miscellaneous Farm Items.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 174, 16 October 1886, Page 3 (Supplement)

miscellaneous Farm Items.

Oiling Wood. — Waggon-makers or repairers can save their stock from worms by oiling with linseed oil. Single trees, double trees, neck yokes, spokes, and cross bars that are of white hickory, and are kept in stock for a year or more, will be eaten by worms if not kept in a dark place or otherwise protected. Coal and kerosene oil are good also, and the expense of applying is but little. Linseed oil is preferable, as it acts to some extent a& a wood tiller, filling the pores, and thus aiding the painting which follows in its proper place. Some manufacturers oil all their white hickory stock before shipping. I tie Ulncfi Warn ut in Geoigia. - Bl.ick walnut timber is worth, in (4«oi<.'in, .^H'l per 1,000 leet, inch plank, and trm-, ton >eavs fiom the root aie now known tun inches in diamctoi. Tins show's tho anuuui thick net-.- of wood to be half an iin-h Tluwill a&toui-Ji the old woild lolk^, who l-uk on the raising of a iorof-t hs the work o,t ;> long life-time, and will tend to appease tht apprehensions of tho>e who wonder what i^ to become of us when all our tore-*t.> au gone. AVhen it pa>s to plant timber, we could geb a good Mipply on twuut) year* notice. — Ga> tftuen,' Monthly. Another Big Vine. - There are getting it be a'rao&t as many big a me a~ big .-nak> stories The Covent Garckn Qazttte lmthe following concerning a tino giapo vine growing in the open air, at Montioo o, nem Santa Barbara. This grape vine, generally known as "Dona Maicelina's Vine," "i« the pride and marvel of the neigh boui hood, , tiaccs its origin to a slip brought by iion» I Marcelina from a young vinejard at San I Antonio Mission for a hoi.-ewhip, and though it was nearly witln-red from the effects of the long journey, she dotonninoi) to make the trial to plant it. Notwith standing futther delay, the slip tpok root, budded, andever since prospered, proving itself the, main suppoitfor tho large Domini! guez family (there being seven sons and a? many daughters, and through them upwards of a hundred descendants survi\in» the old lady at her death ; she left a son" Jose, S8 years old, who has grandchilchen). Between 1850 and 1860 the vine had been trained over, an area of SOffc in circumference, the stem measuring then 12in. in diameter, and attaining a height of 15ft. from ,the ground, Some years it has borne over 6,000 bunches (upwards of 8,000 pounds) of ripe grapos." Soft-shkll Eggs.— Occasionally people are troubled with soit-shell eggs, and -do not know how to remedy the evil ; especially is' it to be avoided when the hatching season is at hand, for then it is absolutely necessary to have eggs with their shells of average firmness, and at other times ifc is desirable to know a remedy, so as to be able to avoid the trouble at all seasons of the year. Fowls which have free range seldom', if ever, drop soft- shell eggs, while those in t confinement » are apt to. Overfeeding is "the principal cause of this complaint r and the remedy suggests itself to any onei'at a glance .when it arises . from ( 'this-cau'se.t* The* want of sufficient. lime hasi "of ' course/ 'much cto.. do > with this dis- , order,<~»for unless the fowls have material, wherewith to make the shell, they Cannot perfect their work and must day their eggs in an unfinished condition.