FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

Breeding Draught Hoeses.—A writer in the Live Stock Journal, commenting on the exhibits at a recent -English horse show, offers some remarks that are worth the attent : on of. breeders who raise draught horses for city work. He says :— " The old idea that a draugh'o howe should prcent tho flatness of a brick wall is bsing gradually act on one Bide — and a good job, too. It did well euough in the times of ' holding ' pavements, when a horse went fetlock deep at every stsp; but nowadays, when it h hard to get a hold for the faoof at all, it,will not suit. ' Plaiting ' action also stood out against a. few good horses. By 'plaiting' we do not altoge ther mean ' dishing,' which involves a wide cu'.fling from tho point of the shoulder. Horstis ■•which plait and leave a sort of fox trick in the sawdust, one foob in front of another, move much a; usual, but they pu 1 ; themselves in most trying positions when placed in front of a load. ' Plaiting ' or ' foxfooted sefcion' in our own experieuce i? an much responsible for work-hocco falls on London streets as are the faulty conditions of the pavements themselves. It is poß6ible that there was not more plaiting action at this show than iv the past, but the judges, working on the Siotch jßyet^m, gav3 us better opportunities of observing it. It is a very bad fault?, and the last fault we think a work-horse should have, as it gene•rally coraes on to an old atager when he gets weak across the kidueys", and begins to walk like an old man with a Btaff. Wide, straddling hook action is also going out, we were glad to sea. It causes as many falls on the modem pavements, and the ttrnddler is invariably a ' bad getter-up.' vlndeed,v lndeed, it seems hard to get hold of a re»lly good, square-set horse which ha* two ends workiDg together at the same time."

The Profitable Pig. — It is ficgular that while complaints are often made of pigs being fattened to weights above tae popular taste, those heavy pigs are invariably the least profitable to the producer. Experiments made for the purpose of determining the economic weight of a pig show conclusively that the animal never should be fed beyond eight or nine montbs of age. Tho largest profit; is found, as a rule, in a weight not exceeding 2001b. What is known as the food supporc plays an important part in the fattening of pigs. Suppose, for example, we take a pig, and resolve to feed it until it reaches 3001b live weight. As it in-crca-63 in size it mußt take from its food an increasing amount each day to support tho weight a'raady gained, or else it falls back. Ttsts have been made which indicate that 2 per cent, of the live weight in food is required to support the animal, and in a pig weighing 3001b this amounts to 6.b of food daily. There is no profit from this food.- The only profit is in the food that goes to make new weight. A recent experiment mada at an American station illustratos this point most clearly. Tae pigs were Uken &t eges frooa five to eight weeks. During the firs'; days of the trial not far from 21b of food produced lib of growth, while during the last days the ratio was 4-lb of food to lib of growth. Every pound of pork made during the last 50 days cost double that made in the fust 100 days.

Butter Preservative —The trustees of the Cork market hfcve recommended their clients to adopt the ajstem of preserving butter by borio acid, which others have employed for years. Dr Buruey, in his latest edition of " Food in Hoolbh and Disease," speaking of boric acid, says : — " It is regarded by most authorities as harmless." The Lancet says :— " It has generully been considered the mildest and most harmless of antiseptics." Mr M'Kenzie, on the other band, calls it an "injurious drug." Again, ho says the law in France prohibits the iatro'duction-into food 6f any mutter injurious to health, and boric acid bas been declared injurious by the highest public hygienic authorities in that country. In reply, the chairman of the trustees quotes a passage from the presidential address iv the chemistry and climatology section of the neilth Congress of the British Institute of Public Health, as published in the State Journal of Medicine, September 1895. Speaking of 278 samples of foreign butter taken for analysis at various ports of entry, the president, Mr R. Bannister, deputyprinoipal chemist of Somerset House laboratory, says :— "Nearly all the samples of fresh butter contained a preservative, and especially those imported from France ; but some of the samples from Holland, Hamburg, the United States and Canada were not free. The preservative was borax." The English trade have only to make it clear to the Cork butter trustees that they want butter free from preservatives, as it has hitherto been, and the chairman says that they will immediately take steps to comply with their wishes.

Milk Fever.— At present, writes au Eoglish farmer, I am keeping 15 shorthorns, and feed for milk for the London trade. Last year they averaged over 700 gallons each, and so far I have kept thii complaint off. I always try to get them dry six weeks before calving if possible. About two months before calving I cease giving them milk-producing foods, and let them run on n&tu'ral pasture, but, should that be too luxriant, I keep them in open yard during day and let them out at night. The last fortnight; I keep them in a small meadow close to the house, where they are always under someone's eye, and keep them in a loosebox at night. About a week before their time is up I give a bran mash, followed in two days by a xcd drench. On the eve of their time being up another ma3h ; during this time am very particular to see they have plenty of water. If very cold weather I take what passes through the refrigerator, which juit takes the chill off ; if they go over their time I wait events. As

soon as possible after calving I give auolher bran mash, pretty toffc, just warm ; in about two hours after, another red drench, followed in abjut an hour by a bucket of water just warm, then a little bit of good hay, followed by as much water just warm as they will take. -I continue to give them thfrir fill of water from a bucket' for a week or 10 days, and gradually bring them on to their ordinary diet. In case they do not cleanse properly I use one and sometimes two drenches. I always take the water to them myself, and then I know they get it. The men think ib too much trouble, and tell fibs. Always .keep a lump of rock silt in their mangers, besides using powdered rook salt with the grains, and ie in astonishing how quickly they lick a lump away.