GLEANINGS.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 299, 27 February 1878, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

[From the Canterbury Times.'] Oxe way for the farmer to make the agricultural columns of permanent value to himself, is to prepare a scrap-book, into which may be transferred those hits of experience, statements of facts, and suggestive paragraphs which seem to meet his own peculiar wants. —Chatham Courier. We especially desire our readers to write out the results of their season’s labour, the new facts they have discovered, the mistakes in theory and practice they have detected, and, in general, any useful facts which can bs of benefit to their brother farmers. — JSf. E. Farmer. The only safe tvay, if improvement is the object, is to breed from full-blood males. Always use snob, and the pure blood will rapidly gain the ascendancy. Utica Republican. In order to give information for a farm paper, it is not necessary, by any means, that you should be a scholar, or oven a fair writer. The main thing is to supply Peis; plain, every-day, common-sense faeXs, if you have found that your stock thrive better by a certain kind of treatment-; if you have found that certain crops pay .better than others; if you have a preference for a certain class of stock because they have yielded greater returns than others—give the facts in the ease s let others profit by yonr experience. Just state the plain circumstance. Your communications will be •warmly welcomed. We believe the very best results possible in chicken rearing are obtained by keeping a comparatively small number in a mjdorate-sised glass-run, nicely .shaded with trees, and a spacious shed with a flooring ei dry mud or gravel kept- nerfeeliy clean. Kept iu large rumbi-ns, on unlimited grass, the birds grow up in beautiful condition, but often .fur ■ a.ther too rapidly and do not be•;>:ac so largo i whilst in small gravel yu.'vis though size is easily obtained, and •■a-..:* condition may be secured, the exon isite gloss so beautiful in ■ grass-fed i; > .v 13 is very difficult to produce, and large cockerels frequently become heavy and ungainly in carriage for want of

exercise. We speak comparatively, o{ course; for much depends on the skill and care brought to bear, and we often

see the very best country yards beaten by people who only possess a few square feet in town ; but a dozen chickens in a grass run of about 2d by 50 will take care of their condition for themselves with loss real trouble than in any other circumstances.—“ The Illustrated Book of Poultry.”

The ship Northam, which, it will be remembered, with Mr Mort’s freezing apparatus and meat compartment on board, sailed on July 18, lust year, reached Gravesend on Oct. 29, a passage of 103 days. This seems rather a long trip for a ship which was requited a “ flyer,” but from all we can learn, her bottom was rather foul before she left this port, and possibly she had unfavourable weather. Her mime appears in the list of vessels loading for Sydney, so we may soon expect her back ; and if the trial shipment is to be made, preparations for it should be now in progress. Unfortunately, the past six months have been most unfavourable to onr pastoralists, and at present, it would be almost impossible to procure 200 tons of meat of first-class quality. However, an effort might be made, if only for experiment sake. From the English journals, we learn that the proposed trade in Australian moat, is looked forward to hopefully, by persons interested in the English meat trade. The Northam returns with Mr Mort’s machinery intact; doubtless before her arrival something will be hoard from Mr Mort on the subject. —Sydney Mail.

A loss is often the result of using an inferior or common animal to breed from, v.-lien a thoroughbred could be used at a moderate expense. Ordinary cows are Loo frequently kept with small returns, when by a judicious selection from good milking strains, the profits might be doubled, A Joss is often met with, by not feeding cows one or two quarts of meal each day, when pasture gets short and dry. The profits would in general prove greater if farmers would raise their own cows, as the value of the cow depends largely upon the good care and good feed they receive when young. A loss is sustained by not putting in an acre of sowed corn to use in case of a drought, as one acre then will produce a much greater profit than 10 of dry pasture. A loss is the result where twice the yield might have been secured by the application of more manure to the crop. By not providing suitable feeding arrangements, boxes, racks, &c., a groat waste and loss occurs by the tramping of good food into the dirt. A serious loss is often incurred by Jetting grass stand and get too ripe before being cut; and in this case the damage is two-fold—first, as regards the stock that eat it, and second, the great exhaustion of the soil. —Chatham Courier.