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MAEKETS.I

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AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

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AGRICULTURAL NOTES. I BY A PRACTICAL FARMER, I SPLENDID ROYAL SHOW ENTRY. The annual show of the Royal Agricultural Society at Shrewsbury has drawn what may fairly be described as a record entry. True, its numbers were surpassed by a considerable amount for the show at Windsor in 1889, but that was the society's jubilee meeting, and was altogether an exceptional event, having the personal patronage of Queen Victoria, and, in addition, many other powerful in- fluences to make it specially attractive. But the show which will open this year at Shrews- bury on June 30th has now special eireum-- stances calculated to attract a record entry. It is simply a mark of the great interest taken in the event by the stock-breeders in the neighbourhood. Under each of the four head- ings, horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, we fintl a heavy total of entries, while the entries of poultry are nearly double what they were at the Gloucester show in 1909. For a town of its size Shrewsbury is as well served by railways as any in the United Kingdom. a id this should enable not only stock and other entries but also passenger traffic to be handled with ideal celerity and the maximum of convenience. The attendance at the show cannot hope to equal the vast num bers reached at such great towns as New- castle, Liverpool, and Bristol, but for a coun- try town it has all the promise of being a record. I INHERITED QUALITY OF MANGELS. Mangels are affected as regards both their size and their quality by weather, soil, and feedi^'j. but the extent to which they are affected by strain has not been so clearly de- termined, though this is obviously an import- ant factor. Some information on this point has been acquired as a result of an experi- ment, carried on over a period of thirteen years at the Dominion Experimental Farms at Ottawa. The Intermediate or Gate Post and the Giant Yellow Globe mangels have been used, and the comparison of the relative value of the-se varieties shows that large differences exist, and the varietics fell generally into the same order season by season, indicating that quality might be inherited, and to a certain degree independent of seasonal influences. The two varieties mentioned were chosen, as these, from a preliminary analysis, seemed to be typical of the richer and poorer classes of mangels. They have grown side by side, year by year, on the same soil and with the same culture, and under the same climatic conditions. Differences in composition, as well as in other matters, must under such cir- cumstances be very largely due to inherited qualities. The average dry matter in Gate Post in thirteen years was 11'53 per cent., and the average of sugar in juice 6'16 per cent., and in Giant Yellow Globe the corresponding percentages were 9'5 and 4'56. The Gate Post has always proved the superior root, though the differences between the two varieties have Not been constant. Taking the averages for the experimental period, the Gate Post would contain about 22 per cent. more dry matter and almost 35 per cent. more sugar than the Giant Yellow Globe, which, of course, repre- sents a very considerable difference in feeding value. M m CURING SCOUR IN CALVES. I The best preventive against scour is strict, cleanliness, especially with the .essels from which food or drink is given. The Kentucky Equipment Station has used very successfully the following drugs in the treatment of scours for the last eight years, during which time not a single calf has been lost from scours, although approximately twenty calves have been born each year. If the calf is de- veloping a case of scours, it is taken in hand immediately, placed in a clean stall, well bedded, and given a dose of two ounces of castor oil. one tablespoonful of listerine, .and one teaspoonful of paregoric. All these in- gredient's are mixed thoroughly, put in a long- necked bottle, and given to the calf in the form of a drench. The dose is repeated in six hours if necessary. If the case is severe, ten drops of laudanum are mixed with the above ingredients. Calves, three or four months of age, are often cured Iby giving three ounces of castor oil. INOCULATION AGAINST ABORTION. I As is well known, a great deal of highly valuable work has been done by the Board of Agriculture in connection with epizootic abortion. It is now practicable to test each animal in an infected herd and pick out those which have the disease. Speaking recently at Shrewsbury, Sir Stewart Stockman, the chief veterinary officer of the Board of Agri- culture, drew attention to the advantage of this, because it was highly desirable to isolate infected animals before they could abort and deposit infected material in the premises. For the purpose of testing the value of pre- ventive inoculation in practice, a large num- ber of infected herds had been put under trial. There had not been time yet to sum up all the result- but it would appear that whereas abortions to the extent of 30 per cent, or more might occur in an infected herd, this loss could be kept down -to 6 or 7 per cent. by employing preventive inoculation. Epi- zootic abortion* caused enormous loss to stock owners, and the advisability of dealing with the disease by the ordinary administrative order had many times been discussed. Having now to hand a method of picking out infected animals, it was probable, said Sir Stewart Stockman, that an administrative order of a drastic kind would considerably re- duce the prevalence of the disease. Stock- owners, however, in considering whether abortion should be dealt with by ordinary administrative measures or not, had to ask themselves the question whether, having regard to the great prevalence of the disease, they were prepared to face the possibility of 30 per cent. of the animals on infected premises being under prolonged restrictions in relation to movement. A question of that kind he must, of course, leave to them as business men, and should they find it impracticable the only other method was to adopt preventive inoculation. « » • AGRICULTURAL CREDIT FACILITIES. The question of agricultural credit is an urgent one in all parts of the country, and something must be done in the near future to assist farmers, large and small, to obtain credit on better terms than most of them are now able to command. The matter has been receiving the attention since January, 1912, of a Departmental Committee, which was set up to inquire into the xlsting- system of j credit available for the rural classes in Ire- land." The Committee now give it as their opinion that the existing facilities for the supply of credit on sound lines to the smaller and medium rural classes in Ireland are in- adequate to the special needs, and require considerable extension, also that the existing economic position of rural Ireland, when so many of the small farmers are passing from the status of tenants to that of occupying owners, affords an exceptional opportunity for establishing on a sound basis a system of agricultural co-operative credit which will go far towards euabline the new orenrietors ti oeveiop io cue utmost tne resources oi rneii* holdings, and to on the businfs« ot their farms and cn v asieful and more economic privcinles than those which hove been so largely followed in the past. A large pcrtion of the Committee's report is devcted to the snbjc.-t cf c^ op^-riti- e credit, for the Commerce st-ue th-?- early they were convinced tL" r a snundly- organised and supervised system of th's nature would best supply the special necss of the small former. The mend the establishment r' credit s.r-^e! t based on shares and limited ii.ibility, and de- clare that for this fresh legislation is ?Pe s- sary. They believe that much would hi gained by the establishment cf cred't socie- ties under the supervision of an nprioultwrsl credit section of the Department of A<rr5-«!- ture, with the aid of an Advisory Committee, on which representative1: of ibe eo-ope- '-<? movement, the joint stock banks, ?r.rl the, various State Departments dealing in agri- cultural loans, might be invited to sit.

SPOUTS AND_PASTIMES.

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WORK AND WORKERS.

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REVIEW OF THE CORN TRiDE.

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