FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2004, 21 July 1892, Page 8

FARM NOTES.

To Remove Tuhnip Flavour from Mir.K. • — The following note appeared in the Farming World (Edinburgh) of 22nd May ; the experiment is worth a trial : — " The only way to get the turnip flavour out of the milk is to heat the milk in a water bath to 135 cleg — 140deg immediately after milking. This will completely eradicate the turnip flavour, and the milk will make good, sweet butter. This heating of the milk will also cause the cream more perfectly to rise if set in shallow pans, and will thus increase tho amount of butter. We have often described the mode of heating milk in a water bath, which is, in short, to set the vessei containing the milk into another vessel contain ing water, allowing the water to circulate und the vessel containing the milk by raising it er two thin bars of iron. The milk will then On heated by hot water and cannot be scorche^ 0 The taint of milk from sour or mouldy ensilag" is removed by heating it to 130deg. We hav^ made butter quite satisfactory to very pn.rfci e culur customers after thus heating the milk.'—.E

Training a Colt. — A colt should never know how much strength he has until he knows how to use it. The American Agriculturist says that if he once runs away he is never a safe horse afterwards, andwhilehe may to all appearances forget it, there will come a time when he will run again, and the chances are he will do much damage. The harness for breaking and driving colts should be extra strong and heavy. The reins and bit, especially, must be stout enough for all possible emergencies. A straightbar bit is good enough for a steady horse, but it cannot be depended on with fractious auimals. There are numerous kinds of bits that are easy when a horse is steady, but so made as to hold the horse when he tries to run.

Distemper: Its Cause, Symptoms, and Cube. — Mr Lowell Clarke, the veterinary adviser of The Dog Fancier, gives his opinions on the much-dreaded canine distemper in a recent issue of our contemporary : — Cause : The disease is, as he says, a catarrhal iever, and seems to arise spontaneously from ordinary causes of disease. It is both contagious and infectious, has a variable period of inculcation, with a tendency to develope complications, such as chorea, paralysis, epileptic fits, diarrheca, and pneumonia. The last named is the most common form in the finer breeds of dogs. It is due to a specific poison absorbed into the system. Symptoms : The first thing to be noticed is a rigor (shivering fit), following this will appear fever ; pulse will be 100, and even 150 ; eyes will be red, nose hot and dry ; there will be a loss of appetite, urine scanty and highly coloured ; bowels irregular ; a cough, at first dry and husky, afterwards moist. After a few days will have catarrhal discharge from nose and eyes. Another prominent symptom is puffing of the cheeks when breathing. Treatment : If taken early, give a moderate dose of castor oil (loz for Irish setter one year old). After bowels have stopped operating, take of tincture aconite half drachm, sweet spirits nitre four drachms, fluid extract wild cherry four drachms, syrup of Tolu enough to make 4oz. Mix and give one teaspoonful every six hours. Keep the nose and eyes clean. If patient gets very weak, give sherry wine in small doses. Feed lightly on soft food.

Watering. — One point there is in connection with summering hunters which scarcely receives the attention it merits — watering. Some grooms take it into their heads that because a horse does no work he requires very little to drink, oblivious of the fact that, unlike those who attend upon him, the horse never drinks for the sake of drinking. A horse doing hard work and fed on stimulating food is ever in a more or less feverish state, and at least a month will elapse after the termination of the hunting season before all signs of feverishness subside. In work or out of work, nothing prevents or checks fever so much as a plentiful supply of water, and at the same time nothing, linseed not excepted, conduces more than water to the laying on of flesh. As a class, grooms do not take more exercise than is involved in. the discharge of their duties in the stable-yard — as a. class they rarely say no to a glass of beer or Fomething stronger ; yet as a class they dread letting a horse's belly be his water measure, though they do not always object |to letting him measuro his corn for himself. If a

horse can drink whenever he likes, no one who has not tried the experiment would credit how little he consumes, or how much better he thrives when watered on the ad lib. plan, and this is respectfully pressed upon tho attention of the owners of horses. — Bailey's Magazine. Butter Making in Suffolk.— Referring to the reports of the judges on the butter making competition held in the Drill Hall, Ipswich, in i connection with tho recent visit of the British Dairy Farmers' Association, the East Anglican Times (which publishes the report in full, says : — "Our. periodical agricultural meetings show how much we have learned ; the report of the judges at the late dairy competitions show how much we have to learn. Tho judges endorse tho opinions which have been frotti time to time expressed and unanimously condemn the Suffolk and Norfolk butter. The butter presented to them at hotels was anything but Creditable; the local competitors at the Drill Hall kuow little or nothing of modern scientific butter making They employed old-fashioned churns, and used their hands far too much, whereas first-class butter should never be touched. The whole report is an unmixed condemnation of Suffolk butter making, the wiuuer only gaining 34- points out of a possible 60. The all England competitors used thermometers, ice, end over end churns, and never once touched the butter, the winner gaining 56 points of a possible 60. Seldom has a more valuable document been presented to the East Anglican public. Compliments are useful at times, but straightforward criticism is often of more benefit." Plant Potatoes. — At a meeting recently of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture a speaker said : " Years of observation and experiments lead me to the following conclusions — First, whole potatoes will produce a crop, from a week to 10 days earlier than cut potatoes ; second, small whole potatoes will produce for many years in succession just as good, if not better, results than large potatoes cut the sisSeof the small whole ones ; third, the seed end of a potato is better to plant than the stem enji, because the plant starts with more vigour and produce larger and more potatoes ; fourth, a 1 large piece of potato is better to plant in ordinary soil, and will produce a much better crop than very small pieces or single eyes ; fifth, potatoes with sprouts long enough to break off in planting are not as good as potatoes with the eyes started just enough to show their, good condition ; sixth, the form of a potato cannot, as a rule, be changed by the selection for planting of any particular form ; seventh, two distinct varieties will not mix by planting in the same hill ; eighth, the potato scab is a blemish that the more we investigate the less we appear to know about it." ! Food for Suckling Sows. — The best plan in feeding suckling pigs is to continue the^ame food as the sows received prior to farrowiug down, but given a little oftener ; and as time runs on and the pigs grow, in increased quantity. Sows should not have a large quantity of rich food immediately on farrowing, bran and pollard or sharps, should be the staple. Barleymeal is too heating, and not good for milk. A few grains, roots, boiled potatoes, or other vegetables are useful. Bran should always be given. Later some cracked wheat is useful. Emasculating Lambs. — A lamb may best be emasculated at the age of three or four weeks, or indeed when a week old. The whole of the scrotum may be out off with a sharp knife or a pair of sharp shears, and the wound covered with powdered bluestone, sulphate of copper. The animal soon recovers, and mostly gives no indication of suffering, as older animals do. At this early age the nervous system is not fully developed, and the pain of the operation is very slight. Eczema in the Dog. — Is arsenic of use in the acute stage of eczema in the dog, or only after the disease has lasted for some time ? At the commencement, and when the parts are swollen and very painful, do you approve of fomenting ? For a retriever that seems constitutionally liable, although now attacked only at long intervals, I have usually given with a good dose of calomel and magnesia, and carefully anointed the sores with oleate of zinc. Should the disease linger, I follow up with a course of arsenic. Although hitherto successful, this treatment is tedious, and I would be glad to learn if it can be improved upon. Is it the case that it is scarcely possible to eradicate a tendency to eczema ?—"? — " Portobello." [Eczema is a variety of cutaneous catarrh ; the form affecting dogs is sometimes termed red mange ; certain auimals, as you indicate, are particularly liable to it, especially if they have not sufficient exercise, and are fed too freely on animal diet or oatmeal. The tendency to this complaint is difficult, indeed usually impossible, to eradicate. The only effectual precautions are suittable diet and proper sanitary management. Little improvement can be suggested in your treatment, the dose of opening medicine at the outset diminishes the gastro-intestinal derangement which is usually present, and moreover relieves febrile symptoms and itching. In the early acute state, when the skin is hot and tender, fomentations with a tolerably concentrated solution of bicarbonate of potash relieve irritation more effectually than tepid water. This is fittingly followed up with the zinc oleate. Mineral acids and arsenic are useful tonics for promoting recovery, but would be quite out of place in the earlier stages. — Vet Ed.] — North British Agriculturist. Mangel Sowing. — As the time for mangel sowing is not very far distant it is worth while to call attention to the results of experiments in the manuring of this crop carried out by the Essex Agricultural Society, under the direction of Mr Bernard Dyer, consulting chemist to the society. The best results during six years of experimenting have been obtained by the use of nitrate of soda and phosphates, in addition to farmyard manure. Although from some of the trials it appeared to be more economical to grow mangels with heavy dressings of artificial manures without farmyard manure, it is considered safest to use at least a moderate quantity of the latter. It was noticed that where no dung was used in one season on part of the land, the plant was thinned by insects, while there was a good plant where dung was used, and the theory is that the insects fed on the dung, instead of on the plants, where it was used. This is a novel idea, and ought to be further tested. Still, no one doubts that it is well to use dung for the mangel crop when it can be had. When only 10 or 12 tons per acre of dung is used, the application of 3cwt of nitrate of soda is recommended, with 3cwt of superphosphate, or scwt of basic cinder, or 2cwt"of phosphatic Peruvian guano. When there is plenty of lime in the soil the superphosphate is to bo preferred as a phosphatic manure with the nitrate and dung ; but where the soil is poor in lime, basic cinder or phosphatic guano is recommended. jWhen as much as 20 tons per acre of dung can be used, the phosphatic artificial manure need not be applied, as so large a quantity of dung supplies all the phosphoric acid required by the crop. Experiments have also been tried with manures for drumhead cabbages, and the best results were attained where 4cwt of superphosphate and 4cwt of nitrate of soda were applied. This dressing produced six extra tons of cabbages, at a cost of 8s 2d per ton. — Leeds Mercury.