AGRICULTURAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 224, 16 May 1872, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL.

NEAT ANDATTOACTIVE FARMS.

Opinions vary in regard to living in the country on a farm. Some persona declare that no place is more beautiful, no home more lovely, cheerful, or desirable, than a country home. Other persons, no doubt equally sensible on all other points, say they never could consent to live in the country. It ia wretchedly dull, say they, and will go on to picture to you a squalid, tum-ble-down shanty, with garden (if any) overgrown with weeds, the farm-yard filled with a medley of all sorts, making a picture not to be contemplated certainly with satisfaction. Now, why is this? Because the person who thus " scouts " a life in tho country has doubtless never "Been the true side of the picture ; they have never visited a neat fanning district or farm, but have seen only the reverse fan.d unfortunately there are many such, with zigzag fences, dirty gateways, and altogethej badly-managed farms. Hence the necessity that the true farmer, whose heart is in his profession, which is one of the most noble, should not only keep his farm and surroundings scrupulously clean, neat, and attractive, but should endeavour to impress upon others less careful the necessity of so doing. It is not the profession which is to elevate the farmer, it is the farmer who must elevate the profession, therefore decorate your farm with neatness, if nothing more, and do not suffer stigma to rest upon the profession you have chosen, or the class which you represent. Some will say I have no time for anything but hard labour in the field ; then it will pay you to have an extra hand, and endeavour to bring order out of chaos. At the same time, tbe hours you are not in the field, if rightly used, would put matters to rights. Do not plant any crops helterskelter, or slovenly, but in regular order. Lay out your fields, if possible, on the square — fchis is just as easy ; and make your fences straight. Trim and prune the straggling trees and bushesaboutthe homestead and garden, and when once your ambition isaroused in this way, you will be surprised that you have lived so long in untidiness ; then will it become a pleasure to | beautify your farm, a constant source :of gratification, and eventually profit.

It should be remembered by cultivators that one of the sources of fertility to the farm is the refuse of the crops which they bear, modified by farm stock, and preserved and judiciously applied. There is not a vegetable matter grown upon the farm., be it considered, ever so useless or noxious, but will, after it has served ordinary useful purposes, impart fertility to the soil, and contribute to the growth of a new generation of plants, if it is jud-^ iciously husbanded and applied. Theri ■ is not an animal substance, be it solid/^ liquid, or gaseous, bone, horn, urine, hair, wool, or flesh, or the gases which are generated by the decomposition of these mutters, but, with little care and skill, may be converted into new vegetables, and afterwards into new animal matter. To economise and apply all these fertilising materials is the province and the duty of the husbandman. The particular • season to take advantage of all refuse, and ■ also ' to apply various manures successfully to the ground, is previous to the land becoming soft with autumn rains. ■

A convenient method of preparing desscated vegetables, as practised la£ gely in some countries, consists in drying them for a short time and then exposing them to a slow heat in ovens. When soaked for cooking, peas, roots, potatoes, beets, corn, and other substances, swell out and show very little change in their esculent properties. A modification of the process consists in placing the substances, after being sun-dried, in paper bags which are pasted up at the mouth, and then covered with sand and heated until perfectly crisp, but not burned nor materially change in colour.