NTOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 5

N T OTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Lucerne is a plant the merits of which have not been so fully recognised in this The Merits country as they deserve. Those of who have light sandy foil would lucerne, be agreeably surprised if thsy tried lucerne instead of the grasses usually grown. Lucerne luxuriates in well-drained land, and in open sandy soil the roots have been known to penetrate to a depth of from 15ft to 20ft. Many who have attempted to grow lucerne have been disappointed at the outset because of its feeble growth, and have therefore ploughed it under in the belief that it was not suitable for their soil. Lucerne takes a few years to become fully established, and will not come to full maturity till six or seven years after sowing. Therefore it must bave time to establish itaelf before it can be expected to show up well. If the piece of land laid down to lucerne is wanted for feeding stock, the best thing to do when sowing is to now a mixture of other clovers and Italian ryegrais to make a sward till the lucerne takes good root. The ryegras3 will die out in the course of about three years, by wh'ch time the lucerne will lave more than taken its place ; »nd after that it will gradually supplant the other clovers and take the whole field to itself. As pasture lucerne is excellent, and the very best of all the clover tribe, but care has to be exercised when turning cows into lucerne, as they eat too greedily of it, .and are very liable fco become blown. Apart from its feeding value la the field, lucerne is one of the tery

best 'forage plants for hay, and ' in good sail ib ctn be cut two or three times in a season. In cutting for hay ib should be cub when in full blcotn. Care must be taken to see Ihao ib is .thoroughly cuivd before it is stacked to preveut heating ; ab the same time it mu9t not be allowed to become too dry, as the leave?, which are tbe mosi nutritious part, become brittle and drop off. For feeding all kinds of stock lucerne is one of the very best fodder plants grown. To test its feeding value for horsas a firmer fed his on nothing else one winter, and found them cjme out of the trial in spring in prime condition. Then bee : des its excellent feeding value lucerne is a capital fertiliser, as the deep roots gather nitrogen and store it up in the soil. Theu if it ever becomes necessary to break up a field thab has. been some years in lucerne the mass 'of fioroua roots in themselves constitute a valuable manure. Lucerne ground is very stiff ts plough, -and additional norse strength is required, bub when ploughed up the roots soou decay if the land is properly worked. A small plot of lucerne is well worth a trial, and I feel certain that such a trial would soon leid to its heicg more widely cultivated.

It is very necesswy and important tlut the cleansing, or placenta, should Boiled Oats come away soon at'ter calving.

For Ie is maintained by some dftiryCalviujr Cows, farmers that a delay of several days in removing the cleansing is likely to militate against the milking value of J;b«jcow..jcluriog the_season. I believe there is "something in thab argument. One of my best cows is liable to retain. the cleansing, and after wa'tiug a day or two I usually have removed it by force. Last year, however, I took sbeps to avoid that being necessary, and I have found a marked improvement in her milking powers, and other things hive been as nsual — viz., fred, &o. Linseed is recommended a« a medicine prior to calviog. A "cupful of boiled linseed seed once a day for two weeks before calviog hftß tbe tfftcb of assisting the natural expulsion of the placenta, bub oats are much less trouble, and in my opinion just as good for the purpose. A peck of dry, clean oats, fed twice a day, will be found of good effeob in removing the pkcenta, but half that quantity of boiled oats will suffice. Boiled oats -have an excellent effect alto in curing hidebound oattle. A farmer who had a lob or' small potatoes on hand last year tried feeding' them to hi? cow?, and he says a bushel a day per cow increases the flow of milk without ddubb, and he thought that they alsoki-pt the bowels in good condition. He recommeods giving them to cows before calviog on that account.

The ages of ahesp, horses, and pigs can be ascertained by the teeth pretty Telling the correctly, but with ca'tle the Age of teeth do not furnish such reliable Cattle. information regarding age. Honied cattle, especially cows, show age by the rings upon the horns. The first ring usually appears at three yews old, and each successive year produces a ring, so that the age is knowa by adding two to the number of ring*. A beast with six rings on its horns will therefore ba eight years of »ge. It is possible to remove riug« from tbe horns in order to make the animal appear youuger than it really is, and I have hosrd of dealers doing that trick ; but it is scarcely worth one's while to go to much trcuMe in " faking " cows, as anyone accustomed to cattle can form a pretty correct idea as to age from tho gener*l appearance of tbe cow. 1 have said that the teeth of cattle do not always give reliable information as to age, but f ome people pretend to be able t j read the mouth. Iv the case of hornless cattle the mouth and the general appearance are all we have to guide us. At any rate, I will state how the age may be approximately known by the teeth : When a calf is a month old it has eight milk teelh— l need scarcely add, in it* Wer jaw. When ib is nearly two years old the two central teeth (which have bsen, in common with the rest, deceasing in siz^) trill be pushed out, and two permanent teeth will appear in their place. At three years old two more incisor* will bs up, and there are then four milk teeth and four incisors. At four years old there will be six permanent incisors and two shrunken milk teeth left. The eight permanent teeth are all up at the expiration of the fifth 3 ear. ,1 have heard it said that the full dentition is attained at four years old, but am inclined to doubt that from my own observation. Moreover, as the beast is turned two years when the first; two permanent teeth show up, and two more come every year, it follows that five years are required in which to get the full set. The foregoing rule is subject to variations, and well-fed young cattle get their teeth earlier than poorly-fed ones— a fact which has given rise to disputes at the Smitufield (London) cattle shows regarding the age of some of the entries.

The f eason for general poisoning being now on,

I may msnfcion a few prevalent

Rabbit Poisoning.

errors in judgment which prevent a clean sweep beiDg made

of the pest at this season of the year. In the first place the quality of oat user! is not what it should be. Too often an inferior sample is'taken, and as s. result the poison cannot" be properly absorbed. Another mistake is that of putting more water in the mixture than the oat readily takes up. This • causes the phosphorised oats to be damp and sticky instead of bright and fairly dry, as is the case if mixed in the right proportions. But what really prevents good results mssb of all is the abiurdly small quantity per acre whioh many farmers consider amply sufficient. They will laboriously go over their properties, spading

every acre; bub to judge by the few grains laid on each sed on 9 would think that they valued each pickle at far over its equivalent weight in gold. They are quite delighted if every grain is gone the first eight, instead of realising that euch a resulb only shows what a farce laying so little poison really is. Poison should be laid once, and ouce only, bufc in such a quantity thab every rabbit on the ground gets more than aufßoiecfc. And unless a certain amount is lefb over this cannot ba the case.

A new or ill-fitting saddle or collar is very apt to chafe the sitiD, especially Saddle and when the animal is in a certain Jlarness 6tafce of health, which tends to Galls. bring about galls. The best

remedy for skin galls is to turn the horse out to grass till the core hardens and heal?, bu% as this is often a tedious process and tb.B animal's services are probably badly wanted at tbe time it is desirable to hasten Nature's healing process by artificial nisans. A writer iv fche Australasian recommends dry table salt sprinkled on the fresh wound as the best and quickest way of cioatns'ng it; another recipe for the same purpose is a strong brine. In fact, there are numberless recipes for this purpose, and I am pretty j,ure that every farmer wbo reads this note will havo a p«t cure of his own. "Whatever dressing may be used it is advisable to guard again&fc further chafing of the healed wound when the horse resumes work by bearing the harness off the wound until it has got past any danger of being re-epjned A mixture of burned leather, gunpowder, and lard rubbed on occasionally is supposed to prevent the growth of white hairi on an old sore.

I may say that I know well how difficult it is to prevent horses from getting collar sores iv the spring, after the winter spell, and I have been compelled to work horse? with galled shoulders my e elf, but I do not believe that tbey feel any pain after they once get warmed up to their work. It is quite evident that they flinch a little from going into the collar first thiDg in the morning. Some people, however, let this s >rt of thing go too far, and work horses with gathered sores, which are very much more painful than a mere clean skin gall or scald. l£ is very proper for the police to take notice of bad caees, and I must admit that I have never seen a case go to coart in whioh thete were not good grounds for a prosecution.

The season of the year when fruit trees of all kinds ought to be planted is now Fruit upon us and rapidily parsing Trees. away. Therefore those who in-

tend planting should not delay longer than circumstances compel. I have repeatedly referred to this subject, but it is of so great importance that it will baar mention again. I would advise every land-owner in the country to have an orchard of some kind, according to circumstances. By far too little attention is paid to this subject, and the days are fast approaching when those who have a good orchard will reap the benefit of it. At any rate it is- good policy for farmers and land-owners generally never to put; all their eggs in one basket— never to rely wholly and solely upon one crop. I have always advocated the growing of keeping kinds of apples, which can always find a good mark.t. Those who have had orchards in the past have planted anything and everything in the nature of apple trees, and the result has been the* reverse of encouraging. First the trees were devoured by the American blight, which attacked both roots and branches, and of course the growth of clean, healthy fruit became an impossibility ; then the wholly aphis was followed by a ho»t of ins3cli pests, which oorapletad the work of destruction so successfully begun by the American blight. We need scarcely marvel, therefore, that many havo tried apple-growing and have found it wanting as a profitable venture. Now, however, wo hava changed all tbab. First, we hnve all our trees grafted on stocks that are immune from the attacks of the woolly blight, and when c!e?n, healthy roots are ensured the work of keeping the tree 3 healthy and clean is reduced to a minimum. Not satisfied with securing blightproof root stocks, the orchardisfca have been experimenting with varieties that resist the American blight on both roots and branches, till now there are a few well-established varieties claimed to be blight-proof. This is an immense gain, and makes the labour of the orchardist all the more pleasant. With the American blight non-ezistant the trouble involved in fighting the other insect pesfcs is lessened by half. In new districts with blight-proof varieties the orchards might well remain free from all blight for a number of years ; and when any of the orchardist's numerous foes do begin to put in an appearance, an occasional spraying will keep the trees healthy. A selection of half a dozen of the late keeping varieties along with a few of the early varieties for home nse is the best. It is better to have 40 apple trees of half a dozen varieties than twice the number of 40 varieties.

There ara four fundamental operations in fruit

culture which must be graven

Success in on the tablets of the orchardist. Fruit-growing. The first is proper tillage, witu-

out which even a successful start cannot bs made. The coil of an orchard should be deeply tilled, and if possible trenched so as to break up the fmbsoil. This will both assist the drainage and allow the roots to penetrate, deeply. In spite of all that has been said about the encouragement of shallow rooting, better permanent results will be obtained by deep cultivation. The next essential is pruning, and greater errors are committed in pruning than in

anything else. The safest rule to observe is to j interfere as little as possible with the natural I growth of the tree, only removing what may be considered superfluous growth. Those who i • headback their trijes yearly and te9ort tosevere*' pruning do more harm th*n good. If severe pruning' is resorted to, the greatest care must I be exercised to rub off all unnecessary buds as soon as they make lh'ic appearance, so as to conserve the required shape and size of i i the tree. Where the American blight is pleati- • j f ul pruiing has to be done with care, as wherever a cut is made there the blight first makes its appearance. Fertilising is the next desideratum, as healthy growth cannot be maintained without a liberal s apply of manure. Thoße who imagine that when the trees ,aie planted their labour ceases are sadly mistaken, for if left to themselves they will ia the course of a few years exbausb the soil, and then ; speedily fall a prey to insecb pests. The surface soil should be frequently sbirred and topd'essed with some fertiliser. Mosb orchards would benefit by a dressiug of liny, | and after that thay should ba top-dressed 1 yearly to conserve the fertility of the coil. The orchard musb be kept in good heart if successful j fruit-growing is hoped for. Aud last, but not ' least, spraying must be done to check fche many j kinds of iasecS pests that bother the life of tho , orchardist. A spray pump and a good insecti- 1 cide are required, and with the proper appliances it is surprising how little attention is required to kefp an orchard clean.

Whole districts in the south-west of France

whioh were devastated by phyl-Co-operatlve loxera are now devoted to dairy Dairying, farming oa co-oporative lines.

Within the last few years the aspesfc of the country between Niorb and the sea has completely changed. Oae vast vineyard is now rich pasture, vintagers have turned co wkeepers and dairy-women, aud so pro* fitable is dairy farming on co-operative principles that it prom ii ses 5 es to surpass the time-honoured cuU. tivatioa of the vine. Miss Betham Edwards tails how it is done. Strange to say in tbe Vendee individual dairy farming does not pay ; it only succeed* when carried ou by associations. Butler and chce-:e ranking are carried on by the latest scientific methods. The cream is obtained by separators. Neither butter nor cheese is touched by the haud. ■ Machinery is use 3 wherever available, and absolute puriby and cleanliness are aimed ab from first to l-»sb. The collector* go from farm to farm about dawn for the milk, each f'aotory taking on au average about 25,000 litres daily. (A litre is about oao pint aud throe-quarter*.) Etch vessel is carried ta aa upper storey by a lift ; the cream, quickly separated from the milk by ceutriugil force, as quickly is transported below in the shape of butter, then weighod, stamped, and despatched to Parii. Ab neon the miikcueu make a secsnd round, distributing the separated milk, which is used to fatten pigs. It is rightly considered thab this is a lesson to English f tinners, whose calling has now reached a mosb critical stage in its career. Ib also illustrates the industrious and patient character of the French peasantry. They cling to their native soil with an affection that is pathetic, and they hava furaiahed proof of the extraordinary productiveness of land

under intense culture.

Agkicola.