Junk, 1909.) 



557 



Live Stock. 



best results. No man will dream of 

 sending a clerk to take charge and work 

 an engineering establishment, but at the 

 same time he won't think twice of send- 

 ing the same clerk to manage a dairy- 

 farm, for he will argue— what is there to 

 be done— its an easy life— only to see 

 that che cows are milked, and to grow 

 some grass for tbem and to see that the 

 coolies give them food, and to get on to 

 his lounger and smoke and read novels ! 

 That is all no doubt the clerk is capable 

 of doing, but let us see what the duties 

 are of the manager and what sort of an 

 education aud experience is necessary. 

 "To see that the cows are properly 

 milked," the manager must be a properly 

 trained and able milk man. (1 wonder 

 how many of those that are in charge 

 of the present existing dairies know how 

 to milk a cow or have ever tried.) To 

 give thereason for this I cannot do better 

 than quote from my notes on lectures on 

 dairying that I received at the Aus- 

 tralian Agricultural College I attended. 

 Milking :— It is of the greatest impor- 

 tance that the introduction of bacteria 

 into the milk should be prevented, and 

 therefore the utmost cleanliness from 

 the time the milker starts his work until 

 the finish is absolutely essential if the 

 best results are to be obtained. Before 

 milking the hands should be thoroughly 

 washed, also the cow's belly, teats and 

 udder if they are dirty ; in any case the 

 dust should be brushed off them before 

 milking, or some of it, with the always 

 present bacteria, will be shaken off into 

 the milk. The finger nails should be 

 kept cut, and on no accouut should the 

 hands be wetted by first milking into 

 them— it is a dirty and useless habit. 

 The cow-yard should be kept clean, it 

 should not be cleaned just before milk- 

 ing ; or baetei'ia will find their way into 

 the milk, to develop in it flavours which 

 may not be at all desirable. Milk should 

 for this reason be taken from the cow- 

 yard immediately. The teats diagonally 

 opposite each other should be milked 

 together, and not the teats on each side, 

 as the former method increases the 

 quantity of milk. The milking should 

 be fairly fast as this increases the 

 9ecretion, whereas slow milking reduces 

 the quantity. The cow should be well 

 stripped, as the last striplings are rich 

 in fat ; if any milk is left it is harmful to 

 the supply. If the teats are sore, they 

 should be bandied with care, and after 

 milking should be dressed with vaseline, 

 etc., etc., etc." A good milkman is able 

 to milk ten average cows per hour. 



And to grow the grass for them? It 

 is not such an easy matter as the indi- 

 vidual who employed the clerk as 

 manager thinks it is, The manager must 



understand the science and practice of 

 preparing land and sowing the seed to 

 procure a sufficient supply of grass or 

 green fodder, or both, to feed forty-eight 

 head of cows, bulls, and horses and also 

 a number of calves ; he must know the 

 number of tons of green fodder neces- 

 sary, and how many acres will have to 

 be cultivated to grow that number of 

 tons. He must kuow to make the all- 

 important ensilage, and the number of 

 tons of ensilage necessary for feeding 

 the cows during the dry months, and 

 the number of acres that must be culti- 

 vated to grow that number of tons of 

 silage. No guess work will answer, as on 

 the quality and quantity of the best- 

 food depends the supply of milk. The 

 manager must understand the science 

 of feeding cows, as on it to a large 

 extent depends the success of the under- 

 taking. He must have some knowledge 

 of veterinary science, as it would be out 

 of the question and absurd to call in a 

 veterinary surgeon except in the case of 

 any serious disorders. In fact, the 

 manager must be a qualified and expe- 

 rienced agriculturist and dairy farmer, 

 if the dairy farm is to be a success. 



The Land.— The eighty acres of land 

 that I estimated for must be procured out 

 of Colombo but within a reasonable dis- 

 tance of the city, i.e., within five to 

 eight miles— the land must be carefully 

 chosen as for situation, soil, and a plen- 

 tiful and good supply of water. The 

 entire eighty acres must be cleared, the 

 stumps extracted, and fenced with a 

 plain wire fence, passing the wires 

 through holes bored in the posts, one 

 barbed wire being nailed right on the 

 top of the posts to prevent any jumping, 

 it must be again sub-divided into four 

 paddocks by means of more wire fencing, 

 so that each paddock will be 20 acres in 

 extent. 



TATA SERICULTURE FARM AT 

 BANGALORE. 



BY J. MOLLISON, M.R.A.C., 



Inspector General of Agriculture in India 



(From the Agricultural Journal of 

 India, Vol. IV., Pt. I., January, 1909.) 



The late Mr. J. N. Tata established at 

 Bangalore a small Sericulture Farm 

 about 1898. It was started to help native 

 rearers to control such diseases as affect 

 silk-worms in India, aud generally to 

 give technical instruction in growing 

 suitable kinds of mulberries, in rearing 



