FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 277, 19 February 1874, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

The proper proportion of lime to sand in raorttr, as mixed for building, aro 34 pints snud to 1 lime. This dependi someu hat on tbe " fal ness " or quality of the lime, and unless tho lime is rich, 3 parts of sand in measure would be Miflleient In mixing up a cubic yard of sand with 9 bushels ot lime a cubic yard of mortar only will be the result, the mortar bi'inu Ich- bulk} than tbo materia<s separately. One third the bulk of witor is sufficient, and too muoh is injurious. A correspondent in a communication to the United States Department of Agriculture says : — Few formers are sufficiently nrll informed in the principles of chemistry to make n successful application of the waste material on their farms. He add*, th it h" used fine ohnreoal, sawdust, and Peruvian guano with prp^um, for potatoes : and in another case substituted wood ashes for the guano. The results were good m the first case, but were better still m the latter The first-mentioned con. post with nn addition of sulphate of rods, was usrd for cubbage with good results, which tvould have been greatly enhanced if there had been the requisite amount o» moisture in the soil. Another correspondent write* to the Department of Agriculture : — ' I hay« tried tbe mangel-wurzel as a substitute for corn for hogs and cattle ; the trial was satisfactory, and IJthmk one acre will fatten more pigs than two acres ot corn, and with tho iimi amount of labour. They should be planted in ro^s three fsel. apart, so as to be attended with a small plough or ooUivator If toothici when four inches high thpj nhoulel be thinned to six inches- they are well suited « in coH olimaf*. A vuat tiunjlxM' oi <j)t'Ciuca agmust aphis are in existence. A Ifr Snjitb, writing to n Me bourne paper, add* onothrr to the lift. He says : — ' I wish through your valuable journal, to give th^ public the fo'lowing discovery, which 1 made in tiir winter of 1355, for the destruction of the aphis and blighting insects in general Every' experiment has proved a succes* : — Dissolve about a quarter of a pound or morn of sulphate of copper in one gallon of water, hall a pound would be too muoh, and water ihe frnit t«*» about the roots m showery weather, just as winter in yielding to spring. Tho object of this is *hit the ova and larva are jnst throwing off the lethargy of winter and making active pflorts to pet in the current of the rising sap, and reascend the tree by it* means." Oiage*hedge makers differ widely as to the best distance to put the plants in a row, and n novice in hed^e making is perfectly bewildered when he reads the different kinds ot advice given. The plants should be set in a single row not more thnn eight inches apart. The distance now recommended by the experienced hedge-growers of the Western States is six inches, an I some even say that tour inches is better than eight inches or any greater distance. In «pite of all that the most careful nnd vigilant c*n do, many of the plant* will die out or become so feeble that they do not keep up with their adjoiuiug neighbours, and a ' break' or ' gao ' in the hedge is the consequence, as not one plant in a dozen will grow and timre sufficiently to fill up the missing place, no matter how cnrefully it may have been renlnntert and tended. For this reason it may be safe to infer (and act accorilintflr) that close setting — say four to six inches— is the best of all plans ; and then, the following fall after planting, if the plants are found to be too thick, it is far essier, and more satisfactory, to r?move every other one than to depend upon replanting the following spring. A correspondent of the American Agriculturist says : — ' Being tired with the labor of setting every plant just eigut inches from th* next, and holding it there perfectly stmight while setting, I commenced on a back line to put them in t trench which had been made perfectly straight, regardless of exact distances, putting them in carelessly all the way, from two to four inches, and not minding whether tho top* were straight or crooked. They grow juat as well as any, and in the fall I thinned thtiu to about four inches. Now, this back line is the best of all my entire bedgo, and I firmly believe it the belt plan aftwr all.