Oct. 2, 1893.] Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist.''* 
287 
making to identify the nitrifying organism by 
growing them in ordinary culture media, while 
all the time Mr. McAlpine and he had this 
organism growing and working, and their obser- 
Tations upon this point at once suggested the 
necessity for certain conditions of the surface 
soil as regards composition, &c., which were of 
primary importance in rational and successful 
agricultural practice. He then pointedly referred 
to the enunciated doctrine, that ' iron was a 
salifiable base of service in nitrification/ and in 
language which was more than convincing sliowed 
that that was a huge blunder made by a more or 
less great authority — ' principally less' — who 
knew nothing whatever of the subject, — the 
living plant was itself a living contradiction of 
this absurdity. In the course of the lecture Mr. 
Hunter referred to the experiments made by 
Mr. McAlpine and himself with soil organisms — 
some of wliicli he characterised as the prime 
ministers of tlie soil — and referred to the power 
possessed by a number of those they had isolated 
of breaking down silicates, a power -which had 
for the time being caused them to conclude that 
many of those changes in the soil wliicIi had 
been credited to purely chemical interactions 
were wholly due to the life in the soil which was 
inseparable from fertility. 
THE DAIRY. 
A Dairyman gives the following hints : — Feed 
up, breed up, and weed out your herd till there is 
no possibility of further improvements in tlie 
quality and quantity of your milk. Feed the 
cows at regular hours with a well-balanced 
ration, and never put down more at a meal tlian 
each ona will eat. Exercise in moderation in a 
good paddock with sufficient shelter from sun, 
wind and rain. 
Keep each cow in milk for ten montlis, and let 
her dry off tor two months before calving. 
Do not let the cows become poor. It pays 
better to keep them in good condition than get 
tliem into good condition, and fat that is lost is 
lost for ever. 
The separator will save all the butter that is in 
the milk, and will pay for itself in extra butter 
within six months upon 100 gallons a daj^ 
It pays well to use the best dairy appliances 
and methods. Milk should be cooled quickly 
immediately it is taken from the cow. It will 
keep much longer, and any bad flavours in the 
milk will be modified. 
Lucerne should be cut some hours before 
feeding the cows. 
A curious and repugnant form of cruelty to 
rows is being practised in order to "prepare" 
them fnr the show yard. A farmer in Scotland 
(and tliere were others also charged with a similar 
offence) was fined £5 "for placing a board 
underneath the udder of a cow and pulling the 
said l)oard upwards by means of a rope thrown 
over the rafters whereby the animal was made 
to rest its weight on the udder, which was well 
stocked with milk, and was thus subjected to 
severe pain and suffering." This was done in 
order to put the milk vessel into proper shape,' 
that is to prevent it from hanging down. It was 
further elicited in the course of the trial, that the 
udder had moreover been blistered to raise up 
parts in which the udder was deficient, and this 
added to the cruelty of the application of the 
board. No one will for a moment regret that 
the authors of these atrocities were prosecuted 
and fined. Another owner is reported to have 
been fined £2 10s. for inserting plugs of wood 
into the teats of a cow in order to distend the 
udder witli milk. 
Bran is a valuable food for certain purposes. 
It supplies the material for making bone, and 
this is needed by old animals as well as young, for 
it is known that the bones of an old animal are 
replaced to some extent during the whole of its 
existence. It is also an excellent flesh-producing 
food, and it provides the elements of milk except 
the fat. Bran has all the needed elements ot 
nutrition for the sustenance of life in the propor- 
tion required, but it is deficient in the fat needed 
for butter. Thus, alone, it is not a suitable food 
for the dairyman. 
Coir-dust when sprinkled on the floors of cow- 
houses, helps to keep them clean and sweet. The 
dust is an excellent absorbent of liquid manure, 
and at the same time is a deodorizer. The only 
drawback in the use of coir dust is whea 
the liquid manure is required for application 
to herbaceous crops, such as cultivated 
grasses and the like, which are liable to die out 
owing to the dust taking so long to decompose, 
and tending, in a manner, to smother the plants. 
In the case of perennial trees, such as the coconut, 
the same objection would not stand in the way, 
and in fact the use of coir dust for soaking up 
liquid manure would greatly aid the distribution 
of tlie latter over the land. Coir-dust could at 
one time have been got for next to nothing. A 
year or two ago we paid only 6 cents for a cart 
load, delivered, but now the price a.sked is 25 cts 
The practice of spreading the dust over coconut 
land is becoming quite common among land- 
owners. 
" The Thistle " is the latest patent in milking 
machines, of which there are now a great number. 
It is the invention of Dr. Shiels of Glasgow. The 
principle of the machine is the combination of 
pulsation with motion for closely Imitating the 
action of the calf's lips and tongue, which pro- 
duces the pleasant sensation that causes the cow 
in a natural state to let down her milk. The 
milk is moreover said to flow twice as fast as 
when the teats are manipulated with the hand, 
and is got in a perfectly clean and pure condition. 
Many cows can be dealt with at the same time. 
The great point in reference to these milking 
machines is their proper regulation, so that no 
injury follows their use from allowing their action 
to go on beyond the proper limit, and the greatest 
care has to be exercised by those who have the 
control of these artificial milkers. 
Prof. Wright of the Glasgow Technical College, 
in the course of a lecture on the " Care of Farm- 
yard Manure," pointed out that ordinary farm- 
yard manure contained 75 per cent, of water and 
only 25 per cent, of solid matter. Of the 5 cwt. 
of solid matter in each ton of farmyard manure 
