AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 24 September 1880, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

The da,niage ck>fte to tha'wh,eat crop by the recent gals in the northern district (says tho2 liyttelton Timet}, though <jonhas not-been so gresyt as was anticipated, andin* has beeg> hot the ( want ofi'iain generally has had;ai.bad*effeet upon the ,Su'. r ?. JIRiS *a#Sii ;ti fc? fiiWiWi iJii I

young plants, as in t&anv blaceaitjiey havtf not progtessed.at all'Bdt«ract6rnyf E *'^J lertf have been twobr three indications of rain but more is urgently required. In conso' quende of its absence, late crops ate h o fi being put in in the quantity that thev Would otherwise be, and it is quite excery. tional to see a farmer sowing oats. There is not a great quantity 6f barley being put in, though both of these latter would bo now sown if there was a good fall of rain The grass lands are looking well, but also require more moisture.

Regarding European harvest prospects, a Plymouth correspondent, writing 0I v July 10, says " The prospects in tingland are very favorable, but the. sanVft cannot. be said throughout Europe. I tll this country the spring was more' than usually agreeable for the growth of corn crops, and although the catohing weather which we are now - experiencing is no (. good for the hay harvest, which is somewhat indifferent, the alternation of warm showers and sunny days promises a better return of cereals than we have had for several years. From all parts of the country the reports are satisfactory, which although personally profitable, must be 1 very provoking to Conservative politician# whose budgets have beert persistently spoilt by bad harvests. Late reports fiotn, Prussia justify 'the alarm which wagi created by the cold days experienced there* in May. In all the northern districts tha corn harvest will be very small, and it reckoned that only 50 per cent, of an ordinary harvest will be got in. In Russia Hungary, and Galioia, also, a great deficit .is expected. It is a remarkabla evidence of the recuperative power of the Turkish provinces that, notwithstanding the extreme distress and impoverishment which prevailed in the winter and spring, the reports from the provinces of both Europe, and Asia Minor almost unanimously promise unusually abundant harvests for thecurrent year.- The outlook is unsatisfactory in Armenia alone;, for there only about one-fourth of the fields are under cultivation. A Kurd chief on the Persian border, who had attacked some \filla"es and been beaten back,' revenged himself by destroying all the growing corn in the vicinity. In one district the daily mortality from famine is from 20 to SO persons,"

Mr. Abraham Lincolne, in his quarterly report, makes tho following remarks on tho spring dressing of grass paddocks:—" Pastures in the spring ought not to be noglected, as composts of various substances containing manurial properties are preferable to any one single constituent, and it is advisable to prepare this compost, heap a month or two before being used. In a recent lecture upon this subject, Professor J. P. Sheldon says :—' It is well for the farmers to have their manures intended for pastures (particularly their phosphatic manures) in stock two or three months before they use them ; by keeping, tho< solubility of the phosphate is more or lobs reduced, and in so far it is improved as a fertilising.agent. The action of the manure is thus made more lasting, and there is a less liability of its being washed through the soil and lost.' He adds also ' The time of year when grass land Bhould be top-dressed is the period in spring when the grass is on the point of attaining vigorous growth. Whenever applied, il is highly expedient to choose damp weathor ! for the purpose, if damp weather can boi I had ; a day's rain, after a top dressing, it. a golden shower to the farmer.' "