THE YEOMAN.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume II, Issue 54, 13 January 1868, Page 3

THE YEOMAN.

In onr issue of the 2Sth ult., we inserted a letter from the “Australasian,” signed by Mr Carr, of Napier, seeking information respecting the Kentucky Blue Grass. The following letter from Mr H. Jackson, of Stonestead, Wairarapa, addressed to ns, will he read with interest-:

Sir, —I read in the “ Mercury ”of the 28th of December a letter on Kentucky Blue grass. It is not poa pratensis, but poa trivialis, which has got a rusty blue shade. The average of seed stalk if sown on good land is 20 inches and is ripe about the 24th of December.

Poa pratensis is not spreading, and a dark green shade, it is of little value on poor land, it requires rich moist soil to prove its worth, 'the seed stalk seldom attains higher than a foot, its good quality is the.leaf for grazing,, not hay. Poa trivialis is a good hay grass, the seed is very downy and light, and hard to save seed as soon as ripe, but poa pratensis will hang on for weeks after it is ripe and all the better for collecting it is light and downy like its brother. If Mr Carr has not got any poa trivialis rough stalked meadow grass, I shall be most happy to forward him some with the seed stalk, so that he can then, judge for himself. H. H. JACKSON, ■Stonestead, Wairarapa.

The American Blight.—“Aph’s,’ or “American blight,” on apple trees, is undoubtedly curable by a very simple remedy, riamely, by boiling bullocks’ feet to a.simple jelly, and after well baring the roots, pour a few quarts of the soup, when cold, on and around the base of the tree, and cover the roots over again ; also oiling very carefully every portion above ground showing the least sign of aphis ; one good dressing will be sufficient for the rotting and putrifying, of the insect; the fluid seems to destroy all vitality in the insect under the roots.—llocky River correspondent of ‘ Armidale Telegraph.’

Preservation of Milk.—lt is stated that dairy women have discovered, but philosophers have not explained the reason, that milk suddenly cooled after being drawn from the cow will keep much longer than otherwise. The cheap artificial method of reducing temperature in three or four minutes to any desired point, may yet find a general and very useful application in milk dairies, although its effect upon the production of butter is questionable. How to Preserve Butter—Procure firkins that are perfectly brine-tight, take out the head first making a small hole, say a quarter of an inch in size, then fill it with water ; let it stand twenty-four hours before you are ready to use it then rub, while wet, thoroughly, with fine salt; fiill your firkins as soon as possible. Your firkins should he of such a size that one can be readily filled in a week or ten days with sweet butter, to within half an inch of the head, then place over it a, clean cloth, and fill the space with strong brine, previously made of course salt, and stop it up. Butter packed in this way and kept in a cool place will be as sweet in one year as when first made.

How TO Preserve Eggs.—Dissolve some gum shellac in sufficient quantity of alcohol to make a thin varnish : give each egg a coat, and after they become thoroughly dry, pack them in bran or sawdust with their points downward, in such a manner that they cannot shift about. When wanted for use, wash the varnish carefully oft, and they will be in the same state as they were before packing, ready either for eating or hatching. What SEwegb Grass is Worth.—We (Agricultural Gazette) see it announced that the sewage grass at Craigentinny and other meadows near Edinburgh has been sold for the season at prices equal from £2O to £O3 per acre ; at Lochend, from £2f to £ll • and Quarryholes, from £36 to £3B.

The Osage Orange Hedge is planted cultivated and warranted for one year, at 30 cents a rod in Illinois. It it is said that it will keep out all stock, in two years’ growth, -and last 500 years.

Agricultural Bank.—We, (Bruce Herald) think if some of our leading men or capitalists would take a leaf out of the book of enterprise shown by some of the neighboring colonies, it would prove of considerable benefit to the community. In the Agricultural Beport of the • Australasian ’ of the 6th inst. we find that “ the prospectus for an Agricultural Bank at Adelaide has been issued. ■ It is proposed by the promoters of this to afford pecuniary assistance to farmers on the same terms as are charged to the merchants at other banks, and so to keep them out of the hands of the money leaders. Assistance is also to be given for the shipment of wheat to England, and elsewhere, and liberal advances are to be made on grain, so that it may be held over, when desirable, for a more favorable time and market. In short, the new bank is started to aid the farmers in getting the best possible price for their produce in purchasing land from Government, and in turning their attention to many branches of agriculture from which they are denied at present by want of capital. A bank of the kind is very much wanted here, and might do all this with perfect safety to the shareholders.