FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1936, 2 April 1891, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

Pigs and Wheat.— The Americans found that their maun (or as fchpy call it "corn") was unsaleable in foreign or English mark3is, and even if it were saleable, ifc was too t/ulky for profitable transit to a distance. But they found a way to condense it very considerably. They fed it to the useful pig, and thus reduced 15 bushels oosf <s corn "bo much that its product could all be placed in a cask— in the form of salt pork— which would realise a higher Drioe

and pay for the labour as well. It has been found that eevan bushels of wheat are required to produce JLTO'b of pork, and it is a simple problem in ft <shmetio to calculate whether it will pay batter to feed wheat to pigs rather than sell it at a very low price. It must be remembered that when the wheat is sent away from the farm there is a lot of phosphoric acid and potash carried away with it, and this will sooner or later have to be brought baok at considerable cost. By feeding the wheat to pigs a lot of this fertiliser is retained, though there is still a quantity removed with the bones. If wheat is worth 3s per bushel only and pork i* worth 4d per lb tbe aocount would stand thus:— To 7 bushels wheat, at 3s per bushel, 21s ; by 1001b pork, at 4d, 33s 4d ; profit on feeding it to a pig, 12s 4d. Young pigs or porkers are more thrifty than when they get older, and it will pay well to sell them when they weigh 401b to 501b. To attend to a lot of pigs, say 200, the whole time of one man is required, and the Bale and marketing must be done by another.

Horse Accidents. — The week before laßt a shookicg accident from careless handling of a quiet horse was recorded as taking place in the North. It is, however, by no means the only fatal aooident within the personal observation of the writer resulting from the same cause. Young men who are in the daily habit of driving and handling horses are too apt to be careless, and forget that it ia quite possible for an aooident to take place from a sudden Btartling, which even the quietest animals are liable to from many causes at any moment, and a prudent man will never place himself in snob a position that a sudden fright would oauae him to be injured. When he has any little thing to do with a machine or implement he is working it very rarely happens that be cannot perform the work without plaoing bis body in a dangerous position. On one occasion a man who was driving a binding machine went in front of the knives to do what could have been done from behind, although, perhaps not quite so easily, and having no one in front of the horses. A dog unfortunately ooming out of tbe standing corn frightened them, and in consequence tbe man had both of bis hands, bis wrists, and his arms fearfully gashed. He lost the use of one hand permanently, and very, narrowly escaped with his life. A most distressing accident proceeding from a trifling cause happened in this way : A young lad, who was deservedly a great favourite with all who knew him, was ploughing with a single furrow plough and two very quiet borssß when some weeds became entangled in the ill-fitting share. The lad laid his plough over on one side and went in front to pick out the weeds. A pheasant close by flew up* with a loud whirr and Btartled the horses, whioh sprang forward and ran away

with the plough. The point of the share oaught in the poor boy's Btomach and out it open, drawing out the intestines. Those who witnessed the look of terror and despair on that poor lad's face (for he was quite sensible of what had occurred) will never forget it as long aB they live, nor all the fearful consequences to himself, and his distracted friends ; and the writer, in calling up a long-passed remembrance, would earnestly recommend all who have dealings with horses to take a warning by these relations. — Old Fabmbb. Best Wool in the Would. — An exchange says : — " The loelandio wool is the best in the world, because it is not the custom of the country to shear the Bheep. The fleece is allowed to grow to its natural length, and then deftly pulled out, and very long pieces of wool are procured in this way. In its natural state the wool looks very much like artificial hair in a rather negleoted. condition, but when it is carded it becomes wonderfully fine and Boft. The oarding and spinning form tbe occupation of the winter evening in loeland, where the life seems to ba idyllic in tbe extreme. The mistress of the house Bits, amongst her maidens, her daughters on one side-, her servants on the other. At the lower end of the room sit tbe men-servants, ' who also give a hand to the carding. The spinning is usually accompanied by reading, eoine youth more learned than the reßt being selected to read the Sagas aloud. All the cloth that is worn by the entire household is made in this way, and it is wonderfully soft and durable."

The Points of a Shibe H&bse. — In the course of an address on horse breeding, delivered before the Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture, Mr Frederick Street, of Somersham, St. Ives, gave the following opinion as to what tbe points of a Shire stallion should be : — "The feet should be firm, deep, and wide at heel ; tbe pasterns slanting, not too straight and upright ; should have fiat, not round bone ; be short between fetlock and knee. A stallion should not measure losb than llin below the knee, and girth from 7ft 9in to Bft 3in; should not stand more than 17 hands ; should have wide cheat ; head big and masculine, without coarseness ; eyes prominentand kindly; the head and eves together should denote intelligence and good temper ; shouldera well thrown back ; full-flowing mane ; short back ; well-arched ribn ; deep middle ; large musoular development of the Join ; long quarters with tail well set on ; big second thighs ; large flat clean hocks ; plenty of long silky hair on legs ; or, to sum up in a few words, a stallion should in form ba long, low, aud wide, and in constitution " thoroughly free from hereditary diaease. He should, above all, be & good mover in the cart-horse pace." A Good Boas.— Sometimes farmers allow

their herds to degenerate, because they think a boar costs too muoh. In their estimation of his valne they do not attach sufficient importance to bis life of usefulness. They do not understand that the boar represents half the herd.

Papeb Horseshoes.— The paper horseshoe, frequently advocated, but relegated by the " purely practical " to the realms of fancy of the theoretical faddist, is an accomplished fact in Germany. It is made of compressed paper, and it is claimed for it that, in addition to elasticity, it has the valuable property of being insensible to the action of water and stable liquids. It consists of leaves of parchmented paper rendered impermeable by means of oil of turpentine, strongly stuck together by a special mixture (mixture of Venice turpentine, whiting, lacquer, and litharged Unseed oil). These leaves of piper are then shaped by means of a stamp. The shoe is afterwards snbjeoted to strong hydraulic pressure, and when dry is finished with the_ file. Use is also made of a paper paste, mixed with sand, turpentine, lacquer, linseed oil, and litharge, which is pressed into moulds so as to obtain, after drying, a perfectly homogeneous and impermeable mass. But experience has proved that the horseshoe thus prepared is less tenacious and less elastic than that made with superimposed leaves of paper. Both, however, may be put on either with nails, or by means of a paste made of mineral tar and indiarubber.

Alfalfa Mutton.— ln nearly all the landa west of the 100 th meridian, aaya tbe American Sheep Breeder and Wool Grower, the pasture is muoh depreciated in value below its condition 35 years ago, when it was overrun by millions of buffalc. The seeds of the grasses and forage plants, it is true, are trampled in by stock, and especially by iheep, and in soils not too sandy they are thus defended from the drying and freezing they would otherwise Buffer; and the finely distributed sheep manure enriches the land ; but on the other hand, close herding and cropping do undoubtedly tear out very considerable amounts of graaa by the roots. In Colorado, perhaps more than in any other State except California, irrigation and the cultivation of forage crops, chiefly alfalfa, have been proseouted to supplement tbe failing natural resources. "Alfalfa mutton" has a local reputation almost aB distinctive aB tbe turnipfed chops of Dorset. The first chapter in the great mid-continental Bheep history was bunoh-grasß, and that is for ever ended ; the seoond chapter will be alfalfa.