THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 6, 9 February 1867, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE YEOMAN.

The Victorian Land Act,— Probably our readers are not acquainted with the "provisions of the Act recently passed in Victoria relative to the occupation and purchase of crown Lands in that Colony. The first and most important benefit conferred by the Victorian Land Bill is that you get from 40 to 640 acres of land at a right of purchase (they call it right of preemption) at £ 1 per acre at the end of three years, or at any time within seven years, paying meanwhile 2s per acre per annum rent, half-yearly in advance. You are bound in your lease to make within the first two years a pound’s worth of improvement for every acre you hold. Your are also bound not to sell let or mortgage or give away your farm until the expiration of three years, ai wmcu for your land if prepared, provided you comely with the regulations of the Act. We do no't think that in this Province the same principle should be adopted, because we do not believe that any large portion of the population should be tenants of the Government, but any system which would have the effect of inducing families residing in town to settle in the country would prove a benefit. Wheat Growing.— A wheat dealer in one of the country districts of “ South Australia” gives the following information to the “ Adelaide Observer ” which may prove interesting to the agricultural readers of the Mercury. He says, we are not only blessed this year with every prospect of an abundant harvest, but it will also be of a very superior quality (the grain). I, as a wheat-buyer, have constantly urged upon our farmers the desirability and benefit of producing a more marketable sample of late years; and I believe the fact of American wheat having been sold in the Melbourne market at as high a price as our famous South Australian has opened the eyes ofour farmers and they begin to think that we must compete with quality as well as price, for I observe that the crops generally are much cleaner than I have seen them before in this district. Our farmers all speak of taking care of every particle of straw, and therewith feed and make manure of. This is an important feature which hitherto has been lost sight of, and I think we only require two things to enable us not merely to compete but actually to drive the Americans out of the Australian market so far as wheat is concerned. _ First, that the farmers adopt a more systematic method of farming; and secondly, that the Government give us some cheap and speedy means of transit to a seaboard market.

Peaieie Grass. —A writer in the “ Australian ” makes the following remarks on this grass;— Among the other good qualities of this grass may be reckoned its monopolism f character. Two years since, a farmer at Brunswick sowed a small patch upon ground as full as possible of sorrel. He gave a good dressing of manure, sowed early in May, and in the following November could scarcely distinguish his former enemy, and in January, every appearance of sorrel had vanished. The following year he sowed a good-sized paddock and with the same result. Sorrel is the greatest enemy our light land farmers have to grapple against. It is a plant of most persevering, intrusive habits, and utterly valueless and were the the prairie grass of far less value than it is as a fodder plant, it would still beneficially supercede sorrel; but when one can, with a little trouble and expense exchange a perfect nuisance for this king 0 f grasses, it is suprising that our farmers and landed .proprietors do not avail themselves of the opportunity. It has the-same destructive influence over the “Cape” and many

other noxious weeds. Subsoiling is much to be commended in the culture of this grass, although it is necessary to study the character of your substratum, for to throw a crude, hungry soil to the top would be folly, although beneficial if the same soil be broken up, or stirad at the bottom.

Newly Hatched Chicks. —The broodinghen affectionately adopts all the chicks brought to her indiscriminately and blindly—on the same footing, those which she hatched herself and those hatched by others. She has the same tenderness and care for all. Twenty-four hours after they are hatched, the chicks show evident signs of hunger; but it is better first to give them some pure water to diink iu a shallow plate. The food for the chicks must be prepared with great care. It is composed of stale bread-crumbs crumbled fine, hardboiled eggs chopped fine, with lettice leaves, young sorrel, or turnip cabbage and beet-root, also chopped very fine. The proportions are—-bread-crumbs, 31bs. eggs, white and yolk together, lib.; green food, lib; of fheraixture. The whole is mixed together without kneading, in the form of a paste ; but the different substances remain separate, and may be picked out by the chicks without difficulty. The green food as the effect of retaining the breadcrumbs fresh, and preventing it becoming too hard by drying. Only enough for one day's consumption is made of this paste at a time. A little practice will soon show how much must be prepared for the wants of the day. The chicks show great relish for it. If they appear delicate, a little cider or ale may be mixed with bread-crumbs, in lieu of green food; it has a beneficial effect generally. The second or third meal should consist of oatmeal porridge made with milk, when possible, whatever the article of the diet, a small quantity of salt should be mixed with it.