552 



TilJi. GARDEN AND FIELD. 



M»y, 1914 



® XKe Farm ® 



pcricnccd with shothole fungus in 

 cherry trees he advised spraying with 

 Bordeaux mixture just before they 

 commenced to bloom. This would 

 be found an effective preventitivc. 



— "Advertiser." 



♦ ■ 



Preparing Orchard Land. 



In i)reparing land for planting 

 out — and this should be commenced 

 rig-ht away, so as to allow the 

 soil to sweeten — it should be sub- 

 soiled, so as to produce good re- 

 sults in after j-ears. Subsoiling 

 will add to the age and vigour of 

 the trees, it will materially in- 

 crease the crop, and it will consid- 

 erably lessen the expense of fertil- 

 izers. Reference has previously 

 been made in these notes to the 

 success attained from growing fruit 

 trees in subsoiled land ; but the 

 fact may be again pointed out 

 that many growers are to-'day 

 reaping the benefit of increased 

 crops without artificial feeding, 

 where the soil was subsoiled before 

 planting. Draining is another most 

 important factor in successful fruit 

 culture ; but while, perhaps, drain- 

 age may be delayed for a few 

 years, if the other initial expenses 

 are extensive, it must again be 

 emphasized that proper subsoiling 

 cannot be carried out after the 

 trees are planted.— Exchange. 



^ 



Fruit Packing. 



" Tacking," says "Better Fruit," 

 " is the classification of fruit in 

 the prol^er sizes by placing fruit of 

 the same size solidly into boxes in- 

 such a manner as to insure uni- 

 formity of appearance, neatness 

 and protection from bruising. The 

 purpose of careful i^acking is to 

 make the box of fruit as attrac- 

 tive as possible to the purchaser 

 and obtain thereby for it the 

 highest possible price." 



Have we yet attained that 

 ideal ? 



Notice again the reciuirements:— 



(a) classification into proper 

 .sizes, 



(b) J)acking s(jOidly, 



(c") uniformity of appearance, 



(d) neatnes, and 



(e) as attractive as possible to 

 the purchaser. 



The answer is in some cases. 

 Yes. In most cases. No. 



Milk Records and their 

 Advantages. 



From South African Journal of 

 Agriculture. 



For some years past most coun- 

 tries in which dairying has been 

 carried on to any great extent 

 have been making great efforts to 

 imi)rove the milking qualities — 

 (both quantity and quality — of 

 their cattle. Many experiments 

 indicate that if a cow is suitably 

 fed and kept in fair condition, then 

 any improvement in the ration 

 does not permanently improve the 

 quality. In other words, you can- 

 not increase the fat percentage in 

 milk bv feeding, although you can 

 increase — to a certain extent— the 

 quantity. It has been found that 

 the only method of raising the 

 quality of milk, and the most 

 advantageous way of increasing 

 the quantity, is by the systematic 

 use of milk records. A milk re- 

 cord is understood as a record 

 kept of the quantity and quality, 

 of milk given by each animal in 

 the herd during each lactation 

 period. If the subject is carefully 

 studied, no doubt will remain as 

 to its importance, and when the 

 value of these records becomes ful- 

 ly recognized, every dairy farmer 

 will see that they are kept as a 

 part of the general routine in the 

 management of his herd. It is 

 difficult to ascertain just when the 

 use of milk records was discover- 

 ed, but within, recent years great 

 strides have been made in Den- 

 mark, Canada, America, Australia, 

 and New Zealand. Perhaps the 

 greatest increase in the last ten 

 years has taken place in the south 

 and south-west of Scotland, where 

 the number of cows undergoing the 

 milk record test has risen in the 

 last four years from 8,132 in 193 

 herds to 18,000 m.ade up of 435 

 herds. This in itself proves that 

 farmers realize their Importance 

 and value. 



With properly kept milk records 

 to refer to, the farmer will be able 

 to tell exactly what each cow is 

 cai)able of producing in milk and 

 butter in the year, and can weed 

 out the unprofitable milkers, or 

 " boarders " as they are termed, 

 as oi)portimity occurs. 



— Unreliable Judgments. — 



It is a common belief among far- 

 mers that the man who does the 

 milking knows the best cows in 



the herd as well as the poorest ; 

 but numerous experiments have 

 demonstrated clearly that this 

 belief is unwarranted. Many fac- 

 tors show that this :udgment is 

 wrong. The cow which gives a 

 generous flow of milk during the 

 first few weeks of her period of 

 lactation is usually regarded as 

 the best. She may soon go down 

 in her flow of milk, and perhaps 

 goes dry for four or five months 

 of the year, but this is not ob- 

 ser\ed, and only the memory of 

 the large fiovy she gave when fresh 

 lingers in the mind of the owner. 

 Another cow may give only a fair 

 flow of milk after she calves, and 

 may not be regarded highly by her 

 owner 1; but she may continue at 

 the same rate of yield for a long 

 period, and will in the end prove a 

 great deal more valuable than the 

 other cow. No m.ilker can tell, 

 without weighing the milk regu- 

 larly, whether a cow gives 600 

 gallons or 500 gallons of milk in a 

 year ; still, the difference may 

 prove the difference between profit 

 and loss on that particular cow. 

 When the milk is valued according 

 to its butter-fat content, unsup- 

 ported estimates of the cow's 

 performance are still more uncer- 

 tain. 



It requires frequent testing to 

 ascertain the average peroentage of 

 fat in the milk of a cow's yield ; 

 the fat percentage as a rule varies 

 from milking to milking, and from 

 day to day. There may also be a 

 great \'ariation in the richness of 

 the milk yieldsd by a cow when 

 she is fresh as compared with a 

 time later in the per^iod of lacta- 

 tion. Also different, cows consume 

 different amounts of food, and it 

 is impossible for the feeder to esti- 

 mate accurately the difference in 

 cost of feeding the various cows for 

 a year, unless records of the food 



Manufacturer of 

 Patent Bathheaters, Baths, Wash- 

 troughs, etc., 



These Heaters are very largely 

 used by the Government, Public 

 Institutions, Hospitals, and lead- 

 ing Citizens of the State. They 

 are High Recommended and giving 

 every satisfaction. 



139 O'CONNELL STREET, 

 NORTH ADELAIDE. 

 'Phone 3190. 



