it is about a year old. Horses would perhaps prefer it earlier, but it is neither so wholesome nor so nutritious, and may cause purging. When it is a year old it should retain much of its green colour and agreeable smell. The blades of corn pulled and cured in the summer are unquestionably much better than hay. . .. -- ; Gats makes more -muscle, than corn. Corn mskes fat and warmth, w Hence, the colder the weather, the more corn may be given and the harder the work, the more oats. New oats are said to. be more difficult to digest, and when eaten in considerable quantities are apt j to cause flatulency, or colic, and derangement of the stomach and bowels. The same may be said of com. If not sound and dry, it m,.v be regarded even more dangerous than oats in this respect and should not be fed.—Town and Country.

A NEW POTATO PLANTER. An English journal says: experiments were made recently with the Aspinwull potato planter. It differs Iroin tbe lew. planters already shown in England in having an excellent arrangement for distitouting m mure. It is the first of its kin ‘ n»ed in England, and is introduced !iy the Western Count,es Aereuitnr.l Co-operation Association. Generally speaking, >.hs machine is drawn by a psir of horses, and e n be managed by one man. To tfi front ..ml ..n one side there is an attachment which m.o ks out. the next row to be plan-ea. Behimi this an iron form; a furrow, and to the re,'- of this is a revolving wheel, on which -everal gripprrs are fixed. these grippers c-in he varied in number according to the distance allowed net ween the potatoes. As the wheel turns round it enters a box which ciVn'ain.i tho n-eff and by the action of some springs the potato is forced between the grippers, and carried ronnd until it comes m contact with a lever, which removes the seed, and allows it to fall into tho srm ™ A - Running through the centre of the seed-box there is a manure-holder, and as tho potato falls into tho ground a Ihin layor of earth, covers it, then the manure is distributed ever it, and a couple of iron scrapers in the rear or the machine cover this with soil. Taken -lt i'| 8 °T ° f , the Inosfc simple and perfect agricultural implements over invented. The various parts are most ingeniously

arranged, and, all being self-acting, any ordinary labourer would experience no difficulty in working it. The potatoes can be planted to any depth up to 6in, the distance between each seed being regulated from lOin to 2ffin, and the rows up to 3ft apart. Mr Vespor considered it the best distributor of manure he had ever seen, and as a man and a pair of horses could Slant about 3 acres daily when at the ordinary istance,. the machine will no doubt come into general use, and will be highly valued for the .quantity cf work it does, the excellent way in ’which it is carried out, and the extreme simplicity of its construction.

SHORTHORNS FOR MILK OR BEEF. (A. B. ALLEN.) The handsomest and mo3t showy form for a Shorthorn cow includes a broad as well as deep chest, full crops, fore ribs so round as to leave no depression behind the shoulders ; a straight line along back to end of the rump; wide between the huckle bones, and well-developed quarters. This is the best shape for making beef. For milk the chest should be deeper and not so broad, fore ribs rather flat and long, crops less full than for beef, and the quarters quite broad, so that in looking at her in front her body will appear decidedly wedgeshaped, the larger end to the rear. But even thus formed, when dried off, a Shorthorn cow will fatten quickly and cheaply, and make a good carcase of a fine quality of beef. Occasionally one of beef shape,—that is, about as full in front as rear, and rather fat, —proves a great milker of a highly excellent quality, like some Holstein-Friesians. Many of these latter seem to have changed their nature in America, yielding richer milk generally than in Holland, and yet of a very abundant quantity. No doubt this change is owing to the difference of climate and qual ty of food. The summers in Holland are cool and wet and in Northern America comparatively hot and dry, with drier and more frosty winters, and the grass of our meadows is less rank and succulent. These have much influence in giving quantity and quality to milk and also in th 3 formation of flesh. Still, the difference in breeds cf cattle is paramount, and tho animals should be chosen from such as excel in what it is most desired by the breeder to produce. THE AGE OF CATTLEThe following rules may be adopted to tell the age of cattle :-~A heifer has no rings on her horns until she is two years of 'age, and one is added each year thereafter. You can therefore tell the age of a cow with tolerable accuracy by counting the rings on her horns, and adding two to the number. The bull has no rings as a rule until he is five years old. To tell his age after that period add five to the number of rings. The better way to tell the age is by the teeth, which, of course, is the only way with polled cattle. What are called the milk teeth gradually disappear in front. At the end of three years the second pair of permanent teeth are full-grown ; at four years the third pair, and at five the fourth and last pair have appeared, and at this time the central pair are of full size. At seven years a dark line, caused by the wearing of the teeth, appears on all ot them, and on the central pair a circular mark. At eight years this circular mark appears on all of them, and at nine years the central pair begin to (shrink, and third at eleven years. After this period the age can only be determined by the degree' of shrinkage generally. At fifteen years the teeth are nearly all gone.

THE STATUS OF AMERICAN SHEEP-HUSBANDRY-R. M. BELL, ILLINOIS. Tho present depression in the production of wool, commonly called Bheep-husbandry, in this country, has been the most peculiar depression the industry has ever experienced. Not that wool has been so extremely low in price, or that it has been beiow the price of production, for it has not. been lower relatively than other farm products-; but, by reason of anticipated ruiu, flock-masters have been scared to the very verge of abandoning the business. The long continued scare has had its blessings in the enchanted demand for mutton and the high prices that have prevailed for it—above the price of all other meats. That beef should have been second in price is unexpected and hopeful for the future. In this preference has come a most marvellous awakening to the necessity of a mutton husbandry, supplementing and in connection with an improved wool production, in greater harmony with and auxiliary to a higher system of . hua has come to this country a most hopefnl legitimate, but unexpected timely diversion from the languishing wool industry. No thinking man who has given the subject any thought could fail to Bee that some time the conditions of Amerioan agriculture and civilization would ontgrow the raising of sheep for the one product, wool. It had been the experience of the older industrial countries of Europe, but it came to us so slowly that we failed to see the facta when we were confronted oy tbe changes. In contemplating this state of sheep raising, we had supposed we should directly acquiesce and yield to the inevitable, and raise sheep, with mutton as a first, aud wool as a secondary consideration. We 1 had not an icipated being driven to do so by qiresb necessity. The fact that the high-priced conditions of the New England hoaies had led to the abandoning of woolg.owing as a business, ami the raising of sheep ior muttou. hail not eo. uned to us of the West as any tii.n that the tune would come to us wh c » we should do t he same thing. 1 he laefc, ton, that when former depressions in wool came upon us w. had gon- towards mutton qualities ns a relief Irom low prices, and as prices of wool came up, we had returned again to wool failed to show us that we were unable to grow wool a« we ouoe nid. Nothing bad made us see the rhang-M that were so iinnerueptihly uo.niny. We did not see that wool-growing belonged to cheap conditions, obesp lauds, cheap living, oheao a vis z*tion Now it is plain enough that we c%n not r*i«e wool as cheaply as oan the retnous -vh- ra tho conditions are differr'iit. When the pries of woo! was high enough wa could ; wnon it-became l««w we fai.ed. -We cou.d not saise it ohnap enough j that is.all that aila the American sheep-husbandry of thsse times. In the East no such complaints were heard, as in the West, about rain to Bheep.-raisors. The State ef Ohio occupies a peouiiar position on the question. In the past, Ohio has been foremost in loyalty to Merino sheep and the wool product. Tbe vaiue of lauds and expensive conditions of Ohio are opnspioaously evident to an obseriog traveller. In its demands for valsab!* products aa tho proceed* of agriculture it ie

not unlike the older State* of the ~s:c=. The late meeting of the sheep-men at Columbus boldly forecast the situation and future prospeots of the sheep industry of the State, It did more than this } It echoed what has been done in the older nations and in the older States of the Union, and tho future system of sheeporaising in the progressive agricultural States of tho West, where the oircumstaaoes favour. The wool-bearing sheep, often so useful, can still do good service where lands are low in price and, therefore, specially suited to wool. Suoh conditions need not be looked upon as favourable to the best results in raising the larger English breeds of sheep. Here nave come in the oauses of disappoint* meat of the past. These sheep —the mutton breeds that have had greatest favour in this country—have no place in the ruder systems of -arming. They are the direct prod nets and factors of a better agriculture than they have found in this country. We have given them Merino care, Merino pastures, and expected the same results they gave in Eoga land, under a more fitting system of oare and feeding. They conld not meet the expectations. They had not the means to do so. They were strangers in a strange land, required to make wool and mutton at the same time, under an impoverished husbandry for which they had no affinities. The lack of this knowledge of their capacities and requirements shut them off from rendering the fullest benefits to us, and us from.the highest results they were capable of affording. If happily they shall be more intelligently appreciated under a depressed situation, we shall have made a long step towards better farming and better fortunes. The nse of rams of these breeds on the common and Merino sheep of this country has been one of the most promising features of the mutton era so auspiciously begun during the last four years. Among Merino fanciers in ths Middle States and the West it has been greatly objected to, as going m ths wrong direction. It has been the means, though, by which many a man has escaped disaster and financial defeat. The opposition to cross-bred Merinos has given way largely under the potent acquirement of a cash profit as the experiment to make money out of the flocks dnring these hard times, when wool would not make ends meet. This Anglicising of Merinos has been so successful in Europe that it' seems especially helpful in meeting the requirements of a mutton-ar>d wool sheep corresponding favourably with the mutton breeds of the British islands on their native lands. In addition to the meat product being so acceptable, the floeees of these crossbreds - especially the cross by the English longwools—have been rivaling tho fleeces of the famous French Merinos in working values. The French have shown commendable independence in leaving English ideas and standards as not applicable to their situation and uses, and pursuing the suggestions of nature; which are always so sate in harmonizing animals and soils as 00-partners and workers for man’s uses. In this way these Mdtis Marinos, as the French call the ArjgloMerincß, are being established into types or varieties belonging to and part of she regions to which they belong, and which produced them.