AGRICULTURAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13874, 10 April 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURAL.

It .is now said that the turnipy flavours in butter which is made from milk taken from cows fed on turnips, is -traced to bacteria, and it can be rendered-' almost imperceptible by pasteurizing the milk. Dairy experts, however, say that the effect is also reduced to * a minimum by feeding the •' turnips, or similar food to cows immediately after milking. The sub-ject-requires further investigation. It seems to take 28 lbs of Danish milk to make 1 lb of butter, which is very high our average is about 22 lbs^—and -the farmer gets about 3id per gallon for his milk. The cost of making a pound of Danish butter isTld. ; -which is about the same as here; but- as-they' pasteurize and we do not, this may account for the similarity in price. :■".- •.-'rA function of lime is the amelioration of the texture of heavy soils. When ai.heavv. plastic clay is wet, pressed into a cake, and then dried, it becomes brick-like in texture: but if- a small portion of lime can be incorporated with thV clay before manipulation, it will crumble easily between the lingers after drving. For" this'purpose, lime mav. be 'very usefully employed on manv of:-the"more refractory clay soils, up to several" tons _per acre. Clays thus treated will become more cfriable-. "will' respond more readily - to cultivation, and manuring, and will not pick so readily under rain. _. . -•'•'-Tank Sinker." writing to the "\ ictorian Weekly Times,", says: .''l have : been contracting in New South ales arid Victoria during the past 40 years, during which time I have owned many .rood -and. valuable teams of horses. MV experience has been to my cost that imanv i horse has been .crippled through £; snath, burning a horse s- hoot to lit ■the shoes, instead of shaping .the hoots IHrath the'knifes-and :still the practice off burning is allowed to continue 1 have- taken, four young colts. J hey were "shod by paring the hoots, and "the smith was allowed his way with the" other two, fitting the shoes hot. I'- continued this for five ' years The resh'lt .was that 'the colts fitted with cold shoes had good, sound hoofs, while the other two were like 90 per cent of the Victorian horses. They had brittle hoofs, which'had been destroyed tv hot shoeing. I would like the opinion of: horse owners on this mat- ■■'■ A" Xoridon .meat- market report for ■ : in'e'fmiddle of January says:—The anticipations, freely indulged in, that the depression'which, characterised the market-in the. latter months of 1908, "due-to the sluggishness of the demand, would disappear with the. opening of the Xew ; - Year have been grievously disappointed, and business generally has fallen, into .a nit /from which it appears almost impossible to extricate it for some time. It is true that there has bcen'a considerable increase in the importations of. frozen meats during the last six weeks, but these only gerve to explain . the position of the. stocks in store, and do not account fbr the difficulty in disposing of even normal quantities. • Smithfield market furnishes evidence of the dullness m tiade: Last week the pitchings were £2OO tons less than in the- preceding week, and vet at the end of the week the "market'still appeared full of meat. Prices "out of relation to the nominal quotations : have to be taken to clear up: - '. - Supplies which compete with frozen "meat have jbeen much in evi-dence,-#hd a great deal of inferior Home-bred stock is. being disposed of at-low prices.. Large ■ numbers of English ewes have been moved at about 1&d-per lb, and importations of Danish beef have been sold at prices down to:3d per lb. ' at the opening of the i\el-son-freezing works/Mr. A. Eaye (representing' the firm of Gilbert Anderson and Co./ Meat Importers, of London) said showed last year that the quantity of frozen meat imported into Britain from British possessions was valued at £9,803,000, and from other countries not' British, £31,944,000.' A change was now;-coming over the statesmen in Uritaiu regardina preference to the; colonies and he hoped that in future they would receive advantages over foreign countries. The Argentine was;going dous factor in fighting the" T trade of the Coloniesi This country was going ahead bv leaps and bounds. Two years ago it exported 65.000.000 lambs, next Tear 94.000,000 and last year 286,000,600. -; This vear it promised to exceed that, "the Agentine exporters d|d their lambs up in beautiful wrappers .and landed them in splendid condition. . : It was absolutely necessary that-, the jquality of . the New Zealand lambs should be kept up. In Cahtefbury lately.the quality of the quality of .the lambs had not been what it tiled'to. be, and he hoped that in the near future Canterbury lambs would regain their good name. The farmers of this district could help their movement- 'by sending lambs of the best quality only to the works. Some people" objected to State interference in but he assured them that the Government inspection of meat had befen of great benefit to the Dominion. PAPER-LINED. WOOL BALES. .Considerable interest as well as cirripsitv. has been evinced during wool sales* over the'so to 100 bales'." of paperilined packs which" have eenb submjtted in-a: practical way for the mspectation'of the trade, writes the Bradford''correspondent of the "S.M. Heroia:"- c :-.■■■:-'■ Last week a. nice lot of Cape farmers' -clios - were . offered, all baled in these packs, and to-day the well-known South Australian clip 'Hummocks" iskup, part of which is baled m paper lined' tares. I am open to candidly say that, hke manv. more, I like them very much,. and it only confirms what I have said from the very start that a general use will, very largely solve the jiite fibre difficultv. Not a trace could be seen of"Kthe -loose, flufly fibre on the wool next to the* inside lining, and the paper'- has stood\ the test remarkably well: I examined most minutely both Carie and- Australian bales, and the paper has hot come off in the least. Where the grease has penetrated the paper is still adhered to the lining, even the bellies and pieces having no effect whatever in causing the paper to leave "the- jute pack. I had been hoping -to see 'some bales submitted with" the all-wool lining, but these so far'have not been forthcoming. Seve-ral-clips have -been baled in cotton linings, but the less said about these the better. They, cannot hold' the candle to the paper linings, and the latter contained in every ca=e over three cwt. of greasy wool, the bales looking very smart and tidy. A LONG-LIVED THISTLE. A; Rangitikei farmer relates an experience which shows that thistle seeds -may lie in the soil for many years before they, germinate. He says-.—-''Many farmers are anticipating serious ' results from the spread of the Californian thistle: but T am. glad to say that- my experience of this plant has been ' confined to hal f -a-dozeu patches, which' I am gradually exterminating by i.ulling up the you be plants everv four or five days, as I findVthnfc the more freauently they are pulled the sooner is the seed supply pxhausted. When they have been

allowed to seed down once, I anticipate that young plants will be/found coming up for years, and I Base this assumption upon the following incident:I—ln 1 —In 1884 ive found upon one of the ridges a large variegated thistle, which, had seeded down before our disco rery of the plant. The foliowmg summer a.thick crop of young thistles came up, nearly all of which were oh the. lee side of the old plant in consequence of the prevalent westerly wind. We pulled jip all the young thistles, but. for fifteen years they continued to appear, and generally each year in lessening numbers,. until eventually the seed supply became exhausted, the patch ceased to exist. We may fairly assume that the Californian thistle would, under the same conditions, have a similar life history. But the prol> lem of the germination of seeds has always presented itself to me at once a subtle and . most interesting question. T- know that I shall not probably he making use of the proper word to explain my meaning, but as it appears, to convey more nearly than any other with which I am acquainted my mpressions in reference to ' the germination of seeds, I will say that they appear to be possessed of ' 'sent tiei'ice "of a kind. In the instauce of the variegated- thistle to which I have alluded, a certain proportion of xh'e seeds germinated - eaclr year, but. others' lay dormant. until their chance came. ''.-,-

■= AGRICULTURE IN BELGIUM. ■-• We give below a slight insight into what the Government does for agriculture in Belgium : -Not only : are Belgiun agriculturists protected against foreign competition by: duties on oats and their products, on flour, on.butter, and other-articles,-but the Belgiun State-looks on and treats agriculture as the . first and greatest industry in the country. It has erected- and endowed colleges and schools for males and females in many centres. It- has provided ' numerous experimental stations, and a. large staff of lecturers are employed going through the -country educating farmers, -their wives and families in the latest approved methods of carrying on their work in a.-profitable manner. _ The State subsidies, agricultural societies, horticultural societies, societies for the improvemnte of the breeds -of horses and cattle. ; It has started and subsidises many co-operative dairies,.and co-opera-tive societies for the purchase of farm implements, - feeding stuffs, seeds, and manures; andl, further,- has under its wing over 313 co-operative agricultural credit; banks. Mutual' insurance societies against the mortality of agricultural stock are also subsidised by the State. Lectures are regularly given throughout the country on the following subjects:— Agriculture for farmers and farmers' wives, agriculture for" soldiers, farriery,- aboriculture and market gardening, apiculture, aviculture, on breeding and feeding dairy cows," on agricultural chemistry and agricultural book-keeping. A staff of State agriculturists "was- instituted ' in 1885, who put themselves in • direct communication with farmers and give them free advice. They also teach farmers the advantage of co-operation, and advise the central authority on the amount of pecuniary encouragement which should-be given to the various local agricultural societies. A State Chemical and Bacteriological Institute was founded in 1871, and laboratories started in Gembloux, Ghent, Hasselt, and Liege. • There are State dairy school's for young men and young wonien, and schools of agricultural domestic economy. In most agricultural schools no fees are charged, and when a charge is made it is only a nominal one, but board is paid by those pupils who stay at the schools.

AGRICULTURE BELOW GROUND. The rapid progress of science is brought home to the newspaper reader when he is confronted with any question in which bacteriology plays a part. Practically speaking, it is all a discovery since he was at school. At a "general reader," he has become" "aware that to bacteria we - owe alike the taste in butter and the will-o'-the-wisp,, a very large- number of diseases and the purification of sewage; butmuch farther forward he walks with hesitation. Willy-nilly," the public has to " get up " bacteriology a little. It cannot escape ■ from bacteria. _ They are in every pint of London air, they lead' a particularly prosperous life in the morning milk, and the most profitable utilisation of the soil, in which the nation is so greatly concerned, depends upon treating the bacterial hosts it contains in the most considerate way. Friends and foes among the' bacteria of the -air,, of food, and of water may be safely left, perhaps, to the doctors. Those who have the care of our health will, no doubt, be able to see to it that the public gets to know all it- ought to know about the - micro-organisms which share with it the life above ground. It is necessary.- however, that the worker of the soil, and all who are interested in his work at second hand, should have an adequate, conception of the infinitesimally small life.that flourishes there. The hind, in order to bring forth the largest possible increase, must be humoured, and it is certain that it will never be properly humoured until the idea that, earth is onlv dirt is Tailed for good. Shakespeare's" dead earth ' is hopelessly unscientific. Instead of being dead," the soil from cultivated farm land or a garden may yield, even in the small quantity which ■'•will he on a half-pennv, anything up to ten million living things. It is gradually being'realised that.the science of the cultivation of the land must be largely the .science of yoking to the service, of man the teeming life of the soil. The farmer makes his butter and cheese by the aid of bacteria. .It is necessarv that he should also give thought to 'the bacteria that feed the grass, that feeds the cow, that yields the milk that the bacteria work upon to his advantage in his dairy.