FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 3492, 10 November 1894, Page 3

FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Ringworm in Cattle.—Tho best way to cure riug worm in cattle i 9 to clip" off the hair and wash the part with soap and water, to remove all scab*, when dry rub in I oz. oil of tar, 2 oz. glycerine. Rub in well once a day until cured,' Australian Horses for India,—The Union Steamship Company have arranged to despatch the steamer Port Melbourne. the latest addition to their line, to India with a shipment of horses. The Port Melbourne left Lyttelton at 4 p.m. on Saturday, having on board a number of New Zealand horses, and will come direct to Sydney for a further shipment, and complete her loading at Queensland. Altogether it is expected eke port Melbourne will have 450 horses for the Indiau market. Australian v. Continental Meat.— An exchange says:-We learn by telegraph that an official analysis has beeu made in Vienna of Australian meat as compared with fresh Galician and Hungarian meat. As the result of the test, it is declared that tho Australian meat is perfectly equal to the home-grown article. Butchers in Vienna are selling Australian meat as Austrian. With the sanction of the Vienna Municipal Council, Mr Weddel, of W. Weddel and Co., meat salesmen, London, has opened retail shops in Vienna, in order to thwart the opposi* lion of the butchers. Milk Sugar.—Many farmers are occupied with the more profitable employment of skim milk at d whey for hogs, or allowing it to sour till all its nutrititive properties be exhausted. These products contain a good deal of sugar and albumeu. Milk suiwr is largely prepared, and remuneratively, by many creameries from the skim milk; the product is in constant demand by French apothecaries; it is not only the form in which sugar mixes with other compound ingredients with greatest facility, but the apothecaries are not allowed to employ any other.—Contin?ntal correspondent of the Melbourne Leader. ,

The Largest Orchard in the World. —At Barbara, California (says a contemporary), there is an orchard belonging to Mons. Elivood Cooper, which has an area of 1700 acres, and belongs to one tenant only. It contains 10,000 olive trees, of which 8109 are in full bearing, the remainder of the number being young trees which have been planted during the last 18 months. Besides the olive trees there *;e 2000 English walnut trees, 4500 walnut trees of Japan, 10,000 almond trees, and about 4000 other fruit trees of various kinds. The olive trees produced during last year 10,000 gallons of oil, which found an easy sale, and the nut trees aho produced thousands of bushels of nuts. Taken as a whole, it has been calculated that the orchard of Mons, Cooper brings in annually an income of £l5O per acre, or a total of £255,000. A Cube fob Old Cows.—What is described as *• the persistent way in which dairymen continue to milk old cows, and iif ter they are worn, out try to foist them on someone else," is condemned by W. O'Brien, of Koroit, Victoria, who says:"My cure is- after acow has been milked for three or four seasons, get her speyed about ten days after calving. She will theu milk for, say, two years. A cow, after being speyed, hue milked four years to my own knowledge. The animal will also improve in condition and give better milk, and when finished she will be nearly At for the butcher. There is ako another matter-the class of bull* kept for use. I think the Agricultural Society ought to t>ike this matter up and compel every breeder to keep nothing but apnroved bulls, under a penalty that may be agreed on by all the societies in the colony." Tub Price of English Wiieat.-A lower record still for English wheat than the one mentioned in these columus a fortnight ago has been reached, for on the Bta instant, at Mark Lane, the price was ISs 2d per quarter, which means that English consumers are now buyiug their breadstuffs at 2- 3d per buohel. This is the lowest English price of the present oentury. The problem now at issue is when will bed rock be touched. Our London correspondent informs us by cable tuat the Times urges the colonial Governments to reduce the cost of the production of wheat so as to enable Australia to compete on the best terms with the world. This actually i s what Australia has been doing, and with a fail measure of success; but it will take many great, strides to be made by inventors before cultivating and harvesting machinery can / copo with such quotations as Mark Lane now presents. Rearing Calves,-A correspondent sends us the following :-«• Having been very successful for some time past in the rearing of calves to the number of 35 yearly ,_ I beg to enclose my method. Feed three times daily with uew milk wel warmed, aud allow 5 lb. at eacli feed for 14 days, after which time skim milk may be used in a slightly larger quantity. baked to a dark brown colour should be mixed with the milk, one larire handful to 30.1b. of milk, as it both prevents scourintr and is also nourishing to the calf. The tuilk should be well wanned. Calves should on no account be allowed to

run together, as tliey lick each other, and I the hair forms a compact ball in the stomach and kills them. The calves should be tied to a tree or stake in a dry place, and moved wherever the ground becomes muddy. A swivel should be fastened on the rope .or chain. The calves may be weaned when 6 or 7 months old. If possible they should be kept under cover till a month or six weeto old."

As Explanation* of Blue Milk.— Blue milk somstimes occurs in individual dairiws, and again is so prevalent in certain localities as to ba almost an epidemic. The explanation now given

for blue milk is a double one. Ordinary milk contains some of the Untie acid organisms, and these acting iu connection with auother species of bacteria produce the brilliant blue colour characteristic of this infection, When growing in ordinary milk the effect is very iniirked. For a few hours no change is noticed, but about the time when the milk becomes acid the blue patches make their appearance. The faster the acid forms and the quick)? the coagulation appears, the smaller are the blue patches, while, if the acid is produced more slowly, the blue patches are forger and of a better colour. Where the blue milk organism comes from is unknown, but there can be little doubt that the cause is always from some unknown source of filth. In some ua»es the trouble has bean traced to a single cow, and has been easily stopped by isolatinir her and carefully washing the teats with a little weak acetic acid solutions Blue milk is always an infection due to outside contamination, and does not occur in well-kept dairies.

The Kirghese Horse.—"The Kirghese horse is described in Simonoff and Morder's' Horses of Different Countries' as nothing much, to look at, but he is remarkable for his vigour, his agility, aud his surprising endurance of hunger and fatigue. He can do without food for sever il days, and go at a stretch for 50 or 60 miles at an average speed of six or eight miles an hour. He can stand any sort of climate, and is equally good as a saddle or a harness horse. These horses are inured to fatigue and privation by the life they lead, and they owe their vigour and agility to their nomad existence aud to the frequent incursions (baronies) which their owners make when raiding neighbouring tribes. Upon these occasions they have to gallepoO miles or more and come back the same distance with the flocks which their owners have seized, Then there are the' races in which they take part, the distances run varying from la to 35 miles without a halt, The prizes given are of great value, the owner of the horse which comes in first receiving 100 horses, 200 sheep, several camels, or some arms set in precious stones. It is considered a mark of dishonour for a competitor not to arrive at the winning-post sooner or later, so that the friends of au owner whose horse is dead beat often drag him for the last few miles of the contest."

Tomato Culture. - Prepare well diained boxes or pans of fine, light, rich soil, and having first completely saturated the contents with boiling water, applied by means of the watering pot, sprinkle the surface with dry soil before thinly sowing the seeds in very shallow drills, about one-eighth of an inch deep and three inches apart. I recommend the use of boiling water to kill any insect germs or seeds of weeds which the soil may contain, as well as to induce a more rapid germination of the tomato seeds than if cold water were wed. Cover the drills with dry soil, and finish off with a liirhf mulching of broken litter, which may be sprinkled with Juke warm water. 'Tin boxes or pans may now be covered closely from tha light for two or three days, s'o as to allow the seeds to germinate, slight waterings being given if necessary. In cold weather always use lake-warm water, with the addition of some such stimulant as a teaspoooful of either sulphate of ammonia, or No. 4. Sugar Company's manure to a gallon of water.and continue this treatment until the seedlings are large enough to transplant, Carter's Perfection, Dedham Favourite, Golden Trophy, Blenheim Orange, Greengage, Duke of York, Optimus, Mikado, Mayflower and Ignotum are amongft the best varieties to grow, and if imported seed be used there should be little danger of diseaso amongst the plants, always pro* vided that they arc not "starved" when young, and not planted too closely when put out for fruiting. An Improved Churn,-Mr S?me, proprietor of the Egmont Sash and Door Factory, Hawera, who is ever on the watch to improve dairy appliances has lately added a feature to box turns which is highly approved by factory managers. The lids of these churns'have always been troublesome. If made small so as to be handy inconvenience results owing to the smallntss of tiie aperture; if large, taking in the whole side, they are clumsy to handle, and troublesome to fasten. Mr Syme has got over both difficulties. He makes the openiug one-third of the side; and has arranged a method of fastening the lid oa which is extremely simple but very effective and easily worked. Run* ing up the sides of the churn to the top there are fixed iron adjustable clamps, jointed and working eccentrically, They come over the top and shut down on it. On the lid there are st.t steel springs, underlaid with guttapercha to give greater elasticity, and when the clamp is shut down on these the lid is held with complete firmness. They can be fastened or unfastened in an instant, yet when the damps are down the ltd is fast with immoveable rigidity There are six of these, two opt rating at each end of the lid and one ou each side in the middle, and perfect firmness is secured. With a light rope and tickle (he lid van be raised and lowered and fastening in a very few second-. The L'lan and Mercantile Coin - puny who have had a 6001b churn made on this design are extremely ple«sod with it. Mr Sdrensoii, of the Knpuni factory is also having one made, and other expats who have seen it are very pleased with the improvements which Mr Syme has affected. There is also an air valve fixed whHi mn«t efficiently provides for aeration.-?' Esniont Settler."

Buttrr Export.-The London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus writes under date August 24 :-A careful analysis of the views expressed by; the most experienced of the principal importing butter merchants in London leads to the belief that butter will sell at about a reduction of 15s to 20« per cwt. below the average of last seasoL'a prices, Importers

poiufc out that so far as affects the colonial butter season there is only one factor tending to higher prices—namely, that last season the wholesale butter dealer and the grocer aud buttcrman <!iseovered that thry could make more money by purchasi g c ilonial butter than they could by buying Danish, Swedish, or Dutch, and naturally this will bring a greater demand than ever for the colonial product; but against this are to be set the following facts, each and all of which will have a tendency to lower the price. Last year the colonial butter season opened with scarcely a ton of stored butter in London. This year there is 1500 tons of colonial butter in store, or one-eighth of last year's total colonial supply. In addition to this there is a large quantity of Irish and some Continental stored, waiting for higher prices. Last year there was a drought on the Continent of a very serious nature that largely reduced "the quantity of butter imported from there; this year there have been very abundant hay crops, and the autumn pastures are such as are seldom witnessed for large crops of good succulent grass, which is producing extra quantities of butter, so that we may look for a much larger importation of Continental butter than we received last year, For a similar reason a great increage may be expected in the supply of English, Irish, and Scotch butter, To these unfavourable indications for high prices may be added the largely increased shipments of butter expected from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and New Zealand. Finally, we must not forget that last season's prices were higher than the average of previous years, and therefore the apparently large reduction of l&s to 20s is not a diminution on an average of normal years, but of a year in which prices were exceptionally high on the average. '