ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Staff of the Department has been organized to a large extent for the 

 purpose of giving information to farmers. Questions in every branch of agriculture 

 are gladly answered. Write a short letter, giving as full particulars as possible, of 

 your local conditions, and state precisely what it is that you want to know. All 

 inquiries must be accompanied by the name and address of the writer. 



Blackleg.- — S.S.S. writes — " My calves are dying, and I can see no reason why. They 

 are in good condition, and have loo acres of good grass to run on, with access to shed open to 

 east. Illness lasts only a few hours. Pest mortem shows heart and lungs black; lungs 

 frothy ; liver hard ; other parts normal." 



Answer. — Symptoms are indicative of Blackleg, a full description of which appeared in 

 the July, 1906, issue of the Journal. 



Non-development of Milk Flow. — G.S. states that a heifer belonging to him salved 

 recently. The calf was fully developed, but lived a few hours only, and the heifer, although 

 apparently healthy, has not yet given any milk, with the exception of a few teaspoonfuls at 

 each time. 



Answer. — Heifers occasionally calve without developing a milk flow, but this condition can 

 rarely be remedied by medicines, though succulent fodder may encourage secretion in the udder. 

 Such heifers may come well into milk at the second calving, but unless they are particularly 

 well bred it is wiser to spey and fatten them. 



Manuring Oat Crop. — G.S. inquires whether superphosphate or "Star" phosphate is re- 

 commended for an oat crop in heavy grey Gippsland soil. 



Answer. — For Gippsland soils, superphosphate is preferable to Thomas' phosphate, but if 

 the soil is constantly cropped, a mixture of g bene dust and 5 superphosphate would be equally 

 u.eful. 



Kale-tainted Milk. — P.C.S. inquires whether Buda kale will taint the milk. 



Answer. — All varieties of kale when fed to milking cows impart a characteristic disagree- 

 able flavour or "taint" to the dairy produce. If fed lightly in the paddock immediately after 

 milking, and if care be taken that the dairymen do not milk with kale-tainted hands, the 

 flavour is so much reduced that the produce is sufficiently palatable for home use. Where 

 dairy products are sold off the farm, however, the kale crop should be reserved for fattening 

 sheep and dry cattle, as there is at present no known system of management whereby the dis- 

 tinctive aroma and taste derived from kale can be completely eliminated. 



Shivering. — R.J. writes — " Noticing on page 753 of the December Journal that several 

 of the rejects for unsoundness were '' shiverers," I would like to know symptoms and treatment, 

 as a stallion of mine has lately developed a twitching of the bedy, more particularly below 

 the hocks, with stiffness of the pastern joints." 



Answer. — " Shivering " is an hereditary nervous disease characterized by peculiar 

 trembling and shivering of the muscles of the quarters, thighs, and legs. It affects chiefly 

 cart horses and long-legged carriage horses, and is always an unsoundness. Disease of the 

 spinal cord is believed to be the cause, and the chief symptoms are the spasmodic raising and 

 quivering of the hind limbs when the horse is backed and turned. Really bad "shiverers" 

 are unable to back at all, and, if they do manage to lie down, find great difficulty in rising 

 again. The wide, straggling gait and the tendency to separate the hind limbs that mark this 

 disease can often be brought out more distinctly by pinching the leg below the hock, lifting the 

 foot, or by backing on to the shafts of a dray. It is readily distinguished from stringhalt by 

 the absence of the habit of "snatching" up the feet when moving forward. No successful 

 method of treatment has yet been discovered. 



Fodder Mixing, etc. — H.P. submits the following questions : — (i) When feeding cows on 

 dry and green feed, is it advisable to mix both together? (2) Why arc fat and salt put in 

 limewash for cow bails, &c. ? (3) When should seed of the dolichos creeper be sown? (4) 

 What is the cure for scoured calves? 



Answer. — (r) Mix the fodders; they will thus be eaten in quantity required. (2) To 

 prevent the wash from rubbing off easily when dry, and to make it adhere more firmly to the 

 surface, i lb. to each gallon of wash. (3) Either in autumn or early spring. The seed will 

 best germinate at a depth of about half-an-inch. The plants should be from i to 3 yards apart, 

 according to the thickness of covering required. This creeper perhaps grows more readily and 

 spreads more than any other. It is easily grown, and hardy, and is therefore suitable for a 

 protective covering for dairy walls, verandahs, and the like. (4) A teaspoonful each of 

 wood charcoal and prepared chalk is a very good anti-diarrhoea mixture to keep in stock for 

 calves. 



Non-pregnancy of Mare. — J.H.W. states that he has a mare 7 years old that for the past 

 four seasons has visited a stallion without issue. At different periods during the past season 

 the mare has discharged a thin white, creamy fluid. She is a splendid worker, and always 

 keeps in good condition. 



Answer. — The mare is affected with chronic inflammation of the womb and vagina. Wash 

 cut the femnle passages with a tepid astringent antiseptic solution, containing i dram each 

 of zinc sulphate, acetate of lead, and carbolic acid per pint of liquid. Repeat this four or 

 five times a week until the discharge ceases. The addition of condition powders to the mare's 

 feed will greatly assist the action of the liquid injections. 



Sediment from Dam. — D.T.C. wishes to know whether the dirt taken out of a dam would 

 be of any value as a manure if spread over an old cultivated field that is deficient in lime. 



Answer. — The muck or sediment taken from an old dam would be inore valuable when 

 applied to sandy soils than to clay soils. Dam sediment does not contain lime. 



