ALFALFA GRASS OR HAY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 190, 25 July 1874, Page 2

ALFALFA GRASS OR HAY.

We understand that several farmers in Otago have been supplied with a small quantity of alfalfa seed, which was lately brought from California, for the purpose of being sown in land here as an experiment. As this grass grows well in some of the States, and seems Io afford excellent pasture for sheep, we subjoin Mr. Jenett’s statement as to his experience in growing the alfalfa. He says : — In May we cut and sold the crop on 20 acres for 1000 dots., not weighed, but estimated at 75 tons loose hay, hauling it a bout one mile afterwards ; mowed it once, and then paslured it until February so closely that the field looked like a dust bed, and the knowing ones said we had killed it out. Notwithstanding all this, it came out this last spring in such a condition as to satisfy' anyone that it cannot be grazed close enough to injure it. We had a piece of two acres that 1500 sheep camped on for three weeks, until not a vestige of the alfalfa could be seen, and that came out this last spring as well as any. Covering the Seed.— l was satisfied that rolling in the seed, also brushing it in, on our laud would not do. Since then I have harrowed it in, and find that we get a better stand, and it takes a third less seed. If the ground is moist when the seed is sown, or if there is a good rain soon after sowing, brushing in would do. Some prefer to sow the alfalfa alone without grain. It does well either way. I prefer to sow half a sowing of barley with the alfalfa, as it protects it from the sun, and yields more the first cutting than if sown alone. Effect of Irrigation.— By irrigating before cutting, the alfalfa will not dry out, nor wilt while the crop is being removed. I think a great many of the failures attributed to frost are caused by the seed being so near the surface that it dries out before the root reaches moisture. Alfalfa for Sheep. —We turn our lambs in August and September, after weaning, changing from one field to another as fast as eaten out. There is generally double the loss among lambs after weaning, until new feed starts, than among all the balance of the flocks. By putting them into alfalfa, this loss is saved, and the lambs make much larger sheep, and have a greater growth of wool than they would have if kept in the usual manner. Forty acres is a very good-sized field. In hot weather, sheep could graze it down every ten days with advantage. The feed should not be allowed to get over ten inches high before grazing it —if higher, it is trampled down and the growth is retarded ; the shorter it is, the better the sheep like it. Wc kept 3000 lambs during the months of September and October on 125 acres of alfalfa ; also kept 1000 on eight acres eight days, and it was not fed close. Since then we have grazed on the 125 acres 1400 sheep and 20 horses. It is estimated in the Eastern States, where they feed nearly six months in the year, that twenty-five tons of hay will keep the sheep during the winter of six months, or twenty tons when some grain is fed. On that basis 3600 sheep can be kept six months on the hay from 150 a cres, by cutting three times, providing it yielded t wo tons at a cutting, and leave the grazing, after the 15th of August, until the 15thof February, for 2000 sheep more. Natural pasturage can be had in most parts of the State, six months in the year, during the time ofreutting the alfalfa hay. In preparing land for alfalfa seed it is very essential that it should be in the best of order, and, when it has to be irrigated, should be level, or nearly so, thus saving much time and trouble in irrigation. After ploughing and harrowing the ground thoroughly, we use a leveller of the following kind: We take a plank ten feet long, three inches thick, one foot wide, and nail or screw a saw-plate on the lower edge in front, to keep it from wearing. Then bore a hole near the centre of the plank, at each end, to pass a chain through to hitch to. On the back side, we have two more holes, three feet apart, a little above the centre to drive in stakes four feet long. On these stakes, near the’ plank, we nail a board for the driver to sit on. This leveller will handle more dirt than a half-dozen scrapers, and has the advantage over the scraper of turning over and unlocking itself as soon as the driver jumps off of it. The stakes at the back keep this plank in the right position, inclining backward slightly. The time is soon coming when every stockman will see the necessity of having his field of alfalfa for wintering use.— Otago Witness.

Holloway's Ointment and Pills.— Coughs, Colds. Shortness of Breath.—These corrective remedies are infallible for pictoral complaints, which, neglected, often end in asthma, bronchitis, or consumption. The Ointment, well rubbed upon the chest, and back, penetrating the skin, is carried directly to the lungs, whence it expels all impurities. All the blood in the body constantly passes through the lungs, and there all noxious particles tending to produce disease, eau be quickly, thoroughly, and permanently neutralised, rendered harmless, or ejected from the system. Holloway’s Ointment and Pills perfectly accomplish this purification ; and through the blood, thus cleansed, the influence of these wonderful medicaments reaches the remotest parts of the human body, and thus cures all diseased action, whether internal or external. A recent telegram from Napier states:— “ A strong party is being formed in opposition to the old identities, and finds its exponent, in the Telegraph, an independent and spirited journal. There will be lively times next election, and Mr. Ormond will have a hard struggle for the Superintendency. It is very doubtful whether Mr. M'Lean will secure a majority for the General Assembly. The new party care not for old political squabbles, but are determined to teach our present member that they cannot, be ridden over rough-shod. Carlile, the bellows-blowei* of the Hawice's Bap Herald, a paper that is now but. the shadow of its former self, has made himself look ridiculous in the Council. The Good Templars are about to petition the Pope, through Archbishop Manning, to recognise their society. It is stated that many Roman Catholics would join, if the institution were taken out of the category of secret societies which were anathematised at Rome.