AGRICULTURAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 166, 13 April 1871, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL.

At the late meeting of the British Association, Mr. Botly read a paper advocating the system of leasing land in large rather than small farms. He calculated, however, that the ten-acre holder ought to clear ,£64 per annum. On very small farms the steam plough was not available, nor could there be sufficient division of labour to ensure economic production. This outcry in favour of large farms is intended to divide the tillers of the soil into two castes — namely, the farmer and the labourer, and to fix the latter in which he was born as strongly as he would be had he been born a Hindoo. We grant that a farm of 1,000 acres, in the hands of one enterprising capitalist, will produce a better pecuniary return than a hundred ten-acre farms, in the hands of small farmers, would ; but that is not the proper Avay to look at the question. The large farmer employs less labour, in proportion to his means, than the small farmer ; and to find even moderate food, raiment, and employment for a hundred families, is or ought to be of more importance to the country than to enable one man to

live in lujj-tiry, and a few others to exist as^aerfs under him. M. Cio&s, who is engaged at the garden of the Paris Museum, has invented, according to the " Scientific Opinion," what he considers a complete annihilator for plant lice and other small insects. This discovery ia given in the " Revue Horticole," with the endorsement of its distinguished editor, E. M. Carridre. To reduce M. Cloez's preparation to our measure, it will be sufficiently accurate to say, take 3^-oz. of quassia chips, and 5 drachms of stavesacre seeds, powdered. These are to be put in 7 pints of water, and boiled until reduced to 5 pints. ' When the liquid is cooled, strain it and use with a watering-pot or syringe, as may be most convenient. We are assured that this preparation has been most efficacious in France, and it will be worth while for our gardeners to experiment with it. Quassia has long been used as an insect destroyer. The stavesaci*e seeds are the seeds of a species of larkspur, or Delphinium, and used to be kept in the old drug stores. Years ago they were much used for an insect -that found its home in the human head, but as that has fortunately gone out of fashion it may be that the seeds are less obtainable than formerly. The stavesacre seeds contain Delphine, which is one of the most active poisons known, and we have no doubt that a very small share of it t would prove fatal to insects.

Dodder (cuscuta europea) is a great pest on some farms. The following will get rid of the enemy, arid at the isarno time benefit lucerne : — •• X French chemist, M. Pousaiu, having discovered, a few years since, that the cu scuta contained an enormous quantity of tannic acid, conceived the idea that iron salts would prove fatal if applied in a liquid shape ; he therefore mounted on wheels a barrel, filled it with water, and introduced into it as mufh green vitriol (sulphate of iron) as it would take up ; the quantity is of no consequence, as the water will only take a fixed proportion. To this barrel he attached a nozzle and pliant tube, and after cutting up the parasite with a hoe, and exposing the ground somewhat, he watered the infested spots, and in two hours the dodder was completely destroyed. The plant was actually mineralised, and nothing remained but a heap of black threads, twisted and entangled in all manner of w<\ys. A. tannate of iron had been formed. As for the Interne, it is greedy of green vitu^f, and pushed with the utmost vigour after the operation. The cost of the chemical in question is about 16s per cwt. Cabbage as Feed for Milch^Cavvg. — 1 have had a little experience^^Hfchis line, and T am highly pleased with the result; they come into feeding for milch after other fodder has been killed by frost, and at a season of scarcity of other green food; their value as a milk-producing feed I think stands fully equal to any other green food I have ever fed, and the product that can be grown upon an acre is very large. Probably the most difficult part is the storage for winter use. To get the most benefit with the least labour in storing and feeding is the object (or should be) of those who raise any crop for green food for stock ; hence it will be necessary to have some conveniences for storing and feeding the crop after it is grown. For myself, I think the feeding should begin as soon as green corn fodder is injured by the frost, that is, usually the last of September or first of October. The miloh cows are then carried on with a good flow of milk, which is much better than to let them fall away, and then try to bring them back by highly feeding. I find that in changing feed we must begin moderately, and increase as the animals get used to feed, to the full amount desired to be fed ; then keep on steadily with that till another change is desirable, or of necessity must be made. Variety is of great benefit to all farm stock, more so than at first appears. The feeding of cabbages ( in connection with hay and meal will 'be found very beneficial : at least, such has been my experience for the past two years with, them.-*-" Country Gentleman."

A correspondent of the " Western Rural," an Aineaican agricultural journal, vindicates subsoil ploughing in the following terms :—": — " I took twentythree acres of generally rolling land, equally well drained by natural drains or ravines, all of which had been in cultivation from thirty to thirty-four years, and pretty well worn. I subsoiled eleven acres. This portion had never been seeded to grass of any kind to my knowledge — at least not for many years. The other eleven acres I ploughed tbe usual way; that is, what would be termed shallow ploughing. It was all planted about the same time, cultivated as near as could be alike, with cultivator. No hoeing was done on either piece. I think both pieces of land had previously about the same atteniion as regards manure and tillage, except that the part I did not subsoil had the advantage of ayjood still sward of clover and timothy j^jned under the preceding spring, after being seeded three years. The result was*, that I took from the part ploughed the ordinary way, and not subsoiled, but ten bushels to the acre on the averag|(|^ while 'from -the part which was sub-"^ soiled I took thirty-five bushels per acre asan average. I send you this report of my experiments, hoping thafc I may hear from others who have experimented on the same principle, or something better."