NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 15 April 1903, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

Autumn -tillage 'of -the stubbia "land and the •owing of catch crops are Autumn very good things ..when -pracCulUvatioii. tieable, but, unfortunately,

the. harvtat is aq late- thi" year in many parts that there is very little time c or growth of catch crops ere winterbegins. But, leaving atch crops out of the question, the "utumn cultivation is an excellent thing, especially if the. season be fairly dry. After such a flood as wo had in this island last winter, there was no possibility of doing .ny good in the way of ploughing or grubbing the stubble land, but, so far, this autum weather has been favourable for doing the work. For efficient autumn work to be done, the soil must b pretty dry, or, at all e\cnts, not very wet. Stubble land, when left untouched till required next bcason, sets very hard and solid in stiff soil, and breaks iip very coarss and lumpy in the spring, whereas autumn ploughing keeps it open and free, and, bebicle3 that, the soil derives benefit from the winter fallow, which is not the case if left unploughed. If weeds abound the „utunii, ploughing ;auses the fallen beeds to grow, and they can then be ploughed under with s deep furrow in the spring, and thus bo checked 111 growth till the crop gets well away from them. When root crops follow grain, and it is intended to use farmyard 1 manure, this should be applied in the autumn, and worked Lnto the soil. If the ma.nure is well rotted it is not so necessary to apply in the autumn, but in any -^ase the crop." derive more benefit from muck that has been incorporated with the _ soil «ome time before sowing, aB the fertilising ingredient*, are then more readily available

when required by the root crop. Fresh farmyard manure, when much litter is used, diminishes from 30 per cent, to 50 per cent, in bulk while rotting, aad it is better to let it rot in"~ the soil all .winter than tc lie ii tho yards. Moreover, the greater the bulk when put into the soil the more mechanical effect it has in rendering a stiff «soil lighter and freer in texture. As a rule, too, there is more time for carting out in the late autumn than there i* in the early epring, when there is always a rush of work of various kinds. In these matters, however, the farmer must be governed by circumstances, and I can only point out the best course to follow when practicable.

The dehorning of cattle is largely practised in this colony, and is admitDehoruing. tedly of benefit to the

beasts and to the owners, and I was much surprised and disgusted at reading a paragraph in the Australasian about a Victorian fanner being fined for dehorning his cows. It appears that a meddling fool of a policeman laid the information, but it ie most probable that he had been put up to it by some sentimental member of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Every rightthinking person must ldmit that this society ie established for a good object, and that the members, as a whole, are actuated by a desire to do good, and they undoubtedly do good in exposing flagrant cases of cruelty. But, unfortunately, they are «xtremely ■unpractical, do not seem competent to discriminate between wanton brutality and cruelty which is necessary and expedient for the comfort and welfare of I the animate subjected to it. The word "cruelty" is scarcely the correct one to use in this connection, because cruelty indicates the infliction of unnecessary pain; whereas I contend that a stock-keeper must inflict pain, or, in othei words, he is compelled *'to be cruel in order to be kind." If it were not so every male animal would be allowed to continue in an entire condition, tc tho ruin of the farming community, and the greatest danger to mankind in general. When the iase referred to wae heard, a number of practical and sensible men gave evidence as to the beneficial effect of dehorning, and said that the pain cannot be very intense or lasting, as the cows begin feeding in an unconcerned manner soon ifter being released. On the other hand, ■witnesses came forward to say that they considered it a very painful operation, and just because there were more witnesses of this sort than of the other the easily influenced magistrates said the weight of evidence was against the farmer, and ho was fined. On appeal, the judge eaid that he must uphold the magistrates' decision, because it was based on the facts as laid before them, and he (the judge) could not -ay whether the facts were misleading or otherwise. The position now is that anybody is liable to be prosecuted and fined for dehorning in Victoria. Truly, I should like to see come of these meddling ignoramuses shut up in a yard with an angry old cow having a pair of nice up-turned horns with business-like points. It seems to be that those beasts with the most dangerous horns are always the worst tempered, and delight in ripping and goring their meeker fellows whenever they get a chance. I suppose the time will come when wo shall be compelled to employ vets, to chloroform all animals -before castration and he prevented from docking lambs' tails. •11. S. T." writes that he wants to get halfbred lambs, but finds a Crossing difficulty in getting merino Sbeep. ewes to mate with his Romney rams, and would like I to know whether it would not do to put merino rams to Romney ewes, and if not, ■why not? He 6ays that he is aware that the usual course is to nut long-woolled rams to merino ewes, but he does not see ■why the reversed method should not answer as well. If "R. S. T." is of that opinion the best thing he can dc is to try the plan, and see for himself what will happen. He may rest assured that the usual way ie the best way, and that the other has been j tried and found wanting. In order to get ' true halfbreds it is necessary that both parents should be purebred. If the merino ewes are purebred, and are put to purebred long-woolled rams, the resulting cross will be half-way between each — that is, half merinc and half long-wool. On the other hand, if merino rams are put to purebred long-woolled ewe? the lambs will be halfbrede. and if "R. S. T." haß a flock of pure long-woolled ewes ho may safely cross them with merino rams, but he will now see the reason for the "usual way." Anybody can put «a full-blooded longwoolled ram to a lot of merino ewes, but how many fanners possess a flock of pure long-woolled ewes to mate with merino rams? "R. S. T." mentions hi 3 Romney ewes, and aeks why he cannot put merino rams to them. He will c-ee now that he can do &o if his ewes are purebred,- but if they are just )he ordinary Romney crossibreds he will get a queer sort of halfbred lambs from them. It h true that there are a. great many queer so-called halfbreds in ihe country, the result of indiscriminate crossing, but I should not advise "R. S. T." •to increase the number of mongrels. If ha pate % merino r*m to crossbred etres

of che usual three-quarterbred type, the lambs will be "quarterbacks," or "comebacks,** as come call them.

Mangels should be taken up and stored or pitted before the frosts get Mangel B&vere enough to injure lifting. them. There are various ways of taking Jicm up, but in any case care should be taken not to bruise them over much. One method is to twist off the leaves as they are pulled and throw them into heaps, to be gathered and carted to the shed, or to the place where they are to be pitted. Another plan is to pull four drills at a time, and lay the roore close together, with the heade all one way ; a boy or man can then walk along the rows and chop off tho leaves with a sharp spade. If they are pitted with the leaves on they will heat and ;ause mould and rot. If possible they ehoujd be lifted when the ground k fairly dry; if not, they should have time to dry before being permanently covered for the winter. Whatever the covering may be, it should be sufficient to keer out rain and frost. A coat of dry, straight etraw, jovered with eight inches of soil, is the usual mode of protecting tbe roots from the weather. Many careful growers provide ventilation for the pit (or clamp), 'by inserting a wisp of straw or scrub at short intervals along the pit, but thia is not absolutely necessary it the roots are ripe and dry when pulled, and have no leaves to engender heat.

This unsavoury substance has attained considerable prominence in j Shoddy. farming literature since Mr ' Maunsell read his paper on the adulteration of wool at the last national conference of sheep breeders. It may not be generally known that there are two kinds of rags used for mixing with pure ■wool — namely, rags of worsted materials and ordinary woollej rags. Worsted is wool also, but is spun from the long woolr that -are termed "combing" wools, and it mabes a harder md more hairy-looking material than the ihort and soft fibres known as "clothing" wools. Cotton and linen rags are worked up into paper, and not largely used in adulterating woollen goods. The rags from worsted goods are railed "shoddy," and the -ags from 6oft, woollen goods are called "raungo" ; but, as a rule, the word "shoddy" is applied generally to all goods in which woollen raga are used, either wholly oi partially. After Mr MaunselFs paper appeared In print, •, Bradford manufacturer wrote denying that shoddy was used in the Bradford mills, because they are exclusively devoted to spinning — thaj; is, winding ihe long fibres into worsted yarn, which i 6 woven into tweeds in the Scottish milk to a large extent. The wor-ted-apinning plant is very costly, and I do not think any of ihe mills in this colony have the necessary machinery, and therefore theii purchases are confined to the finer wools from merinos, halfbred, and Down sheep. AGRICOLA.