NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2215, 13 August 1896, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The Pdstoralists' Review nays that there are indications r>f the collapse of the The Shearers' Union in South AusUselessness of tralia, and that it looks as if the ■, Strikes. ' obituary notice of that union will soon have to be written. In the past it has been one of the most aggressive societies in Auc tralia, but now the men seem to be iguoring it altogether, and it is practically a dead letter, as shearers are engaging themselves on their own hook, and are eager to have their names taken down. Is this the beginning of the end, I .wonder ; and are all the best men getting tired of bsing led by the nose by selfseeking agitators ? It seems to me that tha shearers and general workers' unions have done but 'little good to the men as a whole since thesa combinations were organised. In fact, it is questionable whether they have not done more harm than good to the members — that is, to the rank and file. A bitter feeling has been created and engendered between the p&storalists and the men, and this is entirely. owing to the actions of tha union leaders in seeking to obtain what the employers considered unjust and unreasonable terms. The shearers of their own motion would have "been content to let many points alone which were of little moment to them, but the leaders considered that important principles were involved, and. the men had to act acoording to their instructions. It is not right that the men should submit tamely to what they consider unfair treatment from tbeir employers, but when once the union leaders take up a dispute the main questions at' issue are lost light of and the strike is prolonged at their pleasure irrespective of the wishes of the main body of the members. Ido not propose to discuss the eights and the wrongs of the recent strike among the coal- miners at Newcastle, bub merely to draw attention to the fact that the m*en saw no prospect of the termination of the fight in any way, and therefore took the matter into their own hands and deoided by billot among themselves whether they would return to work or not. It is only of late years that strikes have been fashionable in the colonies, and from what I have seen I have come to ths conclusion that they hava resulted in very little, if any, gdin to the strikers. If concessions required by the workers cannot be obtained by friendly negotiations with the employee, the attempted coercion of a strike has aelJom resulted in those concessions being wruog from the employers, who "usually prefer to cease operations or to grant the batter terms to men not in the strike. Strikes are a barbarous means of obtaining redress of grievances, and entail terrible mieery and want; upon the families of the strikers. If fair and just dealings between capital and labour cannot be maintainedfby friendly moans, it were better for the wives and children that the bread-winners should submit t> what they consider to ba injustice rather than invite hunger and privation to their homes by striking.

In using manures' for farm crops, whether artificial or farmyard manure, Mnuurlng three points .have to be conOats. ' sidered. The three chief elements

which it is desired to add to the soil are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash. Farmyard manure contains all three, and artificial manures one, two, or all three, accordiogto their composition. jLa artificial manures nitrogen is generally supplied in the shape of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia ; superphosphate supplies lime and potash generally. Nitrate of potash and kainit supply po'ash also. The following results were derived from experiments conduoted on six farms iv Ayrshire :—Experiments were tried on 13 plots on each farm, each' plot being one-twentieth of an acre in extent. Two of the plots received no manure, and the average of those two was struck by way of comparison with the others. The other 11 plots had different applications of manure, with the object of testing by the results what substance or combination of substances was best suited «for manuring under different conditions. It was not merely attempted to increase the oat orop ; it was at the same time put to the teat whether the oat orop could be profitably increased by the application of manure. Taking the price of the grain at 2s per bushel of 401b, and tho straw at Is 6d per 1001b, the results were as under ;—

Plot No. I— Value of increase over unmanured plot, 13) 3d ; coat of manure, 9s. No. 2— lncrease, 18a 7d ; cost, 93 6d. No. 3 -Increase, lia 9d ; cost, 6j. No. 4— lncrease, 15s 4d ; cost, Bs, No. 5 -Increase, 19s lid ; cost, 9s 1W No. 6 -Increase, 19s 6d : cost, 17s< No. 7— lncrease, 24s 10a ; cost, 15s. No. B— lncrease, 27s 9d ; cost, 235. No. 9— lncrease, '63s 6J : cost 153 6d. o No. 10 - Increase, 443 3d ; cost, 23s 6d. No. 11 - Increase, 24s 2cl ; cost, 153. Nos. 12 and 13— No manure. One of the farms on which the experiments were conduoted was at Sornberg in Ayrshire. The soil is of a loamy nature, the elevation 400 ft above the sea level, and a good situation. The oats were sown after turnips which had been liberally manured. The corn and manure were sown together on April 8, and it brairded on the 23rd, or 15 days after sowing. The greatest differences were observable at brairdwgt a»rvMtio|, and at the time of ireigbiotf.

The orop, was harvested on September 6, aY which time there was* a marked difference in the ripeness of 'the plots.' The experiments j showed that the plot's manured with suparphos- ' phate came earlier to harvest. . When the crop 3 were' threshed and weighed that manure 1 -with \ superphosphate weighed cleaner and lighter than the others, the nitrate and potash plots weighing heavy with water. The highest value of the crop on an unmanured plot was equal to £6 10s per acre, while the lowest was only worth j £4 3s par acre. So far ss the oost of the produc- : tion of the crop wascoucarned, the cosb was tho same on bath lands. Good land, to begin with, required rather le?s seed, bat the oosb of handling the best crop was more, so that the total cost was practically the sinvj on both. Ai for profit, that on No. 1 plot was 50 per cent. The general result was that nitrate of sod* gave the largest returns and the largest profit. On No. 2 plot sulphate of ammonia gave the largest increase — the cost was a little more, but the profit was greater. * I

For the most part in-calf cows are allowed to take their own chances, and we Ailments need not wonder-that sometimes

of a steck-owner finds himself Calring Cows, mulcted in heavy loss from death and abortion. Accidental sporadic cases of abortion occasionally arise, and one class of calf-fllippmg is attributed to the pregnant cows eating ergot'sed grasses. Numbers of cases, in which the animal suffers severely, are commmly called " loin dropping." Large cows in poor condition are most commonly affeoted. As pjrturibion approaches, the badlywintered, half-starved cow becomes incommoded with the weight of the rapidly-grown? calf, and Unds lying more comfortable thin standing. In such o.ses some covra will lie j without rising for days, eating and drinking as j usual when food is offered to them, and with no appearance of ieverishness. In such oases there is no structural disease — the animal is simply debilitated from the drain caused by the nourishment of a big calf. In such ca3£s the animal must be roused and taken to a sheltered and comfortable spot on which to lie, as if neglected the termination may prove fatal toboth cowhand calf. The cow should be provided with a good bed of straw, and she should be moved .twioe daily from one side to the other. With good nursing, good food, and a little attention, the animal will get on all right, gradually gain strength, and /get. to her feet, There are other and more serious complaints which prostrate cows during the later periods of gestation. One of these is eclampsia. This is purely an affection of the nervous syatam, characterised by spasms and convulsions. The attacks are usually sudden, although the cow may for some days previous seem dull and out of sorts. '' During an attack the auimal is excited, foams at the mouth, champs her jaws, and often holds her head to one side. The spasms are intermittent, but often last two or three hours, and in bad cases breathing may become difficult. Cows\of all ages Buffer, but tbe disease is most frequent in animals in poor condition. A large proportion of ess as appear in cold weather. Eclampsia is essentially a disease incidental to poor nourishment. The romedy, therefore, is to Bee that the pregnant cow is well fed and well cared for, especially during the later months of pregnacy. The proper development of a healthy c*lf is a great dram upon ths vitality of the mother, who should be fed generously if tha health of bath is to be sustained.

! We hear of cows giving wondetful yields of . i milk —up to three or four gallons Where at a moming'a milking, and it is [ Does She a puzzling thing to know where Keep It! she stores it all just previous to milking. A noted professor on dairy matters at Home was applied to for information on this point, and he gave it as his opinion that itjis all stored in the udder, with the exception of the portion that is mvle while she i» being milked. He said he had measured the circumference of the udders of a Jersey and of a Holstein oow. The Jersey's meisurement was 3ft and the Holstein's 4ft 4in. In the former the apparent vertical depth was 9in, in the latter 13in. He said that there is no doubt that when the udder is distended a part of it is pushed ap beyond a line drawn horizontally, intersecting the abdomen where the udder is attached to it. If it is aisumed that the udders thus distended are perfect cylinders, and that the udder ab >ye the line described makes up for the deficiency in the perfect cylindrical form at the lower end, the following capacities are arrived at :— The udder of the Jersey will have a oapacity in round numbers of 16 quarts, or 4 gallons, and that of the Holstein of 48 quarts, or 12 gallons. The Jersey cow measured by the professor wai giving ab the time 6£ quarts at a milking, and the Holstein 16 quarts, so that it is easy to see that there is abundance of storage room for the milk. The abovementioned yields being only one-third of the total oapaoity of the udder, the remaining twothirds is probably occupied by membranes and tissue. It may not ba generally known that this tissue is divided into many compartment!, at the lower end of which muscles are arranged, something like the string that gathers in the mouth of an 'old-fashioned purse, The oow has , control over those " purse-strings," and may, to a certain extent, close or relax them at will, therefore it is very necessary that she be kept in a good temper while being milked in order ! that the milk may he allowed to flow freely from these small reservoir* in the upper part of i the udder into the larger ones just abore the teat*.

I notice that a Royal Commission appointed t.) inquire into the condition of Cheap ' Money British agriculture in tneir for Fanners, report advocate che3tp money

for farmer*. They say:—" At the present time advano9 oE public moneys to a limited extant and en adequata security for agricultural improvements would be of very considerable advantage." For this purpose the commiisioners report that they do not anticipate tho diminds upon tbe exchequer would be very great. It is gratifying to find that a commission' of experts in Britain find that wh»t many of the farmers stand rtfiib in need of is cheap money whore* with to improve their holdings. They point out that the dennud is not likely to bo great, from the inadequacy of the security that most of the farmers will be able to offer. AU the more nejd, therefore, fo? amending the • Agricultural Holdings Aot so that in all cases where the landlord) are unab'.e through lack of adequate security to avail themselves gf public moneys to execute necessary improvement'), the tenants may have the privilege of taking .advanb*ge of the beneficence of the Government for themselves. If our New ZiMand scheme pans out rigbt, as they say ob the digging*, no doubt tha H«tne farmers will taka a lesson from us in the matter.' -

The editor has kindly favoured me with the loan of a copy of the twelfth Am erf can aonu »1 report of th« Agricultural Experiments. Experiment S'ation of the Uni1 versi'y of Wisconsin. Numerous bulletins are mued during jihe year from these American etations, and the whole results summed up/m the annual reports." These iustifcutions are founded and inaiatainei by the Sta'e, and a large and -compefiint staff of ofiners is employed. A creamery and butter factory is carried .on in conjunction with the diiry aohoal. the daily intake of milk ranging as high as lOOOgal, One chapterof the report is devoted to a description of a Bheep-dipping apparatus, on a very small scale compared with ■what we are accuitonaed to in this country. The bath is only 12ft long, -and fcha dr-tiuiag poos are built to hold only 15 sheep. Anorics is not a couotry of big flock?, and probably a dip of the siza mentioned would suit the majority of' the farmers. A novel experiment was tried in dipping hogs. There being a quantity of fluid over, it was decided to dip tae grunters for lice. Accordingly about 50 were put through, with satisfactory "result', and , it is said thab the pigs ware not very un. tilling to obey the order of the bath when once tbeir leader, had given them » start— they took a header in at one cad and reappeared at the other, so there was no necessity to use the ducking crutch. There are numerous tabulated statements of the results of experiments in* feeding stock, bu!i it seems to me that some oE the expsrimeite only go to prove what has baen well known for yean, such as feeding p'g* on skim milk,»ud wheat. One of the most interesting and exhaustive experiments deals with linseed oil meals. The different methods of manufacture are describea with comparative values. I was not aware until reading this article that there •is a new process of extracting oil from linseed by means of »r» r chemical solvent. By the old method tfie oil is express id by moans of heavy hydraulic presses subjeoHng the seed to a pressure of from 20001b to 30001b per square inch. By the new pnoceas the seed is soaked in ' naphtha, a vblafcile petroleum compound of a i specific gravity of about .'7O. . The naphtha dissolves the oil of .the seed, tihe solution is run oft, and when this has been repeated a dozan times all the oil ha-n been drawn from the seed. The hu»k is then freed from the smell of napfchfc by means 'of live steam. It is then put into steamheated drying kilos and made ready for market. | It appears that the value of the oilcake is not affected by the process of extraction, and dej pends altogether upon the quality of the linseed that is treated. The bulk of the volume is devoted to dairy matters. One exhaustive and technical article upon the relation between milk solids and the yield of cheese, by Dr Baboock, the inventor of ! the tester that bears his name, is interesting. In speaking of the different methods of ap- ; portioning dividends in cheese factories, Dr Bibaock rays that of the two systems the relative I value plan is the bast by whioh the value of ! milk for cheese production is measured ' by the fat it contains, and which makes the basis of dividands or payments. The other system he calls the " pooling " system, which divides the ! products of a factory among the different patrons according to the amount of milk delivered, irrespective of quality. It seams to me th»t we are not much behind the States in these matters; nor do we need to be told that the addition of water to milk tßnds to reduce the percentage of solids, not fat, below the average^ There are pages upon p^ges of tabulated rasults of experiments and trials of all kinds in oonnee- ! tion with dairy matters, but I fail, to glean any ! new or startling information therein.

One of the most practical and interesting reports is that desoribing the conAmount of ditions of soil, climate, &3., Starch affecting the amount of staroh In Potatoes, in potatoes. It is shown that the amount of starch varies in tubei'i of different varieties and in tubers of the same variety; varies according to the season; is influancsd by heredity; by the distance in planting; by the influence of climate ; and, lastly, the amount of starch is influeuoed by size of tuber, and also that the specific gravity is an indication of the rtarob qonteafc. By mean* of this last; faob we

oan sort the best tubers for the table. Put a number of- tubers into a tub 'of water and ebir in salt, and it will be seen that tome will float sooner than others, this lightness showing •• lower specific gravity and consequently A deficiency in starch. ' It also appears that size is not. everything, at the proportion of starch is usually just as great, under simiUr conditions, iv small tubers as in large. I -will add one fact for the benefit, of houtemves and concludenamely, that the higher the percentage of itarob the sooner a potato cooks, the more it swells in cooking, and^ the more nourishing and better in flavour is it. AoßtcocA,