NOTES.

Southern Cross, Volume 4, Issue 2, 11 April 1896, Page 7

NOTES.

In harrowing, rolling, mowing, reaping—in fact, all farm work —a fast-walking team is highly desirable. About equally important with this is that the team be well-mated, not in colour or style, though these are desirable, but in temperament and ability. One ambitious and one lazy horse make a most unpleasant team. A dairyman, who tested how much water his cows drank, found that while a heifer not in milk drank only two or three pails daily, bis cows drank as high as ten pails daily. Two cows, fresh in milk, drank from eight to ten pails daily, while some others longer in milk, and consequently not giving so much, only drank from four to six pails daily. He also found that one heifer when dry only drank from two to three pails daily, but, after she had calved, required from six to eight pails daily. The odour of grain is a very useful index of its condition. Any mould or mustiness, or similar foul smell, is an irremediable defect unless it be approached or removed by care during the earlier stages. To break a kicking cow, take an old bridle bit and buckle one ring securely to each leg with a short, wide strap. In this way the worst kicker can be securely milked, and in a short time will be completely broken of the habit. A Herman authority says that the root and stubble of a good crop of red clover weigh over three tons per acre when air dry, and contain 1801 b. of nitrogen, 71b of phosphoric acid, and 771 b of potash, all of which is placed, when turned under, in the most available form for growing crops. We call attention particularly to the large demand which clover makes on the soil for potash and phosphoric acid. If the resulting crops are removed from the soil, onecan easily see how clover can be used for soil-robbing as well as restoring fertility. It is this fact that has given risen to the proverb, • Cloven without manure makes the father rich and the children poor.’