Notes and Gleanings.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 393, 14 August 1889, Page 6

Notes and Gleanings.

20,000,000 bushels more for the supply of. home requirements. Planting a Fokkkt.—Ouq of the most interesting features of the Lei and Stanford University in Amorica is the magnificent forest with which ibib pioposcd'.lo surround the university buildings, and cover the reservation — a forest not only magnificent in proportions, but remarkable in t>hut it will contain s>ample& of every troe, shrub, and ilowei which the world producer, thus giving to the botanical student unequalled opportunities for studying every iotm of ttee, shrub, and ilowcr lite. The plan embraces, in addition to the forest, ornamental grounds, including a "sunken garden," and a nursery. The forest will cover about SOO acres, or nearly three times as (rreat an area as that covered by the Harvaid arboretum, or forest, now the largest in the United StatcF.

AyRKTi/riTiiAi. Education- in Fka.ncj,.--The French (Government annually devotes about a million dolluis to agricultuial education. This is done in six ways. First, simple agricultural instruction in the primary school? by systematically trained teachers : second, by teaching practical fnimers through institute meetings; third, by aiding the formation of Jocal expeiiment stations and laboiatories ; fourth, by aiding the establishment; of a soi b of high school of agriculture in various section*- ; fifth, by the direct endowment of national schools of agriculture, entomology, veterinary science and hoi tioulture ; sixth, by establishing at JL'avis a special institute or species of university, commanding tho services of the fiibt scientists of the day. ■ Fenuukv.kic. — English farmers find it profitable to season hay or soiaw that has been wet. by sprinkling it ns it is put in with powdered fenugreek, which has the property of sweetening the fodder and rendering it palatable. In Eastern countries the same spice is mixed with human food to assist digestion, ab well as to iUsour the dry food. Unlike any other spice .seed, fenugreek has \aluable feeding properties, and is itself wholesome and nutritious. It is a tonic, and engenders a healthy appetite. •On the Continent, the seed does not cost much more than cotton seed meal and is used at the rate of'eeven to ten pound? per ton of hay or grain. Jb'AaTixu HOKM'b. — Uoubtleso it is the experiments of thoso fattiny gentlemen, J)i. Tanner and M. Succi, that have led to experiments of short commons on horses. Trials havo been quietly going on in some French iortresses to ascertain how long artillery hordes could hold out, when deprived of solid and liquid food ; and of these two life-sustaining necessaries which was the raoie es&enuul. It has been found that a horse can sustain life five times longer when not deprived of water than if deprived of all solid ration.*. A horse will not exist longer than five days if kept without water, though it may be abundantly supplied with *=olid food. Nor will a horse hold out it insufficiently fuinif-hed with water. It perishes because the stomach has been exhausted. In Algeiia, where cavalry horses have to remain frequently two or three days during a campaign without water, they will, on arriving at the wells ingurgitate 80 quarts in threo minutes. Hence, water, in the ca«e of a siege, is more important than solid rations. With respect to the fasting men, the effects ot starvation were less visible with those who imbibed water than v.ith tho°e who abstained. But death by inanition would aime in due course, when corporeal energy succumbed. The explanation is facile : the liquid losses in the system take place hi eeveral manners : the diminution of the liquid part of the blood, in the ca°e of inanition, renders the blood thick and Aiscous, thus blocking circulation, and so arresting the processesof nutrition. Though (a horse cannot go beyond 25 da>s subsisting solely on water, or beyond live when kept exclusively on dry food, yet these periods may fluctuate following the animal's age, condition, and movements. Rekj.' I'jo- Styks Clean.— The pig is not nearly so dirty an animal as some people would have us believe, and it he were, so much the moie need of our striving to make him cleanh. I'igs will eat almo&t anything, it is true. But &o will a towl. The pig, howcvci, will show his preteience for clean food and a clean place to feed it it is given an opportunity. The winter quarters of pome pij,'3 are an abominable disgrace. They sleep in filth and eat in ti)tti, and if they do not happen to die before they aie got to tho morket the poik produced under Mich circumstances cannot be of the be^t quality. The animal enjoys a clean trough to feed in and a clean bed to sleep on. Whenever an animal envoys its surroundings it will always do its best in growing and making money. Manaoeaiknt or BrkediMt tSow^. — Hows in pig are never as healthy as when at liberty, with a good warm bed to retire to at night and in bad weather. It is a noticeable fart that these, as a rule, produce their young moie promptly at the end of the sixts§n. weeks than those which have been kepcin confinement. Atlibeity, hardy and well-bred sows will keep themselves in good condition in the grass fields in summer, with jusl a little wash once a day ; and if they can pick up the odds and ends of loots even in the winter they will not want much more for the eai'ly period of gestation. But ifc is always wise, when ten weeks cone in pig, to give them more generous food, except they are at that time fatter than is desirable, for after ten weeks there is no danger of their adding to their own frame. The little ones will make use of all tho extra, and will be the better and stronger ob birth for the assistance afforded them. Of course, when kept in confinement, proper food must be provided ; but it should not be of a stimulating character — a plentiful provision of wash, with roots or vegetables, being best till within six weeks of pigering, when, as said before, if in proper condition, a little bran or gurgems may be added with great advantage. Estimated American Wheat Ckop *or 1889. — The American wheat, crop is estimated to yield over 500,000,000 bushels, which compares »f» follows with the yield of the last three yeais :—: —

It will be s>een that the year's crop is estimated at about 50,000,000 bushels in excess of the crop stated by JJradstreet's as having been reaped in the two previous years. It approximates to the yield of the crop of 1886. The increase of population in the meantime, however, will require about

— Crop. Bushels. 1888-9 £0J,C00,000 1887-3 406.329,000 1886-7 4.17, 218,000 1885-6 512,763,000 Export. Loft lor Homo Use. Bnsliols. Bushels, 116,703,000 153,804,000 94,565,000 339,625,000 303,413,000 418,197,000