FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 6

FARM NOTES.

BRANDS ON HIDES. At the March meeting of the Chamb«r o£ Commerce, Bristol, England, the question o£ branda on hides lame up. Tho president stated that in respc-nja to a reaucafc from the

tanning industry he had addressed a letter to the presidents of the Chambers of Commerce at Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, directing attention to the very heavy loss occasioned by the excessive number of brands on salted South American hides, which during recent years had rapidly increased, and which rendered the side on which they were placed of greatly decreased value when tanned, and useless for the purpoße of belting leather. This maturally involved a heavy loss to the tanner, and relatively placed the South American salted bides at a disadvantage, when compared iwith Continental and English hides, both of which were unbranded and very carefully flayed. The letter proceeded to state that in 'Australia a very much bettei system of branddng catble had been adopted, where no branding iron was used, but some chemical compound employed, which removed the hair and • prevented .its reappearance. Consequently, the hide commanded a better price and yielded a better result to the tanner. The letter concluded by stating that, this was a question of great importance to Bristol tanners, who pur.chased from 150,000 to 200,000 hides annually. DISEASE GERMS IN THE BURIED BODIES OP ANIMALS. A series of experiments by M. Loesener on the buried bodies of animals tends to show that the permanence of disease germs in the soil and in the eofiin after burial varies greatly with different kinds of bacteria, but seldom constitutes a very serious evil. Out of J. 3 cases in which the animal was affected with typhoid before burial, there wa3 only one in •which the disease could be traced after sub- . sequent exhumation. Four out of seven cholera cases gave positive results, the interment lasting from' seven to 28 days. Of 25 tuberculous cases., three showed the infection after periods varying from 60 to 95 days. Tetanus •bacilli have been shown in one case 83 long as 234- days and upward?. The germs, however, -when traceable in the coffin, -were scarcely ever to be found in the adjacent soil. HOW EGYPTIAN BUTTER IS MADE. In an interesting article by Mr Williamson (Wallace, of Cairo, on Egyptian cattle, in the Stock-breedere' Magazine, the writer gays: — "The natives have, fox ages, made butter in ■ tho most primitive manner. The whole milk in put into a goat-skin, and allowed to sour ; the skin is then suspenued from the roof of the hut by a rope, and jerked backward and forward by a woman until the butter comes. ■ The neck of the ?kin forms tho only opening to the bag. and this the woman takes in her hand, holding it tightly, fo that nothing escapes, and the skin, which is about half-full of milk, is inflated by blowing into it, and thus forming a space in which the milk is dashed from one end of the bag to the other as the •woman- jerks it .violently. Needless to say, j the-product is mixed with a considerable quan- I tity of chee3y matter, has a sour taste, and •unpalatable flavour. Those who have seen the process of inflating the skin by the breath of a native will not be disposed to eat the product with relish ! This butter is eaten fresh by the natives.' ' MILKING INDICATIONS AT BIRTH. . As science advances, more and more attention is given to details, and it is found that often what are popularly considered to be very minor points often turn out of the greatest importance. As is well known in farming, to produce a good milker is considered to be somewhat of a lottery, and many a calf is reared for dairy purposes that would have been far more profitable converted into beef. Now, how are we to pick out these?. A Swedish dairy newspaper — Mejeriernas Annonsblad— affirms that a discovery has recently been made, the truth of which has been proved by a first-clasp veterinarian, that makes it possible at the birth of a calf to judge if it •will become a good milch cow or not. It has been observed that the palps, that are on the inner side of the cheeks near the corner of the mouth, have different forme, according to •whether the animal is a good, a middle-class, or very indifferent milker. The palps being largo, broad, and PeA denote that the animal gives a large quantity of milk. If they are only round, the milking qualities are of the most ordinary description; while if they are pointed, the milk yield is of a most wretched description.