NOTES FOR FARMERS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12410, 27 November 1908, Page 4

NOTES FOR FARMERS.

'. .' i :■-.• ■ *~ "~ '■■'■' ■" ■ : l A dairy farmer in the Hawefa dis- I trici- last month drew a cheque from his factory for £187 for the milk of 100 cows. . : Contagious abortion has given little ■ trouble to Taranaki dairyfarmers this season, and though contagious pammitis is still in the district it is being kept fairly well in check. Calves n Taranaki are to_ be innoculated against blackleg this season. One or two small outbreaks, has occurred at old centres of the trouble," but nothing to speak of. If no further trouble is experienced tiis will be the last inoculation. _ - The first prize fat bullock at Haw- ' era was an enormous beast, and he won on weight alone. He was bred and exhibited by the Moore Hunter : Estate. The second bullock, of much better quality was Cooper's Wanganui winner. It is necessary that milking cows and feeding cattle should have peace and quietness if they are to give any quantity of milk or put on flesh, and they cannot possibly get this if they are tormented with flies. A practice .that, might be adopted more largely than is now the case is to have clumps of shade trees, under which might be placed a little artificial food and if there is free access to water so .much the better. If there is . nothing else except shade and comfort it pays to give it. to them, for": if left; in the field they do not graze much if the weather is hot. It is evident that the value oflegumes on a farm is not yet fully realised.- Lucerne', where it can be grown, has always proved itself superior to other fodders for both milk and fattening, and on a few farms cow grass or red clover has given good results as a. substitute for the longer, lived crops. Few farmers whose -land will grow lucerne should fail to make use of a portion of their area ' -for .that fodder. those whose land' ;is unsuitable as a rule might confine' themselves to wheat or oats for hay. .. Where there is much stock fetedtrig to be done the most economical .'plan of working is- to have a stack,, even if only a small one, of some' leguminous crops to! feed with the bulkier hay. Probably the advantage of a mixed ration will never be impressed upon farmers until the improvement has been demonstrated by. local experiments. . One. of the biggest sheep ever seen in Poverty Bay, in the shape of a: Komney ram, recently imported from England by its owner (Mr Ernest Short, of Palmerston North), was on view at tho A. and P. Shpw. It was a -huge animal, weighing 3741 b, and was 'an almost perfect epecimen of the type. Lord Plunkett has .just shipped to the Governor of Victoria a fine upstanding hunter, purchased in; the Haweras "district from Mr Jack Hastie, of Manaia. „ The first prize fat bullock at' the Wanganui show— a magnificent specimen — shown by Mr Sooper, and which put .down Mr F. Moore's exhibits, was the;- same bullock, which, as a three year old, defeated a great collection, including Moore's, at thes Masterton show. ' - The shark fishing industry, : which has just been started at- Parengarenga, bids fair to be a success.' The object is to secure the oil from the livers of the sharks for the purpose of producing food for calves. Although a late production for the purpose it is considered by those who have used the- oil to be the best procurable for calves (says the "Northern' Advocate"). ;. Mr Bray (South Island apiarist) told a "Lyttelton Times" reporter that . while beekeeping was a profitable side 'line, for the farmer, it aided..the.orchardist greatly. The fertilisation of apple and other fruit blossoms .by bees has a marked, in- . fluence' on"the - future fruit. An imperfectly fertilised blossom would result in an unsyinmetrical and partly developed fruit, and the presence of a swarm of bees considerably in- i creased .the prospect of producing; .. well rounded, : symmetrical fruit with an enhanced . market value.. : 1;■■ ■' '■;■■ ;- . -'flj.ii.,,- -■-■ .-: •- :-•■•■ li'- 1 -.. ;■■ ■;'.:• .- 'ln the October number .of the j "Journal of .Agriculture," Professor Ewart, the Victorian Government : Botanist, draws attention to ,the .mischief whiclv may be done: by allowing stock to have access to the clippings and cuttings, from gardens." The danger of such a practice cannot be too strongly emphasised. A large number of common garden plants are -poisonous for stock. When pressed . :hy. hunger the most cautious grazing animal will eat. almost anything .The common : oleander, or Nerium, is : ' strongly pbisonous. •' . ' Five years ago Abraham Adams, in Alaska, ran across a small patch of wheat. There was no telling how the grain" happened to be growing there. The seed may have been dropped by a bird, or by an Indian, or by some straying gold hunter. Only one head ! of " wheat of unusual size remained intact, and Adams preserved it. . After his return to Idaho -(says the New York World) Adams experimented with his find. The first year he gathered seven pounds of wheat from the one head. The , second year from the seven pounds 'he harvested 1545 1b5i in a 'ratio of 222 bushels to- the acre. Next he had his -wheat •fcestecl at the Idaho experimental' station. They pronounced it "a good hard wheat. He had already j' tried it both as winter wheat and spring" wheat and found it enually- productive and hardy. In : the autumn of 1906 he planted th'p 15451bs and the next year harvested 53,0001b5. Satisfactory t«sts later were ; also made in Alabama and other parts of the r country, demonstrating . that the Alaska wheat will yield 200 bushels to liho acre, and even moro under special care. '• The Governmen+ should get souie bf.-the wheat and try what it will do in New Zealand.