FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 135, 20 March 1873, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Dairymen, with unit show of reason, declare theanelT^ unable to raise tbeir calves. But they need not. A efclf is a long •ufferiug creature and easily adapted to artificial conditions, and its supply of milk being cut off ft substitutemay be found with which it may be kept in a ttow^T coa^j dition. For the first four days it is necessary that it should H receive the milk which it fit for no other purpose, tacit h» | certain medicinal uses for the calf. As «oon as tliis period is passed, it may bo furnished with substitute fee<il, •* follows : Oatmeal, sifted from the husks, is boiled into thin gruel, strained, sweetened with brown sugar, and fed to the calf; haying beeft prcYionslj taught to drink, the calf will readily take-«l quart three times a day, which may be lncmsased ' gradually as it becomes older. Finely-cut clover bay, the? choicest of the early harvest, is miied with scalding oatmeal sweetened,, and fed in small quantities, gradually increased. If the bowels become loose a teaspoonful of prepared «halk is given as a corrective. With this feed and good care n eslf will thrive and grow better than on skim milk. A farmer and several of his children were iick with typhoid ferer. Their physician was unable to Recount for the malady until his attention was called to the water from J the well of the adjoining house. It had a peculiar pleating,.! sweetish flavour, but the idea that there was anything wrong I there was held to be absurd by the subservient members o?^ the family. However, the suspicions of the pbjaician. **/&> aroused, and the fiact that the dirt of the farmyard was within 15 feet of the well, and had existed there for many years, seemed to make possible defilement On testing this water it was found to be highly charged with the product of decomposing animal matter of poisonous character, and the sufficient cause of the sickness was apparent. The well was abandoned, and tl c farmer recovered, but his children trei* sacrificed. Typhoid and similar fevers are the farmer's bane. They are peculiarly the diseases of ),he rural districts, and cess-pools and barn-yards e^ist too often in close proxiP^y to wells from which water for domestic use is drawflWNo more active ferment or blood jjoison can be taken into the s-ystem than putrid animal refuse, and 110 more deadljJ maladies exist than those thus originated. Fevers, choleras dysentery, diarrhoea, and many eruptions of a painful nsture | are of this class, and children arc generally the first victims, j Surely no stronger argument can be urged for a reformation, in our present barbarous method of getting nid of household waste. Getting rid ? So far from this we but store ilt upto plague us with it in the worst possible way. The ancient method, inculcated by Moses for the purification of the camps of the Israelites, after thousands of years, is striving for aplace in our civilised appliances, and there are none more conveniently situated than. farmers or country residents to avail themselves of it. In the shape of the modern earth, closet it is practicable and easy, and provides a cure for theevil wo here deprecate. Mr Disturnell, " a man of facts and calculations, witb> measuring stick and multiplication table always in jat pocket," gives some information regarding th» Californm wheat interest. Most of the crop at the present time is produced in fourteen counties, and the yield this year is pluced at 30,000,000 bushels. The varieties now cultivated, fire iv number, and all white winter wheat, are : the Sonora, a small, hard, round berry, compared to the other species, and is raised in every agricultural section of thp State ; the Club, resembling the above in shape, but a trifle larger and softer grain, and highly prized in the English markets ; the Chili, a long, plump berry of large size, a favorite with millers at Home and' at the East ; the Australasian, also esteemed by the millers, but not 6O well thought of by the farmers, and the "Propper," abeaided wheat of the Chili species, a larger yielder, and highly prized by producer and consumer. These different varieties are plarted between November aud March y. during the rainy season, and the Propper kind put in in> March comes to perfection in three months. During theperiod of harvesting, June and July, there is no rainfall in, California, consequently the whole crop is secured without damage. The practice is to stack the wheat while in tbohead in the field, or thresh it out and put it into bags containing 100 pounds, then it is ready for shipment. Most o^ the above species produce very white flour, but not of sucflP strength of body as some of the Eastern wheat. In harvest- I ing the farmer uses the " header," cutting off the straw about j four inches below the head, the straw being burned, to tho- ' great detriment of the land. As yet the farmer uses no manure, but will, no donbt, have soon to replenish the soiL by manuring of some kind. In most instances there is tv volunteer crop of wheat after the first planting averaging about two-thirds of the first yield. -The surplus crop is,, mostly shipped from Sacramento, Valejo, Oakland, aud San. Francisco to American or foreign markets, but the present year an enterprising firm of flour dealers in Boston, Mass.,. purchased 1000 tons delivered at Sacramento*, and shipped it overland a distance by rail of 3422 miles. The price paidi was about 3s 6d per bushel) and about the came for through I transportation by special contract. j Without steep, farming cannot as a rule become a proflflfl able pursuit, and without the raising of ■pecial crop§ t» bol oonsumed on the ground by the sheep, they cannot be made- j profitable. The only trouble that will be found to exist, if I [ any, will in all cases be due to poverty of soil and light crops ; I but. as this method tends more rapidly than any others to. enrich the soil and enlarge the crops, this trouble gradually disappears. Tho crops to be raised arc rye, oats, and peas, sown together ; vetches or tares, rape, mustard, turnips, and beets, in addition to grass. Clover grown alone is not to bo advised, but a mixture of clover, timothy, blu? grass (so called by English sheep-graziers, but known as the plantago lanceolata botanically) or nbworth grass, and parsley, would' I be found excellent for occasionally turning the sheep into I when a change is desired or becomes necessary. Such a field I should be laid down preparatory to commencing the system^ as for the first year great need will be found for it, unless^ the other fields are sufficiently fertile to yield heavy crops,. I in which cases it will be needed only for medicinal purpoiies I or for stimulating the- appetite. Rye is suitable for winter I pasturage, with mustard or rape to be alternated therewith ; oats and peas should be sown in succession ; tares, of which there are two kinds winter and summer, would be a valuable crop. The winter variety would furnith the earliest spring" feed, white the summer varieties would alternate with oat* and peas and grass. The root crop would be the dependence for the chief winter feeding, and this is the only crop in thesystem which would need harvesting or handling. The roots,, turnips, rutabagas, and beets, would furnish a vast amount of feed, as the tops can be preserved equally well with tlberoots, and could be carried from the pits to the sheep and" fed in troughs wherever desired. The crops chosen being raised, they are to be fed off the ground by sheep confined! within hurdles or light movable fences made in sections or » panels , and affixed to temporary stakes driven into the ground. These hurdles being set up across a field inclose the sheep. iv a narrow strip, and when the orop ii fed off from that strip the hurdles are moved and another strip added. Then, the sheep are confined in such a manner that tho feed is all consumed, and the ground eaten bare is left evenly manure^, by the droppings. By carrying out such a system as this,, not only can land* be raised to the highest degree of fertility but heavy mutton sheep with desirable long-wool fleeces o»tv only thus be most successfully raised 1 .