458 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



Marchi 1914 



piiritv, of the ancestry of the pur- 

 chased seed, whether for grain or 

 fodder properties. 



Ostrich farmin<r is an infant in- 

 dustry but the business is steadily 

 developing. The value of the 

 feathers depends on the London 

 market. When an acre of lucerne 

 will furnish a home for two to 

 four ostriches, with food enough to 

 maintain them ; when an ostrich 

 will yield annual i/i t1). of fea- 

 thers, with an average vafue of 

 £4 4/- per lb., and from thirty- 

 six to ninety eggs, which may be 

 hatched out or used for food at 

 the rate of 3/^ lb. per egg, readers 

 may be left to decide "for them- 

 selves as to the profitableness of 

 the industry. 



^ 



Lambswooi. 



The question of lambswooi is 

 one that is worth considering, for 

 on every station and farm lambs 

 are alwa^-s welcome, providing 

 there is no drought. One wonders 

 why lambswooi is not so plentiful 

 as it used to be, and no doubt the 

 high shearing rates now current 

 in Australia, and the tendency to 

 allow young sheep to run on a full 

 twehe months as hoggets, are two 

 reasons why there is a scarcity of 

 this special class of merino pro- 



H. DENNIS 



IMPLEMENT MAKES. 

 (LaU of MORGAN). 



YOUNG STREET 



(Old Methodist Hall) bet-ween 

 FRANKLIN h WAYMOUTH STS. 



DENKIS' PATENT 

 STEEL BUCKSCRAPER AND S1L7 

 SCOOPS, GATES, ETC. 



Writ* for Illuatrated Catalogue and 



duce. It is not my intention to 

 say one^ word about lambs being 

 sliorn,' or to ad\ice in any direc. 

 tiou, local circumstances no doubt 

 deciaing the actions of all sheep- 

 owners as to shearmg young sheep 

 or letting them run on to a' full 

 year's growth. But in lambswooi 

 we have a very useiul commodity, 

 and it will be a pity if suilicient is 

 not i)roduced to meet the wants of 

 manufacturers. J^ambs are lambs, 

 and when all is said and done the 

 fleece from these young sheep can- 

 not be replaced by either hogget, 

 wether, or eweswool. It seems to 

 be the very nature of tlie produice 

 from these firstl;ngs of the iiocli 

 to give results in manufacture 

 which cannot be got from any 

 other source, and this is well 

 known by the trade. If . careful 

 note is made by sheep-breeders, 

 they will see that the wool from- 

 lambs is v-ery springy, the fibre is 

 so full of life and vitality, that it 

 cannot be kept down and made to 

 lie like wool from older-grown 

 sheep ; there is a special curl and 

 wrinkle — all these being features 

 wliich are turned to good account 

 by manufacturers. 



Then, again, lamljs are always 

 beautifully soft and kind in handle, 

 and on that account they have 

 come into much favour for making 

 all classes of under-garments. 

 Pepple with a tender skin will find 

 in the finest quality of all wool 

 Nests and pants fabrics which suit 

 them admirabl)', and the fact is 

 noteworthy that the high prices 

 paid in London last year were for 

 the pick of West Victorian lambs 

 bought for this purpose. 



One never sees the 'liigh prices 

 made for the lambs grown in New 

 South Wales that we do for the 

 lainl)s grown in Victoria and 

 here the latter undoubtedly score. 

 Naturally there is a cause for this, 

 and it is not far to seek. Colour 

 is an important , chaxacteristic in 

 lambswooi, and this is one of the 

 slight weaknesses connected with 

 the lambs gro\^n in the Premier 

 State. I don't profess to explain 

 the reason, but the fact is never- 

 theless a stubborn one that there 

 is never that brightness, lustre, 

 and excellent white colour about 

 New South Wales lambs that there 

 is about the lambs from Victoria. 

 .'Vs a Tule, they are more a yellow- 

 white, and when they come into 

 the woven i)iece there is an alto- 

 gether different appearance to the 

 Iiieces made from Victorian lambs. 

 This is an important feature, par- 

 ticularly in the wollcn trade, where 

 the biggest weight of lambs is 



consumed. The hosiery trade as 

 well, which also consumes very 

 large quantities finds that lustre 

 and appearance is a valuable pro- 



■ perty, and nobod}^ likes dingy, dull, 

 yellow shades of white. Where 

 lambs are shorn, it would be as 

 well to try to have the wool in as . , 

 good condition and as attractive ] 

 as possible, and the fewer burrs 

 there are the better. 



Then the lambs of New South 



■ Wales are frequently rather short, 

 and 'this makes against them 

 realizing big prices. \\hv this 

 should be so I am at a loss to 

 know, but there is no doubt but 

 that a decent length of staple is a 

 decided advantage, and lambs 

 should never be shorn that ar« 

 very short. 



Then careful sorting of the lambs 

 is an important thing to do. I 

 ha^ e frequently seen lambs sold in 

 London which might easily have 

 realized id. to 2d. per It), more if 

 thev had been better classed. It 

 is no difficult job making firsts, 

 seconds, and thirds, paying due re- 

 gard to length and condition. To 

 growers I would say, do not mix 

 all classes and sorts together. 

 This is very bad, requiring far 

 more sorting afterwards than it 

 does when the lambs are shorn 

 upon the station. — Klder's Review. 



4 



The Shorthorn. 



!' The Shorthorn," says a well- 

 known auth(irity, " is one of the 

 most useful animals of the cattle 

 kind. And perhaps the breed is in 

 the most universal use, vwhile for 

 dairying purposes it has come 

 more into favour. At the same 

 time it is more than likelj^ that 

 the a\-erage Shorthorn man does 

 not realize what his cow is cap- 

 able of doing, and how much she 

 may he improved. The average 

 yield of milk of all cows of the 

 United Kingdom is put at 4So 

 gallons per head per annum ; an 

 ordinary good dairy cow will run 

 to oyer 600 where the cows are 

 milked for, say, 10 months. The 

 British Drury Farmers' AiSvSociatiion 

 some years ago fixed 850 for a 

 registered Shorthorn, and it is 

 said that one of the agricultural 

 colleges has graded its herd of 

 Shorthorns to 1,000 gallons per 

 head i)cr annum. It has been a 

 tommon experience to come across 

 individual cows of various breeds 

 which t>a\e much more even than 

 this high figure, so that from these 



