249 



HOWICK— D.V.S. BYRNE. 



I am pleased to be able to state tha' the 

 Upper Umkoiuanzi Division is at present 

 free from scab. 



The ouly two farms under license for 

 lungsickness in this Division are those 

 belonging to Mr. H. Gillespie, Stirtrum- 

 fontein, and Messrs. Turnbull & Co., 

 Glen Islaj^ and there are no sick beasts on 

 either of those farms at present. 



There are no other contagious diseases 

 in this Division at present that I know 

 of, and stock, generally, are doing well. 



Horsesicknees has been rather bad in 

 the Upper Umkomanzi Division this 



season, fifty horses having died in the 

 last two months, and those were all local 

 horses, not those purchased and brought 

 into the District. 



In the Umgeni Division I am also 

 pleased to state there is no scab. 



There is no other contagious disease in 

 this Division that I am avi^are of. 



The lungsickness license of Mr. A. 

 Clarke and Natives of Mount Ashley, 

 have, for the fourth time, been renewed, 

 two fresh cases having occurred. 



During the month I inoculated seventy 

 calves with your preventive against 

 quarter evil, and in each case successfully. 



Lucerne for Dairy CaWe. 



THE value of lucerne as a food for dairy 

 cattle has never been properly ap- 

 preciated in this country, says "Merton" 

 in "The Field/" England. 1 notice that 

 m one of the American States — Kansas 

 — the area cropped b- lucerne has in- 

 creased from 34,000 acres in 1891 to 

 276,000 acres in 1900. England is not 

 suited in all parts to the growth of lu- 

 cerne, but it might be grown very much 

 more than it is. I speak with some years 

 of experience of this crop, and do not 

 hesitate to recommend it where it can be 

 grown. At the experiment station, of 

 New Jersey the yield, take in five cuts, 

 last year reached 26^ tons to the acre, the 

 first cut reaching 9 tons, this being taken 

 on May 18, before which date lucerne will 

 be out in this country. 



Its value as a green crop is enormous. 

 Taking five cuts, the analysis of each in 

 succession shows that the fourth cut was 

 much the richest in feeding matter, for it 

 contained 5.4 per cent, of nitrogenous 

 matter, and only 09 1 per cent, of water, 

 while the first cut, with 83 per cent, of 

 water and 3.6 of protein, was the poorest. 

 When compared with other foods, a crop 

 of lucerne yielded 2,200K)S. of nitroo-enous 

 matter, this being present in 8,250!bs. of 

 dry matter ner acre. Maize, also a huge 

 cropper, gave only 5,000ft)S. of dry mat- 

 ter and 4001t)S. of nitrogenous matter, 

 clover, peas, and trifolium all being be- 



low these figures, except that clover con- 

 tained more protein than maize. 



Again, when a ton of lucej-ne hay is 

 compared with other dry foods, it is found 

 to contain more dry matter than clover, 

 hay, bran middlings, oats, or rice meal, 

 and with few exceptions, more nitro- 

 genous matter. Cows were fed upon two 

 rations, one composed of maize-silage, lu- 

 cerne hay, grass hay, and 21t)S. of cotton 

 seed meal ; the other consisted of the 

 same quantity of the silage and grass hay, 

 but, in addition, there were lOlbs. of bran, 

 dried grains, and the cotton seed meal. 

 There was more protein in the latter ra- 

 tion, but slightly less dry matter, while 

 the cost of the latter ration was much 

 higher. 



What was the result ? There was a 

 slightly larger quantity of milk produced 

 by the four cows tested, but the cost of 

 production was much in favour of the 

 ration containing the lucerne hay ; in 

 other words this ration cost 6d. and a 

 fraction, whereas the more mixed ration 

 cost slightly more than 7^d. The ration 

 pidduced slightly less butter, but what it 

 did produce cost 6d. a lb., whereas the 

 butter produced on the other ration cost 

 more than 7d. Co^\■s can be fed with 

 economy on lucerne from May^ io the end 

 of Octoiaer, and a small area will prevent 

 considerable expense in the purchase of 

 dry foods during summer, and even win- 

 ter as well. 



