NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

.Thijj is a suitable time of the year to cure meats. A fat lamb is now well grown—in fact, it ia no longer a lamb properly speaking, but a hogget oi teg. Two methods, which are said to have proved successful, are given in the New South Wales Agricultural Gazette. The curing can be done (1) by curing in a pickle of known composition, or (2) by the dry method. The pickle should be prepared by taking 101 b of salt, lib of saltpetre, lib of cane sugar, lib of dry antiseptic, and making this up to four gallons with water—that is to say, the total bulk of the mixture will be four gallons. This should be boiled and skimmed till clear, then allowed to cool. The curing of the hams is then carried out by placing them, after they have been nicely trimmed, the carcase having first been well cooled, in a tank or curing tub, then pouring the curing pickle over them until they are submerged. In three days’ time the hams should be turned, and, if the pickle is red coloured or thick, it should be poured out and fresh pickle used. Nothing more needs to be done, but to wait the process of curing, whicn will be complete for mild-curing meats in 12 days. For hams to be kept for a long time the process should be continued for from 17 to 21 days. Fresh pickle should always be used. When the cure ia complete the hams are removed and drained, after which they are hung up tc dry in a dry loft in the dark. They may then be enveloped in cotton bags and hung up for future -use; or they may be smokea with oak or any other hardwood sawdust. Any kind of place will do for smoking so long as it is high enough to prevent the hams being treated by the smouldering sawdust. A barrel placed on end on a low brick wall is quite good enough for a few hams at a time. The dry cure is different from the wet cure, inasmuch as no pickle is used. The hams should be placed on a cool floor or flagstone bench in the dark, and sprinkled over first with a light coating of saltpetre, on the top of which are placed some peppercorns. Some sugar should bo sprinkled over the surface, and a little dry antiseptic, while over all should be sprinkled a thin coating of salt. Nothing more is necessary, as at the end of 14 days the cure will be completed; but if it is desired to keep the hams for any length of time they should be again sprinkled with a-thin layer of salt and kept in the cure for another seven days. The drying and smoking are just the same as with the wet cured hams. Sheep’s tongues are cured in much the same way as the hams. They are simply immersed in the pickle for from four to seven days, and are then ready either for preserving in sealed packages or for immediate use. They make an excellent dish when cooked and served up cold in a mould of jelly.

Curing Mutton or Lamb-

Succulent foods are more favourable to milk production than dry foods of a similar analysis as to nutrients says a writer in Farm and Ranch Review). This is readily observed from the season -when mammals produce their young. Animals that are dependent on herbage for sustenance bring forth their young at a time of the year when the herbage is most succulent. Succulence has a greater influence oyer the milk yield of dairy cows than is generally imagined. The value of silage is not due to any additional feeding properties because of the preservation of such silage, but is due to succulence, which makes it easy of digestion and assimilation. Take a given weight of roots and note the effect upon a milch cow’s performance. If the same weight were dried we would only hove about 10 per cent, of dry matter, upon which the cow would give very poor results; nor will the original value of the roots be restored by adding 90 per cent, of water. Feed this given succulent weight t> a cow, and the result will be a certain quantity of milk every 24 hours, but give her dry matter and add 90 per cent, of water and the cow would’ be naif starved, resulting in a dminished quantity of milk. Nothing can take the place of Nature; the juice of the plant is the perfect assimilation of food. It has been found that oowb in milk invariably increase in milk when first turned out on succulent pasture and decrease when changed, to. a day ration. Whatever the explanation ia, the fact remains that an equal amount of nutrients fed in the dry form will not result in producing milk yields so large as when a part of the food is succulent. A certain amount of suooulent food should be available tha year round.

Value ot Succulent Food.

The following reply to “E. L.,” Kelso, regarding the necessary steps to be taken in securing seeds from pines, etc., will probably suffice. In order to secure fertile seeds from pine trees, it is advisable to secure dark, partly-opened cones from growths not less than 15 to 20 years old. Seeds from younger trees, it is said, are not vigorous enough for the best germinating results. Soon after they have Been gathered the cones should be immersed in hot water for five or ten minutes. That will release the bracts. If the cones are then placed in the sun, or a warm place, for a few days, the seeds will drop out by gently taping the bracts on a bench in the plant-house. It will be found that a percentage of the seeds contains no kernels. They are useless. Empty shells can easily be recognised by their whitish grey colour. Fertile seeds are dark. Before sowing it is a good plan to break several of the seeds until one with a kernel is found. That will be an excellent guide by which to determine the value of others. Pine trees on high, dry banks often produce seeds at an • early age. As a rule they are infertile, and should not be gathered. Haying obtained sound, fertile seeds, the planting area must be carefully prepared. The germinating pot shbuld be in a sheltered position, where the soil is not likely to become unduly dry on top during warm weather. Seeds of plne3 may be sown early in autumn or about the middle of spring.

Pines Irom Seeds.

All stock farmers, particularly those having to do with milking cows, should have on hand (declares an expert) some or all of the following medical aids:—(l) lolb Epsom salts, lib ginger, 1 gallon raw linseed oil, 1 quart castor oil; (2) li pints olive oil, lib lard, 1 pint camphorated oil, lib vaseline, loz bottle flexible collodion; (3) 1 pint turpentine or - bottled lime water; t 4) lib carbolic acid, lib boracic acid, 1 gallon zenoleum, creolin, or izal; (5) Jib sulphate of iron, lib gentian, 1 pint whisky or brandy. The first group comprises purgatives and laxatives, the second applications for udders and teats, the third is for use in case of bloat, the fourth represents disinfectants, and the fifth tonics and stimulants. In addition to the foregoing, the following appliances for treatment of disease and the administration of medicines can profitably be included:— Drenching bottle with long neck, trocar and cannula for bloating, graduated measuring glass; milk fever apparatus, clinical thermometer, injection pump or 6ft Jin rubber hose with glass funnel, hard rubber syringe, three milking tubes, and set of hand clippers. AGRICOLA.

Medical Aids.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. By Agbicola. E. L., Kelso.—ln re pine seed, etc., see note above under Rural Topics. “Amateur,” Southland, declares that report generally says that Chou Moeilier is immune from club-root disease, and wishes to know whether such is the case.-^—-Chou Moeilier is one of the brassicas, all of which are more or less subject to club-root disease. This particular plant is probably constitutionally very vigorous, and ita roots in oonsequence range widely for nutriment. In that sonse it may, given a soil environment not too inimical, flourish where cabbage, cauliflower, rape, turnips, etc., fail; but it is not immune, no more than one breed of cattle can be said to be immune from tuberculosis. OTAGO A. AND P. 80CIETY WINTER SHOW. The entries for tho forthcoming Winter Show are not coming in so freely as in former years. The committee recognised that there might be a slight falling off in some sections, but anticipated that the deficiency would be made up in other sections. A meeting of the executive was held on Wednesday afternoon, and it was deeded to extend the date of receiving entries to Saturday. May 23. To enable tne catalogue to be printed for staging the exhibits no entries will be accepted after that dote. Intending exhibitors would facilitate the preparation of the catalogue

and considerably relieve the work of the office if they would forward their entries ms early as possible. All the judges for the variqgs sections have been nominated and have accepted. The arrangements have been completed for the demonstrations on Friesian cattle, Romney sheep, and draught horses, and as these demonstrations are both instructive ami interesting it is probable that other sections will be added.