On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 18 April 1912, Page 51

On the Land

It is not enough-to know that a cow gives a pailful of milk when she is fresh; we want to know what she produces in a year. S " - ■ • ■■:.:.■""■".""'■■■■■■., ' '■;

; Whether a horse is pulling a load or going beyond a A footplace,' he should ,be kept ' collected,' as lie does his work more : comfortably, and does not fatigue so easily. The slipshod |, driver is very much in evidence behind work horses.. You see him driving a pair with one horse- ahead of the- other; he is simply holding the reins, not driving at all.* He makes no attempt to, keep the draught of both horses even; he does not feel their mouths, keep 'them collected and balanced; : : The opinion is held by a number of experts (says the Taranuki News) that prices of butter will be good throughout the v winter, for. although the markets at Home have shown a tendency to drorj lately, it is anticipated that if 5 the strike is settled : they will^again harden, particularly as there is a big shortage of the stock in store, and the winter at Home has been a severe one, in consequence of which supplies are not likely to come forward in any quantity before June. ?

/The entries in all,- classes at Burnside last week were limited,;and the quality in most cases was only medium. ; The yarding of a fat; cattle totalled 180,. the bulk of which were cows and heifers, "very few heavyweight prime bullocks being; forward. The sale was a dragging one. "Best bullocks, £lO to £ll 10s; medium to good, £7 15s to £9; light, £6 to £7; best cows and heifers;:£7sto £B. £ There was a yarding' of 1122 fat lambs. , These .met 'with: good : competition, and late ruling rates were well maintained. The fat sheep forward totalled 1847; the; bulk of which 7 were medium to inferior ewes, with a very few pens of prime wethers. There was good competition for all prime sheep at an advance of Is 6d to 2s per head for prime wethers, and about Is on prime ewes, while medium and unfinished sorts were about the same ,as previous week. Prime wethers brought 18s 6d to 20s; extra, to 23s 6d; medium, to good, 15s 6d to 17s. The 28 fat pigs and 34 stores penned were eagerly competed for, at an advance on late rates.

The entries and attendance at Addington last week were smaller than ,usual.,;;;;The yarding of fat cattle was a moderate one, totalling 185 head, as against 244 last week. The offerings were of a medium quality, only a few better-class beasts being noticed here and there. When the sale opened the demand was very uneven,, and ~a considerable number of passings were made, but in spite of this the values showed little difference, from those of the previous sale. There was a small yarding of fat sheep, and all classes were represented. The market opened in a satisfactory manner at values comparable with late rates. The range of prices was: Prime wethers, 18s to 21s 9d; others, 15s to 17s 9d; prime ewes, 13s to 17s 3d. There was a slightly larger entry of fat lambs as compared" with previous week, the figures being 7778, as against 7508. The entry was an uneven one, which included a wide range of quality There was, however, a : good proportion of really well-finished lambs, and exporters operated freely at times at prices about on a par with Ust week. The range of prices was.: Tegs, 17s 3d to 19s lid; ordinary freezers, 13s 6d to 18s; and graziers took other lines r at prices from 10s 6d upwards. - There was only a i small number of store pigs nenned. The sale was : fairly keen, ; medium ; sorts making 30s to 365; smaller, 22s to 28s; and very small, : 14s to 17s. We.iners realised 12s 6d to 16s, and were in somewhat better demand. The entry of fat pigs was below the average, but; the demand for all classes was fair, baconers meeting with a little better inquiry.; Choppers made £3 12s to £4 12s; heavy baconers, 70s to" 72s 6d; extra, to 85s; and lighter sorts, 55s to'6ss* 1

DUAL-PUEPOSE SHEEP. . A writer, in an American paper raises the question whether : or not r we can have a sheep which will yield

both mutton and wool s in the highest perfection. He considers the Southdown to be the best English sheep, but that it would be impossible to grow;merino wool upon it, and breeders must be; satisfied with a happy mean. He amusingly points out that Shropshire men are trying to grow- wool on every part ■of the sheep excepting the .hoof and the eye-balls, and a thinks they will be beaten by the Hampshire men if they do nob take care. If there is to be * dual-purpose cow, then there may also be a dual-purpose sheep, and they might try to make it, though they cannot have perfection both ways; that is, the Southdown might have a better fleece and the merino .a better mutton 'carcase, bufe there are limits to both. .■-.% ' J *«- .'-',-■-'j?

- ?>$ THE s TREATMENT OF. YOUNG ANIMALS. . A contributor to the Dublin Farmers 1 Gazette writes thus:—l have no hesitation in saying that next to a good cow the small-holder's best friend-is a good sow. Very often when the price of fat pigs is down very many at once s seem to determine that prices will never rise again, and proceed at once ; to get rid of their sow, and advise *all about the neighborhood to do the same. I have lived very near the small holder all my life, and the man I have ever seen thriving and well able to; weather any blast is the man who sticks to what experience has taught him to rely on, and who • never heeded , outsiders' talk, which very often springs from ? very unreliable foundation. It is to be feared that here m Ireland some of us are a little inclined to be rather stingy ; in feeding, our animals. Well, it is about the very worst policy a farmer could adopt. If you want to make money off pigs or calves, feed * well from _start to finish. ; Letting a young animal 'run : round,' which has come to be another name for existing without food, is a bad policy, and * such !animals will cost more to put into decent condition afterwards (if they ever are) than would have finished them properly had their insides never been allowed to"close up from the wanlriol-prjQipr filling. > ,n !?v>, -e., - - - r ' .-..

WORKING THE SEPARATOR.' Upon the question as to which is the best cream separator, many ignore the important point that upon ;.: the working of any separator, however good the machine may be in itself, the results in a very material -degree depend. -In the proper working of a separator (says an exchange) it . should be noted that - the milk enters the centre of the separator bowl; so that the sugar, albumen, casein and ash, as well as the water are hurried to the outside of the bowl, and in accord with the law that 'no two bodies can occupy the same place| at the same time,' the' fat is'forced out -and consequently finds itself nearing the centre of the bowl There is a gradual condensation of the cream from the outside of the centre. ~ At the innermost point : ar e J re T7 lll contain.,nearly 50 per cent.'.butter fat, gradually decreasing until the skim-milk, which is taken at the outside, will contain only a trace. The different separators have a slightly varying contrivance for con.trolling the density of the cream, but in every instance the principle remains the same. When taken very near tlecentre, is less, and the fat content^ escLe l^ W °T m may be , reduC * d UDfcil ifc ca *not enough, and so if the milk supply is not diminished a portion of the fat will off in the skim-milk. -On the other hand, if the cream screw is changed to increase volume-thaiis take it out nearer to the outside ..of. the bowl-then the result; is a cream of less fat content, : and this per mission of increased overflow at the centre of the bow .means a more exhaustive skimming. ' ' The telr of W class skimming is to run full capacity, skim clan and deliver a cream containing 40 W^^MeS

-, * Gore •'•;:"--■ '':"';■.•'■-" : : : |; The; Catholic young men of Gore (says the Ensign) met in - Holland's Buildings' on April 18 to hear the report .off Messrs. Columb, Daly,, and Francis regarding the ; formation of a Hibernian Football' Club A - second meeting was held on April 28, when the name of the club was decided upon and the election of officers was proceeded witlras follows:Patron, Very Rev. Father O'Donnell; president, Mr. D. L. Poppelwell (Mayor of Gore); vice-presidents, Rev. John Tobin, Messrs. Owen Kelly, James Holland., Patrick Sexton Michael O'Connor, Thomas Gregan, John Hanley, and Matthew Hanley committee, Messrs. Edward Columb, Patrick Daly, Richard Ferris,- and Martin Francis. The club is to be ; called the m Hibernian Football Club, and the , color of the-jersey is green. The above committee, accompanied by the president (Mr. D. L. Poppelwell), approached the Eastern ;District -Union on the 2nd inst. : A letter was received from; Mr. A. Stead (secretary of. the Eastern District Sub-Union) on April 8, stating that affiliation had been granted, and the Hibernian teams had v been ■, registered as junior with a-^second; and third grade team. A further . meeting was 4ieldin~ Holland's Buildings. Mr. Owen Kelly occupied the chair, and addressed the meeting. Rev. Father Tobin and Mr. Keating also spoke. The ball for the seconds will be presented ; by Mr. Owen Kelly, and Mr. M. Francis will "give the ball for the thirds. Several members have also given handsome subscrip-

tibns. Mr. Martin Francis is secretary and Mr. Dwyer captain, while Mr.. Keating; (ex-member of Celtic Club, Timaru,-. and ex-representative player „for. South Canterbury) Has accepted the appointment X of coach to the 1 newly-formed teams. . '/"■'■ < At the fortnightly meeting of the Hibernian Society six candidates proposed by Mr. A, H. Smith were admitted as full benefit members,, and a past president's certificate was presented to Bro.' R. Ferris, and it was decided to invite Bro. Larner for the purpose of receiving a past president's certificate." ""■"- " I'l

The Most Rev. M. J. O'Doherty, ; a ; priest of the diocese of Achonry, who has been consecrated Bishop of , Zamboanga,; in the Philippine ■ Islands, left Queenstown recently on his way to his diocese. It is interest! ing to note that of the nine Bishops of the Philippine Church six are of Irish birth or descent. •. In;the whole of the Philippine Archipelago there are about 9,000,000 inhabitants, of whom about 8,000,000 ; are members of the.: Catholic • Church; "vV Hence, on the' average, each Bishop has a flock of nearly 1,000,000 souls confided to his charge: \