FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 115, 30 January 1873, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Jn lately made with dairy cows of the Jersoy fcfieied, jbho average weekly yield ofbutter was (per coy) §'j.lb3, jbhe average daily yield of milk was 13*2 lbs. Th« Iqvgesf .daijy yield from a single cow was 23*7 lbs. The total ym4 faf l^ffi SSeek' e ek was 2771 lbs and the weight of milk re; (TJ iff 4to ift^kfi * pound of butter (avenging the whole herd) „ |(j Ifa $s (ft quarts. This ie not by guests, nor by " rule of £ t'lurnlj/' fout l)j aqtual weight taken at each milking, tho « ' G9W$ R ei Ko on gf«en summer feed. The record vould not be compete without an account of our manner of fending, &o. '$kp cows piss tfye night in the yard. In the morning they r-eppiy/B an average of three quarts of wheat-bran and a good feed of corn-fodder. They then got to pasture, where thoy remain, on good feed until 4 p.m. Then tliey aro broughf; in, and have all they can eat of corn-fodder. Within a year or two some varieties of onions have been introduced into England from the south of Europe which, have produced buibs of remarkable size. Mr Peter Henderson writes that h« saw at the rooms of tho London Horticultural Society a specimen that weighed 4 lbs 2 oz, and measured 24 inches in circumference. A dozen such specimens were exhibited, which the visitor claimed were of w mild a flavour that they " could be eaten like bread/ The name of this variety was the Early White "MaggiojoUt. Very large onions are raised in California and New Mexico, but seeds from them taken to the Eastern States produce nothing remarkable, and such may possibly be the case with these new European sort*. There axe fe,w vegetables more readily influenced by peculiarities of soil and climate than, the onion. This is how they keep cabbage? through, the winter in the. Western States of America : We 'make a deep and wide. " dead furrow " with a plough, in dry, sandy soil ; and then lay the cabbages in it, packed close together, with the stalks np. Then throw, the earth back on to the cabbages. The, cabbages should be dry, and the weather cold, and care should b,3 taken that the furrow left On the «ide of the row of cabbages should be cleaned out, so as to carry off the water. If no water g^t? to the cabbages and the heads are sound, large and hard wfyen put in, we have never experienced any dim* culty in keeping them perfectly until spring. And there i f nothing that our sheep relish so imich. The only trouble about raising cabbages for stock is that they usually com* mand so much more in market than they are worth to feed out, that it is difficult to resist the temptation to sell them. A young farmer bought a farm and put in forty or fifty acres of wheat the first year, and got thirty bushels per acre, and sold it for 6s per bushel. " And that crop ruined me," ho said. " How so ? " was asked. " I have been trying to do the same again ever since, and last year scarcely got my seed back." Tho truth is, there have always been good seasons and bad seasons, and will be until the end of time. He is wise w'»Q understands, this, and acts accordingly. No one would like to go to sea with a captain who expected nothing but fair weather. Any. man who hopes to get good crops without labour will be disappointed in most cases. Such a man would not succeed any bpttftr in. a shop, or store, or factory ; and he certainly can nerer make a good farmer until this kind of nonsense is driven out of him. Wet springs and dry summers, rust and insects, weedy land, floods and hail, foot-rot in sheep, colic in horses, one or all pay him a visit, and urge him to think and work, and plan. If anything can make a man of him, it is farming. It is now fully admitted that a great improvement in our agriculture is apparent of late in most countries. " The way we husk corn," writes one of an Illinois correir pondent, "is to grasp the ear with the loft hand, stripping one side with the right hand, then grasping the ear with the. right hand and strip with tho left, and break it in a sort of combined movement, toss it into the waggon with the right hand. Sometimes a husk or silk adheres, but we let it go, for while you are taking it off you can husk another ear. It makes one-third difference in the work, and no perceptible difference in the value of the corn to horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, or to the buyers. Husk from the shock and ihmvx directly into the waggon. It saves muc.li labour. To prevent the corn being thrown over the wqggon, talje ft wicje hoard is long as the box, nail strips on both sides, *, few inches longer than the board is wide. Then place the' board on top of one side of the waggon. The strips will hold it in place , making that side of the waggon higher than the other, and enabling the husker to toss in the corn without looking. If the corn must be sorted, throw the poor corn on the ground*. To facilitate unloading, take a board, fifteen inches wide', three and a half feet long; nail a cleat acioss it on one end, and an inch from it nail another. Place this end on the tailboard of the box. This will enable one to use a scoop-shovel at once, without the tediousness of handpicking." There are certain causes which effect the deterioration in, the quality of milk — especially the presence of dirt and dust in tho pail; the. inhaling of foul odours by the cows, at pasture and elsewhere; and the drinking of putrid water. Instances aro cited, in which putrifying flesh, as of dead animals, has communicated a taint to the milk in the bag, by simply tainting tho air breathed by the cow. Prof. Law, of Cornell University, finding the cream on his milk to be ropyj examined it with a microscope, and found it infested with living organisms. On investigation he found that the her,^ from which his supply came, drank the water from a stagnant pool, located in a muddy swale. The microscope developed organisms in this waf^r qf the game sort with those found in, the milk. The same was also detected on a microscopic examination of the b.10.0.d of the cows. That the cows were, in a diseased condition was shown by the thermometer test — they being hot and feverish. A little of the same filthy water was introduced into milk which proper tests had shown, to be pure, and in due tiipe the same filthy organisms multi-; plied and took possession of it in vast numbers, producing the same charaotej: of milk as that first noticed. This inves-, tigntion made by a careful observer, holds out the plainest possible practical le»3on to the dairyman, and if he disregards it, and %s misses his opportunity for making good cheese and] butter, he has only himself to thank. It shows that the, cleanliness of a dairy farm must be radical, thorough, and all-pervading. No filthy mud should be allowed to dry into a dust that may foul the pail ; no foul odours should' taint the undrawn milk; and the drinking water should be free of the "little leaven that leaveneth the who}?; lump" — cow, milk, and all.