10 
Sorghum and Cow Pea Hay. 
We take the following fron “The 
Southern Planter ”:— 
© Four years ago your valuable journal 
gave direction for sowing cane and peas. I 
followed those directions, and have been 
well pleased with the result, for four years 
ft have raised this great hay crop 
I regard this the greatest forage a 
- farmer can raise, because it iz the easiest 
to make, the easiest to cure, and the stock 
love it, and will eat it up clean. It is the 
best forage crop for Southside Virginia, 
being adapted to this country because this 
is not a good grass section, and we cannot 
make the hay here that can be made in 
the Valley. I have sown it four years in 
succession on one plot of land, one and 
one-half acres, with each year an increase 
in the yield. I sow a bushel of peas and 
bushel of cane seed per acre (I would 
only sow a half-bushel of clean cane seed, 
but the seed I sow are gotten out by hand 
on the farm, and are not clean.) I have 
used each year as a fertilizer, 100 pounds 
of 14 per cent. acid phosphate as directed 
I made last year ten thousand pounds per 
acre, making 7,500 pounds; from the 
first cutting; and 2,500 pounds from the 
second ‘cutting. If sown early you can 
cut two crops from the same land, If 
sown late you cannot, but even then you 
can get an extra good one 
I fed my driving horses, my working 
teams and my stock on this hay, and 
eyerything on my farm eats it as well as 
they do any hay. It is far more easily 
cured than pea hay alone, and will stand 
much \ et weather. I have had it cut, 
and a rain to come and rain on it fora 
week, and then I have raked it, aud put 
up in small shocks, and made good hay. 
I usually cut it and allow it to remain on 
the ground from a few days to a week, 
until the stalks are dry so you cannot 
wring out the water, I then put up in 
small shooks, and let it remain in these 
for a week or ten days, and then put it up 
in two-wagon-load stacks to remain until 
used. ; 
The crop can be sown any time from 
May to August, and makes a good crop 
follow wheat or oats. It is far better to 
grow after these crops than to allow your 
land to grow up in weeds, as most of our 
farmers do. 
1 am informed by a dealer in hay here, 
that he has imported into Chase City 250 
ear-loads of hay. Just think what our 
farmers have missed in not raising this 
sorghum and pea forage for home use and 
selling hay, or at least not bnying. I have 
sold some of this pea hay for 12 dols. per 
ton, and the parties using it have been 
pleased. I bope that the farmers in this 
section will try to raise more diversified 
crops and not so much of one thing, to- 
bacco, and have to buy their hay elsewhere 
If they will try raising this crop, I am 
sure they will be more than pleased, I 
had no experience ; I simply followed the 
directions I saw in the Planter. I never 
saw the crop growing, but I find it both 
easy and profitable to grow. 
A, T, Fiyca, 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Breeders of Milking Cattle. 
A visitor to the Melbourne Show of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, would have 
formed a very fayoralle opinion of the 
dairy cattle of the State, and a similar 
opinion in regard to the milking cattle of 
New South Wales, Queensland, and South 
Australia would result from attending the 
shows at Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. 
There is no doubt that the Australian 
herds, especially of Ayrshire and Jerseys, 
possesses very high merit, and that of 
those of Milking Shorthorns are rapidly 
assuming a prominent position, but un- 
fortunately, there is a wide difference 
between the stud herds and the average 
milking stock of the country. Jnst asin 
sheepbreeding, stud flocks reach great 
perfection long before the average merit 
of the general flocks of a country is raised 
to high standard of quality, the average 
milking stock of the Australian States is 
far from corresponding with the magnifi- 
eent specimens of the favorite dairying 
breeds exhibited at the leading shows. 
There is quite as much room in dairying 
as in sheepbreedieg to improve the return 
por animal by increasing the quantity and 
raising the quality of the product. What 
sheepbreeders have done to improve their 
stock is well known, but dairy farmers 
have scarcely begun the great work by 
which, as all evidence proves, they can 
double their returns. In order to thus 
multiply their income it is not necessary 
to reach the perfection which is read 
about as being attained in other countries, 
but simply to go as far in the direction of 
improvement as their own neighbours, 
for there are successful farmers in all the 
dairying sections of the State whose re- 
turns are twice as much as the average. 
In regard to breeds, litile need be said of 
Jerseys and Ayrshires, whose merits as 
milk, butter, and cheese producers are 
well known, but knowledge is rapidly in- 
creasing in regard to Milking Shorthorns, 
which are likely to play an important part 
in Australian dairying. When it is re- 
membered that the Durham cattle were 
noted milkers before they were improved 
into a purely beef-producing breed, it 
will be seen that they are to a large extent 
unaffected by the arguments used by the 
authorities who oppose the “general 
purpose cow.” When Durhams are bred 
specially for the dairy farm they rapidly 
revert io the original milk-producixg type, 
and the modern Milking Shorthorn pre- 
sents itself as one of the special dairying 
breeds. They are able to show highly 
satisfactory dairying results, and, in ad- 
dition, their moderately large and shapely 
frame enables them to attain good value 
when fattened for the butcher. The last 
eondition is likely to give Milking Shory- 
horns a special claim upon the attention 
of Australian dairy farmers. 
THE FEEDING QUESTION, 
On a previous occasion reference was 
made to the fact that dairying in Queens- 
land was being established upon lines well 
worthy of attention on the part of dairy 
farmers in the States which have been for 
longer periods identified with the industry. 
_ Novem EER 1, 1906 
It was in the matter of providing fodder 
for dairy stock that this feature was no. 
ticable, and the fact that so many new 
farmers had chosen dairying at the out- 
set of their career seemed to largely 
account for the extent to wnich a system 
of growing fodder crops had been adopted. 
farmers who have been accustomed to 
dairying recognise the folly of allowing 
the herds to depend entirely upon the 
supply of grass, and hence in New Sonth 
Waies and South Australia, as well as in 
the older dairying districts of Victoria, 
farmers originally devoted to this branch 
of industry make some provision for 
tiding their cattle over periods of scarcety 
The rapid extension of dairying, however, 
brought a new class into the business, and 
hence the extent of the neglest to adopt 
feeding methods. The use made of pum- 
kins to tide over the milking herds over 
the recent dry period in Southern Queens- 
land, and the resort to the railways as a 
means of carrying the fodder from one 
district to another, show that thur early 
in the history of the industry the too 
common system of depending upon the 
vagaries of the season is being departed 
from. There is no part of Australia more 
in need of improvoment in this respect 
than Victoria, where the expansion of 
dairying has largely taken the form of 
substituting one system of grazing for 
another. Many Victorian shoepbreeders 
are now doing more to provide reserves of 
feed for thelc flocks than the rank and file 
of new -dairyfarmers for their milking 
herds. , 
—_ ee 
Notice to Subscribers. 
Will subscribers who have received their 
accounts kindly forward the amounts at 
their earliest convenicnce. 
The amount is small to the individual 
subscriber, but the total on our books is 
a considerable sum. 
Kindly remit in Post Office Order or 
Postal Note, to the Manager. ; 
—_—_—_—_—__—_—______. 
K. Bechtel, 
Truss and Bandage Maker 
59 O’Connell-street, 
NORTH ADELAIDE 
Trusses, Bandages, 
Kneecaps, Leather Jackets, 
Shoulder Straps, &c., 
Made to Order, 
And sent to all parts of the Commonwealth 
... Fit Guaranteed .., 
A Trial solicited. 
