Agricultural.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 July 1910, Page 4

Agricultural.

VARIOUS USEFUL ITEMS. An American exchange states that tilie Curator of the New York Museum has just received an offer from a woman in Arizona, in which she says : "My 'husband is petrified. He has been buried two years, and on exhuming his remains we find he has turned t'o stone. If your museum does not want him, T shall sell him as phosphate. As he was no use to me in lilo, T should like to turn him into cash, either as a specimen or as phosphate!" This seems rather a. new "Caesar dead and turned to clay" is not a circumstance to Hiram K Potts corpsed, transmuted to phosphates, and forked into the potato patch! ft is scarcely necessary to add that the lady's offer was declined with thanks.

In a recent bulletin issued by the South Carolina experiment station it was stated that a good cure for scours in calves had been discovered. The procedure was to put omnhalf ounce of commercial formaline in loj ounces of distilled water, and use two teaspoonfuls in each quart of milk. This dose is given boltih morning and evening. Professor Shaw, of Michigan Agricultural College, uses a mixture of equal parts of camphor, tincture of rhuhau'b, and opiates in hot water, giving a jteaspoonful at a dose. There is, we beliove, a Bonus Act in force in Queensland which provides for the giving of bonuses to settlers who will take up certain classes of land. Probably the only way to settle some of the pear-in-fested areas would be by the giving of a substantial bonus, but some people are apparently prepared to take the job on and chance it. A New Zcalander who has arrived in Queensland, after inspecting the country, has professed his willingness to tackle prickly pear country, provided he receives 0000 acres. His idea is to take up dairying, farming, poultry-raising, and general agriculture. If he fails lie will not be the first who thought he could conquer pear and went under. Ou the other hand, a number of Victorians who selected pear lan din places where it is fairly thick in Queensland 'arc making good headway, although it must he admitted that the area cleared is a mere speck in comparison with the total area affected by pea r.

Some interesting records of the hereditary results of dehorning cattle have been made .public by a certain Australian cattle breeder, who, 'however, .has to withhold his name in consequence of there being legislation which discountenances the practice. Some years ago, when interesting himself extensively in dairying, this breeder risked the intervention of the la*v, and made it a habit to dehorn the whole of his herd, irrespective of age or breed. He employed two methods—the caustic treatment upon the young, and the removal of the partially or fully developed horns of the aged by means of powerful guillotine snips. TTe carefully noted tho effect upon the orogeny of all cows, and found tUnlit approximately worked out as 'follows: The percentage of polled calves from dams which had been Iterated when young with caustic was nearly twice as high as that resulting from cows whose horns had been removed, later in life by means of the snips. Practically speaking it was as two to one—in the one instance it was nearly 50 per cent, and in the other fully 20. This goes towards proving how easy a matter it should be in course of time to get rid of horns altogether. Given a prepotent lot of [Killed 'bulls, one ought to be able to combine their influence* with the above tendencies, and establish many a polled .herd. The bracken fern has proved i.tsell a great nuisance on many runs in New Zealand, and the experience oi Mr M. G. Holmes, an ex-student oi Hawkesbury Agricultural College, is interesting. He purchased a property in Tasmania and found the fern was the worst oest lie had to ccntend villi. A large proportion of the land was totally covered with the ferns, and it was actually impossible to walk through them as they wore in most places six or seven feet .high. He started cutting them in .June, but was informed by his neighbours that it was madness to cut in winter, as they would be just as bad as ever the fallowing year. Tho usual time ito cut is November, but he persisted, and after cutting -burnt them as soon as possible. At the end of .February lie was pleased to find tiiat, in itiheir full growth, they were only .half as thick as lormely, .and about four feet high. He was then strongly advised to cut at once, as they would nrore ivadily die out in the hot weather. As the first cutting had- been so successful, however, lie decided to try it again rather than in autumn, and recommenced in June. He was again successful, as at the present time they are interfering in only a very small degree with the gnass, and in no way whatever with the cattle. It is expected that the .third cutting, which will bo given in .Tune, will practially eradicate them. The reasons be assigns for the effectiveness oF the winter cutting is thalt the rain, which is heavy in winter, runs down tlis shattered steins to the roots, checks the growth, and onuses deoay. bracken is always killed by the occurrence of a frost' before it fully develops leaves. On enquiry, he found that, although winter cutting was generally condemned, no one had actually tried it. The usual practice js to cut in November, and again in autumn, but his experience bias shown thai one CHt made in winter is more effective than, the two usually given. He is so convinced of its greater effectiveness 'that he 'has persuaded, some of his neighbours to give the method a tial.