FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 315, 16 July 1898, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM & GARDEN NOTES.

A Remarkable Apple Tree.—Apples are picked at the old settlement of York Town on the Tamar (Tasmania), from a tree that was one of tho first plained in the colony some niuety years ago. t x X Butter-making in the Schools. ~ The old order changeth, giving place to now, and heuce it is that at Euroa—that thoroughly up-to-date country centre—we (Melbourne " Argus ") learn that the children of the State School have passed with great credit a stiff examination in the science and practice of butter-making. This now departure in purely technical teaching and is entirely a local innovation, but it may well be extended to every dairying centre in the colony. t I t A Hint for Siieepbreedeus.—Replying to a correspondent, who states that 75 per ceut. of his lambing are rams, the American Shecpbreeder says : —lt has been definitely settled bv carefully conducted experiments in France, that rams under eighteen months old get a much larger per cent, of females than males, and that rams from two to four years old get a larger per cent, of males than females, the experiments in the latter case showing about fifty-three males (o thirty females." t x t Australian Production of Sugar. —The Register-General of Queensland has just published tho sug&r statistics of the colony for the year 1897. The total area crushed for sugar was 66,211 acres' the weight of cane was 783,115 tons (the average yield beiug a little over Uf tons per ar.re), and the production amounted to 97,824 tons sugar and 2,364,020 gallons of molasses. The return per acre for raw sugar, assuming an average value of £9 per ton, was about. £l3 4s. It is important to note that the production of the northern portion of the colony is much greater thun that of the southern portion. For the former, theavcrago is yu'y nearly 13 tons of cine Der acre, and for the latter about IN, tons. t " x t A Poser.—Where does the British farmer come in ? asked the London Punch after giving what it describes as the ingredients of an average English dinner : six New Zealand kidneys, four French eggs, and six Portuguese oysters, slice Bmall, and an Australian rabbP cut up or a Hungarian chicken ; alao, a Spanish onion, with some Argentine beef extract. Turn into a pie disb and stew. When cool add a thick crust of the best American flour, having previously rubbed in sufficient lard, .Chicago preferred. This terved hot, accompanied with potatoes from the Canary Islands, and a tin of Indian tomatoes. To follow as pastry, one tin of Californian peaches, another of dried Cape apricots, stewed or soaked, accompanied by a Tasmanian apple pie. After topping up with a slice of Dutch cheese and "Normandy butter. Follow with a glass of Schiedam schnapps. t X t Another South American Competitor.—From the same source we learn thut.the little Republic of Uruguay, just across the river from Buenos Ayres, has 4,883,397 head of cattb, 392,246 horses and mares, and 16,397,484 sheep, and a very excellent class of sheep, too. They are now building a dwek so as to be able to load live wethers and cattle for England. Their business is, or has been till now, principally jerked beef, and for this they killed last year 733,900 steers, but they took 233,162 from the Argentine and 10,233 from Brazil. They are breeding some excellent cattle over there now, and very good sheep as well. They have gone in chiefly for Herefords and Lincolns, and Herefords do very well there. In the Argentine Herefords, on the ordinary coarse caiKp, do no good whatever. In fact they dezenerate at once, and nothing but their colour remain?. On the other hand, on the soft camps, which extend to a forty league radius round the city of Buenos Ayres, and consists of fine grasses, such as trefoil, wild oats, variegated thistles, prairie grass, ryegrass, and others, to* gather with alfalfa, or lucerne, there are no cattle to compare with" Herefords. They were to be seen on these soft camps so fat that they could hardly walk, and breeding, too, .whilst if a Shorthorn gets too fat the chances are that she becomes barren. The Shorthorns do far better on the coarse camp. There are several herds of Polled Angus in the country, but they were either on alfalfa or soft camps, and they do remarkably well on both. t x t Travelling Shearing Machines.— The travelling machine shearing plant has at last made its advent in Queensland. Years ago we (Queenslander) predicted that shearing by contract would some day replace the present system, and for two years past there has been in operation in New South Wales at least a plant which travelled about from station to station taking the wool off by contract, providing machines and bands for the work. The advantages of this method are many and obvious. The greatest, perhaps, from the large pastoralist's point of view, is that it relieves him of the trouble of supervision and management. But it is the small sheep men who will benefit most by the new regime. The expansion of grazing farm settlements in Queensland has made some special airangementof the kind necessary. It is out of the question for the owner of 4000 or 5000 sheep to maintafn a machine-shearing plant of his own. He would have to depend solely u>on hand shearing, which would place bim at a disadvantage at once. The day of band-shearing is over : it is too slow a method for this rapid age. The travelling plant just meets the case of the grazing farmer. He contracts for the shearing of his few thousand sheep, the contractor comes along in due tirno, sets up his machines, gets up steam, and has the wool in a twinkling. The work would be done so quickly that small shed accommo,dation would be needed. Five thousand sheep would be shorn by five men in less than a woek, whereas by hand at least a fortnight would bo required for the same number. It is much easior to find a week of fine weather than a fortnight, so that the owner's risk and anxiety are reduced by one half—no nnall consideration. t X t Effects of Dishorning.—A point of considerable importance to those who are urging and endeavouring to effect the permanent improvement of dairy cattle is raised by *' Hoard's Dairyman." That authority says that the continued dishorning of future generations : that the great nervous shock produced by the operation will seriously impair the prepotency of the animal It may be a lons time before the ill effects will show to any marked extent, but they are sure to be manifested in future generations. He says that English horsemen long since discovered that docking their breeders lessened the jumping power of the progeny, and that the height to which their horses could jump grew less with each succeeding generation. The shock to the nervous system seems to be the source of the trouble, and the probability is that killing the horns of calves when young would not have this disastrous effect. Senator Hoard said that, in his own herd of purebred Guernseys and Jerseys there was never any injury from horns", either to attendants or the cows. From their birth the calves are treated with kindness and handled, so that they have do fear, and are always tame and gentle. They have little inclination to use their horns. His main object is to raise purebred stock, and he would not think of having a cow dishon,ed. Senator Jloaid's stall-led stock have little incitement to use their horns. With cattle running out, as they do in New Zoaland, and fed and watered at one rack and one trough, the i-ase is different, and the goiint; is often serious. None the less the question raised is of great importance, and should be investigated

Perhaps this may be done in New Zealand some day when there is an experimental farm at which such work can be done, or when Agricultural associations begin to recognise that it comes within the scope of their functions, t x t Rugging Cows.—Dairy farmers who have tried rugginir their cows on cold nights are, says " Sylvan " in the Sydney Mail, enthusiastic as to the results. Of course, good shelter shods are best, but it is very probable that a rugged cow will thrive better in the open than those that are driven to shiver and shake against a feuce all right in a vain endeavour to keep oft'a biting wind. Moreover, proper shelter means night feeding, and then arises the old original financial question, " Does it pay ?" Mr George Sharpe, of Camden, has rugged his cows, and being a practical farmer he tested the efficacy of the innovation as lie went along. He took the night's milk and the morning's milk twice each while the cows were unrugged. Tho returns whim : Night's milk, 2lSlb and 2191 b; morning's milk, 3611 b and 3821 b. The cows were then rugged and considerable increases were at ouce apparent, as follows:—Night's milk, 2581 b and 2801 b ; morning's milk, 3811 b and 3971 b. After this the rugged cows continued to increase, till they yielded 4071 b at one morning's milking. The information supplied to me on this mattei does not state whether Mr Sharpe had previously rugged his cows before tha unrugged milkings were taken. Naturally, if cows had beeu rugged in the cold weather and the coverings were removed for two nights there would ho a big fall, and a sudden rise when the rugs were renewed. Again, the trial was made in the last week of August, and the cows may have gained to some extent on improving pastures up to 4071 b at a milking. However, these circumstances, even if they i. trended the case, could account for only a portion of the increase, which seems to me almost phenomenal. Mr Boag, who recently read a paper on dairying before the Hunter River A. Society, at VVest Maitland, had tried rugging, and ho advocated it. He believed rugs could be obtained for ys Gd each, and in that case the expenditure ought to be veiy quickly recouped. The practice is not new by any means, but it has not been brought into use for large herds. One point in its favour is that a horse rugged in the open thrives much better than a horse left to chatter its teeth against each other all night in place of occasionally turning them to better use. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT FOODS. Although foods may not differ in power of forming butter fats, they have different values in rpspect to their heat-giving and flesh-forming capabilites. I have in some previous note stated that pea-straw, or pea-haulms sr they are sometimes called, has good feeding properties, but it may not be generally known that peastraw is equal, or nearly so, to best meadow hay. As showing the value of the most common kinds of foods compared to 10lb good hay the following table may be useful. I don't guarantee its correctness, but it is published by good authority and takes a ration of lOib hay as the standard:— Five pounds to six pounds of barley arc equal to 101 b of hay. Twenty pounds to thirty pounds of cabbage are equal to 101 b of hay. Twenty-five pounds to thirty-five pounds of red carrots are equal to 101 b of bay. Forty pounds or forty-five pounds of white carrots are equal to 101 b of hay. Forty-five pounds to fifty pounds of green clover are equal to 101 b of hay. Five pounds to seven pounds of maize are equal to 101 b of hay. Thirty pounds to thirty-five pounds of mangels are equal to 101 b of hay. Four pounds to seven pounds of oats are equal to 101 b of hay. Two pounds to four pounds of oil cake are equal to 101 b of hay. Three pounds to five pounds of peas and beans are equal to 101 b of hay. Twenty pounds to twenty-five pounds of potatoes are equal to 101 b of hay. Twenty pounds to forty pounds of barley straw are equal to 101 b of hay. Twenty pounds to forty pounds of oat straw are equal to 101 b of hay. Ten pounds to fifteen pounds of pea straware equal to 101 b of hay. Forty pounds to fifty pounds of wheat straw are equal to 101 b of hay. Forty-five pounds to fifty pounds of turnips are equal to 101 b of hay. Five pounds to six pounds of wheat are equal to 101 b of hay. According to this oats are a better allround food than wheat, barley, or maize, and oat and barley straw are about equal, while both are superior to wheat scraw. Potatoes, mangels, and carrots are better than turnips, but the red carrot is superior to the white. Professor Voelcker, in a lecture given before the London Farmers' Club, said that he had great, difficulty in asceitaining what a turnip crop is capable of piving by way of rsturn in the increase of carcase weight because of the fact that some hard food, such as oil cake, corn, or hay, was always given to sheep feeding off roots. In some parts of the country, ho said—Northumberland, for instance—sheep can be fattened off on roots without any corn or cake and bullocks be fattened simply on roots and straw ; but they could not do that at Woburn (Bedfordshire) where most of the feeding experiments are made. I should much like to know why or how that is so, but the professor seemed quite confident that it would not pay to feed upon roots alone in that part of England. He then proceeded to make a calculation, which, allowing for cake and corn, &c., gave £lO 9s as the feeding value of a crop of swedes giving 20 tons to the acre. From this would havo to be deducted the cost of growing the crop, which Dr Voeleker reckons at £8 per acre, so that a good crop pay« fairly well in England nowadays. Otugo Witness. THE GORSE NUISANCE. At Kaiapoi (Canterbuiy) recently, the Stipendiary Magistrate gave judgment in a " goree nuisance " case. As the subject is one of considerable interest to Waikato settlers, we print the decision in extenso : Kaiapoi Borough Council v. Kenneth M'lntosh as follows :—This is a prosecution instituted by the Kaiapoi Borough Council against Kenneth M'lntosh for an alleged breach of Section 130 of The Public Works Act, 1894, in that he being the owner or occupier of certain sections abutting oji the Beach Road did fail to comply with an order to grub up and remove gorse and broom growing on the said road up to the middle line along the frontage of the section for a period of two months after the service of the said order. It is contended by the learned counsel for the defence —(1) That there is no proof that the alleged nuisance spread from the land. ('2) That the gorse and broom referred to does not constitute an obstruction to trallic. (3) That sections 135 and 136 have not been sufficiently complied with in the matter of the " order " required to be made by the local authority as a condition precedent to prosecution. At first sight all these points would appear to be quite reasonable, and at least one of them would s&c'M absolutely fatal, but after full and careful consideration of the whole matter, and an exhaustive analysis of the statute, I have come to the clear decision that the view I was at first inclined to take is not sound. (1) It :s plain by a comparison of Sections 101 of the Public Works Act, 1881, and 135 of thernblic Works Act, 1894, that the Legislature has deliberately cplargpd the tcope of the liability of a person owning or occupying land on the frontage of a road, and bus absolutely abolished the necessity of proof as to the origin of the nuisance. (2) Authorities clearly show that proof of physical obstruction is not necessary to constitute an offence, and the mere growth of broom and gorse on the road is sufficient. (3) Sections 135 and 130 provide that the local authority may order the removal of the nuisance,

and further provide that such order shall be in writing, and signed by the peson appointed either generally or specially for the purpose. There is no special form of order so' out in the statnt", nor is it special y provided that this order shall be male in a special manner. It seems to me, therefore, sufficient compliance with the section referred to, that the local authority, by reso'ution passed at a meeting and duly entered in the minute-book, should have decided to call upon the defendant in this case to remove the nuisance, and that the Town Clerk, as the statutory officer appointed generally for the purpose should have conveyed to the defendant in a lettc signed by himself the requirements of the above resolution in clear and explicit terms. Upon these grounds, therefore, I must hold that an offence lias been committed. Ihe defendant is convicted and fined ss, and ordered to pay the costs, amounting to £\ Ss.