THE GOVERNMENT DAIRY SCHOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2164, 15 August 1895, Page 5

THE GOVERNMENT DAIRY SCHOOL.

(Special to the Witness.) The dairy school at Stratford was opened on August 1 under rather adverse circumstances, ' considering that the factory was undergoing re•pairs, which were not completed, and that there had been a heavy fall of snow of about 6in to Bin, followed by severe frosts. Mestrs Robbins and Sawers left for neighbouring districts to arrange for a supply of milk, as the heavy frosts had very much reduced the local Bupply.

Friday, 2nd.— The day was spent perfecting arrangements and organising. At this date some 20 students are in attendance, all much interested in this the first dairy school in the north. Saturday, 3rd. — The weather still continues cold, and in consequence the milk supply ia rather smaß, Tbe number of 6ta.de.nts eon*

found that the victims were ewes carrying twin lambs. I opened a number that died in this way, but could not arrive at any definite conclusion ac to the ctusfl of death, and if I remember aright the Government veterinary expert- was not able to correctly diagnose the symptoms.

A few weeks ago a settler applied to me,

through the editor, for informm-Snud-bindlHg lion about the new sand-binding Grass. grass known as marram grass

(Psamroa arenaria), or Biitish bent grass. Not having had any experitnc? of shifting sand I was un»ble to at once comply with my correspondent's (" W. B.") request, but having looked through my file 3of the Witness I am now able to give a summary of the paragraphs that have appeared at different times in connection with this grass. It appears that the seed of the marram grass was first introduced into the colony of Victoria by Baron yon Mueller in 1883, and by him handed to the borough council of Port Fairy for trial upon the barren shifting sands of the coast in that locality. The park ranger took charge of tho eeed and the planting, and he has succeeded so well that miles of sandhills on the coast line are now green with this grass, which most efftcbually prevents any further drifting of the sand. The grass is said to be good and palatable for cattle and horses, and is both succulent and strong in growth. Mr Avery, the park ranger at Fort Fairy, gays that the marram grass is practically indestructible — burning, cutting, or feeding off only seems to make it thrive the more, and it really takes root even in shifting sand. Plants for transplanting have been sent out from Port Fairy to all parts of the Australasian colonies, and it has never been known to fail to "catch on," as the saying is. It is proving a great success at Otago Heads and &t Lawyer's Head, and about a year ago a quantity was planted on the sandhills at Tahuna Park, and again this winter a further consignment was planted out, in both instances with good results, so far as can be seen at this time. I believe the plants are supplied at the actual cost of digging, packing, and carting to wharf at Port Fairy. The park ranger at the last-mentioned place gives the following instructions as to the method of plantirg :—: — The gras3 to be planted in rows at a distance of 6ft apart, the space between the plants to be at least 2ft. The depth to which each plant is put into the $and depends on the nature of the sand. If in sand not likely to drift for two or three months, 9in will be deep enough ; but in very loose and shifting sand the grass should be placed from 12in to 15in deep, A "plant" consists of as much grass as a man can con* veniently hold in his hand, and care should be taken to have the root* regular. The system adopted in planting is for one man to dig the

proof stocks or not, and the work of destroying that kind of blight is most difficult. The only certain remedy is systematic spraying with one of the atomistic constructed for the purpose and some of the many insecticides in use. Sprajiog to be of any use requires a spray pump to force the insecticide fluid through the atomiser with force. A force putnp and 03 clone nozzle is just the thiug for this purpose. By means of this apparatus the liquid is cast about the tree like a dense mist, and every leaf and every twig- is drenched with the liquid. No orcbardist can hope to grow good sound clean fruit in the face of the numerous insect pests' thttt are in waiting to prey upon the trees without tho systematic use of the spray pump. The chief obstacle is the'eost of a satisfactory pump, which is too rnu'b expense for the mvi with only a few fruit trees. Mr Biackmore when lecturing about the country recommended each horticultural society to purchase a good spray pump for the uss of its members. The idea is an excellent one, and ought to be carried into effect. Members of the society could gob the use of the machine gratis for a stated time, and outsiders could get the use of it on paying a small fee. If this were done by every horticultural society the good result would soon be apparent in the finer fruit produced. Where there are no horticultural societies, orchardists should combine to purchase a suitable spray pump for general use. It would pay every orchsrdist with half an acre of fruit trees to purchase a spray pump, without which no orchard can be kepb clean and no good sound fruit grown.

Footrot in sheep is one of those things about which a considerable diversity Footrot. of opinion prevails. It is a debatable point whether the disease is constitutional or contagious. By contagious is meant, of course, that the disease is contracted by contact with infected sheep, or by treading on land on which infected sheep have grazed. This subject has repeatedly been dealt with in these columns, and I do not know that any farther light has been thrown on it sinca my last notes on the matter, but 1 am led to again refer to it on account of a statement that recently appeared in one of the leading farming papers of Britain. The statement runs as follows :: — ♦• Sheep cannot be infected with footrot if they are bred and kept on an nncontaminafed farm, from which all sheep from without are excluded." Now this ii quite contrary to my own experience, and I cannot accept it as being correct, though it comes from a high authority. The summer before last was very wet, and in the autumn t fouujpmany of my ewes bad with footrot, and these ewes had been born and bred on the farm, and had never been away from it. Neither had they come into contact with any outside iheep for more than 12 month* previous to the ap-

pearance of the footrot, nor bad footrot ever been seen on the farm before. The continued wet weather of that summer was the sole cause of tho appearance of footrot among them, and, notwithstanding anything that may be said to the contrary, I am convinced that those sheep did not get the disease from any other sheep, but that it was earned by the moist condition of the land at that time, and also by treading upon long grass ; and as for contagion in tho soil that has been trodden by foot-rotted sheep, I can only say that sheep have since been grazing upon the same land, but because tho season was dry last year there was no sign of rot. I cannot say positively that sheep are not predisposed to the disease, for tbere may be germs of it in tbe blood ; but it will not develop or appear unless the state of the weather and the character of the soil are such as to encourage the breaking out of the disease. Much good nny be done in the way of prevention by keeping the hoofs pared, for ones the outer shell of the hoof is allowed to grow long and turn over, footrot will ensue if other conditions are favourable. I cured my ewe 3by paring their feet and running them through a trough containing a solution of bluestone and water until cured, but if the grasi is long and the soil moist no preventive or curative measures will avail without also removing the »heep to a drier and colder soil. The paper I have quoted from goes on to say tbat the 'spread of the disease is often due to tbe contamination of highways! railway .trucks, salevards, faira, &c. For my part I do not believe that sheep with good sound feet will ever get bad frpm any of those causes. A man may buy sheep in 'a saleysrd, truck them to ths "nearest station, and then take * them home along the highway, and if their feet were sound when he bought them and -they were put on to flim and sound gva'-s < land, footrot would not make its appearancj. But if ho put them on to long, dank grass growing on a' wet soil in a wet season, footroot would probably appear, and then he may say that the sheep contracted it in the saleyard, or truck, or on the highway ; but if he has any sense he would more truthfully admit that the state of the pasture and the character of the season had been at tho bottom of the mic chief after he bad got the 6heep home, assuming, of course, that the feet of the sheep were quite sound when they were bought.

The editor of the Scottish Farmer waxes eloquent over a new i-aco of halfHalflued bred sheep that has been pro* Sheep. duced in Scotland. This new type has been raised chiefly in the Galawater district, and ones seen in the show yatds, the writer says, they are never to be forgotten. They are grander looking than the Border Leicester, and carry a coat more like that of the Cheviot breed. * The origin of the type is not dearly known, bnt it has been noted that their rise was coiucideut with the advance of agriculture and the reclamation of the bill land in Scotland. The typo has not yet come to bo recognised as a pure breed, bub they represent a type developed by careful selection from crossing the Cheviot with the Border Leicester. The breed has come to be very popular in Scotland, and it is said in the districts where they are the favourite breed they pay more rent than any other breed. The article concludes by saying that their clam to nat'onal recognition should be based on the brojd ground of their intrinsic national value. And thereby bangs a t*le. If a breed of sheep has been productd in Sootland from, careful crossing that appears to be a more serviceable animal than any of the recognised pure breeds, then why should' we cob in New Zealand produce oae or more croa«bied type* belto suited to our.requirements than the old-established breeds ? The work of constructing a new type of animal is slow, and for the most part disappointing. In actual practice it will often occur that the progeny of the mod'fc promising parents will turn out weeds, whil« the lesa likely animals may produce a better type. Mutatis mutandis, like produces like, and the bdsfc-ltxjkinf parents will produce the best-looking progeny ; bat in all cases of animal breeding there is what is termed atavism to contend with, or tbe inherent tendency to revert to some ancestral type which may or may not be of an inferior kind. To begin with, the best result ■ may r.oi be obtained from the most promising animals, but the correct thing to do is to select the animals that produce the best progeny, and in time, by careful selection, the type o»n be established. At the outset it is not advisable to keep in view too rigidly an ideal type. Within broad lines all the animals Chat; conform to the desired type must be kept ; but, as the work progresses and the number of animals increase!, a more select type can be arrived *t. When good serviceable animals are desired rattier than pedigree atook, the margin for variation is considerably enlarged. I *f*lly believe that better results would accrue if 6everal ef our large flookownera made a combined effort to establish a type for meat producing, and others for the production of wool. In view . of the marvellous developments made all along the lines in stock-breeding, it is quite unlikely that the limit has been raacned. For one th'rng. the fleeces of wool have been increased to about double what they were 30 years ago, and it is hard to tell what another similar period may produce. Nature is kindly disposed towards us, and we are dealing with piastic material capable of almost iudefioite moulding. I see no reason why. the carcase* of mutton should not reach 50 per cent, more than its present weight, while improving in quality at the aamft time. Weight of carcase and grossnew are by no means inseparable ; but the sbeepbreeder has work ahead to develop just the type required. The field is such a promising one that this work ought to ba carried on as persistently as, say, the work of the scientific florist or horticulturist.

At the request of correspondents I have at sundry times given 'information Farther Sun- about the culture and uses of flower Items, the sunflower plant. I see that the sunflower has lately been receiving attention as a farm crop in Tasmania, and from files of the journal of the' Council oE Agriculture of that tight little inland I have gathered sundry items of information which - may be of interest to my readers. In a former note I said that a good crop of sunflower seed would yield about 40 or 50 bushels per acre, or nearly a ton of seed, but that estimate .was based upon Australian reports, and may be a little above the mark. A Russian farmer is the authority for the statement that from 14001b to 16001b is about the average jield of seed in his country, wihch gives the grower a net return of about £5 sterling per acre, and so profitable and popular has the growth of sunflower seed become in Russia that 700,000 acres of it were in cultivation a few years ago, when the latest* available returns were made. Last year a large cotton planter in the Valley of. the Mississippi visited Russia for the purpose ot making inquiries concerning the cultivation of sunilower seed, and the following items are f leaned from his description of what he saw. n Kuasia sunflower is usually grown after a prop oS wheat or rye and it also does well after clover. The stubble land is well ploughed in the fratucMi, and finally prepared for the seed ialfai

engaged in the Bradford textile industries, and it is pleasing to note that not only is it the American trade that is improving, bnt also the demand for both Home and the Continent. A remarkable increase is also shown in Leeds exports to the United States during May, the total amounting to £56,508, against £10,646 last year. Woollens and worsteds, &c, are responsible for over one-third of this total, whereas tho exports in May 1894 were only valued" at £276. There is a separate entry also, woollens amounting to £7336 as contrasted with £1124 a year ago. Mr John Moss, of Seffcon, writes to us (Christchurch Press) to say that for two yaars he has grown clover for s«ed. Ou November 21, 1893, he cut it for hay, and on February 21, 1894-, he cut for seed one acre four chains, from which he obtained 5001b weight. This year he had four acres cut about the same time, and threshed on March 6, obtaining 17001b weight of very good quality.

Co-operative creameries are increasing in France, and the State supplies full information to promoters. The first step is the selection of a good bookkeeper, then the associated farmers bind themselves by deed to supply all their milk, make no butter at home, and dispose of the skim. -The value is fixed at from 3£ to 4 per cent, of butter fat, and the skim is sold at one-thirteenth the price of the butter. All profits on Bales, less working expenses, are divided pro rata. A looal veterinary surgeon is retained to. examine all contributing cows at least once a week, also inspecting their feed and reporting ' to the manager. In many cases a system of , the mutual insurance of cows is arranged, and a co-operative purchasing agency as well to acquire fertilisers and feeding stuffs of the best quality snd at the Io vest terms.

Eistmau's, L'mited, is a gigantic trading concern, devoted to the sale of firezsn mrat, and has shopa throughout England. In 1894 it handled one quarter of the refrigerated; beef and one-eighth of the frozen mutton imported into the United Kingdom, totalling in va'ue one and a- half million sterling. Australian mutton has been sold at 3£d per 1b for the lrg*, the Jcarcase bsing bought by Eastman's at 2d per lb, so the margin for profit was small.

Dairymen in Sweden fully appreciate the milk-giving Ayrehires, and frecjuent importations of the best stock are being made from Scotland.

Under the heading "Bonanza Farming" a contemporary says : — "An American system of farming has been attracting some attention lately in England. It is called ' bonanza ' farming, and is carried on by persons who work* immense tracts of land, mostly in the far west of the United States. It is said that a most rigorous system of management is employed,

tinues to increase, 37 having registered to date, nearly all of whom find accommodation in tho town. This afternoen Mr Macßvran, Chief Dairy Commissioner, made a few remarks to the students on their duties while at the school and the programme to be gone through, &c.

I might say in conclusion that the apparatus are a Da Laval separator, from Messrs Mason and Sfcruthers, Christchurch ; Alexandra separator, from Ngaire Factory ; curd knives and Babcock tester from Messrs G. F. Trew and Co., Gore (agents fl>r Messrs D. H. Burrell and Co.) ; Babcock tester and one of D. H. Burrell and Co.'s continuous presses, from the Crown Dairy Company, New Plymouth ; Standard butter-fat finder, from B. C. Robbing, Hawera ; and a butter worker from the Alton Factory. Besides the local supply milk is also being sen!; from Midhierst, Elthem, and Norm&nby.