AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 27 September 1880, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Harvest operations in Scotland were begun on the 19th inst. on the farm of 'Falkland, alongside the Prestwick-road, Ayrshire, a field of oats being the first to fall before the roaping-machine. This is. the third year in succession that thoScottish harvest has been inaugurated oik the same farm, the date last year being; thrQO -weeks later, and in 1878 a week. ! earlier than in 18S0. Thua far the' prospects of harvest are very god, except, for hay, which has been quite spoiled by the very broken weather that has prevailed during the last six or seven weeks. In a recent journey through a good part, of the south<weat of Scotland, I saw abundant evidence of this, though nothing to compare with the wretched state of things i in. the midlands of England, where I saw the hay in many places lying soaking in fields which had been turned into ponds or marshes by the constant and very heavy rainfall.—Scotch correspondent of. the Otago Daily Times. Reports from the country districts nro not nearly SO favorable as was generally oxpected at this time of the year. Tho juuusually mild winter, accompanied as it. ! was by frequent warm rains, justified theimpression that feed would be abundant; during the late winter months and spring,, and that wool and live stock would be iro excellent condition. The six weeks just, past have done a good deal to modify the expectations oi stock-holders. In the Wairarapa, where, for some reason that cius scarcely be accounted for, feed had got very? short during the months of June and July, 'although there was abundance in the procedingautun>n,.thesi.x weeks'dry and windy weath&r at a time when there is usually an excess, of moisture has done a greafc ideal to check the growth of grass, and It. jis feared that it will not fully recovw oni :m,a«y of the rnns. The drought has, no. Ittoubt affeoted grain crops, though probably to a much smaller extent. .Asregarda the wool little harm can bt> done, as the shears will pass through the parts of the staple which would ho weakened. Lambs are said to be doi»g remarkably well, the warm weather having given those which were drapped early in the season a ram chauoe of gathering strength j but the- yet ,cantage is reported to- bo rather low. Tiiis may, however,, look very different at the close of the season.—Now Zealand Times.

In Uh.tna,. during tho summer months, ajl kinds of vegetable refuse are mixed! jwi-th turf j straw, jjrass, peat, weeds, and iearth, ©oileeted into heaps, and,, when, quit©-dry, set on fire. After several 1 ohvs m slaw combustion the entivQ wass isi converted into a kind of black earth. This compost is only employed for the manuring of seed. When seed time arrives, one man makes holes in the ground, another follows with the seed, which he places in holes, while the third addsi this black- earth. The young aeed planted \n this manner is enabled to push itsrootilets through the hard, solM soil, and to its mineral constituents..