FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

Demand for Active Horses.— With reference to the size and strength of draught horses, the Ipswich Journal quotes some remarks of Mr Henry Oolne, who says :— " The strength of an animal does not depend on the siza of the bones, but of tbe muscles. Many animals with large boneß are weak, their muscles being small ; large bone 3 generally indicate an imperfection in tho organs of nutrition. Strength, therefore, does not depend upon the siza of the bone, but the texture and the quality. Our American friends sometimes send an order

over for a horse weighing a ton. They, no doubt, often get the weight and nothing more, Such orderß do not clearly show much judgment, It would be just about as reasonable for a man who wanted to replenish his library to send an order for a ton or two of books, quite regardless of the kind he required. But the style of ordering and buying is evidently undergoing a change, as the animal now most in demand is a lighter and more aotive horse for general purposes. Tbis being the oase, the smart and aotive Suffolks are bound to run to the front, and push the huge, heavy-boned, and heavy-crested croaabreda very hard."

Pig Breeding at Home.— Mr Saundera Spencer, the well-known breeder of pigs, gave his views tbe other day in a lecture before the Sevenoaks Farmers' Club as to the profitableness of fattening piga. It might be taken as an admitted fact, he said, that 41b to 51b of a mixture compofed ef one-half barley, and onehalf of equal parts of peas, bran, and wheat — the grain, of courne, being ground— would produce lib of pork if given to a fairly well-bred pig of six months of age. For the last 18 months, ho went on to say, this mixture baa oost not more than 9d to lOd per stone of 14 ib, so that if 151b of meal, costing leas than lid, will produce 31b of pork, the latter will oost leas than 4d a pound. As pork has been worth 5d to 6d per lb for some time past, there is a good profit, if Mr Spencer's figureß oan be relied on, and besides, tho value of the manure is considerable. Of course, the coat of attendftnoQ and risk of loss have to be allowed for. Mr Spencer says that the moat profitable kind of pig to keep is one of the big size and quick growth, with a largo proportion of loan moat, capable of being made into a carcass of 1601b by the time it is seven months old. He assumes here, it is to be supposed, that the pig is fed well from the time it is weauad. He advocates breeding in preference to buying in lean pigs to fatten. Spring pigs pay beat, because the season is favourable to rapid growth, and a good deal of the food costs but little. When a young pig has been weaned Mr Spencer ia in favour of feeding it at least three times a day on sbarpa and bran, akim milk being addod if possible, while it should have green food in summer, such ai clover, vetchns, or cabbages. He is in favour of mixing the meal given to pigs with warm water in cold weather, but not of oooking it. He advocates the sale of pigs by live weight, and Bays that after fasting a pig for 24 hours 20 to 25 per cent, should bo deducted from the live weight to got at the carcaaß weight.— Leeda Mercury.

Rabbit proof Fence.— Rabbit netting is more effioient if, instead of being buried vertically in the ground, it be bent at right angles and placed just beneath the soil, say 2in deep. Take galvanised netting 3ft high, have 2ft Gin above the ground, and Gin bent at right aoglea, towards the side where the rabbits are, just beneath the soil. The rabbits, if they begiu to burrow close to tho netting, are at once stopped by the wire. It never cocura to them to start a foot or so away from the wire fenoe. This method has been proved far superior to burying the wire perpendicularly. The height above ground that I name in, I think, sufficient, provided ordinary supervision iB exercised, — " W.," in Garden!

About Young Pigs.— Three weeks after farrowing is the critical time of the sow. The pigs then require muoh more milk, and are constantly pulling at her. She will begin to fall off in flesh, and this is not in itself objeotionable, provided it be not carried too far. It is here that the breeder must exercise his beßt judgment. 'Vhe bow must have a liberal and regular supply of nutritious food. Care must be taken not to give her a comparatively innutritious food one day and a full supply of rich food the next. The true plan is to feed the little pigs and thus lessen their demands on the mother. Give them a small supply of milk from the cow, and take pains to teach them to drink it. If you teach one to drink the others will be likely to follow its example. Tbe pigs should be gradually weaned. They do better to remain with the sow until eight or ten weeks old; but we would oommen.ee weaning them when they arrive at their third week. Let out the sow alone at first for an hour or so, gradually extending the time as they get older. When a month old they may be allowed to go with the bow for an hour or two in mild weather, but not when it is cold or the sun is very hot, as in some broods the sun blisters the back of youug piga. The little pigs need more exercise than the mother. The groat point in the management of tbe young ones is to ksep them growing rapidly. If Btrong and vigorous they are seldom liable to any disease, and if attacked soon throw it off. At three months old the boar piers sfcould be separated from the sows. —Agriculture.

Administration op the English Agricultural Holdings Act.— Mr O. S. Read (says tbe Leeds Morcury of March G) brought a formidable iadictmont against the working of tli3 Agricultural Holdinga Act in the address he delivered at a meeting of the London Farmers' Club on Monday last. He still declares that the aot is a fair one on the whole, and although he admits it might be altered in a few particulars with advantage, he believes that it n its administration whioh is chiefly at fault. There ia no doubt that the valuers in most counties, and the lawyers everywhere, have Btretched every point in favour of the landlords and against the tenants. For example, if a tenant has, like Mr Read, greatly improved bis farm as to cleanliness, but happens to have one field foul at the time of quitting, he is fined heavily for it, whereas no compensation iB given him for having cleaned the rent of the land. This is very onesided, and although the act, unfortunately, does not allow a penny for cleaning a foul farm, the valuers and judges ought to set good husbandry against bad, and make awards in a spirit of equity. But the aot is in reality at fault in allowing inequitable awards, and particularly in giving the landlord an almost unlimited power in making bis oounterclaim, while rigidly restricting the tenant's claim. Some of us foresaw how the act would be worked ; but our warnings were disregarded when it was passed. Mr Rowlandson, who took part in the discussion, said that some valuers in Yorkshire did pay regard to equity, rather than to the strict letter of tbe act ; but tbe cases in which tenants have obtained any substantial value under the measure are extremely few. Besides, if the act were administered ever so well, it would fail to be a satisfactory measure, because it only secures compensation for temporal y improvements made during the last few years of a tenancy. What is wanted ia a measure which will stimulate farmers to improve thair farms Bteadily and permanently, and this the present aot will never do. Mr Road did not suggest any remedy for the bad state of affairs which he exposed, unleaa by means of an attempt to make valuers and estate agents more equitable. Nothing short of legislation to amend the aot materially, however, will be of much avail. Tuberculosis in Cattle. — If there were but as good a chance of suppressing tuberculosis as theie is of getting rid of pleuro pneumonia, the nation might cheerfully votewould, indeed, be bound to vote— for an expenditure 10 times as muoh as that which Mr Chaplin proposes ; for this terrible tuberculous disease in oattle is the cause of a large proportion of the deaths from consumption

I among human beings, through tbe eating of the meat of tuberculous cattle and drinking milk of tuberculous cowa. Unfortunately, there are great difficulties, as Professor I Brown shows in his artiole upon " Tuberculosis in Animals of the Farm." in the new number of tha Bath and West of England Sooiety's Journal. After all, howover, there ia only one difficulty which ought to be any serious hindrance to efforts to get rid of the disease, and that is the difficulty of detecting it in its early stages. If we could detect every tuberculous animal, we ought to kill it at any cost, and as new cases arise from heredity, the work of slaughter should go on till the disease is entirely suppressed. But if a beast may be tuberculous for a year or more without being detected, we can only scotch and not kill tbe disease. Still a vast improve- . ment might be made by keeping pegging away at the disease, and Professor Brown is unduly pessimistic upon this point. We might save thousands of human livea every year, and tenE of thousands of cases of hereditary consumption, if wo applied cattle plague pro visions to nil cattle in which tubercle oan be detected. Whatever is done or left undone, there should be a regular inspection of all oows from whioh milk is taken for sale in ordor to detect those which are a source of danger to human beings. Already meat is inspected after a fashion ; but milk probably does 10 times aa much mischief, because meat is cooked, whereas a largo proportion of the milk consumed is used in a raw state, Mr Chaplin haß promised to inquire into this question of tuberculosis, but the mombars who have questioned him upon it in the llouso of Commons should not let it roat long, aa it ia certain that a good deal more could be dono than is attempted at present to provont the terrible coneequences now arising from the use of tuberculoua meat and milk.— L3ed3 Mercury. The Goat in South Africa. —In Switzerland aud other mountainous countries the goat leada long strings of animals daily to and from the mountains, but it is in South Africa that it ia regularly kept and employed as a leader of flocks of sheep. Should a blinding storm of rain or hail drive tho silly sheep before it, or oause them to huddle together in a corner so aa to auffooate each other, the trained goat will wake them up, and, by a method bost known to himself, induce them to follow him to a place of safety. Ploughing Horses' Ailments.— A good deal of trouble is often caused at ploughing time by sore or blistered shoulders when horses have been steadily workod at breaking up rough ground or any work that requires a severe strain, and causeß much Bwea'ing. The only certain cure is to turn the horse out until the sores have healed, but jib thnt is not always convenient, palliative measures must be adopted. A lotion of chloride of zinc is very effeotive when applied several times a day. It is easily made by dissolving ldr of chloride of zinc in Boz of distilled water. Shouldera may be hardened and future soreness prevented by sponging them at the end of each day with a lotion composed of loss alum, £dr sulpburio acid, one and a-half pint water. With proper care and diet, and the übo of reasonable precautionary measures, there iB no need for horses to be troubled with bad shoulders at all. Silage, — While conservatives on the silo question are fearful that Bilage reaches the stomach without sufficient mastioation, and that it unfavourably affeots the flavour of butter, the Illinois State Dairy Association enunciates that " the process of enailing corn and other foodß haa been the greatest step made in many years toward the solution of the problem of cheap feeding." The ration reoommended by the association is 301b ensilage and 101b hay per day. The Bilage, the dairy association's report Btates, must be supplemented with hay or other dry food. Obigination of the Duchess Shoethobns. —In his •' Outlines of Shorthorn History " Mr William Houaman relates an incident which goes to show that but for Mrs Charles Colling there might never have been a Duohess tribe of shorthorns. It is well known in shorthorn history that Mr Charles Colling had his eye on Mr Maynard's cow Favourite, or Old Favourite (afterwards called Lady Maynard) and her calf Young Strawberry. Visiting Eryholme, the farm of Mr Maynard, in company with hiß wife, Mr Colling offered £35 for Old Favourite and her calf. The offer at that time was a very tempting one, but Mr Maynard could not find in bis heart to accept it. When the guest's were gone he told Mrs Maynard of the offer, and she appears to have rated him for refusing it. Jußt then Mra Colling reappeared at full gallop towards tha house. She had received a full aooount from her husband of the offer, so she determined to try whether woman's influence would not prevail. She did not know that she had an ally in the matter. Her husband, she said, bad related to her the conversation with Mr Maynard and his refusal, and she added in a manner that was irresistible, " You must Bell them to me " ; bo he capitulated, and the oow and the calf — the cow afterwards the dam of Favourite (252), the calf the dam of that Favourite's sire Bolingbroke (86)— thus passed into the Kelton herd to produce the main souroe of the shorthorn breed of the future. Oalifornian Prairie Grass.— -This grass B eems to be Bteadily coming to the front in parts of Australia, and might be worth giving a trial in Borne of the drier districts of Central Otago. The Queenelander says :— c l Oalifornian prairie grass is rapidly superseding all other grasses on many parts of the Darling Downs, and wherever it obtains a footing it completely takes the place of lucerne. In ordinary seaBons it is a winter grass, but this year it haa continued to flourish luxuriantly throughout the summer and autumn, and at the present time Borne of the prairie grass paddocks in tha Warwick district, waving with the wind, ara perfect piotures, reminding one of the oatfields in the Old Country. It has a great ad« vantage over lucerne in that it bears being closely fed down by aheep, and a gentleman in the Warwick district relates that at the present time on 6of his prairie grass paddocks is stocked with sheep at the rate of 40 to an aore and that they do not seem to make any impreaaion on it. As an instance of itstenaoity another gentleman in tbe same district Btates that with the intention of green manuring a paddock on the banks of the Oondamine he ploughed the prairie grass Sin down under the, ground ; but this only tended to make it grow more luxuriantly than before. In other paddockfl it disappeared for years during the lata protracted drought, but at once reappeared with the fitst copious rains. So far the general opinion of those who have had experience of it is that both for grazing and haymaking it is the most valuable grass yet introduced into the colony." A Good Horse, — A really good horse, like a really good servant, seldom passes through many hands. Employers who are fortunate enough to get them keep them if they can. Horses with some latent defeot, vice, or weakness, or frequently in the market, and it ia wise to avoid horses that have passed through many hands, Such horses are often sold for defeots that you may not discover in a week, or even a month's trial. For instance, some horses do well in the summer and not in the.

winter, Some have weak digestive organß, that leave them liable to dangerous fits of colic or inflammation. A horso that is all right in low condition with regular hard work often develops eorao seriouo vice after rest and indulgence. On the other baud, he may stand light work very well and break down with hard work. Ho may bo Bold bscause he is known to have come in contaot with a glandered horse, or to inherit blindness, ring-bone, or other disease not suspected from his outward appearance, or he may have recovered from some disease of the brain to which he will again be liable. Blood Will Tell.— The average price of a purebred bull in the United States is placed by the Department of Agriculture at 146d01, and a purebred cow at 212d01, A three year-old " native " is placed at the average of 28dol 50c, and a "grade" of the same age 54d0l 500. "Blood will tell." Ringwobm, — Ringworms will yield to a treatmeut of borax. Wftßh with a strong solution three times a day, and dust over the fine, dry powder Producing Cheap Gbain.— The Amenoan farmer is getting tired of producing cheap grain. He has for many years been engaged in competing against the English farmer, but having oucceeded in ruining that respectable individual he only finds himßolf poor. " The agricultural depression " bo long discusßed in England is now a "live question" in the United States. Although the production of v/heat has not materially increased during the last 10 years, India has come into the competition, and prices have fallen. Ths> wheat crop of 1881 in the United Staie3 consisted of 498,000,000 bushels, and that of laßt harvest was 490,000,000 bushels. In 1885 tha crop was 512 million bushels, in 1883 it was 504 million, and tha average for the last nine years has been 450 million buohels. When the increase of population is taken into account, it will be Been that there has been no corresponding increase in wheat production. There has, on tha other hand, been a continuous increase in the production of maize, which is the staple stock-feeding crop of the country. In 1883 the corn crop amounted to IGI7 million bushels, in 1889 to 1988 million, and in 1890 to 2113 million buabeta In 1883 the Bpecial commissioner of this journal to America stated that the United Sfcatei could not produce cheaper wheat than Australia, and predicted that low prices would force the American farmer to turn his attention to other crops. Low prices have prevailed, and wheat production baa ceased to increase in America. As the present production leaves a largo surplus for export the " agricultural depression ' is attributed to overproduction, and the Washington Department of Agriculture entreats the farmers to abandon the business of supplying the English manufacturing population with cheap bread. The value of ngrioulfcural products imported into the United States is nearly equal to the value of agricultural exports, and farmers are urged to cease the production of cheap broad and to oultivato those crops which will supply the place of imports. This advice, which is backed up by the argument of prices, will no doubt be gradually taken, and it is also worthy of consideration in Australia. Canada Thistles — Tl.e following letter on this peat appears in a recent issue of the Toronto Globe :— " To the Editor : When M. Dumaa closed that wonderful work of his, ' The Count of Monte Oriato,' with the words • Wait and hope, 1 bo intended it, I presume, aB a motto for the world generally to practise. Comparing small things with great, I have been * waiting and hoping ' for years that Borne one would be induced to take up the question of eradicating tbe Canada thistles and other noxious weeds, which are the peßts of the farmers of Ontario and elsewhere. I waß glad to see Mr W. Y. Brunton's letter in the Globe of tbe Bth ulf. on • Canada Thistles, 1 and trust it will lead to a general disoussion of the question, and that prompt action my be taken this season. I have before me an artiole on * Thistles,' published in the Otago Witness at Dunedin, New Zealand, of the 20th February 1890, describing them as similar to those grown in Canada, and asking the Government to paßß a bill for their suppression. As you aie aware, I have written frequently on the Bubject, but my letters have not produced any discussion orpractioal results. The Canada thistle and burdock still continue to exist and prosper, to the lasting injury of the Canadian farmer and consequently all other interests. There is an act on tbe statutes entitled, R. S. 0., chapter 202, 'An act to prevent the spread of noxious weeds and of diseases affeoting fruit trees.' This act gives authority to the township councils to appoint at least one inspector, to notify ownera or occupant of lands, also the nearest station masters of railroads, to cut down or destroy all noxious weeds within the municipality within 10 days after service of the notice, also that all pnthmasters within their limits shall have the said noxious weedß destroyed as a portion of their duty aB paymasters. Last season I travelled on the Michigan Central and both lineß of the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific railway west of Toronto, and noticed with much regret how flourishing were Buch weeds as the Canada thistle and the burdock and how little trouble was being taken to oontrol them. In some fields large patches were left untouched, in the fence corners ; all along the railroads they were blooming beautifully, and blowing their seed all over the country. The quality of our grain is declining year after year, and it is to be attributed to careless farming. Where Canada thißtles or burdooka grow they will take all tho nourishment from the soil and leave nothing for the grain. Hoping that this important question will be carefully considered by our farming population especially, and by all men generally, I thank you for inserting this in your columns. — Robert Spbatt, Toronto, April 16 " Want o* 1 Soientipio Knowledge.— "Grass," Rays Professor Martyn, in bifl letters on the elements of botany, " vulgarly forms one single idea, and the husbandman when looking over his enclosure does not dream there are upwards of 300 epeoieß, of which 30 or 40 may be at present under his eye." These remarka of Professor Martyn, made some years ago, says a contemporary, are substantially correct at the present day. French Horses.— The high-bred horse >s ; the animal nearest to man in intelligence. Horse-breeding has become a science. In France it has reached a wonderful degree of perfection. The French people are lovers of horses. This sentiment has been kept alive amid all the turmoilß of France. The Government has lent its interest to secure a valuable animal for av_my use. The Government has its own steeds selected with tbe great'-Bt care. This fostering has resulted in wonderful progress. Over 12,000 have been recorded under the direotion of tbe Government. The most valuable horse in France is the French coach.