FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2045, 4 May 1893, Page 8

FARM NOTES.

Lameness in Houses. — The people on this side of the channel are not aware of what is going on on the other side with regard to " horse lameness." It is a common proceeding on tha part of the Society for the Protection of Animals, in cases of ctuelty, to prosecute owners and drivers when^ detected using lame hor3es ; .but when the society interferes with a duly qualified veterinary practitioner and drags him into court with a charge of cruelty, it assumes a somewhat serious aspect. A case was tried in England, some time since, and is known as the " Maidenhead case." A veterinary surgeon had a case of canker under treatment, and he was of opinion the animal would be benefited by being worked. . That was done, and one or more of the' inspectors of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals observed the horse lamelwhile at work. Legal proceedings were instituted, and several men, members of the profession, were examined pro and con. If my memory serves, the opinions, for and against, were about even. Much correspondence ensued subsequent to the trial; the last being to the effect that the canker was cured. It appears that in England the veterinary profession is roughly haudled in some instances, which is rather hard upon its members. A veterinary surgeon .may, from his experience in similar , cases, believe that moderate work or exercise is beneficial in such like and, advise it, when to his surprise he is called into court to explain why the patient was ordered to work. Unfortunately, it is often found that Veterinary surgeons are antagonistic to their brethren on the other side. The motto of the R.O.y.S. is vis unita fortior; to my mind they are frequently the reverse. It is to be hoped, if the society extends its zeal to this country, that a more lenient action will be taken than was that at Maidenhead. I have always thought members of our profession were characterised 'Joy' their kindness in saving patients unnecessary pain and suffering ; if so, we ought to be the last for the society to prosecute. — R. H. Dyer, M.R.O V.S,, Limerick. Trotting Action in Houses.— The trot is (says thenew edition ofjthe ''Book of the Horse") the all-important pace in harness, and the favourite pace for riding. It may be fast or slow, or both, but to be perfect it should be performed with the mo3t mechanical precision by all the four legs. Pages might be employed; without giving any distinct ideas, in trying to; describe what good trotting should be ; but it is a subject that after all must be studied from the live animal. The trotting action that is admirable in harness, combining a fast pace with a. sprightly or grand style, may be perfectly detestable under saddle ; a degree of high, even rough, extravagant action may be accepted and much admired in harness which under saddle would wear the rider to death and make him look ridiculous. So, too, a large number of horses perform with perfect safety, and even brilliancy, in harness, which could not carry even a boy in saddle ; because all horses intended for riding as well as driving mast not only have riding "shoulders" with good legs and feet, but the proper riding action, which will soon be spoiled if put to draw heavy weights ; and they should bridle well, which no horse can do which has not a head joined to his neck in the | proper way. A horse may have extravagant knee-action, and yet not be safe to ride. Safety depends not only in lifting each fore-foot fairly up. but in the way it is put down. It is because it is comparatively more easy to accustom young horses to a " square trot " in harness than in saddle that light harness work unquestionably improves them as hacks. Gilt-edged Butter. — The newly-issued volume of the Royal Society's Journal contains an article by Mr J. M. H. Munro, on the " Fermentations of Milk," from which we take the following extract: — "Butter of finest aroma, ' gilfc-edged butter,' as it is sometimes called in butter-making competitions, can only be produced, according to the opinion of competent judges, by ripening the cream before churning to exactly the right point, and by exercising great discretion as to the amount of washing to which the granulated butter is subjected in the churn. In faot, on this point the requisite condition for fine flavour clashes with that for keeping quality, since for the latter the I fresher the cream and the more the butter is washed the better Now the aroma which is communicated to the butter during the ripening of the cream is, in all probability, if not demonstrably, due to the growth of | suitable microbes in the cream during this stage. Storch and Weigmann have independently succeeded in isolating from i ripening cream an organism which communicates the desired aroma to fresh cream when inoculated into it. Dr Conn tells us that pure 1 cultures of this ferment are coming into use in butter factories in Germany as a means of correctly ripening fresh cream with ease and certainty. Should such a proceeding be found generally practicable, it may # certainly be ; expected to add to the keeping qualities of I butter without detriment to the greatest refinement of flavour. A point not alluded to by Df i

Conn, is the formation in milk and cheese, under peculiar conditions, of a violet poison, which has received the name of tyrotoxicon. The many recorded cases of poisoning by eating cheese in which no suspicion of adulteration or foul play existed remained unexplained until this substance was discovered in a sample of poisonous cheese. It can easily be extracted and even crystallised ; in one case 7gr or Bgr of the substance was extracted from about 301b of poisonous cheese. Milk kept in a corked bottle, half-full, for two or three months is known to develop the same poison. It is clearly a result of some fermentation, the exact nature of which is not made out. The organisms producing this and similar poisons are the microbes of putrefaction, many of them anaerobic, and under normal conditions they do not obtain a footing." Planting Potatoes. — The question of the right number of eyes to the piece of seed tuber has long engaged the attention of cultivators and experimenters, without receiving a generally acceptable answer. The experimental data brought forward at the Purdue University Agricultural Station, Bulletin, n. 42, 1892, prove that the number of eyes per piece is immaterial, but that the weight of the piece is a very important factor. The proper manner of cutting potatoes for planting, therefore, is to divide them into pieces of suitable weight (size),- without regard to the distribution of the eyes. Instead of attempting to have one, two, or three eye pieces, as the case may be, the approximation should be one, two, or three ounces, or some other definite weight. — Gardeners' Chronicle.

Clipping Houses in Winter. — The practice of clipping horses in the winter — divesting them j of the wiuter coats with which Nature provides them — has its advocates and its opponents. For horses in fast work it has become far more general than it was 20 years ago, the operation being much more rapidly and cheaply done with the machines than with the old-fashioned scissors and comb. Those who object to clipping on tbe ground mentioned should remember that the horse lives an artificial life, and cannot be treated according to the habits of the wild hor^o. He has corn and warm shelter and hard work, which the wild horse has not. Moreover, horses which are worked through the winter with their heavy coats on rapidly and seriously go down in condition. Professor Fred Smith, of the Army Veterinary School, Aldershot, h*B been analysing the sweat of a horse, and finds it to show great loss of tissueforming substances Heavy sweats mean loss of tissue and consequsnt loss of strength. Clipping, Professor Smith remarks, largely prevents this loss, and reduces the risk of cold and chest disease. And it has been said by an eminent veterinary surgeon that he regards clipping as equal to an extra pound of corn a day, — Mark Lane Express. Concentration v. Diffusion. — "It is not wise to put all your eggs into one basket " is an excellent saying, but it would be absurd therefore to pack 100 eggs into 100 baskets. ' So with the cultivator of the soil it is not wise to sow the whole of the land with one kind of crop, and all at the same time, nor would ifc her wise to sow 200 varieties of wheat, and to sow on 200 days. If the farmer sows two or three of the very best sorts for his locality, and aows early in the season, then in mid season, and some a little late, he will have done wisely, and all his eggs will not be in one basket. So with the fruitgrower. He must not wholly depend upon tbe local market. He must not plant one variety only of each sort of fruit. He plants apricots for very early in the season, only a few trees, but for medium and late season he plants a good number, but only three of the best sorts altogether. He does not need a botanical collection, but only a few of the very best sorts for bis purposes, for market in his neighbourhood, for export to long distances, or for factory purposes.—Adelaide Observer. Rats and Mice.— Stacks in Europe are protected against rats and mice by building the stacks'upon stone pillars, upon each of which a large flat, smooth stone is placed, and on top ,of these cross beams are laid, and the stacks built on the platform thus made. The rodents can climb the stone pillars, but as the caps project several inches they can get no further.