HINTS FOR FARMING.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 687, 13 November 1852, Page 4

HINTS FOR FARMING.

(Fiotn the " F-trmei'e CnhmUr," J.wunry, 1832 ] The farmer will tto well, as he sits by his fireside on a winter^ evening, if he now and then

reconsiders the mode in which his farm-yard , dung is preparing. Is (here any drainage from il?- Do the eaves-troughs need looking to? — Js the stable-dung laying in heaps around the door? — is the dung of different animals mixed together? — Is their quality carefully regarded, (heir composition considered ? This last question was carefully considered byM.Koussingaull, a celebrated French farmer anfl chemist, in connection with the nitrogen which* fhey ronlain. lie published a fable indicating the quantities of each kind of manure required (o replace 100 parts of good farm-yard manure, from which he concludes that lo produce the same effect there must be used [Quart. Jour. ArgL, 1848, p. 377)— 18 v parts of the excrements of the goat. 36 do. sheep SI do. hoi.se and urine mixed 63} do. do. of the pig 73 do. of the solid excrements of the horse 97 \ do. of (he mixed excrements of the cow 125 do. of the solid do. The matters of urine of domestic animals, according to their greatest riches, may, according lo M. Giradin, be thus classed : — Solid. A/.otised. Saline. Of the Horse Ox Horse " Ox Man ..... Cow '' Cow ...... Horse .... Ox " Man Cow Pig • l Pig Goal Man " Goal Pig Goat The different plants which the slock of a farm consume when in a stale of nature of course influence the composition of their manure. II has been calculated thai — The cow eats 276 plants, and rejects 218 The goal l< Ud " 126 The sheep" 387 " 141 Thehorse" 202 " 212 The hog " 72 " 271 Give your sheep and cattle rock or other common salt in their troughs; keep a lump always in your horses 1 mangers. The improved general health of the live slock will well reward your care in this respeel ; remember 100, thai regular good feeding is belter than irregular profusion : attend also to their cleanliness and warmth; filth and cold arc much more prcjudical lo all live slock, and much more materially retard their fattening, than the farmer commonly imagines. Ewes for early spring now begin to lamb, prepare the yard for them : cabbages are now very valuable lood for them ; they are not only comc-al-able in all weathers, even in deep snows, and yield much milk, hut they never freeze like turnips. Look to, and mix Ihe manure of your farm-yard ; do not let the horse litter remain in heaps at the stable door, but spread il wilh (hal of other stock : see that no liquid manures arc running to wasle. All corn generally sells well al this period, and j frost, 100, rather improves the sample. The plough should in open weather be kept at work on suitable soils. | Land intended for peas, vetches, barley, and ; oats .should not be ploughed ; and, during the month, (hese crops may be sown on dry ground : in the south of England those thus early sown will generally prove the best. The quantity of seed, however, sown al this period may be reduced one-third in quantity below what would be necessary three months hence. The reduced seed sowing spslem is, we rejoice to .say, evidently advancing wilh rapid strides, by the example and exertions of Mr. Hewitt Davis. Manure may be carted, especially on lo grasslands, in frosfy weather ; and this is a good time, when the roads are hard, lo carry all sorts of artificial manure ; the Essex farmers arc still busy willi their chalk and (heir sprats ; those of Devon wilh the calcareous sea sand. This 100 is a good lime lo mix lime and salt for dressing spring corn ; two bushels of lime to one bushel of salt— mix dry and protect from wet. There are few cheap fertilizing mixtures more powerful than this, at the rale of from forly lo sixty bushels per acre ; apply it broadcast, eilher by hand or shovel, in March and April. Carl also pond mud and dilch scrapings, remains of old banks 6.c; all these are very powerfully enriched as fertilizers al a small expence, by mixed with a bushel of salt or nature of the mud of ponds and rivers is seldom carefully ascertained.

The Ploughman.— The feeding and management of curl horses is an important portion of Ihe ploughman's duty. The chief points to he attended to have been lately noticed (Tran. 11. S., 18f)0, p. 386). The ploughman should remember that the horse suffers from -working too long without food ; he should rest for food at least tv ice during the day. The stomach of the horse is small ; it cannot therefore contain food enough to enable it to work all day without renewed food or rest. "Horses bred on the farm are commonly," remarks Mr. 3. Gibson, of Woolmer, " more hardy, easier kept, and less liable to disease than those brought from a distance." a I consider," says Mr. Black, of Dalkcilh, *' that it is of the greatest importance to keep farm horses in good condition, or rather fat ; weight is always advantageous in slow work, indeed weight is power in the heavy draught. In selecting a hunting horse the first point to be j looked at is his hind quarters, to see if he has muscle enough to propel him over the fences ; in a roadster, his feet, fore legs, and shoulders; hut in selecting a cart horse the back ribs are the first point to be examined, for unless they are high and well back towards his haunch bones, i he will never be easily kept or endure much faligue." The asscntials to health are regular feeding, good water, cleanliness, stable ventilation, and good grooming. At no lime when in a stale of profuse perspiration ought a horse to be allowed to drink cold water, or to stand exposed to the inclemency of the weather; and when they have been exposed to wet weather, they ought to be carefully rubbed down, and a covering thrown over their loins. Slewed food is much used in Scotland. " From the ; middle of October till the end of May," says i Mr. Gibson, " my horses get one feed of stewed food, and two feeds of oats daily, with the best I oat or wheat straw for fodder. The slewed food used is, well washed Swedish turnips and potatoes, in equal proportions, mixed with sifted wheat chaff. Turnips alone do not answer so [ well without potatoes. At 5 o'clock a.m. carl horses gel 6 lbs. of bruised oats ; at noon the same quantity; at half-pasl 7 i>.m. 47 lbs. of stewed food (it takes 62 lbs. of unslewed food to produce 47 lbs. of slewed) ; to each feed of stewed food is added 4 oz. of common salt, and mixed up with a j bushel of wheat chaff (more chaff is too laxative). Each horse consumes from 14- to 18 lbs. of fodder per day, besides Ihe quantity required for litter. In spring bruised oats and beans arc substituted for oats; from June (ill October they get cut grass and (arcs, and about 7 lbs. of oals daily. The

The expense of steaming (he food is l<\. per day for each horse, included the coals. 260 stones of slraw is needed for litter for each horse per annum. Mr. Bennie, of Scion Mains, much prefers (he black Tartarian oal for horses, as from its peculiar formation the horse is obliged to masticate it thoroughly."

English Ciiukches in Italy. — A correspondent of the Times give the following account of English churches and services in the cities of Italy: —" The building at Rome is situated a few doors without the Porta del Popolo on the ro«ad to Florence, in immediate and convenient vicinity to the Strangers' Quarter. There is no external indication whatever of a place of worship. The apartment used as a church occupies the top of a large house, literally in the root' the beams of which appear in several places. There is a small enclosure for the altar, and the pulpit and read ing desk are placed besides it. Tne congregatiois generally large, often exceeding seven nundred persons and there are great complaints of want of ventilation, and of excessive heat from tho roof. In consequence of the dispute between the Bishop of Gibraltar and the committee, his lordship during his last visit, did not enter Hhe room known as the English chapel,' but had divine worship performed in a house in the Corso occupied by another clergyman. It seems a principle throughout Italy that their shall be no external indications of an ecclesiastical character in connection with Protestant churches, the condition'is insisted upon at Nice, Genoa, Pisa, Naples, and Florence. At Nice the building was expressly erected for the purpose, on condition that it should not look like a church, the pulpit is over the communion table, and is entered by a door from a staircase in the vestry. The congregation is large in the winter season. At Genoa the arrangements are of the humblest kind. The church is a room on the one pair floor of a house in a by-street. The congregation is small. At Naples the church is a very large and handsome room in the Consul's house, conveniently arranged and pewed. The chaplain, who is appointed by the embassy, is at variance with the committee, and the school in it is entirely without his controul. The congregation is Jnrge and respectable. The services are never attended by the Ambassador, though the foreign office claims the patronage. At Florence the church is large and elegant. The altar is placed in a circular recess, with the pulpit and reading desk on either side. The roof is arched, and there is a very handsome organ loft. In all cases it appears the rule that whatever is raised by subscription or donation of the visitors' and residents for the support of worship according, to the Church of England, is doubled by the foreign office."

yearly expense per horse ia — " Oals, 40 qrs. aU7s .£9 0 f US stones of straw, at -id.' St 8 A 58 owl. of potatoes, at is. Gd A 7 0 S8 cwt. of turnips, at Od 3 3 8 58 Jbs. of salt 0 i 8 52 bushels or wheat chaff* 0 • 4 \ 22 iwceks on cut grass, at 9<l.' per day 315 0' 241, 0 Hi 1