AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3442, 25 May 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

PASTEURISATION, AS AFFECTING

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY. In a recent issue was published a report of an interview which a representative of the New Zealand Mail had with a Swedish dairy expert, chiefly dealing with the benefits of pasteurisation. Wo now learn that according to a letter which the Victorian Minister of Agriculture has received from Mr J. M. Sinclair, the representative in London of the Victorian Agricultural Department, the grocers in England are becoming alarmed at the frequent prosecutions to which they are being subjected for selling butter containing boracic acid. Although medical evidence has proved that the quantity of the acid found in the butter was too small to be injurious to human health, still the grocers naturally suffer annoyance from the publicity and frequency of these prosecutions. The feature that is of most importance to the colonies is that it is highly probable that unless the quantity of acid used for preserving the butter is reduced to the very lowest proportion the various Grocers’ Associations at Home, acting in unison and in the'r own interests, may decline altogether in future to purchase colonial butter. Mr Sinclair further says that colonial butter would bring a better price if the wholesale salesmen wore able to guarantee that it was absolutely pure—that is, virtually free from impregnation with the acid to which objection is taken. The Minister states that for the last couple of years the Victorian Government dairy experts have been impressing on butter factory managers that the use of the acid can be altogether dispensed with if the milk or qream is pasteurised. Mr Potts, manager of the Euroa Factory, to which special reference was made in the interview with Mr Jorgenson, which appeared in the Mail, as being the only factory (so far as we are aware) in Australasia where a practical application of the principles of pasteurisation has been introduced, has been lecturing on the advantages of the new method, and (according to the Australasian) it is confidently believed that

next season most, if not all, Victorian butterl intended for export will be made from pasteurised milk or cream. And no doubt in course of lime it will be found necessary to adopt the new system in New Zealand also if our butter is to uphold its price and reputation in the Home market. The science of buttermaking is continually advancing, and new and improved methods are being discovered and adapted from time to time. The country which keeps pace with the times in this respect is the one which will succeed in commanding high prices for its products ; and to stand still, or to retrograde, must entail disaster. In the opinion of those who have given the matter careful consideration, and whose judgment is of value ou such a subject, if the dairy industry is to prosper and become one of our chief sources of revenue, the utmost care must be exercised that the quality of the article shall leave nothing to be desired; and in order to attain that end the universal adoption of the system of pasteurisation is simply indispensable—and, in time, will probably be made compulsory.

DIFFERENCE IN CALVES. Anyone who has had much experience in raising calves has undoubtedly seen a vast difference in them Some are dainty, and need coaxing in order to get them to eat. They never seem to be hungry. If those calves live they do not amount to much, says a writer in Hoard's Dairyman, and not infrequently they mope around with no appetite, until finally they give the ghost entirely. The other and mors desirable kind of calf is always hungry. No matter how often you go to her stall, she is always looking for something to eat, always trying to catch hold of your clothing or your finger. Unless one is exceptionally wise, tliis calf is apt to get an over feeding of milk, on account of her vigorous appetite, and bowel troubles ensue. I’ve got such a calf at present, and it requires considerable firmness to prevent her getting more milk than is good for her. She seemed so hungry when a very little thing that the customary amount of milk was increased for her benefit, but it was mistaken kindness, for excessive looseness of the bowels set- in, which was hard to check. We succeeded in bringing her out alright, however, on boiled milk in small quantities and plenty of raw eggs. I would like to know what is considered the best remedy for scours, caused, of course, by indigestion, usually due to over-feeding. It is quite a nice matter to decide, just the amount gradually, as they can bear it. Over feeding is more injurious than under-feeding, and when we sell a calf we always warn the purchaser against feeding too much milk at a time. Those accustomed to shorthorns are most apt to err in feeding the little Jerseys. Hay should be given as soon as the animai will pick at it, and ground oats and bran, in small quantities, can be fed to good advantage almost from the first.

THE PIG Ad A GRAZING ANIMAL. The pig is a grazing animal, and this fact must be kept in mind when the attempt is made to produce pork at a profit. If treated as such, and securely-fenced paddocks provided for them, pigs can be cheaply raised. The time when they most requite attention is for a few weeks after being weaned, so as to keep them growing lapidly from thence onward until they are required to be lopped up for bacon. A system adopted in some parts of New South Wales, where maize is largely grown for fattening pigs, is to turn the animals at large into the crop. The pigs will harvest the whole of the grain, and do it more cheaply than is possible by any other method. The quantity of grain, such as wheat, oats barley, or maize, required to produce 11b of pork, has given rise to a good deal of discussion from'time to time. The statement that so many pounds of any of these grains will produce so many pounds of pork is plausible in theory, and correct in a sense, but it does not always work out in practice all the same. It will only do so under certain conditions. Every bushel of wheat fed to good-conditioned store pigs will produce an increase of 151 b of pork, provided the pigs sre allowed some other food, such as pumpkins, melons, &c., and are not solely fed on dry wheat. Dry grain of any sort, fed alone, will not produce the best results, while if it is steamed or boiled a good deal of labour and expense are involved'if a large number of pigs are being fattened. The modern taste is emphatically in favour of fresh young pork and streaky bacon. The immense sides of bacon, once the pride of the grower and the admiration of the beholder, are never seen nowadays. The modern pig possesses early maturing qualities, but to bring these out properly generous feeding is necessary. Barley meal is particular! v suitable for porkmaking, and should be used freely. Wherever clover or lucerne can be grown on anything like an extensive scale, pigbreeding can be made one of the most profitable of farm industries. Good management, of course is required, and the right class of pig should be selected, but no other farm animal is so prolific, or will use to bettor advantage the waste products of the homestead or the cultivation fields.

HOW TO STOP HIVE ROBBING. Mr O. B. Elliot, in American Bee Journal, gives the following plan for stopping robbing. Close the hive all but half an inch or such a matter, then every tew minutes sprinkle or spray the front of the hive, bees and all, with a strong solution'of salt water. The water should be quite briny. Don’t fear, it won’t hurt them, but on the contrary will do them good, and will stop robbing in a short time. By the way, I spray my bees, fall and spring, with salt water quite strong. I raise the cover and spray down, and I don’t believe you can find a livelier lot of bees anywhere than we have. Also during the summer if I find a colony not

doing as they should, I treat them to a dose of salt water.

ERADICATING THE CANADIAN THISTLE.

The Farmer's Review gives a description of how a farmer exterminated the Canada thistles on his farm. The Canada thistle is, we believe, identical with that which in Australia goes by the name of the Californian thistle. The thistles in one field were so thick that a horse could not be driven through them. He adopted the plan of cutting off the thistles two or three inches below the surface. After a time the thistles that grew came up sickly, and eventually’ they were exterminated.

IPEOACUNHA FOR BEE STINGS. A Calcutta physician was severely stung by bees on the hands, head, face, and neck, no fewer than 150 stings being afterwards exsracted. Fortunately ho had some ipecacuanha powder with him which he immediately made into a paste and smeared it over the parts affected. The effect was most marked, preventing to a large extent the swelling and pain which invariably follow bee stings. Ipecac, as we call it, is the powdered mot of the plant of a light brown colour as Hue as flour. The sling of bees (says Mr S. D. Heffon in the A.8.J.) used to pain me severely, and swell badly, sometimes closing an eye and otherwise disfiguring the face. For the last season, though stung more than a dozen times, 1 have escaped both pain and swelling by a prompt use of Ipecac powder.

THE NEW AMERICAN WEEDER. What appears to bo the coming imple ment with the farmers in the United Slates is what is called the weeder. On all soils that are not too stiff a clay or too stony it is said to do admirable work. The implement makes a dust mulch and kills the weeds. It is in great request with those who cultivate fruit trees on a large scale, and it is also used in the fields where maize'is grown. It is very highly spoken of by the principals of the Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin experimental stations.

BARLEY FOR PIGS. A correspondent of the American Agriculturist says: —“After several years’ experience I am convinced that, for growing pigs between the ages of two and six months, barley is preferable to corn if only one thing is fed. Bat to be able to feed barley profitably it must bo finely ground and soaked at least six hours before it is given to the pigs. It should always be fed in the form of a very thick slop. Skim milk is preferable to water for making the slop, especially for young pigs. I once tried a lot of pigs five months old, and they made a gain of 2Jlb a day each on slop, with a liberal quantity of skim milk. For very young pigs I prefer to feed equal parts of shorts and ground barley, and then gradually change it to one-half each of corn and barley the last six weeks, when finishing for market.”

SCAB ON POTATOES. A Nebraska farmer describes in the American Agriculturist the way ho treated his seed potatoes so us to have the crop free from scab. Ho says “ After preparing my potato seed for planting last season, I sprinkled the greater part of it with sulphur, so that each piece was thoroughly coated. The remainder 1 planted in the same field, and gave all like culture. When digging time came those treated with sulphur were almost free from scab or other disease, while the untreated seed produced tubers almost worthless because of scab."

BORACIC ACID. Mr David Wilson, Victorian dairy expert, does not believe much boraoic acid is used in Victoria. He says; in his latest report Complaints are now and again heard from some busy bodies in an out-of-the-way district in Wales that there is too great a percentage of boraoic acid in Victorian butter. We admit that the boraoic acid is used in moderatequantities in our butter, and we furthermore contend that the judicious use of this antiseptic, which is pronounced by nine-tenths of the medical profession as not to be injurious to health when taken in small quantities, by preventing rancidity, and thereby ensuring him a perfectly sweet and wholesome article of food. The ofiioer of the local council in the remote wilds of Wales, who poses as such an authority on the use of boracic acid, considers that not more than 0.51 b (i e., 8oz), should be added to every 1121 bof butter. Perhaps he is not aware that very few Victorian factory managers ever use more than this quantity. If a law therefore should be passed in England fixing Bjz as the maximum quantity of boracic acid permitted per hundredweight of butter, we will not have any difficulty in complying with that law. If pasteurising becomes general, there will then be no need for using boracic acid at all in butter intended for local consumption.

CLEARING STUMPS. The settlers on heavily timbered land in New South Wales are adopting; a new method of stumping their country. It is estimated that it costs from £l2 to £ls an acre to clear forest land for the plough, even after the first cost of cutting down and burning off the scrub, but the system of “ stove burning," or “ charring," however, now adopted by the settlers, reduces the cost to, perhaps, less than £5 per acre, and the work is so simple that it c.n be carried out by an old man or any intelligent boy. The modus operand! is thus;— A trench a few inches wide and half a spade deep is carried all round the tree close to the trunk. This trench, which should should slope towards the tree, is filled with small dry timber—a barrowful or so will be sufficient for the largest tree —which is then set on fire, and w hen lit

is covered lightly with turf, thegrass side under. The fire is thus kept smouldering away against the base of the tree. The first layets of turf should bo just enough to prevent the smoke and flames coming through, and as the tire progresses freth soil may bo added and pressed lightly down for the same purpose. Due person can attend to a large number of trees at the same time, and the fires go oi» steadily day and night, not only burning through the trunk, but running along the roots underground for a considerable depth, there is another advantage in this manner of clearing, and th it is that the danger of bush fires is reduced to a minimum, while if the tiro once gets a good hold it takes ve:y T heavy’ and c mtiuual rain to put it out.

A FENCING TIE. “ Jumbdck” points out in the Pastoralists’ Review a simple and effective manner of treating the top barb wire in fencing. The heaviest barb wire will thread through an incb-and-half auger hole with ease. This is much ahead of either staples or boring a five-eight auger hole only’ an eighth of an inch from top of post, and then nicking in the barb wire as ho suggests. The wire can be strained at any time if broken by a limb. “.Tumbuck” has found it work well over about twenty miles during the past seven years.