Farm and Garden.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 52, 20 January 1872, Page 7

Farm and Garden.

ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENOE. [From the Leader.] Our files of English agr cultural journals to hand by the mail, contain an unusually large and varied store of interesting matter. In commencing our gleanings We are struck with the remarkable similarity which still continues to develope itself between the character of the present season with U 3 and the past English season. The summer was wet and changeable, but in the month of August remarkably hot weather set in, which brought crops forward with unexampled rapidity, in some, and especially late, districts ripening the whole of the grain almost at once. This, should serve as “ a word to the wise” among our own farmers in late districts of the colony, to hold themselves prepared as v/ell as circumstances will permit fox' making short, sharp, and decisive work of cutting down their crops. In the Lothians of Scotland much grain was shaken out by high winds. Statements in reference to the yield of the late harvest in England—and in which we have an interest, from the fact that if all goes well wo shall have grain for export—are somewhat conflicting. A farmer, in a letter to the “Times,” from returns and other intelligence, derived from various sources, estimates the average yield at only 21 bushels per acre, and the entire crop at 10,000,000 quarters, which, taking out 1,000,000 for seed, leaves 9*000,000 quarters for consumption. The quantity that will be needed to meet requirements during the current year is estimated at 22,000,000 quarters, thus leaving a deficiency to be made up from foreign markets of 13,000,000 quarters, or 104,000,000 bushels. The estimated deficiency of the wheat crops of 1871 in France, as compared with the crop of 1862 is put down by “ Mark Lane Express” at 10,145,050 quarters. Whilst such is the deficiency in England and France* the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in Italy, after investigating returns received from all the provinces, had arrived at the conclusion that at least 2,000,000 quarters of wheat will require to be imported to meet the deficiency occasioned by the failure of the harvest in that country. Added to this, it is said that the stock of breadstuff's in the European market was perhaps never much lower than it was this season just before harvest. From this it will be seen that to make up the estimated deficiency of the past season’s wheat crops in the three countries named no less than 25,000,000 quarters, or 200,000,000 bushels will be required from other parts of the world. Under these circumstances, and considering the high price Australian wheat always commands in the English market, any surplus we may have to spare would in ail probability bring a good figure. At all events, the prospect is such as to offer an inducement to merchants to ship, and to prevent ruinously low prices from ruling in the colony, as they otherwise would do if the market were not relieved. Yet notwithstanding the large deficiency of grain, prices during the month of October were falling, and a brisk demand was not expected to set in until after Christmas. Heavy arrivals, chiefly from Russia, were the cause of this. By this time, hawever, it was reasonably antipated that the Baltic, the Azof, with a portion of the Black Sea and the American canals, would be frozen up, which would enable holders to clear off tlieir granaries, and roveal the actual necessities of France.

Preserved meats, one of our staple products, were coming into more general use at from sfd to 6|d per lb. Stalls for the sale of it have been established inSmithfield Manchester and other large towns, and have been thronged with customers. In connection with this, Mr Edward Wilson, who describes himself as now a farmer in England, and having no interest in Australian meat preserving companies, has been illustrating by a little experiment the difference between the cost of butchers’ meat and imported meat from Australia. He purchased a leg of mutton at a cost of 9jd per lb., which before roasting, weighed 9 lb 10 oz, after roasting 6 lb 11 oz, and when deprived of bone the weight of cooked meat was 41b 13 oz. In this way he shows that the cooked slice of mutton costs about 19d per lb. On the 30th of October, in the London market, the best Cork butter ruled at from 129 s to 134 s per cwt. American cheese from 48s to 645, the best factory dairies bringing 58s to 60s per cwt —a price, it is said, lower than they could be imported at from New York. The market for dairy produce of all sorts was dull, and the tendency of prices downwards. Turning to other topics we find that foot and mouth disease is engaging the serious attention of agriculturists aud others interested in stock. At a meeting held in Plymouth to consider the best means of checking the “ lamb disease,” which was ravaging the flocks of the country, Sir Massey Lopes, Bart, M.P., said : —“ It was a serious fact that the foot and mouth disease at this moment existed in no less than seventy-three British counties, and he had been informed officially that at the present time there were 25,000 cattle suffering from it. This was a very serious matter, and required that the most careful attention should be paid to it. They all knew that pleuro pneumonia and the foot and mouth disease had been imported into this country by foreign cattle, and ho strongly felt, as he always had done, that Government had not been sufficiently alive to the injuries and dangers that were inflicted upon agriculturists by these two diseases. From this it would appear that our own Government in taking no step to prevent the introduction of this malady into the colony, are only following the example set in older communities when they neglect the vital interests of the state. The farmers in England, however, have organised a cattle defence association, and are adopting vigorous measures to prevent the introduction of foreign cattle, or at all events to compel the slaughtering of

imported animals at the port of debarkation. In Hertfordshire the disease was taking an alarming turn, and not only beasts, sheep and pigs, but also children, were affected to a fearful extent. A meeting of the Chamber of Agriculture was held to devise means for checking the spread of the disease ; but it has now spread to such an extent throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland that this will be a difficult matter to accomplish. “ Prevention is better than cure.” Our stockowners should combine to prevent the entrance of the disease into this country- The lamb disease that has been afflicting flocks in the west of England would appear to be something similar to the worm disease in sheep, from which flockowners have suffered in New South Wales during the present year—a parasite infesting the stomach and lungs. It is said to owe its origin to the lambs feeding on wet herbage and undrained land. The land question, strange as it may sound to colonial ears, lias become a fruitful theme for discussion in England. At the Social Science Congress, held at Leeds, several papers on the subject were read, A Land Tenure Reform Association has been started, and a few years will, no doubt, see changes little dreamed of in the past brought about in the transfer of land, aud also in the relation of landlord and tenant. Lord Leicester has taken a step in accordance with the spirit of the times on this question, as will be seen by the following extract from a speech made at a farmers’ meeting in Norfolk : —“ I do not believe that agriculture will ever attract that capital that skill, and that energy which are required to bring it to perfection until ample security is given in the form of a lease to the occupiers of the farms, and from that lease many unnecessary restrictions which exist in ninety-nine leases out of one hundred are omitted : I found that in the lease in use on my estate there were many restrictions—such restrictions as I should not like to be bound by were I tenant of a farm. I have therefore, with the assistance of my agent and my tenants, deviated from the beaten track, and endeavored to frame a lease more in accordance with the spirit of the age, avoiding all interference with the capital of the tenant, removing all clauses that dictate as to the croping of the soil or as to the sale of the produce, and, as far as I can, giving him security for the capital invested. I have endeavored to place my tenants in that position which I should like to hold as tin occupier of land ; and in doing so I am satisfied I have otudied my own interest as well.” The much-vexed question of how best to disposed of town sewage is still far from being settled. Discussions on the subject in the “ Times” and at the Social Science Congress have taken place, still the question remains open for further discussion and experiment. Whether the sewage of large towns will be converted into British guano by what is called the ABC process, or by the dry earth system, or be used for irrigating purposes, so diverse are opinions that it is impossible to say. Meanwhile the shares of the British Guano Company have gone up with a vengeance, although the guano manufactured would appear to be Utterly valueless for turnip growing, according to the “ North British Agriculturist;” and Mr Hope, of the Lodge Farm, Dorkipg, is no believer in the ABC process. On the other hand, Dr Spencer Cobbold, who connects the tapeworm in human beings with the grass grown by sewage irrigation favors the dry earth system. The latest proposal is to filter the sewage through large beds of soil. No doubt in the course of time this knotty question will be unravelled ; meantime discussion and experiment must go on. On the subject of sugar* beet growing, Mr H. Biddel, of Lavenham Hall, has published a letter, in which he strongly recommends its cultivation. After three years’ experience he gives an estimate of the total cost of producing an acre of sugar beet at £ll 15s, and the receipts at £ls 7s per acre, thus showing a profit of £3 12s per acre over and above interest on capital. As to the state in which the land is left after the crop he says : —“ I have grown sugar beet side by side with beans and have not at present noticed any appreciable difference in the after crop.” The conclusion he has arrived at is that when a farmer is situated within two miles of a sugar factory, it will answer his purpose to place a portion of his arable land under sugar beet. This, it must be borne in mind, is a recommendation made to farmers in Suffolk, but we give it for the benefit of those who may contemplate the growth of sugar beet for manufacturing purposes in this colony. Against this, Mr W. Vince, of Brent Sleigh, says he had grown sugar beet four years, averaging 10 to 12 acres a year, and realising 10 tons per acre and 20s per ton, and he thinks that he could have done better by feeding stock. He, therefore, advises farmers to consider the matter well. “ Heads” is the title of a capital paper in the Bath and West of'England Agricultural Society’s journal, by tiSr Henry Corbett. In it he points out the importance of an animal’s head as an index to purity of blood, strength ol constitution, and actual fitness for the work of propagation. “ Many a man,” he says, “ may save himself a deal of money, trouble, and disappointment by making the head a first principle in establishing a flock or starting a herd.” The potato disease has made sad havoc in Ireland, and destroyed over 30 per cent of the crop. Lime, it is stated, has been successfully tried as a preservative of the tubers when storing them away. Iu shorthorns little has been doing. Several sales have taken place, but the prices realised were not high. At the sale of Colonel Duncombe’s shorthorns, the highest price realised was eighty guineas for Sugar Leaf, a two year old heifer, and one of the Countess tribe. She was purchased for Mr W. Danger, New South Wales. At the same sale, Girl of the Mist was also purchased for Australia, a Mr H. , Grautboingthe purchaser. Ihemosbimportant

sale recorded is that of Grand Duke of Kent 2nd, by Lord Oxford, and from Duchess 9th. This bull was sold by Mr W. W. Slyo fco Earl Bective, of Underlay Park, Westmoreland, for 1000 guineas.

Parasitic lung disease has been the cause of serious loss among lambs in some of the midland and southern counties of England. Twenty, and even in pome instances fifty per cent of deaths took place in the flocks attacked. It is the same complaint from which sheep in New South Wales suffered last year, and is caused by parasitic worms infesting the throat and lungs. These animacules are called Strongylus bronchialis. They are supposed to crawl up the nostrils of sheep and lambs whilst grazing, and, finding their way to the lungs, are the cause of death. Old pasture land seems to have been the most fruitful source of the disease. There is a singular coincidence observable in the appearance of the disease in England and in New South Wales, and that is the rapidly grown herbage on which the animals fed. In England, owing to the wet hay harvest, with now and then a hot blaze of sunshine, the growth of herbage was something astonishing. In New South Wales the same forced growth, caused by abundant heat and moisture, preceded the appearance of the disease. The food thus produced is watery and iunutritious, and the conditions that produce it arc at the same time, it would appear, favorable to the propogation of the strongyles. At the time when this disease made its appearance in New South Wales we expressed the opinion that it afforded strong proof of the correctness of Dr Spencer Oobbold’s statement that sewage grown grass gave birth to parasitic animacules, and we have seen nothing yet to lead us to alter our opinion. When the grass is in a condition from having been too freely grown to cause the disease, a portion of dry feed once a day in the shape of hay would act as a preventive. The most effectual remedy used in England in addition to generous feeding was oil of turpentine with glycerine or yolk of egg. A drachm of oil of "turpentine with the yolks of two eggs or an ounce of glycerine, will be an average dose. To be successful the medicine must be given early in the disease; when the lamb becomes emaciated, treatment is seldom of much use. A writer, who says his cow gives all the milk that is wanted for a family of eight persons, and from which was made two hundred and sixty pound of butter in the year, gives the following as his treatment. He says : —“lf you desire to get a large yield of rich milk, give your cow, three times a day, water slightly warm, slightly salted, in which bran has been stirred at the rate of one quart to two gallons of water. You will find, if you have not found this by daily practice, that your cow will gain 25 per cent immediately under the effect of it, and she will become so attached to the diet as to refuse to drink clear water unless very thirsty, but this mess she will drink almost at any time, and seek for more. The amount of this drink is an ordinary pailful each time, morning, noon, and night. Your animal will then do her best at discounting the lacteal.” From Gipps Land we learn that the Stratford Cheese Factory Company has commenced operations. No permanent manager has yet been engaged, but a gentleman from Melbourne, well versed in the art of cheese-making, is at present temporarily in charge. Several of the shareholders, who furnished the principal supplies of milk, attend in turns, taking a week each at a time, for the purpose of being initiated into the factory system of cheesemaking. In this way they will obtain practical knowledge that will become of the utmost value when brought to bear on the future management of the concern. By adopting this plan the milk-supplying shareholders are pursuing a prudent course, and one that will not leave them at the mercy of any manager they may engage. Indeed the knowledge they will gain is essential to enable them to take part in the successful management of the company. At the present time the quantity of milk received at the factory is 170 gallons per day, and it is expected that the supply will soon be largely increased. The subjoined paragraph from an English paper may be of interest to persons engaged in the work of clearing land : —Dynamite has been most usefully employed in France in rending the roots of timber trees. In the Forest of Haye (Meurthe-Moselle), where an immense quantity of timber was blown down by storms, the roots remained cumbering the ground. A hole being drilled from 9in to 15in deep, a dynamite cartridge of fifty grammes—about 800 English grains—provided with a fulminating cap and safety fuse, was placed in it. When the charge was exploded the root was rended into pieces which were easily removed.