NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

ButterFat.

Some cows give milk rich in butter-fat,

ana wie reason is vnau ju is their nature so to do. Others give milk that is

poor in ’quality and has a bluish, watery look. Here, again, it is the cow’s failing rather than her fault. She is not infrequently of‘the quiet, unperturbed type which grazes sluggishly and moves unconcernedly from the pasture to the cow-house. She has no nervous activity, and any food she gets is piled on to her frame as beef, or goes to the making of an extra strong boned calf. She is a breeder of calves, rather than a producer of milk. Though she is of the same breed as her deep milking byre mates, she is with them, but not of them. Such cows are, or should be, “passengers” in .a herd of dairy stock. Yet, but for the testing system, these cow passengers would; travel their own gait to the end of time, and might eyen be the cause of getting the vendors of milk into trouble. Fat percentages, we know, even from the same cow, show wide variations. It may be caused by an uneven assimilation of food, a lowering of the bodily faculties, a sudden drop in temperature, or a dislike to a bad-tempered milker, etc. It is well known that the first or fore milk of a cow is much poorer in butter-fat than the strippings, or the last drainings of the udder; it is equally well known that the evening’s milk is richer than the morning’s milk, owing to the shorter period from morning to evening than from evening to morning. Of course, there are other reasons, but it should be borne in mind that milk is a composite body, and that the butter globules being the lightest part of it, the law of gravity constantly asserts iself. For this reason, milk needs to be thoroughly stirred before an average sample can be taken.

Upsetting a Grimm Tradition,

Au Ohio farmer recently proposed to sue the dealer from whom ne

had purchased Grimm i. lucerne seed because the

plants all had straight tap-roots. This farmer, observes C. J. Willard (Ohio College of Agriculture) merely voiced the idea of thousands of farmers, seedsmen, and even agronomists, that the root system of Grimm lucerne is markedly different from that of common lucerne. This is not true on normal soils. The differences between the roots of Grimm and common lucerne in ordinary stands are too small to be determined except by statistical treatment. In normal soils both usually have a straight taproot, with numerous but proportionately small branches, and it is never possible to distinguish the two with certainty by their roots. On the other hand, the soil type influences the type of root system tremendously. On light, hard, shallow, or unfavourable soil, all lucerne varieties will develop a shallow branching crooked root system, far different from the usual straight tap-root. This is clearly shown in an illustration where both lots of roots are of common lucerne, and were collected, not ten rods apart, from the same paddock. The crooked roots shown grew on hard clay upland, and the straight roots in loose bottom soil. B lt is likely that Grimm lucerne grown on unfavourable soil types are responsible for the "branching root system” tradition being applied to Grimm. However, Grimm is unquestionably much more -winter hardy than common lucerne, but this does not depend on a different type of root system. Experience teaches, for example, says our authority, that Grimm has leaved fully as much as common lucerne. Its hardiness is due largely to something in its internal make-up which endures cold, exactly as wheat is much hardier than oats, although wheat and oats are closely related, and look much alike.

Preserving Canvas, Jute, etc.

Ln replj r to ’Haystack, Outram, for a

recipe oy which canvas, jute, or clothing can be made practically as impervious to moisture as flizk frvl Izvtiri

icavuvi, me Auiiuwiug waterproofing or preserving methods are suggested:—Steep the material in a decoction of 11b of oak bark with 141 b of boiling water. This quantity is sufficient for eight yards of material. The stuff has to soak 24 hours, when it is taken out, passed through running water, and hung up to dry. The flax and hemp

fibres, in absorbing the tanning, are at the same time better fitted to resist wear. A waterproof paint for van covers, etc., is as follows: —Lampblack, ground in turpentine, Jib; ground black resin, lib: Brunswick black, 3 quarts; boiled linseed oil, 1 quart. Mix well, and when the resin is dissolved, strain, and it-.is ready for use. To make tweed waterproof an exchange says: Fill a clean pail with purified boiling rain water, add Jib sugar of lead and Jib alum. Stir occasionally with a wooden stick till the mixture becomes quite clear. There will probably be some sediment, off the liquid into a galvanised iron bath, and put in the tweed garment you want to make water-resistant. Leave it to absorb the solution for 24 hours, then hang it up to drain and dry in the open air. Never wring it out. To make cloth waterproof a slightly different process is required. -In five gallons of boiling water dissolve IJlb of alum r and in a separate basin dissolve- IJlb of lead-sugar in a similar quantity of water, then mingle the : two solutions in a ' larger vessel. It is not sufficient to place the garment in this mixture; it must be well worked in until the solution has penetrated to every inch of material. Tbe garment may then be dried, Without previous wringing, in the open air or m a warm kitchen. Though this is optional, yet it is the safest plan to dip the garment once more in the proofing solution after the first complete drying; hang it up again, and then, when quite dry, wash it in cold water and dry again. It will then be ready for fise. The cold water washing is necessary in any case whether or not the second dipping be given.

Primitive Veterinary Science

In an address to the Edinburgh Univer-

sity Agricultural Society, Mr William C. Miller, M.R.C.V.S., of Royal

1, veterinary... vpilege, traced the early history of veterinary science. The ancient Egyptians, in whose lives animals played such an important

part, he said, left little or no record of the animals or the treatment of their diseases. There were only two known references in either ancient Assyria or Egypt. The first was from a code of laws, discovered at Susa in 1897, which were arranged by .the lawgivers of King Hammurabi, who, flourishing about 2100 .8.C., ruled over nearly the whole of what was now modern Persia, but was then Babylonia. In one of the rules they read: “If a doctor of oxen and asses has . treated either an ox or an ass for-- a severe wound, and cured it, the owner of the ox or ass shall give to the doctor one-sixth of a shekel of silver for his fee,”-' and in another rule: “If he has treated an ox or an ass for a severe wound and caused it to . die, he shall give one-fourtli of its price to the ownep.” (Both good rules, but the -latter has a particular appeal to the writer of this column.) The second Reference was in a. papyrus containing a fragment of a work dealing with animal diseases, and ■tfas discovered by Professor Flinders Petrie at Kabun in 1889. The following paragraph had been deciphered: “If I see a bull with his eyes running, his forehead wrinkled, and the gums of his teeth red, and his neck swollen,. I must repeat the. incantation for him. Let him be laid on his side; let him be sprinkled with cold water; and let his eyes, hoofs, and all his body be rubbed with gourds and melons . . . ' and then let him be rubbed with cucumbers. Thou shalt gash him upon his nose and his tail, and thou shalt say to him: ‘Suffer .it; for he that has a cut either dies with it dr lives after it.’ ‘ If he 'does not recover, and-if he wrftikles under thy fingers and blinks his eyes thou shalt bandage his eyes with lirieii lighted at a fire to stop the running ftbin 'them.” It was not evident what disease was meant, but probably maligant catarrhal fever or rinderpest, both very contagious ’ and usually highly fatal. Referring to the remarkable collection of ■writings in ancient Greece and Rome, Mr Miller quoted as an example of knowledge of •horses 2300 years ago the following observation by Xenophon:—“Nothing but close supervision by the master will prevent your horses from being robbed of their food by your unscrupulous servant. A moist and smooth stable floor will ruin your horse’s feet. [The Greeks did not shoe their horses, and therefore. a hard ■ hoof was a sine qua non.] You should have your stable paved with cobble < the width ■ of. a horse’s /-that currents .-of 'dir may pass -under • the hoofs and dry them, and the

slope should be so that all fluids will drain away.” The lecturer suggested thatuntil recently Xenophon’s idea of cobblestone paving had been almost scrupulously followed—a great tribute to a sound teacher. Xenophon summed up his work by saying that it was necessary “ to have the hoofs hard and the mouth tender,” and he condemned in no polite terms any one who showed anger towards his horses. AGRICOLA.