Rural Notes.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14216, 4 June 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

Rural Notes.

liy K.muli.

JUNE "WORK. During the past few years June lias hc'.-n. one of trie pieasaiuc.st months of the year to those enjoying sound health. Clear, frosty nights, followed by warm, .sunny days make ideal weather for those leading active out door lite. Kain would be acceptable at the present time, and then we would be content to see the present Jun-.i endeavouring: to emulate, the character vi some of its best behaved predecessors.

heat-sowing will 450 continued during the month till all available land I is sown or until excessive raiu and ; irosts stops tillage operations. There! is 110 use in endeavouring to put in win- ; ter wheat 011 land saturated with water 1 or bound up with frost. Better leave i it till the warmer weather of early ! spring sets in. Working on stiff clav j laud when it is very wet has an injurious effect, and causes it to cake and j srt when hot dry weather sets in. All i land that has been put in crop should : bo drained with water furrows so as' to drain off all surface water. If the : young plants have to remain in : saturated .water-logged soil, they will sustain injury. Underground drainage ■ it systematically carried out is a big ; improvement, but it is expensive, and lew farmers undertake the work in any but swamp lands that have to be drained betore they can be used to the best advantage. On clay land much good can be done by ploughing in narrow i bands, and in openings and keepings Ciear a sufficiency of water furrows. : These may bo opened by a single or a. : double-furrow plough, and then cleared out- where necessary with a shovel..: I'ermannnet drains and water i-aces . should be cleaned, and any fresh drain- ] ing that may be done. Labour is more ' readily available than it was a short ' time ago. ! The winter months afford a very suitable time for cutting and grubbing '. gorse. Men are on the look out for work, and gorse cutting is a job that i> very suitable for the time of the year. In grubbing out gorse the roots should bo taken- out fairly deep down, or in twelve mouths time the young plants spring from the old roots, will .be showing up very vigorously. The trimmings and grubbing* should be gathered together ready for burning. In some cases they are kept to smother any young growth, but the danger in allowing them to lie m this way, is that sheep get them in their wool, thus causing a good deal of loss. All plough- ' able land should be lcent clear of gorse. . 011 rocky facings in different localities a good deal of it has spread so badly that it probably never will bo cleared ■out, but plongable land is far too valuable to be wast, d in that way. Gorse makes a capital fence, but it should not have been phintel in rough, rocky | situations.

Unless the winter is a wet one, I horses, on most agricultural farms will i be worked at the time, if the frosts ] are not too heavy, and that rarely hap- ' pens near the coast. The horses should ; be dipped, and well covered with deep, heavy rugs. A clipped h;nse is healthier, and does his work easier and better than an undipped one. Tt is not the custom to stable horses in New Zealand, but it is a good plan to give them some clean straw to lift 011 at night, and a rack of hay, to pick at when they please. Some swede turnips or carrots are relished by horses, and they soon get to look for thevn. Onts are dear theis year and damaged wheat is now fairly cheap. Tt is probable that a good deal of wheat will he given to hors, s as feed, steeped in boiling water. 'Phis makes the horses fat and sleek, but is liable to make them soft. 1 have found it difficult to keep the should; rs right, when feeding on steeped grain. The grass paddocks should throughout this month provide a sufficiency of feed for the ewes, unless they have been stocked too heavily during the ant-limn. "When colder weather comes they will require better feed. If they crn get shelter and warmth provided by go:d fences, plantations and straw stacks, they will require loss food than when they are exposed to all the elments. Wet ground avrl the <—ld air al>s>-rb n lot of heat from the bodies of animal* that live outside, and if the effects of these can he reduced in any wav the stock will thrive all tlie bet'er for it. A certain amount of animal heat must b- maintained in the body before any j of the food goes towards making either ! milk or fat.. Therefore the warmer j animals c#n be kept, the more economicj ally they can he kept. Cows, for this reason, should he rugged at night, in I th" winter time.

The mirden should be dug over: th" flower beds turned over and manured. No farm steading 'is complete without a rood kitchen garden, and no house is like a Tronic without a. few well-kept

flower borders. There is mi 11' !o luive anything very elaborate, :.ii.es; time can be lound to prop;:'i\ atcc.,d to a I'ig garden. A small gajOCV) W.'.'J kt'pt, is preferable. 10 ■' garden th-t is always in a ini;rc or loss uutidy state. owing Id the lack of time to thovoughly tend to it. When wot weather comes, these are always jobs that can occupy the attention: Tlio trap harness may bs taken to pieces and thoroughly washed and oiled with warm neatsfoot oil. The draught horse harness should also bo treated in the same way. The washing may be done without if it is thought to be too much of a contract to underake, but all harness should ho periodically oiled in order to make its liie longer. if an implement shed is a part of the farm steading, aud machinery is kept under cover, the winter damp days may be employed to good effect in cleaning and fixing up drills, disc harrows, and all other implements required as soon as spring weather sets in. Hurdles may also be, made and small blacksmithing repairs done if the place boasts a forge and an anvil.

WHEAT 2'O.R STOCK. Perhaps some wheat that was damaged last harvest will be used for stock feeding purposes now "that it has gone down in price .so considerably. Steeped whole wheat is not a satisfactory ration for horses doing hard work, but wheat has been found to give good results when ground, aud mixed with bran. Ground wheat may be mixed with oats in about equal quantities. It lias been found useful in building up muscle, and it therefore beneficial to horses that are run down by hard work. However, when fed in largo quantities it may cause digestive troubles. Ground wilusat. and whole oats is good for young growing stock. The grinding of oats for liorses is not recommended when horses have good teeth. Old horses, however, benefit considerably by it. Wheat is not often used for for feeding stock except the price it. low or the grain is. damaged. At seme of the Viiited Stafs Kxperiliieutal Stations a good many experiments with wheat- as a food for stock have been carried out. Tile evidence as to whether it should lw* led whole or ground is most conflicting. The impression seems to be, however, that it should be fed as a meal. j\lany of tho whole grains pass through the. alimentary canal unbroken, and animals fed with the whole grains arc likely to go off feed. The meal may be fed to fattening steers, dairy cows, and pigs. Lambs, too, may bo fed on a little wheat, either ground or whole. To Npeak in ju general way, wheat should be fed in limited quantities, and preferably with other grains. In eating either the whole wheat or tliß meal, a pasty mass is formed that adheres to the gums of animals. This may be prevented a good deal by mixing witli oats or bran.

THE HALF-RUEDS. This valuable animal seems destined i to become rather scarce in the future, j judging by the way the merino is passI ing out. Hill farmers are finding it ■ more profitable to keep hall-breds in- : stead of merinos, and therefore, tlicy ■ are coming into the market for the class of sheep that they, at one time, ; produced for the down country farmer. ' The merino classes at tho Timaru Show ! are very poorly filled, and the merino | seems to be rapidly becoming a thing jof the past. It is being found that it ! does not pay to keep them except on ! tho very high country. In order to I pay sheep of the half-bred type merino j ranis are lieing used with crossbred : ewes, but the result is not nearly so ! satisfactory as is tho product of the : long-wooled ram, and the merino ewe. !Mr Brookland suggests that now the i merino is dying out, the Timaru As.-o- ---! elation should have the class for haK- ; breds confined to half-breds out of any I j purebred owes by merino rams. This i is a class of sheep that is not generally j favoured by farmers. and I do not j think that it is making much headway jat the present, time. The Oorriedalc, or in-brcd half-bred is preferred to that strain, and may become more popular than it is, although farmers who wisli , to produce fat lambs do not care for it. I On hill country it will very likely tnko ; the place of the half-bred from the : merino by a long-woolled sire, when ; these become too scarce to be bought at reasonable rates. If those occupy- ; ing hisrh country can produce a really i good big half-bred, that will breed a ! good lamb as a two-tooth, farmers will | willingly take them at a good figure. | At present they are too small as twoi tooths to tempt, buyers. Tn many cases ' they are no bigger than lambs themselves, and should really be left till they ; are four-tooths before they are bred j from. Tho need of good half-bred ewes is a. pressing one, but if they are not : procurable farmers must turn to tho | crossbred, and so improve it ihat it will ■ produce good wool and mutton. "Mr T. I). Burnett, of Mt. Cook, deserves the thanks of farmers for offering prizes for the best type «f crossbred sheep for South. Canterbury. It seems to mo that farmers who use tho halfbred ewes would do well to keep the ewe lambs from these sheep. Three-quarter-brcds arc a fine class of sheep, if they are bred right, and it seems a pity to sell best tlireeqnarter-brod ewe lambs as freezers. They would be very useful for breeding purposes. Some little discussion lias taken place at the meetings of the Timaru A. and P. Association as to what is a half-bred. With Mr Tcschcniaker the most of us understand a half-bred to be out of a merino ewe by a longwoolled ram.

CARE OF CREAM. One of the objections made to the home separating of milk is the want of care in the treatment of the cream. It is contended that if factories can get the milk into their own hands as soon as possible after milking, they can take care of it in such a way that good butter can be produced. It is feared that if farmers are allowed to separate for themselves the cream may be carelessly treated, so that good uniform butter cannot be produced from it. Home separating has now become an established fact, aud is much better than creamery separation for the bulk of farmers. But if it is to be a success scrupulous care must be taken of the cream.

Milk and cream may be contaminated by flavours which gain access after milking. The .separator must, therefnro be kept in a clean room used for separating purposes only. Sometimes one sees the separattor set im in ail old shed that is used for other purposes, the idea being that as the inilk is separated directly after mUltiug, .10 bad results can ensue. Because the separator does away with the necessity of a hig dairy it does not follow that anything is good enough to hold it. The separator room may be small, but it must be clean., sweet., and well ventilated. It should not be filled with articles of a strong odour, perhaps of a dusty nature. The tin parts of tlie separator need very careful cleaning directly after use. The water they are washed in ought to be boiling hot, and n brush should bo used to clean out all the corners. Cloths are not the best articles for cleaning dairy utensils because they are liable to become dirty, and a hot-bed for germs. The corners require special attention in all tinware. and rust is a thing that must be guarded against. It is recommended bv some authorities that tepid water ■should first, of all be employed to wash all the' 1 milk and cream from dairv utensils, and that boil "iff water should be used immediately afterwards. Stan in is a. capital thing in clrmiinir articles of use in the dairy, hut steam is rarely available on t'ip farm. After washing all ware should be exposed to the sun.

X<. 111 iis u; heat- a sun-both for killing: gennv. (Yearn cans p.re • washed and steamed at the. factory before being returned. On setting tho empty cream can home., it will be found that a, few drops of water remain in the can. This should b© tipped out, and the can left to the influence of sun and wind till it is wanted, taking care, however, that it is not left out in the rain for fear of rusting. The cream should not, properly, be put into the can as it is separated. A cleaner and better plan is to keep it in crockery jars till sufficient is skimmed to send to the factory. Then the cream can should be scalded with boiling water and washed outside. It is then ready to put cream into. In separating the warm cream must not be put with tho cold cream. Only after it has been thoroughly cooled must cream be mixed. It is advisable to send away the cream as regularlj- as possible, even if the quantity is small. Twice a. week is generally looked upon as the least number of times that cream should be sent away. When a good deal of butter is used on the farm, or when tlie cows are not giving a great quantity of milk, ono half of the week's supply may bo retained for liome use, and the other half sent aivay, thus necessitating a trip to the railway ■station once a week only.