FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

Inbreeding and Blindness — Tbe writer of j " Scraps " in the Live Stock Journal publishes the following letter from a correspondent: — " Bliuduess, as a result of close breeding iv cattle, is sometimes manifested. We have before our mind a remarkable case. An important herd of ehorthorns possessed many animals bred pretty c'osely to one strAui of blood, and many which did not partake of the blood of that strain. A bull very c'osely bred to the particular strain referred to was used. His cilve-i from the cows which wero alien in blood to himself were robust ; indeed, some ot them held a high place at important show?, and were remarkable lor their development at an early age. Oa the other hand, his calves from the cows which were cicely bred to the strains from which he himpclf wa3 sprung were in many instances quite blind — a grievous disappointment to their owner. Iv other cases, where thes'Jme relationships existed between sire and damn, the calves producrd had their perfect eyesight, but they were afflicted with brain di»eate, which soon became so marked a3 to nff ecb their movement, and to render their plaugbter necessary. Some of the blind fema!e3 of valuab'e pedigree were aliovrerl to grow up, and they produced several calves ; but these u'iws had not strong constitutions, and their offspring did little gaod." Butter Cultor'b. — It was from Denmark that the theory that microbes «c required to make first-class butter emanated. This theory, which wa3 received with scorn, is new advocated by many scientific m?ii, and rn&uv creameries now invest money in the " culture." Ia lowa 28 creamer.-en are usiDg it. Experiments have been made with over 100 different kinds of germs, but it wan not until No. 41 was discovered that satisfactory rasuks were reached. A conclusive trial was recently wde in a Connecticut creamery. June butter, aa is well known, is in flavour thfi best produc°d during the year, so the of bacillus No 41 upon pure but-ter was most interesting. Early in the month two large vats of cream were collected One of these was inoculited, the other was not. They stood in the. same room, at the same temperator?, for the same length of time, and were subsequently rhurned. Both Jots of cream produced excellent butter, but No. 4-1 bad a t*«te and odour decidedly superior to thatmadf> wiihoub it. A large number of persor) B tasted it, and no one hesitated in deciding that No. 41 made the superior quality. Tho first attempt at an estimate of bacterin in butter was made in Muuich in 1?91. It was found that there are about 2,000,000 in a grain. — Exchange.