The Farmer.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1863, 14 June 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Farmer.

In addition to Bussia, India, and Austialasl*, the Argentine Republic is lik«lj to prove a formidable rival of onrs in the wheat markets of the world, according to the opinion of Mr. Baker, our Consul at Buenos Ayres. He estimates this year's wheat crop at 19,500,000 bushels, over half of which will be surplus for txport, while the Burplus corn will be 5,000,000 bushels. It is the possible future rather than the actual present output we hare to fear, however. The arable acreage has been more than doubled, it seems, within the last six years, yet the area now under cultivation is less than 2,000,000 acres, out of 800,000,000 in the li Provinces, most of the remainder being used for grazing cattle and sheep. Experiments appear to prove that the pampas are, like our prairies, remarkably fertile under tultivation, and admirably fitted for cereal crops. The great fertility of these lands will make them hereafter the granary and garden of the Bepublio, the Consul thinks. It must be remembered that Northern Patagonia lies in a latitude, corresponding in the Southern Hemisphere'to the northern part of the United States in the Northern Hemisphere; while the Argentine Republic ocoupies a position like that of the States south of the 40th parallel, or Mason and Dixon's line. There is not much fear of violent competition soon, however, as the Republic has only 2,600,000 population—" mostly indolent and conservative" — but there is a heavy immigration of more energetio and enterprising nationalities.

Coarse Bone meal for Poultry. As our fowls are necessarily confined in small yards, we are obliged to supply them with all the essential kinds of food that they would •at if running at large. But previous to the past six months a full supply of shell-forming food has always been at times neglected, and " Bofb-shelled" eggs, or eggs without auy ■hells, have followed from the neglect. About Bix months ago we began to feed our fowls on bones broken up to the average size of wheat kernels, and we have never seen a soft-shelled egg since. The fowls are excessively fond of this food in small quantities, and a very small quantity suffices to satisfy them and to insure sufficient egg-shell material. This quantity we have found to be a fall handful given three times a week for every six hens. — New Yorker.

Slaughter of Insects. . J. Deßarth Shorb thinks he has discovered a remedy for the phylloxera, red scale bug and the enemy that attacks silk worms. He has filed a caveat at the Patent Office for a patent to his invention, which consists of a long glass cylinder filled with bi-chloride of meronry, which is inverted on the end of a root of the vine or tree infected, which root is cut off and inserted in the mouth of the cylinder. The root absorbs the liquid, which in carried upward in the reins of the tree, •oming out through the pores of the bark and leaves, killing the larvae of the insect peßts mentioned. If this discovery proves effectual in practice, without killing the tree or vine, or injuring the fruit, it will be a marvellous discovery, and will be of immense advantage to the State of California and the whole fruitgrowing world. We hope the experiment, which is now being tried in San Gabriel, will be carried forward with the olosest care and observation as to details, till the whole truth is known in the matter. Mr. Shoib, we believe, is experimenting with a solution •f carbolio acid in the same manner. His method is ingenious and novel, and wo trust Trill result successfully. — Los Angeles Herald.

Feed for Sheep. Sheep are so fond of succulent food, says Prof. Sanborn in the Michigan Farm«r X that they will pick over large fields, in open winter, trying to find it. They suffer when kept wholly on dry food for several months, and for this reason oil meal should be provided in email quantities for them. The feeder cannot err in giving too great a variety in the food of sheep. The best ration he has ever known fed to fattening sheep was composed of equal parts by weight, of oats, peas and millet, and to fifteen bushels of the mixture was added one bushel of flax seed, and all were ground fine together. Eaoh sheep was fed two pounds of this ground mixture with hay, and made a regular gain of three pounds each week, besides growing an unusually fine staple of wool. This small amount of flax seed is peculiarly soothing to the digestive organs. It is a perfeot preventive of all diseases caused by dry fodder.

Advantages of Hcrcfords for the Plains. The breeders on the Western Plains find that the Herefords have hardy constitutions, are covered with thick hides and good warm, solt coats of hair ; they find the strong constitutions of the Herefords make them good travellers, so that they can go long distances from water to good grass and back again without becoming tired, says the Breeders' Journal. This strength of constitution enables them to stand the hardships of a life out-of-doors, ■ummer and winter, with not a particle of artificial food, better than any other breed of cattle. Combined with these desirable characteristics, they find Hereford cattle will mature at two years old, will fatten early in the eeason on grass alone, and will go back to market and sell for more per pound than any other beast. If the Hereford steer is placed in the feeding barn, he will fulfil the moßt sanguine expectations, and will make more flesh on the same feed than other steers.

Shearing Twice a Year. In a paper read at a meeting during the recent New York State Pair, Professor William Brown, of the Ontario Agricultural College, advanced the idea, says the Breeders' Gazette, that the practice of shearing both lambs and mature sheep twice a year, might be successfully adopted if accompanied with high feeding and good care. He illustrated his opinion with a supposed case of a lot of Bhropshires, and it is possible the Downs would be better for this than would either the long-wools or the merinos. He would Bhear in August, and again quite early in Spring, giving shelter to the newly-shorn ewes for a few days. He estimates that a Shropshire lamb may sheer a fleece weighing three pounds and a-half and eight inches long, on August Ist, and a good fleece in the following April, besides having grown more than if it had not been shorn. This double shearing he commends to . breeders of longwools, believing that, in the present condition of the wool markets, the shorter fleece would sell at 20 per cent, advance.

That milk readily absorbs odors and emanations from substances with which it «omes in contact, and also atmospheric imparities is well known, though the fact is often lost sight of. It is well, therefore, to refresh the memory of our readers now and then with regard to this matter, which is important not only as regards profits in the dairy, but also as regards health on the farm and among its customers ; for the germs of disease are absorbed by milk with great readiness. In a case in this city some time ago, milk was kept in a loosely covered vessel in an ice-box which was conneoted with the sewer, and the connection was not properly trapped. The milk absorbed the sewer gas and caused an outbreak of typhoid fever. A remarkable outbreak of the same disease occurred lately in one of the most populous districts of London, and the epidemic was traced by the sanitary inspector to a single dairy farm, where the wooden pails used to hold the milk were washed in water that became contaminated by leakage from a cesspool. At Fort Jervis, New York, there is now an outbreak of the same malady, and 56 out of the 75 people attacked have been supplied with milk from one farm where there have been several cases of the disease in the farmer's family. A late investigation in Dundee, Scotland, proved conclusively that scarlet fever was spread among a number of families by milk whiojhipd been kept a few hours in the

house of th« milkman, «ome of \rhose family ware sufering from the diieaso. pardessnesa in regard to thiß matter is oriminal.