AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 2, 16 June 1883, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Sheep Washing. — The mode of sheep washing employed on the cele- ! brated Jimboar estate in Queensland, is somewhat different to that generally employed. The washpool is situated in an abranoh of the Condamine River. The sheep are thoroughly soaked in cold water, and then packed pretty closely in a shed built for that purpose, the wool being warmed from the packing, and the little dirt there is in it well softened by friction ; they are then placed under spouts and the wool thoroughly cleansed. No hot water or chemicals are used in washing the sheep. The result is said to be exceptionally clean wool, with very little loss in weight.

Castor Oil. — A London journal earnestly advises New Zealand colonists to cultivate the castor oil plant. At the present time, this oil to the value of no less than £85.000, is annually imported into Great Britain alone ; France and Germany also utilise large quantities. Throughout California the successful fanners generally enclose from one to five acres about the farmhouse. Here are orchard and vineyard, for family use, a vegetable garden, a flower garden, ornamental shrubbery and trws, and possibly a carp pond. Cattle, &!.jep, goats and hogs are shut out. Autumn Calves. — These rarely get the- siz«i that spring 1 calves do, because they cannot have so much milk, but by using little milk, anl that skimmed, after the second week, they will do very well on hay tea and boiled linseed cake gruel, to which some milk is aided. They must be gradually accustomed to this diet, but will thrive upon it and make excellent veal at six or eight weeks old. Wool and Carcase. — The relation of wool to the weight of the body in merino sheep is a point to which Herr Mitschke-Collandu has lately been devoting attention. According to some breeders, the larger borts of merinos are to be preferred, because of their yielding a better return both in flesh and wool for the fodder allowed ; but tho invest igntor, after 25 years' experience, finds the opposite to be the case, as the build of the sheep has more to do with their fattening properties than the absolute size, and larger quantities of wool are obtained from small sheep in relation to a given weight than in the larger kinds, the relative amount increasing to from 20 to 30 per cent. A Staiivbd Animal costs two-thirds as much to keep as one well-fed, aud is seldom worth more than one-third : it is the extra feeding th>tt puts on ficsh ami pays. The Cattle of the Ai^entine Repuijlio number some 20,u00,000, and are all descendants of one bull and 'eight cows, imported in ]553 by two Portuguese brotnm named Goes. Gutting X i> of SSiumi«s. — The Scientific American indorses the following method of gcii. ng rid of stumps on a farm. Four years ago the mjthod was described in the Rural : In the autumn or early winter bore a hole one or two inches in diameter, according to the girth of the Mump, and about eight inches de^p. Put in it one or two ounces of salipi'iu 1 , fill the hole with water, and piUg it close. In the ensuing spi'ug take out tho plug and pour in a gu\ ef kerosene oil find ignite it. The stump wnl smoulder away without blazing to the very extremity of the roots, leauutr nothing but allies. Tob.uxjo Piwiins. — Instances are com mou in lViui-yi\ ania, U.S., in which wel!-ti!Jfd patches of tobacco of an acre or two in extent have \ .el > • average product of more > dollars, equal to L 125, to the acre.