FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

The Boys Fbom the Farm.— Standing in the Produce Exchange in New York City a few years ago, I looked over the 500 men who today represent and oontrol the commerce of this nation, and I said to Mi- Armour, one of the Armour Brothers, who was a farmer's boy, " How many of these 500 men do you think were born on a farm?" I was astonished when he told mo that 80 out of every 100 of these men who were controlling the oommerce of the nation were born on the farm. Then I asked him "What about their sons ?" and he shrugged his shoulders and said; " Degenerate sons of worthy sires. The city is a great mtelBtrom; it is a great hoprer; it grinds up human flesh and blood, but the farmer's boy, of all other boys, is the boy who can stand the grind." — Wisconsin Farmers' Institutes, Cows' Teats.— The utmost care should be exercised to keep a cow's teats in a good sound condition. Many a good young cm has been turned into a kicking cow by milking her when her teats are sore. We oannot expect a cow will stand quietly while Bhe is being hurt in the process of milking. An uneasy cow at milking time is a good deal like a crying baby — there is a good cause for the demonstration made as a rule. A very simple remedy for sore teats is to wash with Castile soap and warm water, and apply equal parts of lime water and linseed oil, Alwayß make it a point to make the cow comfortable under all ciroumetances, and if yon do she will repay the extra effort exceedingly well. Nothing is gained by neglecting to do this, but, on the contrary, such neglect always entails a loss. The Farmer's Wealth.— The farmer'a wealth (sayß an exchange) is not that which he receives and expends every season, nor oan ho estimate his yoarly gains with any degree of certaintly, as he may apply to his soil that which may require several seasons to give an adequate return. How many farmers pause to consider the increased wealth of the land itself, or the possible amount in value of crops that may be taken from the land for years without any addition to" the soil in the shape of manure or fertilisers ? Very few. Yet there are many farmers who are compelled to struggle under haavy difficulties, and who barely "make both ends meet " from the beginning of the year to its finish, but who are slowly and surely becoming wealthy, though this gradual increase may not be immediately noticed. It is an old maxim that the safest investment is in land, for the reason that land cannot be stolon or destroyed, remaining permanently as deposited wealth until it passes into other hands. But the land is also a receptacle for more weath, and locks up within itself valuable material that may at some time be converted into marketable products. Every farmer who grows crops, raises stocks, and aims to improve his farm will, in the face of all obstacles, store up in the soil as plant food wealth that cannot be utilised immediately, but which in the future will place him in a more independent position and offer fourfold that which it received by changing the unsaleable commodity of the farm into forms by which it becomes an article of demand, The fertility of the soil is the treasure of the farmer, buried until he digs for it at the proper time. Though Nature is at work, she requires materials, and the farmer simply utilises the forces at his command to change the condition of materials and place them in positions of advantage. The source of the farmer's increase is the manure. The manure heap is a real factory, a chemical laboratory, in which a portion of the products of the farm are worked over and changed, and the more perfect the work performed in this laboratory the greater the aid and assistance afforded the crops during the growing season. The farmer every year becomes wealthier because he is converting waste material into plant food, which is added to the soil, and whether droughts entail failure or prices fall his mine of wealth remains, which is itaelf a thing of value over and above that which he may derive from the sales of bis produce in market. A New System of Butter Shows in Denmark.—ln a report just issued, Mr Inglie, the Consul at Copenhagen, who has already published an interesting report on dairy farms in Denmark, describes a new syctom of State butter shows recently organised in tbatcountry by the directors of the dairy section of the Danish Agricultural department. The fault of the old shows was that they were not. of much practical benefit In encouraging the production of tirat-clafs butter, or in eff'ctu^lly tracing faults of ra'jnuf'icture to their source. Ten new plan has the oupport of a large nuinbrr of dairies, dairy experts, and the leading butter merchants all over the country. Its principal features are : (1) A continuous butter show at the expense of the State during several months in each year. ($) Hera fresh samples of butter will be received every 14 days, the jndgeB 1 deoision to b9 given on the butter as received, and its condition, at the end of 14 days. Thus there will be two distinct test'nKs, not only of quality, but altio of weight. (3) The samples are to be sent immediately on the roof a letter or telegram, bo that the dairyman will not be able to make a special ca«k for exhibition, and the samples are to be repeated as often as required, (4) Competing dairies must send in a return of the feeding and system generally followed on the farm, with especial reference to the week during which the samples are sent in. At present the numbor of dairies entered is 860. Nine judges hay j been seleoted, and these net in groups of three each, eaob J group reoording an independent opinion on each samplo, which is checked by thane of the other two group*. Enoh tjroup will oonptet of two buttrr ine>oh.iatu <md on« d:.lry f-jne'i. Ti>;i o.\for tb-~ ; r fAli.i,! 1-^.1 -^. Tim i-lu »v<. ".ill li^ run! at ' isite. v « ! 8 vi i. i'.vluinhi- ciuriup; tiigol rvor.'iirf o» Lhj y-.u', (Mid !ha i~r n'oi-rip^-ii, jraai, 'ir.rirpf 'h-> clU'ioiss iin>>naial vv<u* is i^J. •"'(.• A^ '!v> | 6:«n<- dak >» wJll ! end in butter >■< ■ < -•-! li.i>t v < m | thfCiUriC cf th«j ycj»i' gr?:vf, f'-c:!i f ioa '"-■lll l^o «,ili.'i-j ;d fur a-coit .hv&k tvhlcu :>to tbo l"ent ira.i;-jj^d ilr-irUu, and it vv III then be seen wiveio the art of buUsr making may bolearaerl. The report concludes by reproducing a aeries of questions in regard to dairy management put tc tb«s managers of competing dairies. The AuaTRAUAN t MEBWO.—Tha following items of information connected with tho earliest history of the Australian morino, as given by Mr P. R. Gordon ia a paper contributed to the L.ive Stock Journal Almanac, will be of iatoreat to aheep breoderß ; — "Tha credit of introducing the merino to Australia is indisputably duo to John M'Arthur, a captain in the 1,02 nd Regiment, Be nt from

England to New South Wales in two detachments between the years 1790 and 1792, and it was he who in 1795 first broke Australian soil with a plough. The first sheep landed in Australia were brought by Governor Phillip from the Cape of Good Hope. Subsequently some sheep were introduced from India, but the fleece of the earliest sheep was ' coarse hair,' and was used for blanketing for local purposes. Having established a small farm in 1794, Captain M'Arthur purchased from a brother officer 60 Bengal ewes and lambs, and soon afterwards two ewes and a young lamb of an Irish breed which arrived by a transport ship. Having crossed the Bengal hairy sheep with the Irish ram, Captain M'Arthur observed that the mingled fleece was superior to the original fleece, and the idea of producing fine wool at once struck him. In 1796 Captain Kent and Captain Waterhouse were sent in two war ships to the Cape of Good Hope to get live stook and provisions for the settlement at Sydney, and Captain M'Arthur begged them, if possible, to procure any wool-bearing sheep they might find thore. It happened, most fortunately, that at the period of the visit of these offioars a flock of puro Spanish merinos of the Eucurial bread, whic'i had been presented by the Spanish authorities to tho Dutch Government, was for sale by the widow of Colonel Gordon, and, with the exception of a few taken to England and presented to Sir John Sinclair, the flock was purchased by Cuptains Kent and Waterhouße at 4gs a' bead. How many were landed in Sydney is not* now known, but five ewes and three rams fortunately fell into tho possession of Captain M'Arthur. While others were devoting theic attention to tho production of heavy carcansoa, Captain M'Arthur persevered in his intention of producing fine wool. During a visit to England, in ISO 4, he purchased niao rams and a ewo from the royal flock of pure Spanish merinos at Kew, which were landed in Australia in 1805 In consequence of the advantages likely lo accrue to the colony from the introduction of wool growing, Captain M'Arthur was given a grant of 5000 acres of land. So great was the improvement woiked upon the original nheep that Captain M'Arthur declared that iv four crosses no distinction waa perceptible between the pure and the mixed breed. Sonre of the fleeces were submitted to manufacturers in England and were so highly valued by experts that the growing of fine wool was at onca established. The effect of the Australian climate was such as to impart to the wool a softness not observable in the wools of Spain or any other wool produoing country, and hetein lies the wh.le secret of tho eminence of Avsiral'a as a wo I-giowing country." Pigs in Canada.— Mr W Davies, the most extensive bacon curer and packer in Canada, after specially favouring the Barkshire breeds for many years as the best for his purposes— and so it undoubtedly was as long as fat pork was in demand — has of late, owing to public preference for leaner pork, been favouring the large Yorkshire, which, he says, is rapidly displacing the other breeds in England, Ireland, Donmark, Germany, Sweden, the great bacon producing centres. " Marbled pork," so called, he regards as an inferior quality or kind of pork, consisting, as it does, of lean meat or floßh with veins of fat running through it. The premium hog to-day, he adds, in demand for bacon and hams, and that which will command the highest price, should not have more than lin of fat down the back in any part from head to tail. Moat whioh ranked second class 20 years ago is now considered Al, and vice versa. It will be seen from another article on the Ontario swine industry that the majority of our farmers still maintain their preference for the Barkshirea ; a prejudice — if such it be — that will doubtless take considerable time to be overcome. — Toronto Globe. Feeding for Pork.— A Beries of experiments recently carried out in America to ascertain what were the most economical methods of producing pork, both as regards its quality, its proportion of lean to fat, and its weight, have proved the superiority of maize as a food for pigs, It was found that 4£lb of whole ma : ze produoed lib of pork, and as a bushel of maixe rarely costs more than 3s, an ample margin for profit was left. A similar quantity of ground maize was required to produce lib of pork, but when a bushel of maize was ground only 12|!b were produced, bo that the^ expenditure of money in grinding the maize was unnecessary. Compared witn oata maize was found much more valuable and far cheaper, for a bushel of maizemeal was found to doaß much work in pork production as three bushels of oats, or, taking the two foods weight for weiorht, lib of maizpmeal was worth 2lb of oats. In fhe experiment, which lasted for some four weeks, over whioh period the averrga was taken, a quarter bushel of ground oats was required to produce lib of pork whon fod in conjunction with mpizsmoal, half of each being given. The quantity of maize consumed by the pigs was at the rate of 21'b per 1001b live weight. Taking tho price of mnizo in Illinois at In 2d a bushel, it wa=s found that 6ven during tbe cold weather pork was produced for le.iß than Hd a Jb. Hill v. Flat,— Will a mcun'ain produce morß corn iha-i *he b:>Be on which it stands? M<\Hv»iv\ftticMlv <be sami • m unt of cvrn cua h* 1 grown on a sMnmef- ical mountain aa on ita Vtrb A^univ'c •'-■v 1 r sn:h -talk requireu a given proa, it h easy tn he • pen that a greatar quantity of surface ia required on a sloping plane to kivq an rqu^l distance to tha. stalks. Practically, a mountain can never produce, from olimatio and other oausns, the same amount of corn aa an equal area of flit land of equal fertility.