FARM & DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1915, Page 10

FARM & DAIRY.

THE PHENOMENAL PRICE OP BUTTER. (The Dairyman). According to the High Commissioner's cable to hand on the 11th inst., Danish butter has reached a price never attained in our recollections before, viz., 207 shillings. There are several reasons for this wonderful increase which we have already twice foretold. The first, of course, is the extraordinary price now being offered by the Hermans in the butter market of Copenhagen. A cable message dated London, October 8, says that the price offered for that market wag 234s a cwt. at Copenhagen. This is practically '2s Id per lb. Hut there are other reasons, the chief, of course, being the terrible shortage of butter up to June 30, 1915. Up to that date England was 25,000 tons short of the supply that she received in 1906, and 26,000 tons, we might point out, ia half as much again as the whole of New Zealand's output. The export of butter from Siberia is to be totally prohibited from November 1. In the meantime it is expected some half million casks will be rushed to the London market, but it is more than likely that this expectation will not be fulfilled, for the means of transit available at present are uncertain and problematical. The total requirements of the English market fos. a. normal year may be set down at 210,000 tons, of which only 40,000 tons are provided by the British possessions. Of every 20s that England pays away for butter, only four shillings is spent in the British Empire. The balance of the pound is divided between Argentine, Denmark, France, Holland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and other countries. Now that prices are so high we make the following suggestion: Thai* butter factories agreed to spend 10s per ton on advertising during those months that our butter is on the market, and that the cheese factories agree to spend five shillings per ton on advertising their produce for those months of the year during which our cheese supply "cuts some ice" on the market of England. This is a proposal to apply ordinary business methods to the disposal of our dairy products, and it should commend itself to every producer in the Dominion. The "gap'' between the prices of the best New Zealand and the best Danish would rapidly disappear. The disposal of gqods in any market is simply an ordinary business proposition, and it must be met with the ordinary business methods, billet hunters and all others notwithstanding. ,

BUTTERMILK FOR PIG-FEEDING. Provided no water is added, buttermilk is of equal value to skim-milk. It must he borne in mind thafl buttermilk from factories almost always contains a considerable amount of added water, sometimes as much as 50 per cent., and consequently by itself is not a sufficient food for pigs. Many instances can be given of considerable mortality among pigs led solely on buttermilk, practically from starvation, because they were not able to consume enough buttermilk plus water to derive sufficient nutriment to satisfy the demands of nature. But by adding meal, or even grass, rotTts, or other fodder, pigs are found to thrive on buttermilk.

Few foods are more relished by pigs than artichokes. The tuber in the raw state is very nutritious, more especially for pregnant sows, and also sows reduced in weight and condition after suckling and weaning big litters. This class of food acts as a diuertie, or promotes a. healthy action of the kidneys in secreting urine; it relieves constipation and stimulates liver functions one acre will support twenty sows from four to six months old.

Young growing pigs evidence considerable growth on being fed with them for a short period. The exercise ostained in harvesting or rooting up the tubers has a beneficial influence. It is especially notable that artichokes arc very digestible. The outcome of a number of tests go to show that for fattening purposes these tubers must he given with grain, and have a similar result to feeding with ordinary potatoes; 3-2 albs wheat fed with SSOlb artichokes gave 1001b increase.

NEWS AND NOTES. The soil and its processes still hide some of the great mysteries of Nature. A cow under normal conditions tests best when she is well advanced in the period of lactation. Cows should be able to drink whenever they wish, as a constant supply of water increases the milk yield. Kapid milking is an advantage if it is done without hurting or irritating the cow, and if she is milked clean.

When harnessing horses, always see that the straps are untwisted, that buckles are unfastened, and that the hames are quite secure. Indifference about the bedding of sucking pigs produces many diseases that the farmer is very slow to attribute to his poor care.

Eodder crops produced in lime-rich soils contain better nourishing qualities than crops grown in lime-poor soils.

A British dairy inspector has found that milk low in butter-fat sours much more quickly than milk of a good average quality. Kindness is a language which tlio dumb can speak, the deaf unaerstanu, and animals appreciate. In each instance it is repaid a hundredfold. When it is considered that for the production of lib of dry substance a plant requires 3001b to 4001b of water, it is easy to understand what an important function is played by the moisture in the soil.

In the United States there 'are about one-quarter as many horses as people. Three-quarters of these horses are on farms, although of course there are in the country a great many colts that are to be sold to go to the cities. A dairy cow should have u bright, prominent eye. The neck should be thin. The shoulders should be oblique. The shoulder points or withers should be thin and free from an excess of fatty covering. We should be able to feel the bones on the cow's back with ease.

Any sudden change in feeding conditions, such as suddenly increasing the amount of grain given or too sudden changes from one kind of food to another, predisposes to an attack of indigestion in animals. All the changes should be brought about gradually.

Some farmers tire tempted to buy cheap seed. Poor quality seed ia never cheap; it i s usually full of imparities, such aa stalks, broken seeds, chaff, particles of soil, and foreign seeds, often weeds, many of which may oe noxious.

Recently a cow was fed on artichokes to test this feed' against silage. Ten per cent, less mill; was made on the silage feed. The quality of the milk was unaltered. It ia claimed for the French improved white artichoke that all sorts ot animal eat readily both tuber and stalk. The cow in question ate the tubers well, but refused the stalks.

.Some kinds of cheese are artificially colored; others are colored only to a very slight degree at times, when the milk is naturally pale in hue. The, coloring matter must be added to the milk ten minutes before the rennet. If the coloring matter is not thoroughly mixed in the milk before the rennet is added, and begins to work, an unevenly-colored or streaky cheese is the result. Annatto should be used for cheese-coloring, as this is a harmless coloring matter.

Calves suffering from impaction should be fed on greenstuff or chaff mixed with treacle and water. A drench, composed as follows, should be given daily until the bowels act and the appetite returns: Sulphate of magnesia, 4oz; powdered mix vomica, Vidr.; powdered ginger, Bdr.; warm water, half a pint. These quantities are for six-month-old calves; for yearlings, double the quantity; and for three months' calves reduce it by onehalf.

The chief factors influencing the proportion of water in butter are:—(l) The size to which the butter grains are churned—the smaller the grains the more water the butter contains,- (2) the temperature of the. urine—the warmer the brine the more water will it absorb; (."!) to a great extent the amount of water left in butter depends upon the working, as this is the means by which the excess of water is expelled from the butter.

A good preparation of the soil is one of the most important elements of success in the introduction of crops. The finer the condition of the soil, the better is the crop able to extract its nourishment and to make use of any fertilisers that have been applied. Gardens are made to produce relatively much more than fields, chiefly 'because of the work done on them with spade and rake, and the condition of the field should, as far as possible, resemble that of a garden.

When watering a horse (advises a correspondent to Farm Life) see that the water is pure, and the bucket clean. Always water a horse before, and not during or after the meal. When he is watered before he commences eating all particles of sour food that remain in the stomach from the last meal are removed and the stomach cleansed out. But when the water is given after tbe meal it washes the food out of the stomach, thereby doing the horse no good.

Agriculturalists will be interested to learn (says a Home exchange) that some wheat thirty-four years old has just been threshed, and is exceptionally fine, and the bread made from it quite good. Both were on view at Grantham, England, recently. The wheat was grown and harvested by a Mr. J. Selby, of Aisby, near Grantham, in 1881. He declared it should not be threshed until wheat reached a certain price, and that price was still a secret when he died. Recently it was sold for 60s a quarter.

Percheron horses are in great favor in the United States. At the recent Chicago International Show the number of entries amounted to 473, and those of the Clydesdale and Shire to only 130 and ld9 respectively. The Shire would be more popular if it possessed less hair. There were 103 entries in the Percheron stallion three-year-old class, and, incredible as it may seem, 157 in the two-year-old stallion class, these two classes alone outnumbering the whole of the exhibits of Clydesdales and Shires. Still, there are many admirers of the latter, and some of (jheir votaries showed animals of great merit.

Phosphatic manures encourage the clovers and those grasses with the longer roots to pierce the subsoil, where they find water and mineral foods. Their foliage corresponds in growth; they are less dependent on rain; and the clovers are able to feed on free nitrogen, and indirectly to help the grasses to obtain the same material. The short-rooted line grasses with little cropping value and the weeds are crowded out; the crop improves; and instead of fifteen to twenty cwt. of hay, anil a poor bite of grass, we get forty cwt. to the acre, and a good feed on the pasture almost all the year round.

A correspondent, writing from London, says: "New Zealand wool usually readies the London market moderately soon after the English farmers have shorn their shoe]). If New Zealanders could get their wool to the English sales a month earlier it would strike the market ahead of the British supplies. New Zealand shears on an average nearly seven months ahead of England, and the waste through storage, insurance and the disadvantages of coming after the English could all be saved. This is a question 'which might well receive the attention of our pastoralists. It is possible, of course, that by a very simple rearrangement of sales and overseas shipping the extra month could be gained without any alteration of shearing dates."

Tin' potato lias passed its three score .years and ten of cultivation in Europe, and it is sad to admit that it appears to be suffering from old age. More and more it is found to he liable to diseases, to which young and vigorous plants should he exempt. No wonder, because all through this long period it has been propagated by tubers; the plant lias had the benefit of no fresh blood, so to speak. How can the plant be made young again? This is a problem which has been investigated for some time by French scientists, and a note on the subject lias just been presented to the French Academy of Science. In this report it is stated that according to the results obtained by the experimenters tubers of a useful size can be grown from seed, and here comes the, curious discovery that the tubercles on the roots of the plants are produced by a parasite which enters the roots, and by setting up irritation causes the swellings that become tubers. French potato plants grown from these new tubers have turned out vigorous and capable of withstanding the maladies to which ordinary potatoes are prone. In an experiment made by growing potatoes, while in the same field the tubers produced in the usual way were badly diseased the tubers from the new plants were sound. If this new method can be put into practice, it will be possible by selection and crossing to get a new potato immune against disease, a discovery which will have important economic consequences,