AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 12 July 1880, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

British farmers will receive with mingled feelings the intelligence that a new cereal has been Siscovered in Kansas, and that this fresh addition to the weapons with which the agriculturists on the other side of the water attack oar market is a peculiarly nutritions and hardy production. In appearance it is something like a grain of wheat, each kernel being enclosed in a separate case, and as food—as a flc3hfonning substance—it fnlly ranks with wheat. There, however, unhappily for all corn that ha 3 hitherto been recognised by the farmer, comparison ends. It is 33 tenactoaaof lifeasthe proverbial cat, and therein lies its value. Planted in ground upon which rain had not fallen for eight months, it sprang up at once and yielded, in face of five weeks' additional drought, a crop of sixty bushels to the acre. When tested as a means of support for cattle, its stalk was found to be not only nutritious, but so attractive to the animals that they seized upon it with an avidity that surprised all spectators; while, when thrashed out, its yield was so great that in the opinion of the State Board of Agriculture it bids fair to supplant maize, rice corn, Pampas corn, and Egyptian wheat. An American agriculturist now contemplates its importation into England with great glee, and thinks that its appearance will give the " death-blow to British prejudice." If, m exchange for what this gentleman terms " British prejudice," we receive a grain that will grow without the adventitious aid of rain, we shall scarcely lose by the bargain.—Daily Telegraph.

There are some who claim that the wellknown liking of our domestic animals for salt is due to education, that it is an unnatural appetite, that in a state of nature animals do not have salt, and assert their belief that it does more harm than good. It would be a sufficient answer to these persons that our animals are not in a state of nature, and what the pre-historic cow and horse had, or did not have, has nothing to do with what shall be given to their descendants. Those who write and talk so earnestly against salt are not many, and are usually people of notions, which they mistake for idea 3. The great majority of cattle raisera and farmers are fully convinced that salt i 3 necessary for the best health of farm animals, and practice what they believe. The amount of salt required is 3mall, and it should be given at frequent intervals. If a little could be given each day it would be best, and if with the food, as we are accustomed to take it ourselves, it would be so much the better; but such a method is hardly practicable. Supplying salt once a week will answer, and this at the usual intervals between salting, if salt is given at all. Some special day or time in the week should be chosen a3 that for salting the domestic animals, and then it should not be allowed to go pa3fc without dispensing what someone has termed the "seasoning of the week." In dispensing the 3alt to stock in the open field, it should he so placed that all the animals can get their fair share, and again it should not he thrown upon the ground where it is largely lost, or if eaten it must be with a quantity of earth. Flat troughs should he provided even for economy's sake. The poetry of the harvest field will have to be re-written. A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, writing from Dalrymple farm, furnishes the rough material for one canto. "Just think," he say 3, <c of a sea of wheat containing 20 square mile3—l3,ooo acres—rich, ripe, golden grain; the winds ripple over it. As far as the eye can see there is the same golden sunset hue. Far away on the horizon you behold an army sweeping along in grand procession. Biding on to meet ic you see a major-general on horseback—the superintendent; two brigadiera on horseback repairers. Ho sword 3 flash in the sunlight, but their weapons are monkey wrenches and hammers. ITo brass band, no drumbeat, or shrill note of the fife, but the army moves on—a solid phalanx of twenty-four self-binding reapers—to the music of it 3 own machinery. At one sweep, in a twinkling, a swathe of 192 feet has been cut and bound—the reaper tossing the bundles almost disdainfully in the air—each binder doing the work of six men. In all there are 115 self-binding reapers at work. During the harvest about 400 men are employed, and during thrashing, 600, their wage 3 being two dollara a day and board."

Hoixowat's OrjrorENT a>t> Pills.— Sadden changes of temperature surely to all persons prone to rheumatism, sciatica tic doloreux, and many maladies scarcely leas painful though of shorter duration. On the first attack of stiffness or suffering in any muscle, joint, or nerve, recourse should immediately be had to fomenting the seat of disease with hot brine and rubbing in this remarkable Ointment, which will assuage the uneasiness of the part, subdue inflammation, and reduce the swelling The Pills, limulfcaneously taken, will rectify constitutional disturbances and renew the strength. So remedy heretofore discovered has proved »o effective as the Ointment and Pills for removing gouty, rheumatic, and scrofulous attacks, which aJHict all ages, and are commonly called hereditary £1 Free Gifts ! The proprietors of "Wolfe's Aromatic Schiedam Schxapfs, to induce the destruction and prevent the improper J 36 of their wrappers and labels, and thus farther protect the public against fraud and feption, have inclosed in the wrappers, or ®der the label on the quart bottles, since «t October, IS7S, and continue to inclose "i every day's packing throughout the year, Twee £1 Orders, which are drawn upon the tadersigned, and which will be cashed by their agents. To secure these gifts, the Public must be careful to ask for, and acnothing but the Genuine Pdolpbo "Oltes Schnapps, with our name upon the op label. M Mos3 and Co., Wynyard-lane, wjaey j Dalgsty and Co., agents, Dunedin. Tl ia important that the farmers of this ®atriot should be made aware of the fact Wat there is no colonial coal so well-adapted w the purposes for which they require such as that of Shag Point. It is cleaner, cheapen and more economical than any other ' , either foreign or colonial, for threshing whines their kindred purposes. Of wis fact those who have used it bear the ost satisfactory of all testimonies—they Ui now barn no other. It is delivered in Miaru by the truck load at ISs 6d per ton. ™ers may be sent to any coal dealer in or to the pit, whence it will be sent Promptly and direct to any siding.—[Ajavrt.