AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 26 July 1880, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

, m , Te I system of seed-sowing, and one Iniuat rivals the work of machinery ii faays the Ararat Advertiser; Challicnm by a farmer tr "f\r'Donald. Instead of walking |] L land on foot, carrying the gram lifting it broadcast, Mr. M'Donald ' pined a horse to walk slowly up the miivs between the lands, which are ' j suitable width, ana carrying ;*si*„, a addl.»f re .fhim h. it as he goe3 along. By this 3 he a enabled to cover half the land eicia aide of him, and returning down ' ne jt division he completes the half L one aide of him, and sows also hall another one. The horse apparently litjrstanda his work, never stepping out the furrow, and turning at the end of feM into the division between the ritm tads. By this aid, we are mmeJ 40 acre 3 can be sown per day, dti'ius the work 13 not only performed eedilr. bat advantage can be taken of a itabfe day, and a large area pat in at In spite of the losses of farmers (says English- paper), it appears that the area : under cultivation continues to crease. In Great Britain the area remetl as ander cultivation has increased r 121,000 acres since IS7B, and by 14,000- acres since 1877 ; and the total crewe in the 10 years, ending with 1879, no leas than 1,637,000 acres, or about a same area a3 the whole of Devonshire, t this increase rather more than twonrfs, or 1,134,000 acres was in England, !S,OOO acres in Wales, and 275,000 acres i Scotland. The Madras Times of May -> has an [v!rti3ement respecting the anticipated rival of a trial shipment, by the mail earner,, of Australian potatoes for table id seed purposes. The potatoes were icked in 4cwt boxes, and wonld no mbt arrive iti excellent order. Should le shipment prove a success, there will ra'otlesa be it, considerable demand for itatoes of Australian production, and lere is no reason why those grown in W Zealand should not find as good a iarket.