Farm and Garden.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 232, 19 February 1876, Page 22

Farm and Garden.

By many successful pomologists (says the New York Herald) it is recommended that manure, when applied to the soil for the benefit of fruit trees, should all be spread on the surface. This is Nature's way. When laid on the surface in the fall coarse manure will protect the roots from severe frost, and may be forked in slightly in the spring. A little more applied in spring becomes a good mulching for the summer. This manure as it gradually decays, sends down its fertilizing properties to the roots in a liquid form—just what nature demands—which is far better than putting cross exciting substances directly in contact with the roots. An excellent compost for pear and other fruit trees may be made of rotted sods, mixed with stable manure, which, thoroughly decomposed, may be treated with a little salt and lime or potash. For a simple mulch, coal ashes are sometimes used with good effect. Where the soil is of a light and sandy or loamy character a waggon load of crude muck may be spread around each tree as far or even farther than the longest branches extend, as the lateral roots of most trees frequently spread over a broader area than the entire tree-top will cover. " In the choice of poultry," says the Knapsack, " the age of the bird is the.chief point to be attended to. A young turkey has a smooth black leg; in an old one the legs are rough and reddish. In domestic fowls the combs and the legs are smooth when the bird is young, and rouo-h when it is old. The bills and the feet of geese are yellow, and have few hairs upon them, when the bird is young, but they are red if it be old. The feet of a goose are pliable when the bird is fresh killed, and dry and stiff when it has been some time killed. Geese are called green till they are two or three months old. Ducks should be chosen by the feet, which should be supple, and they should also have a plump and hard breast. The feet of a tame duck are yellowish, those of a wild one reddish. Pigeons should always be eaten while they are fresh ; when they look flabby and discolored about the under part they have been kept too long. The feet, like those of most other poultry, show the age of the bird ; when they are supple, it is young ; when stiff, it is old. Tame pigeons are larger than wild pigeons." The French "Circular Letter" says that in France the subject of selection of seeds, and wheat particularly, occupies much attention. As a principle, it is said, one ought not to sow wheat in the place where it has been produced. True, it is an excellent practice to renew seed wheat, but is it necessary to do so every year ? Competent authorities who practise what they think reply no. So long as the yield of grain shows no falling off, and the grain displays no signs of degeneracy, easy at all times to perceive there does not appear to be any necessity for changing the seed. Some farmers adopt the practice of selecting every year a quantity of the plumpest grains, sowing them apart in a kind of nursery, and thus keep up a constant supply of sound seed. Unfortunately these kind of sowings are generally too thick, the axiom being forgotten that the richer the soil the thinner should be the sowing. A soil may be rich and well prepared, but these conditions will not produce good grain unless the seed be 5n itself "robust." The vigorous plant is that which has had during the stages of germination the largest supply of matters stored in the ssed for its food. It is not counted good farming to cultivate numerous varieties of wheatsave where the farm is very extensive, and it be desirable to have the crop mature atsome intervals to allow of the better distribution of harvest work. For rude climates and poor soil the bearded variety of wheat with its fine straw is generally chosen—the other kinds would simply fail. For milder climates and richer

land a variety of wheat more productive with stronger straw and a harder grain must be preferred ; the crop will thus escape the chances of being laid and the ears from shedding the grain. The possibility of keeping ducks without having a pond is a matter of interest out here. We have pleasure, therefore, in giving the opinion of a correspondent of the New lorfc Herald on the matter, who says :—" The prevailing opinion on this subject is that in order to raise ducks of any sort with satisfactory success a running stream or a pond of water is indispensably requisite. Many years ago we were accustomed to rear goodly numbers of excellent ducks without the advantage of pond or stream of water, yet the probability is that the ducks thus produced would have been larger if they could have had access to water. As a substitute for a pond a long trough was kept full of water, into which the ducks could plunge at any time. At one end there was a board with cleats nailed on the upper edge to aid them in getting out of the water. In addition to our own experience we have the assurance of a breeder in Massachusetts, who has tried the experiment for three successive years, that this notion is altogether erroneous. Our domesticated ducks, like the wild ones, prefer a brook or lakelet to pass their leisure in, and a swampy piece of ground through which a river branch sluggishly flows affords a good deal of animal food for this race, which helps to keep through the summer. But the party spoken of above has no open water on his farm, and he has raised several scores of common ducks in the past three seasons among his flock of barnyard fowls, which have turned out as profitable, so far as he can calculate, as the chickens he has marketed in the fall and winter. These webfooted birds have been fed with the other poultry, and all the ducklings are hatched and reared by hens. He makes no distinction in feeding as to the variety or kinds of food. All his poultry are "in common, and all have the same chance at the grain, ..the grass, and the scraps from the house ; but he has never provided his ducks with any water, except what the fowls have at hand for drink, and he says he knows no difference in their thrift from the shell upwards to killing. If the common mongrel duck will thus do well without water to wash or swim in, why may not the Pekin, the Aylesbury, the Bouen duck be bred to similar advantage ? This kind of poultry is fully as profitable as are hens, and if it can be raised without pond or stream on the premises, j why is not this experiment worth the trial by others ?"

Some horticulturists have an idea that quince-growing will not pay. Mr. Ohmer, of Dayton, Ohio, seems to be quite of a contrary opinion. He says in the American Country Gentleman, giving his experience of ten years : —"The fourth year after planting I sold enough quinces to pay for the trees and their cultivation, and each year since with but one failure I had good crops, of course yearly increasing in quantity, and I might say also in quality. The latter no doubt is on account of the improved cultivation and fertilization they receive. The first year I offered quinces for sale in quantity I found a difficulty to dispose of them, as it was then known only to a few that the quince was one of the most delicious fruits we had for stewing and canning, as well as for jellies and preserves. Customers annually increased their orders, so that I last season disposed of my crop of about 300 bushels from the three-quarters of an acre at from $2 50c. to $3 per bushel net. I was informed when I planted my first that 10 feet each way was the proper distance to plant them. I obeyed the rule, and for the last few years the limbs had grown into one. another, so that it is almost impossible to get through the orchard.. I have since practised, and would unhesitatingly recommend 15 feet as near enough to plant the quince in good soil. The tree is quite handsome when properly pruned ; cutting outfall interfering limbs within the trees and cutting back such limbs as grow out of proportion. I spade the ground once a year early in the spring, scattering coal-ashes, about a peck around each tree, near the trunk. As soon as the ground is spaded I scatter from one quart to three pints of salt over the ground under each tree; then, again, the same amount when the quinces are about the size of a walnut, half grown. Salt is a special manure for the quince. The best investment I make is the money I pay for the Salt I scatter under my trees. The orange is the best and first that ripens with me. Bay's Mammoth I highly prize on account of its large, smooth, and handsome form, beautiful color, and good quality. The pear-quince with me grows of good size, ripening after the orange, and Bay's prolongs the season until cold weather. Would not recommend the planting of them largely. My quince orchard now contains about five hundred trees, most of which are yet young." A correspondent of the Weekly Tribune, speaking of the uses of willow withes, says^: — " For building up shocks of corn, securing vines to the trellis, trees to training-stakes, hurdles to each other, &c, nothmg is so handy or so cheap or can be used so expeditiously as twigs of willow, if the right sorts and sizes are at hand. They will last over two seasons, holding all firm and secure, and they are easily cut loose if, required. I have had occasion to use a great many for training some tree stems, and find a surprising difference in the adaptability of different willows for such use. About the last of June the young shoots of the yellowbarked willow (S. vitetlina) become tough : enough to tie well, if such shoots only are taken as are closing growth, which is shown by the development of a terminal bud. The Bedford | or Huntingdon willow makes very pliant thonglike ties soon after, and a little later the basket osiers— viminalis and purpurea —will yield nice slender and pleasantly flexible withes by cutting out their shorter and best ripened shoots. The shoots left will grow all the longer and stronger for using on shocks of corn or other large bundles. Some sorts of osiers, good in Europe, become pinched by our hot, dry air, and on trying to resume growth they throw out side branchlets, which spoil the wands. Towards the end of July, a handsome dark

linear-leafed sort, like rosmarinifolia, but more slender and pendant, is excellent. But what seems perfection for such tying is a native brook willow, which combines such extreme toughness to the very point, with such extreme slenderness, length, and pliant flexibility, allowing of its being passed round and securely tied and tucked in with such ease and quickness that it is a ne plus ultra for the vineyard and nursery, garden. It is one of the so-called crack willows or fragiles, its extreme tenacity being set off by the odd and opposite quality of being brittle at the base, like the grey willow or fence willow of the west and some other sorts. The twigs snap off as squarely and completely as the stem of a ripened leaf, and this makes the twigs easy to gather. Above this point they are as tough as wire. This sort has pale, bright, very narrow, long, lanceshaped leaves, and differs from a more common inferior sort, with similar leaves, by having such exceedingly slender shoots, and also by a profuse show of small round stipules. It is perhaps a variety of Salix angustana. To secure large, long, clean wands, some plants of the black sallow (S. nigra) and of the best osiers should be set in rich moist soil and mulched or otherwise cultivated. A chief item of their culture is a close cutting off of every shoot every winter to close stumps. From these stumps annual sproutings of long clean wands will issue in abundance. They can be kept for use till midsummer if their bases are stuck into moist soil some two or three inches. They keep to perfection in the moist cool air of a cellar. But if they become dry and stiff a little soaking in water will restore their toughness and most of their pliancy. A willow tie is better than one of string, because its stiffness enables the user to pass it round with one hand, receive it with the other, and make a secure tie much more quickly and certainly. The butt end is passed round the objects to be held together, and the small end is wrapped twice round the butt, and the end tucked in to be held fast by the pressure. For very resistant cases the wand can be passed round as often as its length allows, doubling once round the butt each time, and passing back in a reversed direction. No country garden should be without some of the best willows. Cuttings are easily sent by mail during winter, and nearly all kinds take root very readily." " Agricola" in the New York Tribune, says, that "as hens, turkeys, geese, and ducks are not provided with incisor, canine, or molar teeth, it is folly to feed bones to them unless the hard substances are first reduced to small fragments. Fresh bones are valuable feed for poultry of any sort, provided the fragments are so small that the birds can swallow thenv Once in the crop of a fowl, bits of bone will soon be changed into soft and palatable food. Our own practice is to have a dish in the kitchen specially to receive the bones that are purchased with the beefsteak, mutton, and other meat. Then every day these pieces are taken to a chopping-block, and with an old axe, having a sharp-cutting edge, they are crushed with the head of the axe andcut into pieces not larger than kernels of Indian corn. The fowls devour them with a ravenous appetite. Bones are worth more to feed fowls than the same number of pounds of prime grain. For a chopping-block a small log about two feet long, with square ends, is placed on one end, as the end of a block is far better for such a purpose than the side of a log. Bones are usually cast out of the back door or in a garbage-barrel to feed worthless dogs; but if prepared for fowls as suggested, every pound is worth two or three cents, which will be returned generously in the form of luscious eggs and juicy meat for the table." MAIZE AS FODDER. j The following letter appears in the Aus-\ tralasian -.—Sir, —As you were kind enough to notice my letter on "Maize as Fodder," if you will allow me, I will in as few words as_ possible state my experience. I was farming at Newham, I sowed the maize thickly, and had a splendid crop. 7ft. high ; some of the stalks measured 9ft. I gave the cows a most liberal supply week after, week ; in fact, a quantity of the maize went to waste, as the cows at last seemed tired of it. During that time I never saw an extra pint of milk or a pound of butter for all my trouble. That season or the next— I can't just now recollect which—l turned (in the autumn) four cows into a small rye-grass paddock for a couple of hours every morning after milking. In less than a month those cows had more than doubled their milk, had improved in condition to a marked degree.* You partly bear me out in my remarks when you state that maize is not so nutritious in a cool climate as in a warm one. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN SWITZERLAND. (From the Pall Mall Budget.) The English tourist is often a very prosaic and practical creature, and therefore it may not be altogether unseasonable to call attention to the scheme of agricultural education lately established in Canton Vaud. On September 4, 1874, a cantonal law was passed to improve the agricultural teaching in that canton. Vaud is the third Swiss canton in extent, and also in the number of its people, and hence this new system of agricultural education is more remarkable than if it had been introduced into a canton of less importance. It is also novel in its character, because it is established not for the benefit of large tenant farmers or landed proprietors, but for a miscellaneous mass of small proprietors, some of whom are farmers in the stricter sense of that word, and others who are chiefly engaged in the cultivation of the vine. This State system of teaching thus differs essentially from that higher kmd,_ of which an example, though not a very flourishing one, is to be found in the State Agricultural College at Gembloux, in Belgium, where a regular agricultural degree, that of Ingenieur Agricole, is granted. The Swiss course commenced in November of 1874, and ended in March of 1875. It was entirely gratuitous and open as well to the natives of other cantons as

to that of Vaud itself. It thus becomes a more essentially national and noteworthy feature. There is one apparent drawback to the scheme—the number of subjects was so large that it would be impossible to study them with such accuracy in the limited time as to enable a student to obtain more than » superficial knowledge of any one of them, even though not all of the nineteen subjects was taken up. The place of instruction was i Lausanne ; at the end of the course examinations were held sufficiently stringent to test the knowledge of the candidate, but in no way competitive in their character. The nature of the course may be defined in a rough way as an. attempt to teach the scientific groundwork of. agriculture, and to point out the best practical modes of carrying out its various operations. Though we have spoken of the course as one of agricultural teaching, the ensuing mention of several subjects will show that it embraces many matters which in England would not be considered strictly agricultural, though a knowledge of them is a necessary part of the education of a Swiss farmer. The first subject—- " Agrologie " —is the study of the various kinds of soils and their composition and properties. The second—" Agriculture concerned with crops, cereal and other. The third subject is chemistry, but limited to the study of the composition of the salts which more directly affect the soil and its crops. Agricultural botany and meteorology are fourth and fifth m_ the programme ; and geology, also of a limited kind, the sixth. The above formed the more strictly theoretical portions cf the course, the remainder being to a great extent practical. These consist of horticulture and practical gardening, arboriculture—that is, the making of orchards and the choice of trees, and the vines, their growth and subsequent use. This again was followed by a course on forestry. Later on sncceeded Zootechnie, or the management of animals, bees, weights and measures, agricultural machinery and buildings, the laws concerning forests, draining, and contracts of service. Lastly, there are a series of eight lectures on irilk. It will be obvious that such a course as the above, if carefully followed by a young farmer for several successive winters, must produce a decidedly more scientific and intelligent class of agriculturists. It is equally obvious, however, that such a course would be impossible without an excellent and general system of primary teaching, and also that it is to a great extent rendered more practicable owing to the long and inclement winters of a mountainous country, when farm work is altogether suspended. SOME THINGS FARMERS SHOULD LEARN. (From the Neto York World. J There are some things every farmer ought to know how to do, but "which not one in ten does know how to do practically, and rarely or never attempts. Some of these are herewith enumerated, not only for the purpose of stimulating attention to them on the part of experienced farmers, but that young farmers may regard them as essential parts of their practical education, and begin at once to learn what the progress of agriculture and horticulture in this country will compel them to practise, or fall behind in the competition which every year renders sharper. This business of agriculture is complex, especially when mixed farming is pursued, as it is on the majority of farms in this country. For instance, go on the farm of an ordinary well-to-do _ farmer, and study the processes that are involved in this most profitable conduct, and the kind of knowledge that is required in 'he completion of those processes. Grass and arc- grown, and vegetables are cultivated. How many farmers know whether the grasses they gro-.v are annual, biennial, or perennial ? We know some do, but it is safe to say that not one in ten can tell the names even of the various grasses that grow in their pastures and meadows, much less whether it is necessary to their production that their seed fall annually or biennially, or whether they have perennial roots. Yet this is of great importance to the stock or dairy farmer who ploughs little, and to whom it is important that his pastures and meadows be verdant with the greatest possible variety of the most nutritious grasses. Nor do many know the constituent parts, chemically, of grass, and what proportion of fertilising or reproducing elements are removed from the soil in the shape of forage for stock. Yet this too is important in order to keep up the productive power of the soil, and secure to the herds food that shall result in the most complete development of their animal organism, whether for beef or milk, mutton or wool. Similar remarks apply to the knowledge of the various grain-producing plants and their specific requirements respectively ; also to vegetable or root culture. Then we have the orchard. Of course it requires feeding. With what is it to be fed, and why ? It requires training, pruning, &c. The haphazard way in which this is too fre» quently done illustrates the utter want of knowledge on the part of the operator of the laws of wood growth and fruit development—in short, of vegetable physiology as applied to trees. Besides, how many farmers can and do graft their apple, pear, peach, and plum trees when grafting is desirable ? Precious few. It is too frequently the case that at this time of year and later, to the Ist of May, one may see two or three vandals in the fanners orchard cutting and slashing away at the tops and inserting scions of what are said to be approved sorts of fruit, and which are more frequently just the reverse, charging the farmer a fee per scion, and inserting as many as possible, in order to make the bill as large as possible. The orchard is marred beyond recovery, and the farmer derives none of the fancied benefits that the grafter has promised shall follow his work. Why should not the farmer grow and graft his own trees with varieties that have been tested in his locality and found good and profitable ? Can anybody tell why a farmer and his sons should not know how to graft and bud $ It should be as much a part of the farmer boy s

education as to learn how to guide a team or hold a plough. Nor should this practical education, in these respects, be confined to the farmer's sons; the daughters should know how to graft and bud, for it is fast becoming an essential accomplishment that women who lead a rural life should know how to manage their own shrubbery and flower pots. Propagation—the law and the practice—of plants, by cuttings, layers, buds, &c, outdoors and indoors, in the window, garden, hotbed, cold frame, and conservatory, is something that every farmer and farmer's wife, sons, and daughters should know how to do. It is not only because of the practical advantages to follow the possession of such knowledge, but because it adds to the aesthetic resources of farm life, furnishes diversity of employment, and developes new and interesting fields of observation and study, and substitutes for the languor of drudgery and the listlessness which is born of a treadmill routine, a vigilant, wakeful, eager, and hopeful interest in the objects which surround us. It awakens new ambitions, begets new purposes, stimulates new experiments, and feeds the mind with wholesome and healthful excitement. Nothing makes men and women so quickly contented with any pursuit as to become instantly interested in it ; nothing ensures such interest more surely than the certainty of discovering something new and profitable by one's efforts. Then go into the poultry-yard and stables, or the sheep-walk. The number cf intelligent poulterers, herdsmen, and shepherds, who have studied these respective classes of animals and become skilled in their management, is annually increasing, and marvellous advance has been made during \ the past decade. But the ignorance that exists of animal physiology, of the needs of animals and of the modes of supplying them, of animal diseases and their treatment, is worthy the attention of a large corps of Bergh's missionaries. This ignorance is one of the most prolific sources of cruelty to animals. Few farmers or their wives, comparatively, know how to relieve a sick goose or hen,, or look skilfully after a sick sheep, cow, or horse. A surgical operation upon any of these classes of animals is utterly boyond their power, even in cases. of greatest emergency. Kesult —loss of property that might be saved by a trifling amount of knowledge, and very simple manipulations, generally, provided both are guided or controlled by good common sense. Space fails in attempting an enumeration of the things that are not known and that ought to be known by every member of every farmer's family. Agricultural papers are not the only aids available in the acquirement of such knowledge. There are books that furnish information on all these subjects, which, with the practical observation and manipulation that may be acquired with little effort, will " enable the young farmer to win his way to a higher position than he can ever hope to attain if he contents himself with the traditional knowledge and routine of his ancestors.