NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3315, 26 September 1917, Page 8

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The report of the Empire Settlement Committee (says a cable Emigrant from London) shows that Soldiers for during its investigations the the Dominions, committee was struck with the profound change in the attitude of the people of the United Kingdom towards immigration. Hitherto they had regarded it as a necessary evil. _ The war shows, however, that the Empire is one and indivisible. It is now understood that men who emigrate to oversea possessions are not lost to the Empire, but become its strength and stay. The committee expresses the opinion that henceforth no part of the Empire must consider emigration strictly form the point of view of its own interests and needs. The Mother Country, while naturally preferring: to retain her people, should help and not hinder their going to other parts of the Empire. On the other hand, the dominions should not wish to denude her of the population she needs, but should welcome those she is able to spare. They should particularly welcome those who have fought the Empire's battles. The report gives details of the proposals of the Australian States for the settlement of soldiers. It says (vido the Pastoral Review] that the Commonwealth States have decided to give exactly the same facilities to British as to Australian soldiers settling on the land. New Zealand's plans do not yet extend beyond her own men. This is mainly due to the fact that New Zealand has not such vast areas as the other dominions. South

Africa has yet to frame a hind-settlement scheme The question of breeding is involved when it comes to a matter of Temper In temper in animals, and is of Animals. no small importance. Ona sees all kinds of temperamen tsand some extraordinary displays of ovil disposition in pedigree live stock. It is generally recognised that bad tempers or mischievous dispositions persistently run in families. It is within the experience of most brooders that certain tribes of horses are unreliable in their dispositions. It may not bo always easy to distinguish between that which is duo to temper and thai which follows high breeding. Tho spirit of the thoroughbred, for instance, is one of tho things which cannot easily be broken, and horses of high mettle arc much mord uncertain than those of slow and sluggish habits. High mottle, of course, means stamina, and tho will to accomplish the task whatever it may be. One likes a little of this high temper, but not when it degenerates into a menace which requires careful watching. .Farmers must have bulls of equable disposition. Bulls of very bad temperament should not be bred from. When butter contains numerous white specks or is mottled its Mottleel value is diminished. " If care Butter. is given iio the management of the" cream and the butter made under proper conditions the production of speckled butter may be prevented. The white specks are due to the presence of hardened particles of casein, but if tho cream is sufficiently ripened and the butter thoroughly washed in the churn when in the form of small grains, mottling rarely occurs. One cause may be from overripening the cream. If too much acid is developed some of the casein {jets torrcipitatcd and hardened, and while in this state remains in the butter instead of passing off in the buttermilk and washing water. Insufficient washing of the butter grains generally results in mottled., butter unless this product be unsalted. When tho cream is properly ripened and the washing is at fault, it is tho action of the salt and casein that causes the mottling. liadly washed butter which contains a high percentage of casein will not become mottled unless salted, and unsalted butter will not be full of white specks if sufficient of the casein has boon removed from it previous to salting. When the cream is unripened mottled butter is more likely to occur, as tho removal of .the casein from the butter is more difficult. Where butter is drysalted instead of brined, the uneven distribution of salt is often responsible for tho appearance of white specks in the butter, or it may result in using bad salt which contains foreign matter. In order to pro-, duce butter free form white specks of casein the cream must be properly ripened, and practically all the caseous matter must be washed out of the butter while it is in the form of small grains, as it is impossible to wash butter properly when churned into a lump. If the butter be not brined, care must be taken to distribute the salt thoroughly, and in all cases a good brand of dairy salt should be used.

Two tests were made by the University of Nebraska to test the relaBest Depth to tive advantage of different Plant Potatoes, depths of planting potatoes. Depths ranging from lin to sin were tried. The total yields from the plots were as follow: Planted lin deep 1821 b Planted 2in deep 188 lb Planted 3in deep ' 2981 b Planted 4in deep 8171 b Planted sin deep .. •-• •- 3061 b There was a very noticeable difference in regularity of tubers between the shallow and deer> planting. The tubers from shallow-planted eeed formed near the surface of the ground, as was noticeable at digging time. It is probable that the irregularities in moisture and temperature of the surface checked the growth of the tubers at certain times and started a second growth at other times, resulting in the production of knobs on the tubers (compound tubers). The tubers "from deepplanted eeed, on the other hand, were well down in the ground, where they were leaj subject to fluctuations of temperature and moisture, and therefore showed little second growth. The crop from seed planted sin deep contained almost no compound tubers, and that from seed planted 3in and 4in deep was but little worse. The crops from seed planted lin and 2in deep, however, had many compound tubers. The best depth for planting seed, therefore, from the standpoint of yield was also the .best depth from the standpoint of quality. As between the 4in and sin depths there is little choice in yield, and the slightly better quality of the tubers from seed planted sin deep is probably more than offset by the extra labour in digging them. Of the 3in and 4in depths of planting, the latter gave a somewhat greater yield, produced equally as good tubers, and caused no trouble in digging. The indications of this one test are, therefore, that 4in is about the proper depth for planting seed tubers under our conditions. The lin and 2in depths are certainly not to be _ considered under ordinary conditions, since such shallow planting is not only apt to reduce the yield materially, but also to produce irregular compound tubers. AGRICOLA.