FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 3501, 1 December 1894, Page 3

FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

A Poor Prior for Potatoes.—ln some districts of Tasmania this season's crop of potatoes is bringing only 10s per ton. The oMail is recommending growers to abandon potatoes and turn to long field carrots, which yield about 40 tons, to the acre, and are good feed for horses and cattle.

Testing Cows.—One cow will give 61b. a of butter per week, and eat as much as another cow which gives 121b. Sometimes a cow may give more butter than another, but her keep costs more addition-' ally than the extra vahie to her produce. The amount of butter or cheese is p, very important item, but the cost is of still greater moment, It is necessary to periodically test the cows and all those that are not up to v the average of tho herds should be weeded out and replaced by more profitable animals. 2& Word op Caotion to Ohciiabdists. —The Department of Agriculture recently issued a leaflet on the cherry leech or slug, and the methods of coping with it. At th2 end was given a recipe of a compound recommended by Mr Palmer, Government pomologist, as " good for leech and all other insect and fungoid pests." This consists of a desotion of sulphate of cop per, Paris green, and hellebore. One .settler who prepared it strictly according to directions, using the purest chemicals, Js a sorry man. A fine crop of damsons "was entirely destroyed by the spraying, the quinces were damaged, and the leaves of the apple trees burned, and the grape vines stripped of leaves and fruit. He has no doubt it is effectual with insect pests, as he, has proved by experiment •that it is fatal to large slugs, Since thea he has used it ot just half the strength recommended, and finds it is not then injurious to leaves or fruit.—" Hawkes Bay Herald.'

Peach Curl.—ln answer to an enquiry by a genileraan in Manaia, Mr J. C. Blackmore, Government Pomologist, replies as follows: " Your memo, to band, likewise the box .containing' peach leaves, which I notice are effected with peach curl—a fungoid disease which attacks the peach. This fungus can be combatted with the following remedies, viz., Bordeaux mixture and ammoniacal carbonate of copper mixture used as a spray, the first-named before the leaves open, th« latter just as the leaves expand, a second after the blossoms fall, the third application eleven days after the Keeond. The remedies are preventative rather than remedial, and should therefore be applied early. ''To make Bordeaux use sulphate of copper—6 lbs dis« solved in 16 gallons of water; lime, fresli, 41bin 6 gallons water. "Kemp, thorne, Prosser and Co. now put up ammoniacal carbonate of copper solution in quart bottles, each dilute to 10 gal;tonß\ . ~'-.,.'.'.',.■

Ferrets Attacking Horses.—While a well-known dealer in vegetables was plying his trade; .between Blenheim and the Half* way House enroute for Havelock, he was much surprised at the rearing of ,his leader. As he was not blinking at the time he.dismounted,.andat once espied the cause of the trouble'a'sanguinary little monster, ■ commonly called f a., ferret. Being a man of great heart, and not as jrreen as his load, he at once, whip in his handji |the pppqsmg r enemy Having'conquered, he 'turned to' take charge of the reins again, when he found hif shafter sniffing and snapping at an ally of'triefirst* warrior;' The poor'ma« was now almost overcome with 1 rage, and, preparing to demolish the second member of the opposing force, was dismayed to find the nether part of his body,seized by .the, supposed .vanquished /member, Thinking now discrectiori the better 'part of valour, he hastily resumed his'seat and drove away, making a record for three jiniles, and leaving his diram.itiye euemies in peace quietly digestjng the; dinner which they had fought so hard to earn.

Why Wheat is Low in, Price.—The latest'nWe from Argentina (fiays'an Ens; liflh journal)' is sufficiently/startling. The quantity of wheat shipped io January was •J55,000qr8., in February: ;387,000qr5„ in March 992,000qr5, Even .this till then unprecedented figure wasnto jbe. immediately eclipsed, for in the month pf April 1,041,000qr5. were shipped, in May 855, OOOqrs., and in June 1,130,000qr5, Shipments s'nce midsummer, indeed, hav«j fallen off, but this apparently has been due io the rowing season, 1 to the delay in transport, from the iuterior, and to great .disappointment over the prices which are obtainable in the British markets. These are good reason?, yet British farmers had hoped for what would have been to them a better, namely, the exhaustion of the laet crop. No such flattering unction, it eeem-, can we biy to our soul. Stocks of old wheat in Argentina on Ist August were over 2,500,000qr5i. And ar. least 1,500.000 quarters, of this will be available for shipment from September to January. AfterJannaiy the new wheat, whiiib is reaped during that month in Argentina, will be ready for the market,anil farmers are said tn be already anxious to dear all oil wheat before tiiun." Bacon Coking—Mr John, Moo'dv, of Orroi'oo, South Australia, writes to a contemporary, ,( There is more good meat destroyed in the cutting up than in preserving and pickling. Appearance cou nbutes a great deal to the value oi hums and bacon, and the mean 1 mu«t be clean and presentable. If the' pork is intruded for sides of bacon it mu<t be cut differ"ntly from what it should be if meant for rolled or spiced meat; and the hams must bfi cut iu a shapely and marketable form-not simply big junks of salt pig, call d " ham" just because cut from that part, of the pig where the ham generally .wines from, After the meat is properly cui up [ generally mix 121b of the. very be.- 1 - K-ilt with. 61b of dark sugar, ; j;lb carbonate of potach or bi-carbonate of soda, and 2oz. of saltpetre, This mixture

has to be well rubbed into the meat every day for a week, turning the treat every day, Then rub in and turn every second day for another week. ,At the end of a fortnight the bacon is fit to hang up or roll as the case may need. For hams another week or fortnight in the salt is necessary. If the moat is to be smoked a smoke house is needed, This is easily made, but the place where the smoke is generated must be placed a little distance from the room where the meat is hung, so that the smoke 'shall be cool before it comes in contact with the meat." Soot as a Fertiliser.-It is tho practice with some to save all the soot from the kitchen range for the vegetable garden, and the practice is a very good one ton, as soot is a splendid fertiliser, being rich in ammonia, which supplies nitrogen to the plants. Smoke, Hmonar other things, consists of minute particles of carbon that readily become rtoposited upon any cool surface with which the smoke comes in contact. During the burning of coal in our grates a good doal of ammonia is produced, and this is given off in the form of gas, which, meeting with another gas formed from sulphur, and the two entering into combination, form a salt of ammonia, which is deposited along with the carbon of the soot. That soot does contain ammonia can easily be determined by a simple experiment. Mix a little slaked lime in water so as to form a paste, and then, stir in a little soot, when the weliknown pungent smell of ammonia will be givsn off. The result of chemical analysis shows that the quantity of ammonia in soot varies from 2to 5 per cent, As the ammonia in soot is soluble it is best used as a top-dressing to plants, as the rain will then wash it down to the plant roots, where it is immediately taken up by the rootlets. Of course soot must not be used too freely, as plants will not stand an over-dressing of manure of any kind. Soot has the double advantage of, being a capital destroyer of slugs which infest the vegetable garden. The economical housewife, therefore, should save all the household soot for a top-dressing; to the vegetable patch,

Special Purpose Cows.—An English judge of dairy stock, speaking at a show luncheon recently, said in reference to the milk and butter tests that he did not believe in what was nowadays spoken of as the all-round or general purpose cow. The present day, he said, is a day for specialists, and it were better to have special breeds of cows for particular purposes. In his opinion there were milking cows, butter cows, and beef cows —all distinct animals; and it is just as absurd for us'to expect one cow to combine several qualities as to expect to get an all-round horse < that can carry a lady or shaft, alheayy load to market. If, said he, we had a ! cow which' made lib of butter from 171b of milk we could reckon that a butter cow, and if we had one that yielded GOQgal .of milt a year we could consider that a fmilking cow ; if, on the other hand, we find a cow does not come up to either of these standards, then we may safely conclude, that she must be a beeficqw, stefg'oes.tb the butcher the better This sounds like plain sense,.and,',moreover, .this isamefarmer told his brother farmers. around him that if they looked W these'poinis he was sure the day would not be far distant when they would' see the' last of' butter-from New Zealand and milk and water from Holland. This farmer was uot far out in his/remarks special qualities -in different cows;, but there is no rule in the matter, for cows, do occasionally combine quantity and 1 quality 1 in their milking powers.' For instance,'in a recent note on good and badicowscompared, a table of tests showed that the cow .which headed the list for quintity of' milW was also first in percentage of butter fat. A cow ; like that is a mine of wealth to anybody who will feed her well; and, make the most of her, and any heifer oaifW she may have should be well cared for in the case the excellent qualities of, the mother should be inherited., It is claimed,f or 'tiie short; horn bieed tbaV they are good milkers,' as well as' 'being suitable for'' profitable fytteriinjri and Mr Ritchie, in his remarks on dairying in tbe recently-issued;depart-mental report on agriculture, says that, in his opinion the most suitable breed for dairymen'to go in for is to be obtained byusing'a shorthorn bull from aigood mi'king strain. For my part I have noticed that, an 1 aptitude for fattening is generally present in the cows that are 4uffers at milking, and that, on the other hand, a really good milch cow is never fat, or ev.en in good condition, as so.much of theirjood goes to the production of milk that the carcase cannot ever approach to fatness. Moreover, good cows are generally kept for the dairy and for rearing calves until they are too old for fattening off, while- as for the. duffers, the sooner they are fattened the better fnr their owners.—Agricola in Otago Witness.

-Tksting Cream,-The proper degree of an dity in > r am ripe for chtiuuiuv is a mit;. r of mere miesswoik in general p.'iioiii e, The acidity of cream.is caused by the growth unci multiplication of bi(!ti.'i'ii. Dirt is the .source of all baneful baotera which find their way nit) milk, cream, and biH.t'r; j-o that, if everything' is clean .through which the milk passes, it would be comparatively easy to have the train ripcu by .the aid of beneficial bacterid. The rate at which (ireiitu ripens is influeiwed by a number of outside agencies, such as the cleanliness of rr/fciiud, subsequent handling of the milk, the amount of fat in it, and the temperature of thn weather, Hot, muggy weather has a tendency to hasten, souring, whilst a clear, bright atmosphere, or cold, is favourable to the growth of the bacteria which cause the cream to ripen favourably. Since it is the milk sugar that ferments when' milk sours, it is easy to understand that thin watery cream with only 10 to 15 per cent, of fat contains more milk sugar and will sour

faster than rich cream, which contains more fat, and consequently less milk sugar and casein. Exactly how to test the dejrree of acidity favourable to the production «i the bestbntter would be an incalculable boon to the dairyman, in lieu of the haphazard system by which cream U tested under exi.-ting conditions, Happily a proper scientific system has been invented by the chemist, who is the patron of industry in all ranks. A German chemist found some years ago that the degree of acidity in cream could be reduced to a scientifically correct percentage by adding a standard alkali and a few drops of a peculiar chemical. The chemical referred to produces a pink colour in certain alkaline solutions, but does not change the colour of acid solutions. An American chemist has carried the discovery of his German confrere a step further, and has prepared the alkaline tester in tabloids, According to the number of tablets used in a given quantity of cream, so is the degree of sourness indicated by the appearance of the pink colour,, which only shows up when all the acid has been neutralised by the alkaline tablets, By this test dairymen can find the degree of sourness they consider most suitable for Ihe production of "butter to suit their customers. For the dairy factory such a test would be invaluable,