ON THE LAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13434, 22 July 1911, Page 12

ON THE LAND.

FIELD, FARM, AND ORCHARD. BREVITIES. If the cream is well stirred before testing it will be found of fairly uniform richness. Harsh treatment of tne cow will operate to the lessening of the fat values of the milk. 1 If they have been properly fed, pigs should be good market stuff at under 12 months. The manner in which calves are reared has a great effect on the milk-producing qualities. When fed and fairly treated, there is no animal on the farm gives a better return than the cow.

It costs no more to keep a good cow than a scrubber, and the latter cannot possibly repay you. The milking-yard should be kept clean, and all droppings removed to a pit at least two chains away. The farm should maintain all the cattle put •on it; under a good breeding and feeding system it will. There should be no farm without ite cow or two, if only to supply the milk and butter needs of the family. Do not, under any circumstances, breed from a poor milker, uiie cannot give her calf what she has not.

The dairyman who is for producing milk only wants a milking cow, and need not ask for a fat values test with her.

Every day you keep a cow which does not come up to the test vou are losing money which you might be making. On good country with a wide run there is no breed better than the Holstem, which is a good milker and butter maker. The hand that feeds the cow fills the pail, and the more intelligence put into the feed, the fuller will the pail be. The main requirements of any dogs for working cattle are that they should be steady, game, faithful, enduring, and intelligent,. While there is substantial profit in a good dairy farm properly managed, there can be only loss where the method is bad.

It is estimated there are 430,000,0,0 cattle in the world, but the proportion of beefs, workers, and milkers has not been arrived at.

There is one sure thing about a cow. She soon wears out. When one shows signs of wear pass her on to the butcher, if you like. The antiquity of the Jersey cow Is proved by the uniformity of quality and type. Tliere is no breed which shows less of variation.

Some farmers arc of opinion that while hay grown with, the aid of HUperpb.osph.ii.es iis not exactly injurious to stock, rt id not so nutritions, and calls for more oats to make a sjood feed. The proposal to breed a farmer's licse by crossing the Clydesdale and the Suffolk Punch has nothing at all to recomr.iev.d it. The effective cross is the Suffolk and the thoroughbred marc. "Poverty is helpless" is a triusni, .Better' build ii]) the soils while there is yet money in the bank. High, prices make the present an ideal tiiiie to look forward to ;:reserving soil fertility.

If it is necessary, as it may be on J the best farm, to clean up infected styes or tables, the tools used should be cleaned and disinfected when the work is done, it is as easy to infect soil as to infect slock.

It is not always possible to adopt the suggestions of the faddists in agriculture, but without their suggestion many profitable branches of the business of the IV,:Kcr would not have been, operated as soon as they were. ! ■" The wheat fields of British India wiii produce on a rough estimate 220,000,00/ busiheks of wheat, the harvesting of viiich commenced last month. Of this crop about :.0,()00,000 bushels will be available for export.

AGRICULTURE IN N.S. WALES. Reduced Wheat Yield. The agricultural statistics show that there were 1t,382,523 acres cropped in New .South Wales last year, or au increase of 202,001) acres compared with the previous year. In nearly every instance the crops last season gave a lower average production than for the preceding year. The live stock returns of the State for last year- indicate increases in horses, cattle, and pigs, hut a decrease in sheep, Horses increased from 604,781 in 1900 to 650,594 in 1910, cattle from 3,027,727 to 3,132,228, pigs from 237,819 to 321,141, while sheep decreased from 46,202,578 to 43,823,308.

The wheat crop totalled 28,064,047 bushels iu 1910t1!)U against 28,532,029, in 1909-1910, and area under crop being 2.128,383 acres against 1,990,180 acres. Oats totalled 1,701,746 bushels against 1.966,580 bushels in 1909-10, the acreage being 77,948 acres, against 81,452 acres.

OIL FOR ORCHARDS. Petroleum has recently been adopted in American orchards and gardens as orotection against severe frost, the method consisting of burning petroleum in incn pota. The system appears to have been very advantageous and profitable. The experience of the Kansas men in this direction has been very satisfactory, and they. are satisfied that without the pots they would lose much of their fruit, 'this plan of orchard heating originated in the apple-growing section of Colorado, and was speedily introduced into California and then into Kansas. It grew out of the old idea of maintaining smudge fires in orchards in time of frost, the theory in that case being that the smoke cloud furnished the protection. Experiment, proved this only partly true, the heat being the main thing. The next thing to do was to devise a means, of getting ,the ;ieat where it would do the merit good, which Jed to the introduction of the oil-pots, one of which was used for each tree at the outer edges of the orchard, and. as many in between as might, be convenient... The plan adopted in Hutchison,; Kansas, is to. have a pot for every tree, and it is apparently a good one. The first ciii-:!. is not heavy, and the upkeep is very small. The system, it is asserted, pays big dividends when', four, or five fires, are necessary and when they have, to.be kept, burning -two nighte and a.day! Two liirve storage deterns for the crude oil ..to be used for protection against the frost in the Standard orchard. - east of Ottawa, (Kansas), are Bearing completion, aud will contain 16,000 gallons. The cistern are 10ft.. in diameter aud ,12ft. deep,-and are lined with brick set in cement, each containing 8000 gallons of fuel oil.

SUBSTITUTE FOR POTATO£S, Tiis United. States Department of Agriculture, at its experiment station in South Carolina, last year raised u ton-and <i

half of aroid tubers on a sixth of an acre of land. These tubers arc the foundation for the poi of the Hawaiians, the malanga of the Cubans, the oto of the Panamaiis—foods that arc the main sustenance of the peoples named. The aroids are the stall' of lile for many millions of people the world around dwelling iu the Tropics. Numerically they probably support as many people as does rice or wheat. Not only tnis, but they support these millions at a cost averaging less than five cents a day.

The Department of Agriculture has begun the experiment of determining whether or not the aroids may be grown in the United States to the benefit of the people. They have been raised experimentally, and have produced promising crops in practically all the Southern States, ft has.-been demonstrated that crops amounting to 15 and 21) tons to the acre may be grown on practically' any of the lowlands of the South. It is believed that they may be produced in quantities at less expense than many potatoes, and that they provide a food that is in every way equal to that staple, and furnishes an agreeable substitute aud change. The experiments will be carried forward on a much larger scale next year; the special varieties that thrive best in that country will be selected, and when decided upon will be placed in the hands of numbers of intelligent experimenters "who want to take further steps towards developing the crop. The aroids, having teen grown for centuries in various parte of the world, have differentiated, aud there are hundreds of varieties. The plant representing theni with which Americans are most familiar is the "elephant's ear," used as an ornamental .plant in many American gardens. The taro of Hawaii is probably the best known variety that is largely cultivated as a food-vielding plant. These plants grow abundantly on .low and wet lands. They require little cultivation, and yield prodigiously. Because of this large yield and small amount of labour required, the aroids came to be cultivated in the Tropics in the early centuries when man first began to take thought and to plant foodbearing crops. They are among the oldest cultivated plant's in the world. They grow abundantly in Central America, South America, "the West Indies, Equatorial Africa, Malaysia, Japan, China. In this last century they arc largely • cultivated in latitudes that correspond with that of Washington, D.C. From these, facts, and from the experience already had, it is believed that they offer great possibilities in the United' States, and that their introduction might add a new food that would not only give greater variety, but cheaper living there. The tubers grow on the roots of the aroids, much as potatoes grow. They thrive under such conditions of moisture as-are favourable to rice. In a moist, loose soil the plant may' be taken by the top and lifted., roots and all, from the earth. The'tubers are as large as the list, and covered with a somewhat rough skin. When baked, they come out of this skin with even more readiness than docs the potato. They may be peeled easily before cooking, and they lend themselves to frying,, boiling,, baking, and: all manner of combinations. In flavour they are entirely individual, but attractive. -There is more flavour-to them than to potatoes, and a wide variety among the different kinds. This flavour may be described as being somewhat nutty. It appeals-to most.tastes. The aroids offer great pousibjlilits as a food for the millions of the. Temperate zone,?. Their coming into general use is not at'all improbable. They will be an important addition to food products, that may be a substitute not only for potatoes, but a. means of meeting deficiencies apt to obtain even in the near intensive cultivation of crops in the country.

POTATO-DIGGING RECORD. Some excellent potato-digging 1 records have been established in the western and southern districts of New South Wales this season, under the stimulus of the 9d per bag- paid for the work. Thcv pale, however, in comparison with those put .up in a contest for the "championship"., at Bungaree (Vic.), the other day, where two diggers dug and bagged 09 bags of marketable potatoes in eight hours, while the losers accounted for 8 96 bags. The match was held in a crop which yielded six tons to the acre

HURRIED MILKING. In cases where cows are milked in a hurry, and the milking has not been llio> cughly completed, Iho.mijk will not show ts' due proportion of fat, becauso Ibc last milk is not added to it. If this fat is left in the udder, sometimes on the plea (hat it will come out at the next milkiti"* a great change will bo produced in the secretion-of milk.. This fat that is left, instead of being secured at the next milking, will be reabsorbed by the .animal's system and devoted to producing fat in other places, and if the. imperfect milkiug is continued for long, these secretions will become perverted and established, with the result that the milk will be permanently poor, whereas the cow herself will gradually improve her own condition.

LINSEED IN DAIRYING. In the feeding of calves it is found that linseed meal or crushed linseed added to skim or separated milk is one. of the safest and most economical substitutes for the abstracted milk fat. Linseed approaches more nearly in composition to the- solids of milk than any other fcod, and the oil which it contains,., to the extent of ;M to IJB per cent., is easily digestible. ' In using the linseed the. calves should ■bo'- allowed whole milk for at least a week. During the next week, the change from whole milk to skim milk should be gradually brought about. Substitute each day a regular proportion of skim-milk {or the. same amount of whole milk withdrawn. The .skim-milk should be fed warm, from 90; to NX)'degrees Fahr.,.no more, or less. To repla.ee the fat removed from the skim-milk as well as to furnish additional protein is now the. duty ot the linseed, mixed with (lie milk in-the .form'of a jelly. This jelly should be added in small quantities at first, and. slowly increased. Begin with a dessertspoonful in each portion, and gradually-iiicreaec until about a cupful is being fed night and. morning ■to the-three-months-old. calf.

■ Tw.• prepare the jelly, boil or steep, lib of linseed . in water almost boiling... until a thick .'.paste results.; or, take a/hall'-cup orgroimcLiinseed inria quart .of."water and allow.'it to.simmer just:below, the -boiliujj poin.t--uufi!"a"tliiek'. jelly is. formed. ; jt, sliould.be kept cool and sweet, until fed;. In addition to the linseed jolly a littledry brap. and whole oats should be fed. Start with. very.small quautitiee:. Some sweet, clean hay is a valuable addition at a very early age* AYhoy may be used where skim-millc* i-; not to be had. Chanfte from milk to whey, as from whole milk to skim-miik s as already referred to. The linseed jelly should be used just as if feeding skiiu-uiilk" instead of whor...