WHAT’S WHAT.

Patea Mail, 25 June 1881, Page 4

WHAT’S WHAT.

Tennyson can take a worthless sheet of paper, and by writing a poem on it, make it worth 5000dols. That’s genius. Mr Vanderbilt can write fewer words on a similar sheet, and make it worth 50,000,000 dols. That’s capital. And the United States Government can take one and a quarter ozs. of gold and stamp upon it an “ eagle bird ” and “ twenty dollars.’’ That’s money. The mechanic can take the material worth 50dols. and make it into a watch worth lOOdols. That’s skill. The merchant can take an article worth 25 cents and sell it for 1 dol. That’s business. A lady can purchase a comfortable bonnet for lOdols., but she prefers to pay lOOdols. for one because it’s more stylish. That’s foolishness. The ditch-digger works ten hours a day, and shovels out three or four tons of earth Idol. That’s labor.

WINTER FARM WORK IN CANTERBURY. Early sowing of wheat mwms, in nine cases out of ten, more favorable weather for harvest, immunity from rust, and better crops altogether. BlUestoning is necessary, but an over strong solution of unadulterated blnestone destroys the germ of a considerable proportion of the seed. Hardy winter wheat will stand a heavier dressing than the more delicate spring sorts, but two ounces per bushel, which is about half of what many farmers use, is quite enough to ensure freedom from smut. This quantity has been used for years in succession with complete success. It is, however, important to ascertain that the blnestone is unadulterated. Though the prospects of oat growers are becoming more encouraging, devoting every acre to oats that is not fit for wheat, is not in any case to be recommended. Farmers are beginning to find out that things besides wheat and oats can be grown. The supply of winter feed is more abundant than it was expected to be in the early part of the autumn. Some of the turnip crops are indeed excellent. The price of sheep this season, and the difficulty of meeting the demand shows plainly that a very marked change is taking place in the system of farming. Both in Canterbury and Otago it is a general complaint that sheep cannot be bought except at such prices as leaves little profit to the purchaser. It is quite certain that nothing has occurred to suddenly reduce the number of stock in the country ; the last lambing was a good one, the freezing process is still in prospective, so it is obvious that the carrying capacity of the land is rapidly increasing. It is also tolerably evident that if we had the freezing process established in the utmost degree of efficiency there would at the present price of fat sheep, be only a very limited quantity of mutton available for export. Agriculturalists are turning their attention to the cultivation of rye as winter and spring feed for sheep. This crop is much grown for that purpose at Home, and it is also well known in some parts of the North Island. If intended to be fed off in the winter, it should, it is almost unecessary to say, be sown directly after the harvest. In the North Island, light steel double furrow ploughs are often used for skimming the stubble as a preparation for rye, A paddock of rye comes very useful for the ewes and lambs in the early spring. Rye seems to grow better on the lighter lands of the South Island than any other cereal, though, as with all other crops, the richer the land the heavier the growth. The system of feeding off rye as a green crop would doubtless'assist in keeping up the fertility of the soil. Besides the more important operations of tillage and attention to stock, there is always a good deal of odd work on a farm which should be attended to during the winter, when labour is plentiful. Drains should be opened up where necessary, buildings, fences, and gates repaired. On most farms the shingle cart may occasionally be brought into use without any harm being done. It always pays to keep a thoroughfare that is much nsed in good order. Manure heaps from the stable or stockyard should be carted out and spread over the land where it is seen to be most wanted. A tidy looking homestead is generally a sign of good management all round. It is unnecessary to say that gorse hedges should be trimmed during the slack time of the year, and the work of grubbing wherever the plants have spread should not be neglected. Delay in this matter is always expensive. Unless the gorse has been allowed to grow too large, skimming with a plough is a ready and effectual way of dealing with it. The cost of keeping a gorse hedge, in order is, after all, not very much if it is attended to in time.— Times.