NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The late harvest is retarding ploughing somewhat, but generally Farm Work speaking arable farmers are (or May. kept busy. All potatoes may now be lifted and liming given consideration, and land turned over as soon as possible to lay up until the early spring season. All the stubbles should be ploughed under as soon as possible after being cleaned of weeds and other vegetation, by stock. Grain stacks should be made secure and all straw stacks well raked down. Clean out all drains and sort culverts and gateways, and burn up all rubbish and attend to such weeds as gorse, ragwort, sweet brier, etc. The sowing of wheat will now engage attention. See that the seed is pickled in some deterrent against fungoid infection. Secure a good strain of wheat in well laid up land. Live stock from now on will require some extra attention, as the nights are colder. . Young horses, and old ones too, need looking to in good time. Growing foals at this time of the year should have the run of the best of the pastures. The clipping of team horses, trace high, is worth considering. Ihe rams will now all be “joined-up.” See to it that they are attending to their job. Time enough later on to philosophise. All sheep and lambs on roots or any sort of succulent foodstuff should Have a run-oti on dry pasture, a camp where they may with advantage be stationed, a rack or two of hay or oaten chaff with a salt lick handy. The planting of trees now may well engage attention, while the rugging of cows at night will not come amiss- Feed all milking cows generously and give a thought to the in-calf cows turned out. methinks in the paddock, to probably fall away m flesh during the winter. _ It is essential for best milking returns that the in-calf cows should "corns in” next season in very fair condition. A thin saw at the beginning of the milking season playing fair to the cow. the calf, or to the of the cow. No dairyman can afford to ignore the fact that while his cow requires a rest, it is. not much of a holiday if she is stinted of appetising food during the interval. In view of the fact that control matters loom large on the horizon. Super Men and New Zealand farmers Wanted. are much concerned in the marketing in the Home Country of their surplus produce, -it is interesting to learn that farmers ip the Old Country are after a super man or a £SOOO-a-year man for their union, ihe following resolution was moved by Commander Phipps, and agreed to, at the Malmesbury (Wilts) Farmers Union recently:—“The serious condition of the agricultural industry can best be improved, not by attention to the milk question onlv, as proposed by the Pewsey branch, but by appointing an organising man as manager of the N.F.U. a man of great organising ability and business experience, competent to deal with all the business affairs of the industry, with a view to improving the condition of the farming industry as a whole. . Comr .Eder Phipps ssiithe industry was in such a serious condition that diastic steps would have \o be taken n they were to weather the storm. In busies healings they must have a man with business experience to look after tlieir affairs. _Big business firms and other combinations had done what he wanted the N.F.U. to do, and it seemed to him that they had done so' for two reasons —either that their businesses had assumed such large proportions that their own men wore not competent to deal with it (and that was the ease will the N.F.U.), or their business was in such a serious condition that drastic steps were necessary to raise them out of the slough. The Pewsey milk scheme aimed to benefit milk producers only. What was to become of the rest of the agricultural fleet? Colonel Burdon said agriculture could be divided into t parts—the selling part and the production part, —and under present conditions what training did the farmer get wit a view to competing with modern conditions? Practically the whole of the training that farmers received was on the side of production. By dint of organisation, milk producers had been able to get a fair price for their milk, but when they looked at the price the producer got and the risks he took compared with the dividends of the milk combines and the small risks they took, he did not think they could honestly say that the position was at all satisfactory. The whole reason was in the bargaining. Agriculturists had not the training or knowledge to compete with the first-class business men on the other side. Mr Hugh Bai ;ei said he was certain that none of the so-called co-operative schemes brought forward in past years could give any great help to agriculture without a head man who was a financial expert. Why should a man who was producing all his life think that he could suddenly turn into an expert seller? They had one of the finest wool sale directors in the country to do their business, and the colonial and foreign sellers were kicking because they thought the English sellers were getting an advantage, and if they had brains at the top in the other departments they would be able to go one better. If they had a financial expert they would be able to compete more favourably with Canadian and other wheats, and in the same way a capable bnSincss man would find means of making contracts for pigs which would enable them to keep the factories fully supplied at prices which would enable them to reduce their overhead charges by one-third. With regard to meat, in the smaller markets they found one man buying for several butchers, and he got the cattle at his own price. The time was overdue when they should have an organiser with the neces-

sary qualifications. Unless they made their business pay, no one would stick to the National Farmers’ Union. Other speakers were of similar opinion, and blamed the apathy of British farmers in union matters. One speaker declared that the right man, if above ground, would earn a crown of glory from one or other of the two political parties. There is frequently a lack of common sense displayed in the Sterilisat'on handling of non-sterilised inof Instruments, struments. It is extraordinary what risky things the amateur operator does in handling say “blind” teats. He fails, it seems, to realise the extreme danger of causing germ infection by using dirty instruments in attempts to dilate teats that are constricted or in performing other simple operations. No doubt the milking tube is a useful instrument when properly used, but, unless sterilised, rather than use it matters had better be left to Nature. Before using any instrument of the nature indicated, jt is wiser to make them “safe for insertion.” It is suggested that before use or even a new bought milking tube (siphon) or other instrument should be boiled for 15 to 20 minutes, and the process should be repeated after each insertion in a teat from which pus or any abnormal fluids has been stripped or drawn. Before insertion it is also well to apply a little carbonised vaseline to the tube or other instrument. The same rules should apply to tbe sterilisation of a needle used to stitch or suture a wound in a teat. That operation, however, should wherever possible, be done by a qualified veterinarian, as should every major operation on the udder or teats. Stitching a wound, if not properly done may do more harm than good, for the needle makes new wounds in the process of stitching, and if it is not sterile vaccination of the wound with germs will be almost Certain to follow. To gain an idea of the possibility of infection from an apparently clean instrument, let it be remembered that one cannot see anything on a vaccine point. But the something is there all the same, and it surely has a wonderfully active effect. Nor can one see anything amiss with a nail that has penetrated the hoof of a horse or cow; yet it has carried the bacilli of tetanus into the wound, which has closed at once and allowed growth of the germ and formation of its poisons and toxins, whioh cause the characteristic symptoms of lockjaw. Boil your instruments before and after use to maka sure they will not firry germs.

If anyone asked me which was the most popular animal on the averThe Pride age English farm to-day, I of the Farm. should answer without hesitation, the pig (writes an observer in the Farmer’s Express). In Ireland, years ago, we used to hear the pig referred to as the “gintleman who paid the lint,” and on many a holding at the moment the pigs are contributing more towards this item than any other branch of live stock. Naturally this adheres the farmer to his rigs, and when the back of the old sow, out for a walk with a healthy litter at her heels, is scratched by her owner, there is something more in it than mere affection; in fact, it is more like one proprietor in a business saluting his partner when trade is good. I do not say that one can hardly help being fond of a pig, because there is something about the animal that appeals to you, and I know farmers who feel quite lost (would there were more of them) if, for the time being, they, have not got a few pigs about, but the feeling of affection is not always at the same level, and it is perhaps at its height when piggie happens to be the roundabout .and making up for something that may have been lost on the swings at the Exhibition or. peradventure, on the scenic railway in “Chocolate Avenue.” Seriously speaking, however, not enough is made of the brood sow. A few good sows are at least equivalent in regard to value returned to a fair bunch of breeding ewes. Try some. AGRICOLA.