NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The season of the year iff rapidly approaching when the question of housing Housing dairy cowa at night; will have to Dairy Coirs, be faced. Our milder climate and the amount of open wither , we usually get even in a severs winter offer too great au inducement to dairy-farmers to allow their cows to run out at nights in the 1 open. For milking cowa such a course is clearly a mistike, as the severe call made upon the beasts to resist the cold will speedily reduce the now of milk at the cost of au increased demand for feed. It would b>. far better to have tbe nvliriDg cows under the cover of evsn an open shed during the- cold winter nights, with only a rack of oaten straw in front of them, than turned' out into even the best grass paddock. This fict is not sufficiently r*alis?d : by our farmers, or^a more general effort would be mide to supply ev»ry farm steadingwith a oowshed of aome sort. In the good' °ld days whan wheat straw was of little- valne, I have aeon a very comfortable cowabed made by firet eracting a rough frame of pole? across posts' Seed firmly in- the ground, then building- a stack of straw on top to act as a roof. This was a clumpy but effectual shelter fcr milking cows, which had ttie recommendation that it did not require much timber. Ev^n now, when wheat straw hau acquired some value for cubMnj into cb>ff, a quantity of it could ba pub to good uee< in building a nheTtur »hed such aa I hav<s described 1 . Again, to miuimisa the quantity of posts, and beams required- to build this rough kind o£shed, I hive seen a vesv comfortable cow houte made by excavating a site on the side of aslope, thvLH forming the two ends, and a b&ok wall. The front, of course, was left open, the necessary supporting posts for the roof only baing, required. On many a sunny slope, where the ground is suitable- euoh. a shedcould be, erected at little more than the cost of labour. Those who can afford- it will, of course, build decent wooden' structures- with either iron or felted roofs. If "the former the roof ought to bs alittle higher, as iron is a very cold roof in frosty, weather. A very g<- od plan for a ci>wi»hed is a double-sloped roof of the ordinary kind, wide enough to allow the enws to be tied up facing each other, and with an alley way between the feeding boxes, to admit of feed being conveniently carried to them. Th« floor should be slightly rounded in the centre, a;id a water table or channel should pass along behind the cows. A good hard clay floor will do,, if stones or wood blocks are laid where the hind feet of the animals generally rest. The very best floor, of course, ia concrete ; or good asphalt will do equally, well. Such a cow house will be closed in all round, butsupplied with.doors aad windows at each end.. A fair quantity of straw is required, for housing cows at night, as they will want to lie down when not feeding ; but the manure saved will more than repay tbe straw used for bedding. Iv the southern district* at any rate dairy cows should be housed iv the winter nights, and if kept warm and comfortable they will' more than repay any ontlay ia pro- . viding Qomfottable quarters for thorn. The iacreated yield of milk, coupled with the less amount of feed consumed, will speedily cover all the expense of providing- a comfortable oowshed. . * Next to the question of winter shelter for dairy cows comes the question of TTiHter winter feed. In the m»jorifcy of Feed for cases the staple feed is oat Cows. straw and ■ turnips ; but this is obviously the poorest kind of feeding for milking cows; Baiter fat is the chief desideratum in the milk, and if the principal diet of the cows is dry cat straw and' turnips, let us inquirewhere the butter fat is to ' come from. Samples of English oat straw | from ripe oats, after threshing, examined by Dr Vo< lofcer, gave the following results : — Water, 16 per* cant. ; soluble albuminoids, 129 ; insoluble albunvnoids, 236 -, fat, 1-25 ; carbohydrate?, 319 ; digestible fibre, 27 75 ; indigestible fibre, 41 82 ; asb, 6*34. Now, note that this analysis shows oat straw to oontiin only 1% ppr cent, of fat wherewith to enrich the milk of the cows fed with it. Yet you want 4- prir cent, of butter fat in your milk, or as near it as you can get. Then let us turn to the analysis of turnipß and see if we fare any batter. Aberdeen yellows- analysed by the same high authority above quoted gave the following :— Water, 9056 per cent;. ; albuminoids, 1-W ; fat, 020; sugar, 3 90 ; carbohydrates, 1-90 ; insoluble cellulose, 1 04 ; ach, 100. Here we ste the f*t is 1 less than per cent., co that the combination of oat straw and turnips is not just the correct one for good rich milk. OE course pact of the carbo-hydrates and the sugar will indirectly find their way into ! the milk, but that is not quite the same thing as getting at the milk" direct from the food supplied. If hay made from a good mixture of grasses is used the percentage of fat will riso to from 21 to 3"6, while the albuminoids will rise to from 7to 15 per cent. While, again, if oats are fed to the cows in either oaten chaff or hay, the percentage of fat is 6, and that of albuminoidß 11, with starch 56 ; a very high feeding value indf-ecT. Hay and turnips might do were it not for the obji-ctronable flavour the latter give to the milk. Good, well-cured hay with a moderate allowance of o t n hay or chaff would constitute a very rich food for milking cows that had a fair grass paddock to graze on during the day. The turnips should be reserved for the non-milking stock. Turnips are so- readily grown and produce such a good crop that they are too generally used for milking cows. However, iv good time we hops to • change aIF that, and when none bub prime bcitex ma find a nsxket *t aU the i*mats trill

be foroed to adopt rational methods of feeding dairy cows. , The general cold average temperature of the, summer and the early autumn Early fronts point to a cold winter, Ploughing, probably with a conKiderablft amount of fro3t. In view of that possibility no titna should, ba lost inputting ttie work of ploughing for nexft season's crop in hand. Now is the mosfc favourable' time for breaking up land intended for cropping nr>xt «e»8ou. Stubble land should be turned over before the land becomes aoddeu, and if left exposed to the winter fronts it will be in excellent, condition for the seed in spring time. 1 Wifch nuny the breaking up of lea land is left over till late in the season in order that the • stock may have the.beuefib of the grass as long 'as possible This is quite, & mistake, as lea land requires all the frost of the whole winter ' bhrongh to pat it in Srat-alaas ordei'., Iv most •asea, if turned up iv. time, lea land' will harrow quite weil enough for the sejdbsd without any : cron ploughing, and that is always a saving in labour.. If cross-ploughing 1 has to be. resorted 1 to, the land will work* bettac after a winter's frosts. If ploughing is delayed' now the, chances are that the -land will be turned' over in a soddened condition, mid there will be- double labour required to prepare a seed bed in spring time. My advice, therefore, to all' who can do so is to get to the plough without delay. The reports of the turnip crops this sra*on vary j considerably. In m>me- they areThe g»id to* be looking well, and in Chemistry others the reverse y but; as a of a rule there are good, bad, and Turnip* rod-fferent crops in* all' diatriotsevery season^ If a turnip.field: is- properly prepared andi suitably manured' the cost> is something considerable, and. if the crop does not thriva the result- is ver; disappointing, far failure, or partial failure, means not- only the loss of the- cost of tha crop wfos the probable profit therefrom, but also the loss- of the use of, the laud for .the season. There is another drawback also, and that is the- Cooling of the land with' weeds- when not fully occupied with; a orop — Mid turnip fields are e»pe<H»lly liable t» this. Seeing, then, ih.%l the tucuiu is an object of interest just nowj ib may be uieful to set. down afevf items concerning the composition of this important root. It ia well known- that all kinds of turnips contain a large proportion of water in tut-ii' composition, the amount varying from 86 to 93 per cent., so that we may say that on sb average there is about 90 per cent, of water in the tdrnip. For. example, a turnip weighing 101b contains fo much water that i when it has been baked and. dried until all the moisture has evaporated, so that it can be no more reduced in weight-, then the weight of dry matter that rcmiins will amount to no more than '85 of a pound, or nearly 14-oz out of the 101b. Tha dry matter remaining is partty conibuttible and partly incombustible. Of thattofftif'dry matter, thera is '0? of a pound (l£oz) of incombustible asb, composed mostly at lime,, soda, potash, and. phosphoric acid, which substances, have been derived' from the soil by, means of the small rooti, which have taken them up in the form of a solution. As the water containing these essential substances in solution rises in the pitnt, it pasps off from the leaves, by, a process called' transpiration, and leaves the solid matter behind for building up the delicate tissue of the flesh of the> root. This transpiration can be noticed on a hot day in midsummer when the soil is rather dry.. The heat of the sun draws off the moisture from the leaves faster, than ib can be drawn up through the roots, consequently the ibaws have a withered and wilted appearance during the heat of the day. In building up the turnips large quantities of water ara necessary for the conveyance of very small quantities of material that go' to form the nourishing part of the root. The combustible matter i* chiefly derived from the elements—carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen — a.nd' consists of the valuable feeding mit-rials of plants — starch, sugar, gum, oil, &w. Besides the minerals which the roots of the plant take up directly from the soil, the plant absorbs the greater partion of the nitrogen it requires in the same way, and the carbon which is ho essential to the formation of starch is elaborated from the cu'bouic acid of the atmosphere, which is collected by the leaves. Notwithstanding that such a large proportion of the plant structure is" derived from water and from the atmosphere, heallhy growth depends- upon a suffisient supplyof the soil materials which are necessary to the composition of the more valuable parts of the root. Scientific tests have proved that the flavour of butter is due to a great extent Cream to the ferments- (or bacteria) Ferments or which develop in the milk or Starters. cream from which the butter is made, and if the dairy and" all the utensils, &0., are perfectly, clean and wholesome the fermenting; bacteria will be supplied by the atmosphere, and'will give the butter tbe best possible flavour; but if impure air, bad smells, or filthy matter of any kind get. into tbe tciik or cream neither the j flavour nor the keeping qualities of the butioc can be otherwise than unsatisfactory. It is also said that every butfcer-maker may Brake a i culture of ferments for the making of a j fermentation starter of excellent quality if everything in and about the dniry and butter room be kepfe most scrupulously clean — provided, of course, that the milk ia free from cowshed or other impurities when brought , to the dairy. It is said, too, by the beat • authorities that the very best and most marketable baiter am be iittvoaied by foe age of a

fermentation fttarter, especially when, used in connection with" milk from cows that have been

; I fermentation fttarter, especially when, used in r connection with" milk from cows that have been j six months or more In milk. A Home paper i&ys I that a dait-yman has recently accidentally stumbled upon a happy discovery. He found, that, if a- certain proportionate qnantity of buttermilk be saved and kept from the air it acts »s an excellent starter for the next churning. He uses it in the proportion of half a pint to five gallons of cream, and- says {hat it promotes'an excellent degree of ripeness for churiiT ing. After the starter is put in the cream it must be kept;, for 24- hoars in a tearperafcaro of 60dsg and occasionally stirred It zntißt be rememberedi that the rate of fermentation, by whatever oaus^ is. regulated by the temperature — a high, temper*- ' ture being fatal to the baoteria microbes that c&nse- fermentation, and, so: also i«-a very, low, temperature. lu.thtt- words -of Professor Conn, aa eminent specialist on this matter: "If the. milk is. cooled to. a low temperature immediately after it is drawn from the cow, the bacterial growth is checked at once] and. will not b -gjn. again, with much rapidity; until the milk has. become w»rmed once more. Th« warming, will' ' take place alawly,, and therefore tha cookd milk ! will, remain sn eat, many hnui-s- longer than. th*t. ' which is nob carded," Hence the necejmity of using the coaler, seeing that tha temperature of new milk. is just about the most favourable, • one for the- attraction of baoteriaand.the, rapid, ' development of fermentation. : ■. AOBICOEA.