Agricultural and Pastoral.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1615, 29 September 1874, Page 373

Agricultural and Pastoral.

A Fine Pig.— New South Wales papers l'eport from Clarencetown the killing of a pig two years and four months old, which weighed when cleaned 588 lbs. and with the caul fat, 611 lbs. The White Thorn.— According to the Waikato Times in those districts in the Waikato where the soil is light and sandy, the white thorn is dying out, instead of making —as was at one time anticipated it would — permanent hedges in that generally treeless district. Iron for Fruit Trees.— A pint of iron filings placed around an apple tree on which are dead spots, make an excellent remedy. Apple trees require iron in about the same proportion as the human system, and the effect is much the same. When the soil becomes exhausted of iron the trees begin to decay. Prolific Fructification.—A plant grown from a single grain of barley, at the Wairau Valley, has been left at our (Express) office < by Mr Ockley, the extraordinary increase of which may be stated thus : fifty-four heads bearing an average of thirty-two grains of barley-corns, making a total of 1,723 grains, the produce of a single seed. There are many plants which bear seed in perhaps even large numbers, but when we look at the value of corn crops it is well to consider whether a smaller quantity of seed sown at proper intervals would not yield much larger returns than the system now pursued. Here is a good theme for the Agricultural Society. Cutting Timber.— Dr Hartwig, who has made numerous experiments to determine the point, states that the two first months of Spring are the best in which to cut timber for building purposes, as it then contains its lowest per centage of moisture, which he states to be forty-seven per cent., and the three following ones forty-eight. He further states that properly seasoned timber should not contain more than from twenty to twentyfive per cent, of moisture, and never less than ten per cent. If the moisture is removed to a still greater extent, the wood loses strength and becomes brittle. Another authority states that if trees are felled as soon as they are in full leaf, and allowed to remain undisturbed until the leaves dry up and fall off, the timber will be found well seasoned, the leaves having exhausted all the moisture. A Useful Shrub.— The Malva shrub, a native of California, has been attracting the attention of the Agricultural Society of Melbourne. If all is true that is stated of this plant, it is a most wonderful and useful one, and is well worthy the attention of the various Acclimatization Societies. We are told that the Malva shrub is a beautiful evergreen, and is valuable in an industrial sense. It grows equally well in a wet or dry season, on lowlands or hillsides, regardless of climate or special culture. It can be produced from seed carelessly strewn, and in five years attains an average height of 30ft, usually surviving eight years, but the falling seed maintains a perpetual growth and the tree gives better effects than any other known. Besides enduring the effects of climate the foliage can sustain cattle and sheep, which will leave clover to feed on the large juicy leaves ; and from experiment it has been found that cows give more and richer milk from this nutriment. Cattle only browse on the leaves, which are quickly replaced. The plant blooms for nine months in the year, and bees work upon the flowers all the time, preferring them to those of others. The stem of the shrub, which attains about 18in, in diameter, after lying on the ground in the rainy season, becomes partially decayed, and exhibits a mass of fine, delicate, and strong fibre capable of being used in the same manner as flax. One acre of these trees, after the first growth, will yield ten times the fibrous material that an acre of flax would, with the advantage that little or no labor is required. Thus the trees will aid in attracting moisture to parched countries, feed cattle, sheep and bees, and also produce at an early date, an article of commercial value in its fibre. After the second year animals may be allowed to feed on them with impunity. They grow with such txuberance and rapidity that leaves eaten off arc reproduced in a week, and no animals have been known to gnaw the branches. Where this plant is abundant, it is a fact that fevers and sicknesses are rare, as it acts in the same manner as the sunflower, which is known to remove malaria. It is of immense value in countries destitute of forests, and which are subjected periodically to destructive drought, like Australia in many parts. The season for sowing is immediately before the winter rains commence, and the plants, when from lOin to lain high, ought to be transplanted,"