AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1918, 24 August 1888, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

A site for the Waikouaiti Dairy Factory has been chosen on Mr Grant's farm. The company will have a capital of £2000, in £1 shares. A committee is engaged io canvassing the various centres for support, and will report to a meeting to be held on Saturday night. One of the oldest runholders in the Oaniaru district (writes our correspondent on the 17th) informs me that fully 50 per cent, of the Bheep on the back country runs have been lost by the heavy falls of snow. Although the rainfall in town and immediate districts round about has been heavier this winter than for many years past, we have had very little frost. Large quantities of water are still lying on the Papakaio Plain, where considerable areas will have to be resown with grain. The sheep purchased in the North Island in execution of a frozen meat ordei sent South, but not carried out on account of the high rates ruling at present, amount to 10,000 carcasses. The following items are from the iaieri Advocate: — Until we saw it put through a separator we had no idea of the horrible impurities contained in milk. On the occasion of our last visit to the Henley Dairy Factory the , manager showed us the residuum that clings to to the inside of the separator. It peels off like a skin and looks something like tripe, but has a . very uninviting sppearance. In the ordinary method of butter-making these impurities are retained in the butter, a rather strong argument in favour of the separator. The rabbits have had a bad time during the floods. Large numbers have been drowned on the low parts of the plain, and on the hills, where the water found its way into the burrows, boys have been hunting and have secured hundreds of victims. Numbers of rabbits sought refuge on those parts of the railway line which were above water, and people went off in boats and made an easy prey of them. Down near Meadowbank rabbits and rats were to be seen " roosting "iv the hedges. A farmer was speaking to us the other day about turniptainted milk, and he says that he has grown khol rabi very successfully. The cows eat the vegetable with avidity, and no taste is imparted to the milk. He recommends them as a firstclass substitute for turnips, and says they are far more nutritious. That almost ineradicable pf st in Australia, the prickly pear, is foundjjto succumb before Merchison's scrub exterminator. The exterminator is sprayed on the scrub, the strength used being lib exterminator to 6gal. water. It is calculated that the pears may be destroyed by the use of the exterminator for one-eighth the expense' their destruction costs by cutting down and buiying or burning. The results obtained by these experiments are fully confirmed by several, rangers. In view of this fact there need! be no difficulty in clearing road lines in New Zealand of gorse, while it will be also possible to subdue the Californian thistle without the help' of Mr Mackenzie's little bill. A well-known and able English writer on shorthorns, while obliged to go with the popular current in praise of the Scotch shorthorns, has frequently taken considerable pains to point out" "that many of the best of them are nearly related to some of the English tribes. That fact 1 the North British breeders will not dispute; bub notwithstanding this the Scotch shorthorns are of a totally different pattern from their English relatives. They are compact and carry an immense quantity of meat on short legs — very unusual in the case of the English shorthorns. As a rule the shorthorns of Scotland, particularly those of Aberdeen and the North of Scotland ' generally, trace back to the old tribes of the earlier breeders, when the shorthorns were generally known by the family name of "Teeswaters." When an infusion of fresh blood has been introduced of recent years as has very frequently been the case, this has invariably been done by the selection of animals of the same type as their own. -But it is a remarkable fact that in no instance has this type been found among the fashionable and high -priced Dukes and Ducheßses. The Scotch value a bull solely by the stock he produces. If his stock are deficient in any essential he goea to the butcher, whatever, his pedigree may be. But after all the value of a bull is best tested by the character and quality -' of his steers. If the latter do not carry a large quantity of good lean flesh — which is the distinguishing characteristic of the Scotch shorthorn — he is deemed unworthy of the stud. — Queenslander. A new departure in judging sheep, says " Bruni," in the Australasian, was made at the Deniliquin show, where a few pens were set apart to be judged by points, this being the first occasion of the sort at Deniliquin, and so far as 'I know t in, Australia. The decisions appeared to give satisfaction, but it was generally thought that the same result might have been arrived at in much Quicker time by the ordinary mode of judging. One of the main difficulties' in judging by points is in arranging the scale and in getting judges to act who thoroughly understand the value of each point. Even under these conditions it will be necessary to compare the sheep, and thus, the old plan will be found quicker, and in the end more satisfactory. The Bcale adopted at Deniliquin was rather a peculiar one. "It consisted of five points, the maximum number in each being 20. They were— " 1, character of wool, which will include all the characteristics of wool that tend to add to its market value, (in other word's, value of wool) ; 2, lengtfirdf staple; 3, density ; 4, size of frame ; 5, symmetry." So that an immense sheep that is perfectly formed might score 40 points against the same number scored for another sheep whose wool w&9. of the

highest value and the greatest density. I fancy the gentlemen who have devoted so much timeand careful attention to judging cheep at our leading shows for years past will not be inclined to adopt this scale of points. Mr William Earrer, in his letter in our (Qsieenslander) last issue upon various agricultural matters, refers to. the production of nitrogen in the sojl as the rasulb of green manuring, in the following words: — "It is. that the presence of decayed vegetable matter iv the mSI, together with moderate moisture and warmth, affords the. conditions necessary for the bacterial life by the agency of which nitrogen f rose the air. is fixed in the soil and made available for the useof plants." This is now the generally accepted theory as the outcome of the experiments lately carried on in France and England. We find the Paris. correspondent of the. South Australian Chronicle referring, however, to the question in the following terms :— " The Academy of Sciences of Paris has been a long time occupied with the role of nitrogen in vegetation. In what shape do plants receive it? if from the soil,by what combination ?, if from the air, through what agency ? All experimentalists agree upon one pomt — that a soil destitute of humus and devoid of vegetation can neither produce nitrogen nor absofb ifc from the atmosphere. Less clear is the hypothesis that microbes— in other words the agents of fermentation — play a fixod role in uniting the elements pr bringing about the changes to produce nitrogenous compounds. Another fact acquired is that the plant neither by its roots nor by its leaves absorbs free nitrogon; bufc the latter can iudirectly minister to vegetable nutrition by the air, as when electricity forms nitric acid and ammonia both compounds can be washed by rain into the soil; or the circumambient air, entering the soil, can yield its nitrogen to effect new combinations ; and no matter in what form the latter may present themselves the roots are, above all, the vehicle for their entrance into the economy of the plant. The phenomena of nitrification are located in the organic matters of the soil." All. this shows that the Australian farmer can solve the difficult; question of manuring his exhausted fields, by studying and practising the system of green manuring. Mr James Irving. Government Veterinarian for Queensland, in a report upon the horse disease which recently caused the 1086 of several horses at Birdsville and other parts of Queensland, states it, is pernicious anaemia, brought about by. monotony of diet and iutestinal and stomach worms. The horses are living on dry grasses for some months, which monotony of diet so reduces the system that it is then in a poor state to resist the effects of the small thread-like worms which may have been in the stomach for fomo time, or may at this very time be taken into the animal's system through tainted water. He recommends as preventive treatment a lick composed of common salt six parts, sulphate of iron three parts, . and bonepowder (made by burning bones ,and then powdering them) one part, be put in accessible places. during those dry spells, and also change the feeding grounds every short time. Even if it is only 20 miles removed it will be likely to kee.p the animals iv better health. With regard to treatment, turpentine will' be found one of the most useful and easiest got remedies. One tablespoonf ul of turpentine mixed with a pint of milk, or, where eggs can be got, add two eggs well beaten, and give as a drench to' the horse night and morning, and continue this daily for a week or 10 days. After this arsenicum, nux vomica, and strychnine would prove very beue1 ficial. Dragging of the toes of the hind feet and j slow respiration are the principal symptoms of the disease. I The Waimatuku Dairy Factory Company are (says the Western Star) to be congratulated on , the very great success that has attended their I last season's operations. The first year ths directors had to put before the shareholders a balance sheet showing a loss of £150, but this has now been wiped off, and after allowing £50 for depreciation, there still remained a balance of £35 10s, which was divided among the milk suppliers, making the price given for milk 2 l-6d per gallon for the season. Next season 2§d will be paid per gallon, and any profit on the year's transactions will be divided equally between the milk suppliers who are shareholders and the other shareholders. -'Another dangerous competition threatens the dairymen," says an American exchange, "'i or j the recent investigations in Central Africa have brought to light several trees whose sap furnishes food substances closely analogous to milk and butter. Ona tree bears nuts which when powdered and mixed with water produce a white oily substance which is used by the natives as we use butter. The French explorers declare it to be an excellent article of food. A Venezuelan tree known as the ' cow tree ' yields a white viscous SBp of an agreeable " taste and odour and containing fstty matter which can be made into excellent butter, while the sap itself is considered in every way equal lo the best milk for food and culinary purposes. As history affords numerous instances of similar substitutions and displacement?, ,it certainly seems within the range of possibility that in time the cows may be dispensed with as purveyors of milk and butter. What, then, will become of the dairymen ? " An Englishman who has been recently visiting American ranches owned by Englishmen, has this to say about one of these ranches in the London Economist :— '• I found on that ranch a manager drawing a salary of 25,000d0l a year and an assistant manager drawing a salajy of 6250d01. In addition to this they had spent thousands of pounds sterling in worthless improvements, 60 far, at least, as the cattle business is concerned. I found on that Western prairie ranch, located many, many miles from a railroad, servants dressed in red liver) 7 , aud — mauy other things fully as ridiculous. The men who should have devoted the greater part of their time to the management of the company's business spent most of their time hunting and fishing— a very pleasant pastime."