FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

: Curious Things about Shobthohns. ,— ln the early days of shorthorns there was v tremendous preponderate© of light colours. The cattle of the country of Durham and of the Ridings of Yorkshire— the parts of England from wb,ieh the early shorthorn breeders rnsule their .'selections — were then, as now, red, white, and roan. It is said on good authority that there were also cattle which yhowed brown and black markings. The improvers had in mind the preservation o£ the two qualities of meat and milk. We are told explicitly that they observed the superior beef qualities of the light colours, and* selected them, as the progenitors of the improved cattle. In the early days -white was in,ore. common than red, roans tha» any other two, colours, wilh a strong majority of light roans. Among the reds tjhe .tendency was strongly toward yellow-vreds. Many are described as yellow, some as dun. All dark colours were disapproved of. Nearly all the famous awes of the early daya- were white. &*• light roan, except James P^o^n's red bull and the great Hub1 back, which v?as yellow-rod and • white. Dark colo.uj v,a,s looked on as- an indication of two much of the unimproved blood. Thi;i was objecrcd ta on its own account, and because the best judges esteemed light colours moro highly fov feeding and handling. After shorthorns had gained a firm hold in, America, many Western men began importing, and ignorant ol the historical value of' light colours, and having a personal fancy foedeep reds, they sought them in England They were at first hard to find ; easier perhaps, than 50 years before, for the^e* is a recognised tendency for a dark Colour to gain on a light when interraixe'j, bat still hard. The demand, however, as usual created the supply, and broeders actually bred rods for the America market The example thus set by thess importers rapidly spread, and soon the attempt was made to create a prejudice against all colours but deep red and to put all others under the ban. This, of course, was resisted by all those who had the best interest of the cattle at heartland the best Judges, as well as the owners of roajn Qattle. To have disqualified roan sb.orthomawuldhave been simply to have ruled out the best half of the breed. ' It might have proved the best thing possible for the shoithorns, however, for if the roaiya b.a4 been cut off a»d bred separately by thos^

independent of mere fancy they might have escaped the blight of speculation that began at this time," and >have*preserved a higher average,, excellence .than has been main•.taiaed.' The best ju'dges'still maintain the superiority ' of light colours, and, though .largely banished from the show ring because the judges in many States cannot rid themselves of prejudice, they still assert themselves at fat stock shows, and the roan Schooler and Cleveland! are as incomparable in this day as the Durham ox and the 44 white heifer that travelled all over England as a show cow " were in theirs. There are hopeful signs that this prejudice is yielding to sound judgment. Men have ceased to expose their ignorance by claiming that white coats, which Nature ever dons to save from Arctic colds, are signs of delicacy.. Only two classes remain— the aesthetic, who wants a red cow to harmonise with his green pasture, and the man who wants a red cow because he wants it, and it is nobody's business why he wants it red. Some day we will like tough beef, perhaps, bnt let us hope instead that we will learn to take a cow on her merit and not on her colour; and if we like only red to breed red, and sell red cows, without detracting from the merits or sale of our neighbours' roans. — William War,field. Why the "Strippings" Affobd the Richest Milk.— Professor L. B. Arnold says that whilst in the number and arrangement of its cavities a sponge somewhat resembles the interior of the udder, in one respect it is quite different. The wall of the cavities in the sponge are always distended, whether filled or not, and if compressed, at once spring on being released from the pressure. The walls of the milk , tubes and reservoirs, and the follicles or 'eacs at the extremities of their branches, are always collapsed and in contact, .except when kept apart by having milk in them. With this constant inclination in their walls to be in contact, it must be evident that a liquid would work its way through them more easily than a solid. Milk, it must be remembered, is a mixture of liquid and solid matter, as much so as a mixture of brine and meal would be. The serum or liquid part of milk is water, holding sugar and cheesy matter in solution, and the cream globules are particles of fat in a solid condition, and sustain the same relation to the liquid part of milk that meal does to brine, especially when mixed with a brine just strong enough to incline the meal to float. If it was attempted to pass either of these mixtures of liquid and solid' through the ■milk tubes, beginning at the follicles, the liquids in either case would work along more readily than the solids. The meal in one case, and the fat globules in the other, would meet with impediment from friction with the collapsing walls of the slender tubes, and would fall far behind in the journey, and be dripping out in the last running of the liquid, and this is just what happens in, the udder to make the last part of a milking richer in ' cream than the first. The larger the globules j of cream, the more friction they meet with in moving along the tubes, and the more gets left behind. It is for this reason that in milk having very large globules, like that of the' Channel Island cows, the difference between the first and last of a milking. is greater than when they are small, as in the milk of the famous Dutch cows. Excessive Salting. — A, singular fact was brought out at a recent meeting of the Connecticut State Board of Agricultui-e. A gentleman stated that he gave his cows a quantity of salt with a view to increasing the milk [production, as he had seen it stated that such would be the result ; he was not disappointed ; the increase of milk was quite marked, but the singular feature of the trial was that while the milk yield was increased the cream yield was proportionately decreased ; that is, the ratio of cream to the milk was diminished as the quantity of milk increased, and upon an abandonment of salting this ratio was restored. This is a matter of some consequence to dairymen who are interested only in ■ the production of milk, but where cream is desired it seems that excessive salting acts against the production of cream. Dr Cressey stated that this was a result that might naturally be expected ; that the excess of salt prevented the active development of the fat globules while the milk secretion was actively going on. Excepting that explanation, while it might be expected that the result indicated would at first follow from a sudden and rather violent change in the matter of salting, if the feed remained the same, and from which would be secreted a normal quantity of fatty substance, from diminished activity, at first it would be reasonable to suppose that after a little time the extent of the secretion would be restored to its original state and the cream produced be brought to its uniform ratio to the entire milk product. It is, in out mind, a more rational conclusion to come to to attribute an increased flow of milk because ,of an increased amount of •water drunk, while the fatty secretion remains constant, which in case of cows in prime condition is believed to be a rule. We should hardly be willing to believe that salting fully would' have any very marked effect on the cream. — Germantown Telegraph. Rbaeing Calves from the Pail.— A correspondent of an American contemporary says: 4l We have been trying different methods to bring calves up without milk, from the fact that we get a good price for fresh milk, and generally keep only enough for table use. We have been raising calves (registered Jerseys) for three years with very little milk, and from the remarks of others our calves always look thrifty, and I am sure they are healthy — more so, I believe, than if allowed to drink milk, especially if fresh from the cow. Our method is this : The calf, if all right, is taken from the mother at two days old, taught to drink, and fed two weeks on fresh milk from its own mother. Skim milk is then added, till, at the end of four' weeks the fresh milk is all taken away and a little flax-seed jelly is added to the skim milk. The calf at four weeks is thus taking abont 2gal of skim milk with two tablespoonfuls of jelly added, and is kept in a box-stall with other calves (which are tied), and is also tied after three or four weeks, by 1 which time it has learned to eat dry food with the others, when it is tied and fed regularly with bran and oats, which it will eat, before feeding milk. Always keep clover hay in ift& kifore it. Wbeij it wiU eat well, which

is at the age of about eight weeks, milk is entirely taken away; bran, oats, and oil■meal is fed' dry three times'a*day; with plenty' of clover hay in summer, . They must have water always before them in winter. Twice a day they are let put to exercise and to' drink ; the smaller ones wilL follow the' larger ones to the water trough. A little salt' is added once a day to the feed." GLEANINGS. — Investigation shows that milk which recently proved poisonous to 40 Harlem people was polluted by Hoof-rot on the cows. — In some, sections of Dakota farmers raised flax this year for fuel, considering a ton of flax more economical for heating purposes than a ton of soft coal. 1 — Nitrate of soda, which is so frequently re- ■ commended as one of the best nitrogenous fertilisers that can be used, is simply crude Chili saltpetre, which may be purchased for about 4 cents per pound. For fertilising purposes the crude article is equally as good as the refined. Its composition is nitric acid and soda, both of which are used as food by plants. — An exchange gives the following recipe for killing warts on cattle :— Take fresh butter (unsalted), add an equal amount of sharp vinegar ; simmer together and apply with a brush, cloth, or hand. It will kill them . so effectually that they will drop off, in a few days.' Warts on cattle, however large, may be removed by this process without any injury. . -r-One of the best, well-tried, and always successful, preventives of disease among swine, is to keep a trough,' to which they can always have access, filled with a mixture composed of 60 parts of wood ashes, 20 parts salt, 12 parts sulphur, and eight parts copperas. The pigs will regulate their doses. Professor Turner, of Jacksonville, Illinois, has been successful with this preventive, as originally composed by him. — A typical dairy animal, be she Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, or Holstein-Friesian, has a long head, broad between the eyes, prominent, mild eye, fine neck, broad wide hips, round carcass hooped with flat ribs, good, well-formed udder with prominent milk veins. Some Hol-Btein-Friesians,wereitnot for their colour, could easily be passed for Jerseys and vice versa. — Breeders' Gazette., — For liming eggs, a pickle is made of pure stone lime, fine clean salt, and pure water in the following proportions : — Six to eight quarts of salt, 60 to 65 gallons of water, and one bushel of lime. The stronger the lime water and the more free from sediment the better. Slake the lime with a portion of the water, then add the remainder of the water and salt. Stir well three or four times at intervals and then let it stand until well settled and cold. Either dip, or draw off the clear pickle into the cask or vat intended to preserve the eggs. This is on a large scale, but may be proportioned according to judgment for family use. Olive Oil fob Lubricating Purposes.— Put pure olive oil into a clear glass bottle with strips ef sheet lead, and expose it to the sun for two or three weeks, then pour off the clear oil, and the result is a lubricant which will neither gum nor corrode. It is used for watches and fine machinery of all kinds.

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