SUFFOLKS AS FARM HORSES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 325, 15 December 1888, Page 6

SUFFOLKS AS FARM HORSES.

Sixce our article on the Suflolk bleed of working horses was published last month we have hud an interesting conversation on the subject with a gentleman well known in Auckland, who ba.s had a long and familiar experience of the?e horses in the county of Suffolk. His experience dates back over thu ty years ago, and he says thafc even at that time 16 V hands \va-> the proper height of good specimens, and he has known a Suffolk stallion over 17 hands in height, yet on short legs and weighing about 21cwt He agrees with us as to the gieat merits of these horses for colonial faim work. A jibbing Suflolk horse he thinks would be a curiosity, and such a thing is almost never heard ot in Suflolk. He confirms the statomentthaDalthoughpossessinggieat strength the Suflolk if. as active as a pony. They are easily fed, requiring little hard feed to keep them in first-rate condition. On the farm where he was they began feeding their horses on chopped carrots along with chad about November, and from that, time until green-forage crcps came into use in spring (such as \ etches, lucerne, or trifolium) this constituted their principal food. The chaff, be it remembered, was real chaff, notchatfed unthre-.hed oats which we call chad in this country, but the chaff obtained from wheat, etc.. after threshing. Upon this simple fare the Suffolk faim hoiscs worked well and kept a-? fat as buttci. In short, as our informant &ays, they aie the mo«i easil3' fed j breed a faimer could wish for.w ith splendid constitutions and good tempeis. He has known them, hale aiid hearty, working away on Suflolk farms at 19 and 20 yearn of age. He related to us how, on one occasion, his father waa commissioned to buy three four-horse team« ot Suffolk horses for a laige London firm of bi ewers, none of the animaK to be under 161 hands. The first team sent up, owing to (he sudden change to high feeding, assisted probably by the stony London streets, went wiong in the feet, and had to be sent back to the country. In a short time, under piopcr treatment and cooling food, they were as sound as ever again, and when the London people were told how to treat the horses as to feeding when they first reached town, so as to avoid over heating the blood, no fiuther < rouble wa^> expeiienced with regard to their feel. For years after their teams of Suffolks were the pride of the firm. The limit of piice given with the order for the horses was £90 each. The proper colour is some shade of chestnut, with generally some white on the face.

WOLbELKV'sSjIKAKINGMACHIX f<.— TheSG according to the Australasian Jrownomjtr, huve been and arc being largely used by squatters this season, giving the gieatest satisfaction. .As many as 144 feheep pci man have been shorn in one Hay. The men poon get over their prpjudiee against the machines, and once having used them pref <- v them to the hand shears, admitting the work to be much easier. There is no doubt that the sheep arc better fehom by this method, and that hhe men can do a lar^ei number with greater ease than by the old system, therefore it standh to reason that what is advantageou.s to both master and ma.ii a\ ill come into geiiowd use.

AuttlCl-LTmiAL Coi.hU.L JOK h\l)SL\.-- j We learn horn an Australian paper Unit the Government buildiugb at Jtookwood near Sydney, which weie erected foraiofoi niatnry at, a cost oi X 22,000, weio lobe utilised as an agrieultuial college, and fclie surrounding srround>> as a model form. The estate cmbrncco an area of over 1,400 acres, 400 of which are fenced in. There arc six biick build in "^ on the place, one of which is a large, hand.somo stractuie, intended for a residence, while the others weie to have been used for the reformatory. The site commands a splendid view of the siurounding country ; the soil is of a gravelly nature, and a dam could be easily con&ti uctcd on the grounds.

]),yw]' ix a Dajjiy. — Damp floors are" an evil in any dairy, says a writer, us clamp always tends very much to the development and increase of organic germs ; these germs floating ,in the air by thousands, although invisible to the naked eye, attack the milk directly it is brought in, and iinding in it such a {suitable medium for development, cau.se the &ourness, fermentation and putrefaction.

Drying off Cows.— Some practical dairymen havefound Ihat to resort to ravherviolent measures to dry off a cow that is a very persistent milker, lessens the cow's performance the next year, says one. It is also true that very many of the copious milkers, if left to give milk all the time,are worn out earlier in life. On the whole, it has been found that it is best to humour the nature of such cows, even if they are shorter lived. They are grand while they last.