Rural Column.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 178, 7 December 1877, Page 7

Rural Column.

A- weak sfol u rion of petroleu m',. rtfl) bfcd on the backs: of cattle, will; keep HWivj] flies from 'depositing their eggs.. ■ . ; Paint, wliicb^pttt on ;in tbe.^ll" .will" f las| >^arjy;:6r i cjuit'ras )&flg agnin|as;tbft ■sVime grade which r^; apnju'd.r/tn. fbv> spring (ii'.^su'qimer. liye'SextrmnV hue weather of;- the. 1 summ'CTxiii'.oni-hs is not favourable either for, the* preservation or the fine . appearance . of paint.— .New England "Homestead. . ' Who can Wat it ? Mr G>. W.- Raker, of Lorain county, Ohio, writing in the Ohio Farmer, says :— " I haye 1 ' seven light Brahma ben's, pure-bred. that'duTing the last seventy days hnve laid' 200 eg^s. What breed will beat this as winter layers '?- Light Brahmas have' no superior for table use. I have a pair of Brahma capons, nineteen months old, which weigh 281bs. Can pnyone make a better showing than tbe above as layers or for market purposes vvith any other breed ?" „•"_-■. , It is a : wood practice' to. vvash^ the trunk and main branches of fuu'i't ' trees with - : lithe- wash. If the .white colour is not' agreeable, a; -little soot can be put in to neutralise the glare. The wash destroys the eggs of insects, and keeps the bark free to swell as the cells grow.- Where the white scale abounds on the bark, the branches may be pain led wit n linseed oil. It is a sure cure, and really seems to make the tree more healthy and vigorous than it would he without the wash. 4 Manchester mechanic has invented a horse shoe composed of three thicknesses of. cow-hide compressed., into a steel rnpiild and then subject to a chemical preparation. Its inventor asserts that it last liWer than the common shoe, and.weigus only one-fourth as much; never splits the hoof and has no other injurious influence on it ; requires no calks, even on asphalt ; is so elastic that the horse's ste'pTis lighter and surer ; and adheres so closely, that neither. dust nor Water can penetrate between the shoe and the hoof. Frequent stirring 1 up of the soil is a remedy against drought.. In a dry season frequent stirring 1 will increase the growing crop tworfold more than if the ground be left unworked. Corn which was stirred between the rows six times in a dry season yielded a full crop of? well-matured ears, while similar ground, alongside, stirred but three times,, diel 1 not produce more than half. a crop. In the one case the soil was. kept loose and mellow, and retained its moisture, while in the other the moisture was speedily exhausted. Frequent stirring is a means of preserving moisture in the soil, and in dry seasons should not be neglected. [ have (says a correspondent of the Prairie Farmer) transplanted many hundred'forest trees in the last ten years, and I have rarely lost a tree, and have set most of them in the full. One of the most important rules to be observed is — 'before taking up a tree mark it in some "manner,- so thai y<m "vnll know which is the north side, so as to be able to re-set it in exactly the same position as it grew in the Woods. This may seem to many of no importance, but to those who^know that- 'there is in the bark and wood of all. trees a radical difference between the north and south sides, the north side being close-grained and tough, while the south side is invariably more open-grained and brush, or soft, the importance will be seen. If this is done, your tree does not havo to undergo a complete change in nil the parts, ami is ready to start off and grow at the proper time, as readily as though it hud not been moved. My practice, says an old dairyman writing in the Agricultural Gazette, is to give my cows all the salt hay they will eafc, three times' a week during- rhe sum mar season. The amount of milk returned 1 b'v the cows is from v quarter to a third "more than when salted butonce a week. It may be that some soils are deficient in. salt, and that stock require it in large quantities to equalise, the system. If so,' they will eat less; ' they, are the best judges. The effect. ol salt is to increase the 'desire for. both food and drink. Hence, thf*. materials for milk. More salt is /consumed Uy i my stock when * fed on' n clean' gra?s i patch, where they, can mix salt and grass, than if in a shed. A strong, solution of salt in water irregularly np plied on hay for cattle produces scouri'ig. "V A series of Shorthorn' snips werf .held 1 during the first week in September, "the. "..most notable one of which took ■ place. at. Rlr.Cloud^sdalc.'s farm/ Windermere The Cuttle brought forward were, mainly the property of the Hon W. H. Oochran*v--of- Canada, who .Viindert them .. at 1 avevpool on .A ngust 14. A.Vrn«^e.tKeV' theTP , were .^7. cows and heifers sold 'at an average of 'L2G6 19s'()d -6HCU j rotal; H '43 abimnls at an average of 1-305 8s Bd. the gross iimount realised being; L!7,00M 14s Onobfiff j r,theFifth',DucliH:-s >f Uillb.ursr-, C;il v ed- i n .Vl ; i v , .1876, w ir- k i rock < j i 1" f lo.'.v n to; Lord Bective tor no It-ss a strn than 4390g5. arid fliioflioi\'rlwi 'J'liird Duclip.Vs of ! H i 1 1. h u rsr., : : c;il vi?s i n 'Dene rr) H*;r;-. \S7IIK to; Mr Lo>W, for 4loo<zs 'I'liese were fhe iiighesn . prices eyer. , ob.t'fjin^L in ■'"Enu'land " f<ir "sb^i'rbnfn ijV'i'l^rs." -" A -hrifer called Yksjipi* Star, cal ved May, 15.71 .. was purchased, by Mr T. Crosbie for lOOi'gs ;.and another, the Mn.vcb.ioness.bi Bairington; calved. in November, ;;] : 475, fell to' Sir W r H. Salt, at -SOOgs., : vffnle Mr A. Derby became the "|)urch'4i?W' -uf ; Vosper Queen, a : tearlintr

frvnf #)->•*; ' tot; r \o" :2'ojj«v *^$^p3 ■-rije'^>ii-lis,-_- th o'.^efqpriarT>^*.lte of,;H_il 111 tTi^g*^" highest; , pjri&»£ : ? B^ogs^ Tr M^^^ri-£fT^ v -y bei n gibe ptaf cli&sey; art d'M^Q^y. l|sby^y/ a, yearling',- brought 30.5^'5.-. -V,' ,-%^ \.:>;\ NEW SK L F-BI^DI N'G- RK! A Pi I?/, , -_;. ■"' V ■-,- ; Hi tiYwi-t'u tliW ; ''':v IttjX;thi'^'r?.i.iiiii.oiilfiis't-vf'"-;>1 ttjX ; thi'^'r?.i.iiiii.oiilfiis't-vf'"-;> have- confined , their, imtfrrt'iorf : ;tm U».^* production of wit'6^)i ; ndin^v : ;i'eu i i^s and j»l though; r.be i nVeu tiou's , exhYbi f eil in this country arenovin fh'eir' pr^f*n# fortnV esactl y " suitiimV for : out*" f£q|ird/. ;> merits, a very' credirtvDlo; pi'o^ve^lya^ been made, and' if is probable' Yintu, the 1 experience' acquired' - dun ng 1 ' rhff i>rese?n& very trying' harvest' wdr lead ttysttqitf alterations'. aird" impvoVtVim*nfs as- wilF render some of those tnatjbines-'foVm^ii-able' competitors wirlr ,t'h"B.Hp"hve-,itfvtt^ tions,- which are at' .present in' a; G'tftiftfr ribw'q'f crudity... The' Roch ford Weekly Gazejtff of July 5, an' Illinois papery contains t lie' report of the; trial' of a new self-binder,* manufactured;' by Ny £jv Thompson 1 ,- of Roohford ; and, accord* ing« to the report, the trial :describKrt <: was very successful on a ci'op thatvaried as to balk' and was considerably tangled. . . r The machine is. sf cord bindei 1 ; fl'hd 1 ties a regnlar schoolboy's knot.. Taker two string's, place thorn' fioo-ether, make a round loop-hole, and put, the I ;. "ends? through, and you have the knot; exactly ; and it is made as perfectly a's 5 Itamte' c ul'! make it. Another important feature is flVfvf v whatever t,he nature of the crop, and its" variability, the sheaves are of uniform' size, and this is arranged automatically, mid is not left to the judgment" of the driver. The description is hardly sufficiently mechanical to enable us fo understand the 'modus .operand^ buc wo g'lve ie in the words of the report :— ' '_ • The arm, that the grain rests, against ' while the bundle is being- formed i# moved slowly backward by the grain until it reaches a certain point, when it throws the binder in 1 o gear. ■ TrnmH- • diately the binder does its work, and ythe arm drops, letting the bundle off", and rising again to . perform . the same work for the next bundle, so that every bundle is, as it were, weigh ad or sized ■•" and in light wheat it will not bind and throw off a bundle until it has received the proper amount of wheat, no matter how titr ii has to go to get it. .Tliis is a niost valuable ,f'flrtU»re J find, ■ if the action is anything like as perfect as it is described to be, this machine has the elements of great merit. Atpresent the band is hardly light enough,, but this is a detail that can be remedied.. „ The apparatus by which the work is-done-is described as by no means com* plicated or more liable to get out uf oi'der than any other portion of the machine.,. The sheßf when made dropsquietly ten. or twelve' inches to the ground, ■ whether clear of the track or not is nvot stated. The cord used is saidto be a pound to the acre, but; of courser this roust vary according to the nature' of the crop; the. cost is said tobw 20' oents per pound, which is abottt t\m same as wire — The Field. MILK FOR CHICKENS. Mr Lyman, in speaking of nrr^t for chickens, in the Poultry World says :— » I am not a poultry 1 fancier in the' common acceptation of the term — that is, I do not breed fancy' strains. But for several years I have bred and raised poultry for market, my nim being 1 ,' to- ' get the" greatest weight of meat, ahd> to this end, ever since 1872, I \my& made liberal use of cow's milk with my young chickens. • iVly method, from tho first, and T have seen no reason' to ■ ; change or -modify it, has been to heat ihe milk until it turned to a curd, ns in i the process followed in making what id 1 cailed Duroh cheese, only not carrying it on until the curd becomes quite ashard as for the cließ.se j the whey ismoscly pressed out, and the mass is then while, soft, and easily disin- . tpgrated. The sm<ill white crumbs, when placed before a toddling' chick not yet six hours old, are too tempting" , morsels to lost 1 , they pick them up' busily, and with a comic earnestnessdelightful to witness".'' JNo one who hug never had an' tfpv .portunity to observe can have any idea of the rapidity of the cliano'fl tfjiu .tak*** place in young chickens which hii.ve B daily rations of curd issued to tily,em. They thrive prodigiously. Day by day they stretch out iri- stature and multiply in strength/ At a week old they arw sturdy, active^ )ind sharp-eyed. Tlrey . become cdurag«o-ifs, ndventnrpns,- and independent. They take lonji* journeys around the premises for pur poses of ■forage and discovery, dispHnsfcg for the time with the usual maternal escort, Hlvery faculty of niind and function 'of' bndy is broughc into h state of the highest activiry-. So rapid «nd nH^rkM •are their- development under the stimulus of this diet that each new day brings it discoveries and surprises. The littler ball of down -of a week ago was yescerihy h tfill, viiioiou.s, hiuigry chick ; to j davyoii can see improvement ;j and tn the dolicateiy rounded thighs^, t^ie bold, full lireast, the upright <!|ir<t»ige. and i>uddiriV '|Vriu7ariol' f ,. ( y'ou ] .<caU'.. distinctly trace .the <uitiin es <>f 'tliftf,;fat u'rV £ 6ock ' of tlie. y};Mk^'^M^MWM^'^f^ ti.ibie '«ib'r//t»cl.-.5" /;rpmorr^w^|^^ijfe'nrt bt^-gpr,. i?f ui-«jier^ f b un^ner, f ifl||W|^pr; !eit r hereH;>t h.ii, n},nbWj;"a ndtfat;j|si^i^^e|{a: ; old \ie MiH;tiihthe^|)an,;;^6tHonl^l^th^ savoury odouVs, •Wt-witji; n^i|ljgtv|o .; poundg of the sweetest; -ie^derestiii^dv •'.jSheap flnvoured^ meat that ; ;epicii^|^^ '■cfovete'd^'"--.""".. : ; ■'•'."■"'-■ 4 '-^ )^'Fi?^r^