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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  17,  1900. 
perfectly  sweet,  ar  d  we  fancy  the  dairymaid  is  often  blamed  for  what 
is  real  y  not  her  fault.  If  the  milk  is  wrong,  no  process  known  to  her 
save  pasteurisation  will  remedy  the  evil.  Then,  again,  there  is  a 
complaint  of  dirty  milk.  This,  alas  !  ia  a  very  common  fault.  This 
adds  great  difficulties  to  a  factory  manager’s  work ;  indeed  we  think 
he  would  only  be  within  his  rights  if  he  declined  to  receive  it  at  all. 
The  inspector  throws  out  various  suggestions  as  to  the  arrangement 
and  management  of  the  factory.  He  urges  that  it  is  unwise  to  make 
these  premises  too  small,  or  there  is  no  chance  of  pay.  Not  less 
than  300  cows,  or  rather  the  milk  of  300  cows,  is  needed,  and  the 
larger  the  concern  the  more  cheaply  will  the  butter  and  cheese  be 
produced.  The  location  wants  to  be  carefully  chosen — easy  transit 
for  milk,  and  nearness  to  shipping  for  export.  The  site  should  be  of 
paramount  importance — plenty  of  pure  water,  on  high  land  for 
dryness,  and  easy  and  effective  drainage.  In  1896-97  the  exports  were  : 
Butter 
Cheese 
In  1897-98:— 
Butter 
Cheese 
...  cwts.  75,287  =  £297,518 
...  cwts.  71,663  =  £135,711 
...  cwts.  106,840  =  £429,407 
...  cwts.  78,705  =  £154,144 
After  dairy  work  comes  the  report  of  Mr.  D.  D.  Hyde,  the 
Government  poultry  expert  (here,  again,  where  is  Mr.  Long’s  man  ?). 
Actually  the  Government  keep  a  stock  of  fowls  of  various  breeds  to 
supply  the  farmers  !  We  have  Queen’s  premium  stallions,  but  we  have 
not  got  as  far  as  cocks  and  hens  yet,  and  it  is  these  minor  industries 
that  properly  worked  pay.  Mr.  Hyde  talks  of  poultry  from  every 
point  of  view.  He  goes  minutely  into  selection  of  stock,  rearing, 
feeding,  maturing,  how  to  prepare  for  market  and  export,  and  how  to 
keep  healthy  birds.  There  is  one  point  about  eggs  that  fail  to  hatch 
that  we  have  never  heard  suggested  before.  Fat  hens  do  not  lay 
prolific  eggs ;  the  chickens  either  die  in  the  shell,  or  if  they  get  out 
have  little  vitality.  Now,  as  many  people  will  insist  on  using  a  great 
proportion  of  Indian  corn  as  hen  feed,  and  that  corn  runs  all  to  fat, 
we  are  getting  at  the  secret  of  small  cletches.  We  shall  bear  this  in 
mind  for  the  future.  A  breeding  hen  wants  to  be  in  good  active 
condition  to  produce  fertile  eggs. 
Hemp,  too,  is  one  of  the  products  of  New  Zealand,  and  every 
means  is  being  taken  to  develop  this  industry. 
We  are  sorry  to  see  swine  fever  has  taken  a  hold  of  the  pigs. 
This  complaint  only  made  its  appearance  in  1894-95,  and  though 
strictest  measures  have  been  taken,  there  are  outbreaks  in  quite 
isolated  pirts.  The  disease  is  held  in  check,  though  not  actually 
stamped  out.  The  authorities  are  perfectly  alive  to  the  danger,  and 
that,  to  our  mind,  is  half  the  battle. 
Then  there  is  a  great  sheaf  of  leaflets  for  farmers,  little  tracts  in 
fact,  many  of  them  illustrated.  They  treat  of  various  diseases,  such 
as  affect  sheep,  abortion  by  ergot  in  cows,  milk  fever,  the  bot  fly  of 
the  horse,  the  ox  warble,  the  nasal  bot  in  sheep,  anthrax;  and  turning 
to  matters  botanical.  Potato  disease,  and  the  injurious  nature  of  home 
or  imported  weeds.  It  appears  that  several  weeds  ot  European  growth 
have  arrived  at  the  colony,  and  have  become  so  strong  and  vigorous 
as  to  constitute  themselves  a  pest.  It  seems  to  us  a  good  idea  to  give 
illustrations  of  these  plants,  so  that  all  may  be  acquainted  with  their 
form.  The  agricultural  papers  are  supplied  with  these  plates  on 
application. 
As  far  as  we  can  see  the  New  Zealand  Government  is  far  wider 
awake  to  the  interests  of  her  agriculturists  than  the  Government  of  the 
old  country.  It  appears  to  think  farmers  should  be  encouraged  and 
hel,  ed,  not  snubbed  and  sat  upon  at  every  turn.  The  help  comes  not 
in  a  form  to  pauperise,  but  to  assist  individual  effort,  and  therefore  is 
of  the  best  sort.  It  is  interesting  to  read  the  accounts  of  the  Potato 
trials,  and  to  find  the  old  familiar  names.  There  are  many  sorts  that 
have  gone  out  of  cultivation  on  this  side.  They  have  not  yet  (1898) 
got  Up-to-Date,  and  their  highest  yield  was  8  tons  per  acre.  The 
report  says  so  many  of  Findlay’s  come  with  black  streaks.  We  should 
like  to  know  whether  over  there  they  have  yet  learned  to  turn  black 
ended  after  being  cooked.  Do  they  take  their  bad  tricks  to  their 
new  locations  ? 
We  shall  hope  to  hear  again  of  our  New  Zealand  farmers,  and  the 
work  they  are  doing.  We  have  been  both  interested  and  instructed, 
and  we  only  hope  our  readers  will  appreciate  these  few  note^. 
Work  on  tl|e  Home  Farm. 
We  have  had  more  rain  and  heavy  rain,  and  begin  to  fear  that  a 
really  wet  May,  such  as  we  had  last  year,  may  again  be  the  cause  of  a 
poor  Turnip  crop,  for  if  the  Turnip  has  been  started  in  dust  there  is 
always  a  crop,  but  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  grow  Turnips  in  gluey 
soil.  The  best  piece  of  Swedes  we  saw  last  year  was  grown  by  a  very 
slow-going  dilatory  man,  sometimes  spoken  of  as  an  afternoon  farmer. 
He  put  in  these  Swedes  very  late,  and  the  land  then  being  dry  and 
warm  he  got  a  healthy  plant,  which  developed  into  an  average  crop. 
The  root  crop  is  in  every  farmer’s  mind  just  now,  and  many  there 
are  who  advocate  more  attention  to  catch  or  forage  crops,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  Turnip.  But  taking  the  average  of  seasons,  the  Turnip  is 
most  useful  to  the  stockbreeder  and  feeder,  for  where  can  be  found  a 
crop  that  will  produce  as  good  and  lasting  a  source  of  cattle  food  ?  We 
si«e  that  people  who  pose  as  authorities  are  advocating  in  the  public 
press  the  entire  disuse  of  the  Turnip.  Well,  it  has  stood  a  long  test, 
and  we  think  it  will  survive  one  or  two  untoward  seasons.  Others 
advocate  the  growth  of  Kale  and  Rape,  as  avoiding  the  expense  of 
hoeing  and  singling.  As  a  very  good  crop  of  Rape  seldom  realises  £3 
per  acre,  and  often  only  £1,  whereas  a  crop  of  Turnips  will  make  from 
£2  to  £6,  or  about  double,  we  cannot  see  any  virtue  in  economy  in  such 
a  case.  We  know  that  labour  is  very  difficult  to  obtain,  but  common 
Turnips  may  be  grown  with  as  little  labour  as  Rape,  for  a  set  of 
harrows  run  across  the  rows  when  the  plants  are  ten  days  old  will  do 
nearly  all  the  singling  needed,  and  a  looking  over  and  thinning  of 
unnecessarily  large  clumps  will  finish  the  work  satisfactorily. 
Weeds?  Ah!  We  knew  someone  would  suggest  that;  but  if 
farming  is  to  pay  nowadays,  the  land  must  be  kept  so  clean  that  very 
little  weeding  amongst  Turnips  is  required.  Now  that,  as  is  stated  by 
the  Lincolnshire  papers,  nearly  all  the  farm  servants,  male  and  female, 
travel  on  bicycles  to  the  annual  hirings,  it  is  necessary  for  the  farmer 
to  set  his  house  in  order,  and  prepare  to  do  without  any  assistance. 
Marshes  as  Pasturages. — The  marshes  between  Great  Yarmouth 
and  Reedham  and  Acle  are  in  unusual  demand  for  grazing  purposes. 
Some  of  the  best  have  been  let  at  from  40s.  to  48s.  per  acre,  an  increase 
of  15s.  This  rise  is  attribufed  to  the  heavy  influx  of  visitors  during 
the  past  summers,  and  to  the  consequent  increased  demand  for  meat. 
Music  Increases  the  Cream. — Numerous  books  have  been  published 
on  the  effect  of  music  on  animals.  Professor  McConnell  is  one  of 
those  agriculturists  who  believe  that  cows  and  sheep  appreciate 
melody.  At  the  Eastern  Counties  Dairy  Farmers’  dinner  recently  the 
professor  stated  that  music,  suitable  in  quality  and  administered  at  the 
right  moment,  was  a  never-failing  means  of  increasing  the  supply  of 
cream. 
Imports. — Twelve  steamers  landed  cattle,  sheep,  and  beef  at  Liverpool 
during  a  recent  week  from  the  various  American  and  Canadian  ports. 
The  arrivals  of  cattle  and  sheep  were  less  than  in  the  preceding  week, 
but  of  fresh  beef  there  was  a  large  increase,  making  a  total  of  3253 
cattle,  1913  sheep,  and  22,509  quarters  of  beef.  Compared  with  the 
imports  of  the  previous  week  these  figures  show  a  decrease  of  321 
cattle  and  786  sheep,  and  an  increase  of  18,227  quarters  of  beef. 
The  Price  of  Butter.  —  The  price  of  Danish  butter  has,  it  is 
stated,  declined  to  such  a  level  that  retailers  are  able  to  sell  at  Is.  per 
pound,  and  this,  of  course,  causes  a  greater  consumption.  Messrs. 
Weddel  report  that  supplies  other  than  Australian  are  small  compared 
with  last  year,  being  25  tons  a  week  less.  The  lower  prices  must  bring 
about  a  larger  consumption,  and  interfere  with  the  sale  of  margarine. 
Canadian  butter  is  being  reshipped  to  Canada,  and  already  this  season 
over  10,500  packages  have  been  reshipped  to  the  United  States. — 
(“North  British  Agriculturist.”) 
Potato  Experiments  in  Staffordshire. — In  some  Potato  experi- 
ments  carried  out  for  the  Staffordshire  Technical  Instruction  Committee 
by  Mr.  Thomas  Turner  and  Mr.  J.  C.  Rushton,  the  Up-to-Date  variety 
being  planted  on  all  the  plots,  the  greatest  yield  was  nearly  15  tons, 
produced  on  the  plot  dressed  with  15  tons  of  farmyard  manure  and 
2  cwt.  of  nitrate  of  soda.  This  was  6  tons  16i  cwt.  over  the  produce  of 
the  unmanured  plot.  Where  kainit  was  added  to  the  extent  of  4  cwt. 
per  acre,  the  yield  was  fully  f  ton  less  than  the  greatest.  The  farm¬ 
yard  manure  alone  gave  4  tons  17^  cwt.  less  yield  than  where  the 
nitrate  was  used  with  it.  Curiously  enough,  although  the  addition  of 
kainit  to  farm  manure  and  nitrate  appeared  to  do  harm,  where  it  was 
used  with  farm  manure  without  the  nitrate,  the  plot  yielded  over  2  tons 
in  excess  to  the  produce  of  the  plot  on  which  only  the  farm  manure  was 
applied ;  and  where  it  was  used  with  farm  manure  and  sulphate  of 
ammonia,  it  appeared  to  increase  the  yield  by  nearly  3  tons  11  cwt. 
But,  again,  where  kainit  was  used  alone,  it  appeared  to  do  more 
harm  than  good.  Such  are  the  anomalies  of  field  experiments. — 
“Agricultural  Gazette.”) 
