NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

A Piquant Sensation. At the Dublin Show in August an interesting position arose. It was the ladies’ day, and the leading event was (says an exchange) the awarding of the champion prize for the best made hunter, suitable for a lady, to be ridden sidesaddle, and judged by ladies. The judges

were the Hon. Mrs Duncan Campbell, of Malmesbury, Wilts, and Mrs V. L. Stevenson, of Malvern Wells. The two ladies went about their work in a tradesmanlike fashion, tested their animals, rode them, and subjected them to all recognised tests.. Eventually they reduced the competitors to three —Lady Ainsworth’s Cottage Pie, supreme hunter champion of the show; Mrs Hope-John-ston’s First Brigade, a champion, but not supreme; and a third. Miss O. Al. Creagh’s mare Wiry Vixen from Dangean Castle, County Clare. Then the judges came to a deadlock. They could not agree as to the champion, and the umpire was called in. He happened to be Lieutenant-colonel John Al'Kie, of Glencaird. Newton-Stewart, admittedly one of the finest horsemen in Great Britain and one of the foremost judges of hunters in the world. He tested Cottage Pie and First Brigade, and then turned his attention to Wiry Vixen. Apparently this Irish mare, which had hardly been placed in the open class, pleased the Scotsman mightily—whether he rode her sidesaddle is to us unknown. Anyhow, he passed oyer both champions and declared Wiry Vixen the best ladies’ hunter in the show ! It would" be interesting to know whether this award did not secure the endorsation of the two ladies who were the class judges. Did their difficulty not arise from the fact that their opinion and Colonel M'Kie’s agreed ? A Forceful Address. At a conference in Perth (Western Australia) Mr J. C. Warren, of Dyliabing. Katanning, made some very pointed, if unpalatable. remarks —unpalatable at least to those who regard Australian legislation as sacrosanct. Every word of it (according to the Pastoral Review) is warranted. “ Our unspeakable tariff,” he said, “is steadily whittling away reciprocal trade with our kinsmen overseas, while our iniquitous Navigation Act is performing the same office with regard to our interstate trade. The imbecility of compulsory so shackled our various activities with ligatures of

red tape that economic gangrene has set in, and nothing but the boldest surgery can save us. By our boasted system o£ adult suffrage we have for the past thirty years been hoisting into the saddle a succession of political mendicants who have been serenely ambling to the devil and driving us along in front of them. Warning after warning has gone forth from this conference, and has been faithfully delivered by our friends in the Senate and House of Representatives, but their voices have been as of one crying in the wilderness, and now comes the end.

The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small ; With patience stands He waiting, yet with exactness grinds He all. We have brayed forth our pitiful challenge to divinely instituted economic laws—laws which, as Sir Archibald Weigall, in his farewell address, warned the people of South Australia, are immutable, inevitable, and inexorable; we have shaken our puny fists in the very jaws of the mills of God. The grinding has begun; you can hear its murmur with every wind from the East, and unless we people of Australia very speedily mend our ways we shall—all of us—be ground exceeding small.” Lamb Castration.

The tailing of lambs and castration measures generally in force at docking

time are nowadays a cause for come anxiety. At one time to lose a lamb was unusual, but that was before we introduced harmful organisms eager to take toll. To-day it is essential that the cutting and tailing of all stock should be done under hygienic conditions. The loss of lambs under careless operators at marking is very considerable and almost wholly avoidable. It is the germ of tetanus which is most to be feared, and the yards should be thoroughly raked and swept, and ail debris burned. If considerable losses have occurred in such yards ■previously a new site should be chosen. The hands,’ knife, and parts should be dressed with a good disinfectant. One of the best preparations is Lysol—in strength of from 2 to 5 per cent, for instrumente; better the latter strength for cleansing the knife, which should not be allowed to touch the earth or clothes or fence after disinfecting. One per cent. Lysol is strong enough for dressing the purse after the operation, which is an important point. Some flock owners swab the wound with a strong bluestone solution, which disinfects it and keeps off flies. The solution should lie kept out of the purse by squeezing it with thumb and finger. Lambs should not be castrated while hot from overdriving. .Operations should cease early in the afternoon, especially in frosty weather. The combined operations of tail-cutting and castration are a shock to the system, and this is aggravated in very cold weather. The usual method employed in castration is to cut off the end of the scrotum, which permits of free drainage. Many owners of small flocks prefer to perforin this operation without mustering the sheep. The method -adopted is to treat the lambs when a few days old. They can usually be caught easily in the paddocks, and at that age the testicles are so small that they can be removed by making a small .slit in the purse. There is no risk of lambs being separated from their dams, and there is practically no check to the ]amb from the operation. _

Silos and Poisonous Gases.

In view of possible apprehension caused by the recent deaths in England from carbonic acid poisoning of a farmer! and two farm workers by asphyxiation, in a silo, the attention of Dominion farmers is called to several recommenda-’ tioiis which have been framed as a pre-i cautionary measure. No risk should at-, tend the use of silos in future provided the following simple precautions are ob-1 served:—(l) The crop should have reached the proper stage of maturity, and should- not be too dry. With an immature crop the extent and nature of fermentation that will take place is un-. certain; an abnormal volume of carbon dioxide or other dangerous gases may be generated. If the material is very dry it will not pack closely, and the addi-. tional air retained would cause the evo-. lution of a larger volume of carbon dioxide than usual. (2) The materia! ted into the silos should be well trodden before the work is closed down for the night or for any considerable period during the day. Loosely packed material will retain more air and therefore give off a larger volume of carbon dioxide than material which has been well tiodden. ,(3) No door should be sealed up unless it is absolutely certain that the' material will not sink below the level of the bottom of that door. (4) Before work is resumed, whether in the early morning or at any time during the day when work has been suspended for any length of time, the lowest door possible should be opened. No one should ba allowed to enter the silos until a reason-' able time has elapsed after this has beep done. (5) Where the silo is being filled by an elevator, as long an interval as possible should be allowed after the lowest door has been opened to allow any harmful gases to escape. Where a blower is being used to fill the silo, this should be put on for a few minutes before any, one enters the silo with the object of removing all stagnant gases. Farmers are warned against the common method of ascertaining whether the air is foul by lowering a lighted candle. As the composition of gases resulting from fer, mentation varies, should any inflammable gases be present an explosion might rcsult - AGRICOLA.