DRYING MY AND CORN BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1598, 30 September 1882, Page 4

DRYING MY AND CORN BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS.

The " Harvest Pan," or " Stack Cooler," is a machine which marks a great advance in agricultural science. In wet seasons, when there is little or no sunshine, it must prove invaluablo to thousaiuls of fanners in enabling them to complete the cuing of their hay and corn crops in the rick, when otherwise these must be completely spoilt or greatly reduced in. feeding value by prolonged exposure to rain and weather. This simple invention is likely to effect a complete revolution in our method of haymaking and harvesting. It will, if rightly used, be the means of preventing mnstiness in hay, and it will enable corn crops to be dried and preserved in the rick without taking os or 6s a quarter off the grain, as often happens when it has to be kilndried. The cylindrical form of rick is best, and it must not be too large. It is found that air cannot be rapidly drawn through the stack when the radius exceeds Bor 9 feet. If the rick is a long one (say 32 feet), it will require two air shafts ;if 48 feet, three shafts. The temperature of the rick is ascertained by the thermometer stick, a useful invention for this purpose, which does away with the necessity of haviug a thermometer box in bvery rick. The temperature of a hay stack should be below 100 deg., and that of a corn stack below 80 deg. If these temperatures are exceeded, the fodder and the grain will be injured in quality and will lose in substance. Wherever, therefore, the temperature of the stack is found to reach 100 or 80 deg., as the case may be, the fan should be brought into operation. A very few minutes will suffice to bring the heat of the stack to the natural tempeiature ; but the larger the volume of cold air drawn through the rick the better. The curing ■will be complete in ten days or a fortnight. It appeals essential to this method that the grass should be well and thoroughly shaken out in the field and allowed to lie a couple of days to wither before it is carried. If that is done, it may be stacked on a wet day even, although that is not advisable when it can be avoided. Unlike most valuable things, this one costs very little — the fan and all the accessories complete, not more than £10 to £20, or about the value of from two to four tons of hay.

In foreign missions the Moravian Church is the pioneer of the Protestant Churches. It sent its first missionaries to St. Thomas, in the West Indies, in 1732. Ocean traJes carry spray thirty miles into England, encrusting the foliage of trees with ocean salt. The memorial stone of a new dock has been laid at Grangemouth. The dock, which will be of immense importance to the port and to the whole of the West of Scotland, is estimated to cost £350,000. The works were begun in November, 1577, and the area covered is about 60 acres. There are to be 2,712 ft of quay Malls, which will bo traversed by lines of railway, the united length of which will be 32 miles. Thk following has appeared in the London Times :— "The Bishop of Lincoln, writing to the Mayor of Grimsby on the temperance question, says the temperance pledge is not scriptural. It undermines the Godhead of Christ, and he who takes the pledge and breaks it weakens the bonds of society. Tender consciences fear to break it, thus often sacrificing their health, and entailing a burden upon others. The pledge is both unscriptural and heretical." The salary of the Lord Mayor of London, although £10,000, is not near sufficient to do the requisite honors of the office. His first day in office is enough to alarm one who has not a competency. Among the expenses of the day inclined at the last Lord Mayor's inauguration ware £1,650 for the dinner ; decorations, £620 ; printing and stationary , £300 ; and general expenses, £400 ; total £4,600. About one-half of this was paid by the Lord Mayor, while the l\\ o sheriffs contributed the remainder. It is a rule that the Lord Mayor far outlives his income, hence no poor man can aspire to the office, inasmuch as the Mayor has nothing to do with the confiscation of property, widening of streets, or erection of public hou.ses. A gextlemax recently entered a village shop in which weic books and various miscellaneous articles for sale, and asked the shopman it lie had Goldsmith's Greece. — 'No,' said he, 'but we have some splendid hair oil." Duuisii the holding of set vice recently in a Western church it \\.b discovered to be on fire, but the preacher v ith great piesence of mind, said nothing about it. He meiely lum.uked — 'Thi» building io heavily burdened with debt, and I wish some one vould lock the doois until the amount is r.iised." Everybody volunteered to do the locking, and as everybody forgot to come buck theiu was no panic, and no one was hint. 'What your daughter wants,' said a candid music teacher to an ignoiant millionaire, 'is capacity.' 'Is that so ?' was the reply. 'Well, then 1 11 order one right off, no matter what it costt>.' A quiet maniang his neighbour's door bell one night. 'Is the gentleman in ?' he asked of thcseivants. 'I don't know. Did you wish to see him particularly ?' 'Oil no ! I merely wanted to tell him his house is on fiic.' A HOLD chain of the value of 500 guineas was presented on June l-"> to the roi por.ition of Margate. It was the gift of MiGeorge Lansell, of Sandhurst Victoria, Australia, a native of the town. Fkankfort-ovthe-M.A7\, containing a population of about 100,000, is said to be the richest city of its size in the whole world. If its wealth were equally divided among its inhabitants every man, woman, and child would have, it is said, some £800 apiece. Akrahaai Lincoln*, being annoyed on one occasion by a fiddler, wbo persisted hi playing in front of his house, sent him out a dollar, with the message that one scraper was enough at the door. A Gbeeniiokn, who was on board a steamboat for the first time, fell through the hatchway and down into the hold, when being unhurt, lie loudly expressed his surprise : 'Well, if the darnel tiling ain't holler !' Ax Idaho paper says : — ' The weather has been hot again for the last few days. The only relief we could get was to &it down between Mrs Browngrass and Mrs Jones, for nothing can exceed the coolness between them.' The guests at Bai oness Burdett-Coutts' first garden-party were treated to a sight of the smallest pony in the world — Lady Jumbo. The tiny creature, who looks like a thorough race-hoise seen through the wrong end of an opera-glass, stands thirteen inches high and ia live years old. 'James Gordon Bex net has ordered a monster yacht to be built for him in Liverpool. It will be 250 feet long, and 'I', 100 tons burthen. The "Namouna" 1 has evidently proved too limited hi accommodation. If the present one proves i too much the other way, Mr Bennett ' may be able to sell her to one of the •>- opeaii steamship lines. i". 1 ' The St Petersburg Vyedomosti states :J ki tljat r owirig to the disturbed condition of |OrfghVistan; consequent upon the constant Xnto"i# ueB of'Ayonb' Khan, an exfB? cMpge of Views has takeri "place between #M. de Qier? and Sir .Edward Thornton in r to" the future policy of the two 'M'WfflMit iii 'Central Apia, " J