JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1188, 7 December 1894, Page 4

JOTTINGS.

Many farmers, says the Australasian, have somehow become imbued with the idea that to apply manures profitably, and at the same time determine the kind of crop most suitable for a certain locality, all they have to do is to obtain an analysis of the soil from the agricultural chemist. This is all a delusion, because crops differ in their capacity to pick up nutriment from the soil. A chemical analysis shows what the soil contains, perhaps at the moment of examination, but it does not pretend to give the quantity in which the constituents will be available to the plant during the period of growth. The weather or the seasons have a large influence in such matters. For instance, a shower of rain or the absence of that shower may alter the character of a crop to such an extent as to render the analysis of the soil, or its supposed resulting benefits, entirely worthless. The way to get at the real value and character of any particular soil is to make some practical experiments with it. If it is desired to know whether a soil is already provided with nitrogenous matter it is sufficient to sow a handful of wheat upon a small square of ground which has been manured with a mineral substance only. Or the test may be made without the aid of mineral matter. If the ground yields a good crop, it shows that the soil already contains a sufficient supply of nitrogen. On the other hand, to ascertain whether the soil contains a sufficiency of mineral manure (phosphate of lime and potash), manure plots with nitrogenous substances only, planting, say, one with maize and the other with potatoes. The great influence which phosphate of lime has on maize and sorghum and potash on potatoes is well known; therefore if the maize flourishes you may be sure the land has enough phosphate of lime, and the potatoes will indicate if the ground lacks potash. Thus two experiments, requiring but a small area of ground, and trying three different crops, are sufficient to obtain the indications necessary to a judicious system of culture. The best method of obtaining what is needed in any given case to produce a particular crop is to put the question to the soil itself. Such experiments will abundantly repay the investigator in the practical money value of the results.

The Scientific A-mericccn makes the following remarks under the heading “How to cool a cellar”: —A great mistake is sometimes made in ventilating cellars and milk houses. The object of ventilation is to keep the cellars cool and dry; but this object often fails of being accomplished by a common mistake, and, instead, the cellar is made both warm and damp. A cool place should never he ventilated unless the air admitted is cooler than the air within, or is at least as cool as that, or a very little warmer. The warmer the air, the more moisture it holds in suspension. Necessarily, the cooler the air, the more this moisture is condensed and precipitated. When a cool cellar is aired on a warm day, the entering air being in motion appears cool, but as it fills the cellar, the cooler air with which it becomes mixed chills it, the moisture is condensed, and dew is deposited on the cold walls and may

often be seen running down them, in streams. Then the cellar is damp and soon becomes mouldy. To avoid this the windows should only be opened at night, and late—the last thing before retiring. There is no need to fear that the night air is unhealthful —it is as pure as the air of midday, and really drier. The cool air enters the apartment during the night, and circulates through it. The windows should be closed before sunrise in the morning, and kept close and shaded through the day. If the air of the cellar is damp, it may be thoroughly dried by placing in it a peck of fresh lime in an open box, and, the N’atio'nal Builder adds, a peck of lime will absorb about 71b., or more than three quarts, of water, and in this way a cellar or milk house may be soon dried, even in the hottest weather. :

The persistent way in which dairymen continue to milk old cows, and after they are worn out try to foist them on to somebod} 7 else, is condemned by Mr W. O’Brien, of Koroit, Victoria who says:—“My cure is—after a cow has been milked for three or four seasons, get her spayed about 10 days after calving. She will then milk for, sav, two years. A cow, after being spayed, has milked four years to my own knowledge. The animal will also improve in condition and give better milk, and when finished she will be nearly fit for the butcher. There is also another matter—the class of bulls kept for use. I think the Agricultural Society ought to take this matter up and compel every breeder to keep nothing but approved bulls, under a penalty that may be agreed on by all the societies in the colony.”

John Howe, for whom is claimed the title of “ringer of Queensland shearers,” represents his tally for the last eight years as 82,400, which, at LI per 100, comes to L 824. Howe worked only about five months out of each year, however. The fact is instructive, inasmuch as it enables the public to see both what a first-class man actually earned, and what it was possible for him to have earned at shearing had work been constantly available.

The examinations for the diploma in dairying of the Scottish Dairy Institute and the Glasgow and South-west of Scotland Technical College were held recently. One of the examiners told the agricultural editor of the Kilmarnock Standard that he had rather a good passage-at-arms with one of the female candidates, which brought to the front a very important point with regard to the future improvement of the Ayrshire cow. “ What would guide you,” he asked of the candidate, “ in- your selection of a milk cow 1” “I would see how she milked,” was the reply. “ Yes, but would you be guided by no outward point—by the general look of the animal, by her figure T “No ; I would just see how she milked.” “ Would the shape or the size of the milk-vessel, or the appearance of the milk-vessel, not enable you to come to some conclusion in the matter ?” “ No,” she still replied, “ I would just milk her.” “If she had a large milk-vessel, would you not consider her likely to fill the luggie V’ Still she shook her head, and said, “No,” adding further, “ there’s many a cow with a big udder that gives very little milk.” “A’ well, lassie,” replied he,. “ you are not faur wrong ; your test is is the best after all.” It is the one, indeed, by which the Ayrshire will require to be judged in the future if she is to maintain her position as one of the leading dairy breeds of cattle.

Mr J. Deane Willis, of Bapton Manor, has sold his celebrated bull Prince Stephen for exportation to New Zealand. Ihe Live Stock Journal comments as follows :—lt is a pity that such a good bull should leave the country, but although the exact price has not transpired, we are in a position to state that it is highly remunerative to his breeder, and is the highest price made for any shorthorn since the sensational sale of Her Majesty’s bull New Year’s Gift. He should prove a very good investment to the purchaser, as his breeding combines the very best blood of Sittyton and Wailaby. Prince Stephen has been shown at five leading shows this year, and has won five first and four champion prizes. He was bred at Bapton Manor, and nothing but a very big price would have tempted Mr Willis to part with him.

“ The teeth of the horse ” is the title of a bulletin issued by the Agricultural Experiment Station of Virginia, IX.S. A. It concludes with the following sugges-

tions:-r—“ When young colts are troubled with indigestion, or refuse to suckle, look into the condition of their teeth ami gums. If the gums are inflamed, swollen, ah'd painful to tie touch, have them properly lanced. It at the age of from two to five years the colt refuses to eat, wads his hay and lets it diop, or eats with difficulty,.have his teeth examined and properly treated by a competent veterinarian. If the eyes become weak and inflamed during dentition, the teeth need of the veterinary surgeon. If the jaws become enlarged, in nine cases out of ten the teeth may need attention. If the ifbrsc turns his head to the side while eating, and attempts to chew his foot! entirely on one side, his teeth need attention. Wadding the hay and dropping it tire symptomatic of a long tooth, which need the attention of the veterinary dentist. If the horse gradually loses flesh without any apparent cause, although well cared for, the teeth are probably at fault. If the horse slobbers while driving and pulls viciously on the bit, look to his teeth ; many pullers, are made so for the want of proper dental attention. Carrying the head to one side while being driven is frequently symptomatic of a faulty condition of the teeth, which is relieved by a few. minutes’ work of the veterinary surgeon.”

It is very important in making a uniform quality of cheese that the rennet ,be added to the milk each day at the same degree of ripeness To ascertain the proper..degree of ripeness the following method is recommended by the New York Experiment Station, where it is said to have proved, ■ very successful :—“ Heat the milk in the vat to 84 deg. Place eleven, fluid ounces in a tin cup and aid one cubic centimetre of rennet Watch the milk, and if it thickens.in one minute it is just right to add the rennet to the whole mass. If if- thickens in less than one minute it is too ripe, and if it takes longer the milk should be allowed to stand until repeated tests show that it has reached the proper degree of ripeness, or 51b or 101 b of starter” may be added. It must be plain to every cheese-maker that this method of ascertaining the degree of ripeness of milk, when intelligently used, is a marked advance over the. former method of guessing or depending upon uncertain signs. Its use will tend to uniformity of results and enable the maker to control another step in the process.”

The extent to which the rabbit pest has grown in Queensland is shown by tlie following press wire from Brisbane : —“ Mr J. Leahy, M.L.A., has received a telegram from Mr It. R. Fowler, of Currawinya Station, stating tlnit his partner, Mr Carstairs,, last week inspected the border rabbit fence on the Far Bulloo Downs boundary. Mr Carstairs reported that on the northwest, boundary of Tlmrlow Downs, on the New South Wales side, rabbits were lying dead in thousands, scarcely any ground being visible for half a mile round the line. Live rabbits were seed in millions. They were so numerous and tame that they would eat pieces of.bread and biscuits thrown to them, and would not get out of the way. Mr Carstairs was informed that the same state of things existed twenty miles south along the Berra.wirya boundary.”

An American journal makes the following comparison between “ dairymen " add “ duffers ” :—The duffer is ? the man who “ trusts to Providence," and fails to provide food for his cows; who keeps anything that has horns at

one end, tail at the other, and udder

underneath ; who never takes note whether his cow gives him 1001 b or 3501 bof butter per year; who thinks it is more profitable to make his wife and daughters muddle and muck over the milk at home than to send his milk to the factory ; who uses three gallons of milk and all of the women folks’, time to make a pound of butter which brings him a shilling, when the same milk would bring him as much money with a possible “div." or bonus, and save all their labour; who thinks that

the factory is “not wanted,” and fails - to see that without the factory system all the butter made would have to be kept in the country, and this would certainly reduce dairying to its lowest possible condition. The dairyman is just the antithesis of the duffer, and tries his level best to support the fac tory, to improve the standard of his cows, to feed them well and keep the factory in full work all the year round,

There are still some farmers, strange to say, in a large way of dairying, who object to the cream separator from the belief that they could not rear their calves so well on separated milk. Their fears are groundless, however. At Woorayl park, in Gippsland, so writes “ Thistledown ” in the Australasian ■, Mr Turner showed me a lot of calves that were being brought up solely on separated milk—with the addition of pasture, of course. They were not only in good thriving condition, but as fat as any calves ever ought to be at this time of the year. After the first two or three days, during which lime the calves are allowed sweet milk, they are put on to separated milk, and do well invariably from the start. But Mr Turner says that the secret of their thriftiness is due to the separated milk being fed perfectly fresh. He has his own hand separator on the place, and the calves are fed when the milk is still slightly warm. Ilb is then almost as nourishing as sweet milk. The point to be noted here is that the separated milk is fresh It differs from milk that has been carted probably some miles to a factory and separated, and brought back again to the farm under a hot sun, perhaps, and not fed to the calves until the following evening or next morning. Such milk is sour, and it is, therefore, practically useless for calves, although pigs would do well on it. This explains why so many farmers connected with dairy factories, or who have their milk to cart long distances, are not successful in their attempts at rearing calves on separated milk, while those who have their separator at home can produce as good calves on the skiimmed product as any dairyman need wish for.

A meeting of the settlers of the Apiti district was held on Monday last week to consider the advisability of starting a dairy factory. Mr Guy was voted to the chair. The number of cows guaranteed in the meeting was 224, and with the absent settlers the total number of cows would be over 300. It was therefore resolved that a dairy factory he started, and that the capital of the company be 600 shares at L2 per share with power to increase, and that suppliers have the first option of taking them up. 150 shares were taken uj> in the meeting. Messrs

Vicary, Miller, Watson, Nix and Prince were appointed a committee, and Mr Adam" Cartwright, secretary.

A correspondent of the Opunake paper suggests that an inspector of weights and measures should make a round of all the daily factories in the Taranaki district and examine and stamp all the weights and measures in use at the different factories.

Sheep-stealing is becoming quite rife in some of the country districts. The Pahiatua Herald says that the settlers around Tutaekara have been heavy losers during the past winter "through so many sheep having been stolen. One settler has discovered a shortage of over 600, of which number only fifty at the outside could be accounted for by deaths. Another settler out of 450 sheep has lost 300. Losses of 300 are common, and scarcely a sheep owner has escaped a visit from the thieves. The settlers have been thoroughly roused and intend forming a vigilance committee and employing a private detective fo endeavour "to discover the perpetrators and to stop further depredations.

A Wairarapa farmer, bankrupt, under examination stated that he had made it a" practice to buy stock on bills from one auctioneer and soli it a day or two afterwards for cash at considerable loss through another auctioneer.

The Jewish inspectors of meat reject, as unfit for the consumption of the Chosen, 35 per cent, of the oxen slaughtered (says a contemporary) and 25 percent, of the calves and sheep. This involves no loss to the meat purveyors, for the omnivorous, submissive Gentile eats the lot, and is thankful and asks no questions. The Gentile never does ask any questions He takes his cancered beef in a humble and contrite spirit, and the consequences ai’e seen in the obituary column of the daily paper, where it is announced, along with a bit of poetry, that,' John Smith has died of some horrible disorder at the early age of 35.

The Buenos Ayres (Argentina) correspondent of the Australasian Pastoralists' lleview writes as follows: —I remember in one of your past issues—that for March, if l remember, right —

that you say that the cost of conveying live steers from here to England ia L 7. This is a mistake. The actual freight, ship’s fittings and water included, with food for the caretakers, one man to every 25 stee,rs, is L 4 per head, with an allowance of sufficient space, parti}’ on deck and partly below, for sufficient fodder for thirty days. Anyone doubting this statement can have it con firmed by applying to Messrs Kingsland and Cash, of 383 CaUe Piedad, Buenos Ayres, who are the largest shippers of live stock of all classes from the River Plate. Sheep with fittings, water, fodder allowance space, and food for one man to every 100 wethers, come to about 10s 2d per head. The men who go as caretakers are entered on the ship’s books so as to be under the control of the captain. Their wages are L 3 per man for the voyage if they behave themselves and work properly ; but the captain has the right of fining them or stopping their pay altogether. The loss by deaths is somewhat under £ per cent. : cattle generally arrive at about the same weight, more or less, as when put on board, though wethers nearly always increase from 2 to 3 kilos. Really first-class well-bred steers weighing tiOO kilos live weight, which are what fetch the highj est price in the English market, co3t here about L 8: other expenses vary of course, according to the distance they are brought by rail, &c., but L 3 would leave a good margin per head. First quality alfalfa can be bought at the docks at 32d01. 34d01. per ton, or say, LI 17s. With these items you will be able to form a pretty fair calculation of the costs and profits of the live stock trade from here to England. It is one that has got a good start, and will within the next few years develop into something great.

A dairy factory is to be erected at Apiti, Feilding. There are 300 cows already guaranteed.

The appointment of Mr J. B. Mac Ewan as an inspector under the Dairy Industry Act is gazetted.

The monthly meeting of the general committee of the Wellington A. and P. Association, which was to have been held at noon on Friday, lapsed for want of a quorum. Five members attended, but seven were required. The default of the others was set down to two causes —the fact that it was San Francisco mail day, and the attractions of the railway

employees 5 picnic at Waikanae. The meeting was adjourned for a week.

Mr E. Cobb’s Eoinney Marsh exhibits at the Nelson A. and P. Show returned by the Penguin on Friday. They have taken first and second in all classes in which they were exhibited, and his imported ram Symmetry was awarded the champion medal for the best ram of any breed. The sheep will be sent home to Palmerston North this morning, together with those shown at Wellington, accompanied by no less than 50 prize tickets.

Considerable interest was taken in the vagaries of a swarm of bees in Lainbton quay on Sunday afternoon. After prospecting- around for some time the bees decided on taking up their abode in the gutter of the verandah of the Golden Eule Bazaar. Eventually a resident in the locality, having in mind no doubt the prospect of getting some hohey at a future time, and with the idea therefore of removing the industrious swarm to a less public place, provided the bees with a box, to which they took, though with apparent reluctance.