AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 40, 18 January 1881, Page 4

AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

1■- • m The report of Mr Pell and Mr Read upon American agriculture, which has just appeared, states some fao a which discontemel New Zea--1 nd farmors (if there are any) would do well to ponde'ri The new featur • of die report (to me at least) is that in the fu ure the cattle trade between America und England is likely to develop in the direoiiun of store rather than fat cattle. '1 he formnpack into less room at sea, suffer les3 from the voyage, and. if fattened upon choice )• ngiish pasture, will thtm turn out first; el iss bee. They think, too, that hardy American cattle, who live under such perfectly healthy conditions, would be a most useful mixture with pampered and haudfed English stock in improving home breeds. But the special point in the report which strikes me is the advantage which the New Zealand firmer has over 'his American competitor in growing wheat for export. The average yield of wheat m America for several years has been 12 bushels per acre, or less than half the New Zealand average. The freight at present from the farm in the We«t to Liverpool amounts to 17s to 18s per quarter, whch I suppose is 60 to 80 per cent more than the cost of bringing wheat by sailing ship from New Zaalaud to London. Tne New Zealand farmer, in his seaboard colony, is nearer the English market than he would be in Chicago or Nebraska. With double the average yield, and ■<ig lo wer freights, why should he not grow 'N£ : v .wheat rnoreexbeuaively for export ill n 't?&t .present? The New Zealand farj? ., mer needs only to take the matter up fifewi afelarger scale and witu more spirit, !&' tfod^introduee American machinery Mjfc^more largely with < luencan economy of labour, and I see no reason why millions of acres more in the Colony cannot be brought into wheat to be exchanged for English gold. I hardly ever saw an American farmer hold the plough-handles in the way still so prevalent in New Zealand. He sits on his plough like a coachman, and drives over the fie d as he turns up the -od. I think I could plough in this fashion as easily as I can drive this quilQ I once heard an American whoifptd spent 12 months in New - Zealand, say with enthusiasm, "If we only had that Colony wo would make a garden of it." I think he was not far wrong. - Correspondent Ota _^o Times.

The lal at rage am 6ig 1 dies is to poraiss an old*fa<<hi. njiispiniung-wheel fora parlor ornament. The deatoe to p wsesn an ol«l---fH-hioned wash-board and tab ; s a krchen ornament does not rage much amo ig the b- yoang ladies. They are about as hands»n,e fL as the spindng.wheel, but they are nvt " faahionable.j Whoa is a lady's dress like an unfor. innate bull-fighter?— When it is gored. And when it is like a toper?— When it is 'fall.' Andwheoiit is like the sails of a ■hip?— Wneuit ill trimmed. Wh«n it is lik* a Mason of the yea-?— When it is 1< nfc. When it is no longer fit for use?— After it has 'once' been worn 'out.' &fo. Now 14 the timn the > ou»g bride fondly gaze* at seven fish knifes a>i<l a pair of sugartoi es, a nupkiu riiw, »nl a clock, and iw • ly whispe'sjfo the vraddintt gaaate that •tu. otiier pre^eoTa are nut difiphtyed, owing t° * « wuh of tho givers, yrifo hate pub* W \