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[A.LL RIGHTS RESERVED]. TECHNICAL AGRICUL- TURAL EDUCATION. a- No. 7. TECHICAL EDUCATION IN RELATION T9 DAIRY FARMING. BY PROFESSOR JAMES LONG, (Author of "British Dairy Farming," "The Dairy Farm," &c.) It is quite possible that the critical reader may question the value of technical educa- tion to the practical dairy farmer, but the term is a comprehensive one, and it is quite as possible to oonvey information to the prac- titioner through the medium of experimental work and -of scientific investigation" as it is to convey it to his sons in the class room. farmers have been educated through the medium of science very consilerably during the last ten years. The majority of thinking and reading men among them have derived immense information and advantage from the investigations of chemists in connection with artificial manures and feeding stuffs, to say nothing of the important information which has been derived from the examination of soil and the study of the physics of agricul- ture; if suoh a term may be employed. CONCERNING MILK. The business of the dairy farmer is to pro- duce milk, or, to put it iu a more concrete form, milk solids, through the medium of good cattle fed upon suitable foods. We are quite aware that where milk is sold in its natural state the proportion of solids which it contains is never carefully regarded by the producer, so long as it reaches the standard which the wholesale buyer institutes; but where butter and cheese are manufactured upon the farm, or where milk is sent to the factory for such manufacture, the percentage of solids is of immense importance, and it becomes the study of the farmer to produce as high a percentage as he possibly cm. To enable him to do this, hundreds of experi- ments have been made both in the laboratory and in the dairy. Digestion experiments have been conduoted upon almost all breeds of cattle and upon various systems of feeding. Machinery and implements have been inven- ted with the express purpose of extracting the highest possible percentage, either of fat, as in the butter dairy, or of total solids, as in the cheese dairy. A study has been made of the systems of cropping most likely to conduce to the best results in milk manufac- ture and, in France in particular, scientific men, who are at the same time praotical farmers, have made calculations based upon actaal farm work, to enable them to show how the highest percentage of nitrogenous foods can be produced upon the farm, inas- much as both the quantity and quality of milk depend to a greater extent upon the nitrogenous plants of the farm, containing what are generally desoribed as albuminoids, than upon any others. There is, therefore, a vast field for the exercise of both experi- ment and investigation, which will enable the advocates of technical instruction to carry it as close home to the practitioners of to-day as to those to the future. TECHICAL KNOWLEDGE ON A DAIRY FARM. In times past it has been argued that dairying could only be conduoted with success in particular districts, and it has been the commonest of all occurrences in all parts of England to hear particular soils and even farms described as unsuitable for such an occupa- tion. Undoubtedly there is some truth in these suggestions, bat the troth lies more in the fact that they are inconveniently situated as regards proximity to town or rail, or that a portion of the acreage is better adapted for sheep breeding, as much in consequence of the assistanoe sheep render in manuring as from any other oause. Where, however, it is possible to grow either good grass or good clover, mangolds, and vetches, there need be little apprehension as to the possibility of conducting dairy work with sucoess. The possibility of producing in abundanoe the most suitable plants for dairy cattle is the point which should determine whether a soil is suitable or not, and it is this possi- bility which is best disclosed where in- struction steps in to the aid of those who have not full knowledge of the subject, whe- ther that instruction is derived from a lec- turer upon dairy farming or from the published results of careful investigation. Again, given the possibility of producing all the requisite crops, the next question is how to produce the maximum quantity and this may be followed by another question, how to protect them against their many enemies, the insects, the birds, the parasitio fungi, and, lastly, from the weather. All these subjects are being dealt with in a more or less com- prehensive manner by those who are respon- sible for the information which instructors teaoh. The instructor himself may not be a person who has conducted original work, it is seldom that this is the case, but he derives his information in these days not so much from the study of any one particular work as from the study of current investigation, whe- ther it be conducted in this or in other coun- tries. It is, however, his duty to discriminate between work that is true, and work—and there is much of it—which mast be rejected, either because it has not been accurately per- formed, or because it has not been confirmed in a sufficient number of instances. It is educa- tion alone which enables the instructor and the same study that enables the student, and especially the former, to reject untrustworthy and to accept trustworthy data. MUCH TO LEARN. Farming is very largely conducted by rale of thumb. Experienced, thoughtful, labouring men are very often as well acquainted with the management of the land on which they have worked for a number of years as the men who employ them, and their knowledge is frequently of considerable use to their iemployers. Old farmers, like old labourers, are able to discriminate with wonderful accu- racy, and their advice is not to be rejeoted off- hand. The fact is that experience and obser- vation have taught them during the course bf years to a large extent what science, which is based upon observation, teaches the student. Farming, and especially dairy farming, is allied, and closely allied, too, to more sciences than one. We have suggested that it is largely indebted to chemistry, for the chemist has not only taught us how the plant is constituted, how it feeds and grows, but he has shown us what constituents of foods the plants of the farm especially prefer. The astounding importance of this informa- tion and of the data upon which it is based ought to be grasped by every occupier of the Boil who is tc-day dealing with material Which under such circumstances would unfold another world before his eyes. If but one farmer in ten were enabled by means of the present educational system to digest the details which show him how the plant feeds upon the constituents of the air and upon the elements of the soil excellent results will be achieved. The possession of such know- ledge could not fail to lead him further, and hi* anxiety to laaro will direct him to pursue his studies, even though they be but ele- mentary, into those fields which under the guidance of the scienoes of botany, geology, and kindred subjeots will enable him to some extent to discriminate between the plants of the varied soils around him, and of the insect life, at least that which is mainly responsible for the attempted destruction of his crops. It is true there is a good deal to learn. Science itself has so far failed to explain much that we desire to know, but the infor- mation will come in good time, and it will be obtained the- more rapidly if efforts are made by those who are responsible for the large sums of money now in the hands of the county counoils to provide for the indirect teaching which investigation would afford, as well as to provide for direct teaching, which is now becoming so general upon the majority of dairy farms. A large proportion of the albuminous matter in milk is removed from the farm. The produoer is therefore anxious to learn how to replace this matter, which is of the highest importance to the maintenance of the fertility of the farm, at the least expense. If in the production of large quantities of milk a demand is made for nitrogenous foods, it follows that in order to produce such foods a similar demand must be made upon the soil, and therefore it is to the soil that the farmer must ultimately look. The dairy farmer pure and simple has not the assistance of sheep or of the manure of highly feed cattle. Cows' manure is one of the poorest manurial matters produced on the farm, and recourse must therefore be had to other means of maintaining fertility; we believe that there is no subject connected with dairy farming which can be better studied or taught with greater efficacy. ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE. One of the most important branches of knowledge in connection with dairy farming is that which explains the properties of manures and an economical system of manu- ring the soil for the production of certain crops. The dairy farmer depends very much for the production of milk upon the crops he grows, but in many instances he depends too much upon foods wh'ch he is obliged to pur- chase. There is no question about the fact that the cost of such foods would be very largely diminished if by the aid of knowledge he grew them upon his own farm. The constituents of food, which are the principal agents in milk production, are the albuminous or nitro- genous constituents, which he finds in cotton cake, linseed cake, bran, malt dust, and beans. These constituents are absolutely essential, and when mixed in recognised quantities with the commoner and cheaper foods pro- duced upon the farm, such as swedes, man- golds, and straw, they compose a good ration, and the result is therefore a practical and successful one. We cannot see, however, any reason why this system of purchase should not be diminished by the growth of nitro- genous foods which will answer the same purpose. During the summer season we should select vetches, clover—including Trifolium incarnatum -in the south of England, lucerne and sainfoin where these crops will grow, and, under certain con- ditions, beans and peas. The two latter crops may alternate with the olovers in the four- oourse rotation, when the olovers will pro- bably grow all the better for the change. Now it so happens that scientific discoveries during the past two years have shown that all these leguminous crops have the faoulty of obtaining most of their nitrogen from the air-it is un- neoessary here to discuss the medium. They are therefore called nitrogen collectors or gatherers, and are consequently of extreme value upon the farm, because they do not rob it materially of the most valuable of all the constituents of manure and plant foods. If these crops, instead of being sold off the farm, are oonsumed by the cattle and returned to the farm in the form of manure, it is evident that the soil is enriched by this gratuitous nitrogen, so that less money is expended in artificial nanure, or in other words larger oorn crops are grown with the same system of cultivation than would otherwise be the case. Upon a soil where nitrogenous crops, such as the above, are systematically grown, there is always an accumulation of fertility, that is supposing they are not removed from the farm. Where, however, in addition to their con- sumption, a stock-feeder, suoh as a dairy farmer, is a regular buyer of cake, there is a further addition to the most valuable of manurial constituents and it can scarcely fail to achieve superior results. We can conoeive of no branch of dairy farming which is of greater importance than this. It is undoubtedly essential that milk should be produced, that butter of the highest type should be made, and that cheese should be perfect, but neither the one nor the other can be successfully carried out unless attention is given to the subject to which we have referred. Peoun ary success depends upon the economy of the system foliowed -the growth of leguminous crops, where this is possible, is the most economical of all systems. Hence, if this fact is recognised, and if it is also recognised that such foods as are bought should be those which are highest in nitrogenous properties—such as cotton cake —because of their double value as a food for the animal, and, subsequently, as a food to the soil, there need be no fear as to the result.

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