GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1290, 5 October 1880, Page 3

GLEANINGS.

Smata Farms. — Small farms antl thorough cultivation will in the long run pay better than the huge areas hastily treated.

Distilled Spirit.— A spirit distilled from potatoes is now taking the place of brandy in the market.

DAiuy and Hex Fkuit is the heading used by an American paper in a report of a meeting of the United States Butter, Cheese, and Egg Association. Anything for a change ' * Cow's Juice and Hen 'a Nutts " would be still more striking.

CITLTIXJtK OF TKKKS AND FIiOWKR.S. — Every dweller in this land of prolific soil and delightful climate who, owning a bit of ground, lias not taken gome steps to beautify it by the cultnre of trees and flowers, is defrauding hun°elf and the country.

King-boxk. — This is an old-fashioued disease of the horse. The modern practice is 10 paint with tincture of iodine. Some u=e a solution of corrosive hiiblimate — 40 grains to one pint of watvr.

Oleomakct viiixr. — Tho oleomargarine rneu are just now spending a mint of money ia advertibing; their concoction Well, they ought to be able to afford a good round sura, as they k sell stuff for butter at prices which costs* them about 10 cents a pound, according to some estimates.

Keep fob a Hen.— One bushol of corn will feed one hen for one year, and if she has the run of a barn-yard and the fields, she will do well on this quantity. If given no other kind of food, a hen will need a quarter of a pint of grain a day, or 4o quarts for the whole year. American Shorthorn Herd Book. —

The nineteenth volume of the work for 1880 was issued in May last. There are more than 3000 bulls recorded, and over 5000 cows, the two approaching nearly 9000 in all. The increase is about 20 per cent, for this year over that of 1879, as recorded in the eighteenth volume of the work.

Starting a Horse. — Always ftart a horse with the voice, never with the cut of a whip. In starting, turn a little on one side ; in stopping, when going up a hill, do the same.

Happy Thouoht ! — Leb us all have a voice in the matter. Noble breeder of Shorthorns : "Well, you air a splendid fellow, and no mistake !" Prize bull : " >So would you be, my lord, if you could only have chosen your pa and ma as carefully and judiciously as you chose mine."

Keeping a Record. — A habit of noting the ancestors aiid date of birth of the larger stock of the farm, even though it be not " full blood," is a useful one. If a record is of so much value for the best stock, it is at least worth the keeping for the best grade of cow, or the mixed bred horse. It is often a great convenience to know to what animals a, cow in question traces her parentage, and it may be of money value to be able fr-o show the record.

The Valujs op Agricultural Lajtd in England. — Lord Derby, iv a recent speech on temperance hotels, stated that the average price for an acre of good agricultural land was £60, or as nearly as « possible 3d for every square ya rd « "I

wonder," said HW Lordship, "how many working 1 men consider 'hat when they order threepenny worth of beer and spirits they are swallowing down a square yard of good agricultural land. (Laughter). Or, to put it in another way, supposing out of our national drinking bill of £140,000,000 we could annually nave £69,000,000, and supposing this moderate reduction were continued for ten years only, how much land do you suppose that the working classes could buy out of that saving?, It is, a very simple sum — 10,000,060 acres or just one-eighth of the .whole soil of this island."'