RURAL NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1952, 10 January 1885, Page 4

RURAL NOTES.

Li'/K in Hi ns NiWf.—Sprinkle the ne.st Willi a solution of carbolic acid. Bare soil is bettor tii.ui any material for} nests. It is said that, it' n groove is made in a hen ro-ist aii-.i liiled with a mixture of Inrd and snl;)hnr flic fowls will not be troubled with lico.

In England inferior barley is generally ground into meal for feeding cuttle and pigs, audit is claimed that nothing surpasses it value when boiled as a mash for horses after a hard day's work.

Kkep the hoiae collars clean. The sweat and dirt which adhere to collars work into lumps and ridges and sore shoulders are the result. If the collars become hird, wash them clean, pound them and apply oil. Ai'i'Lxs koii Oi'ws. —No apples should be allowed to go to waste on a farm. They should be fed to cows at first sparingly, lv.it may be increased gradually until even a bushel may be consumed at a feed. When mixed with bran there is nothing better to induce a copious How of the best milk.—San Francisco Chronicle.

Vau'K ok Milk.—Every gallon of milk has a food value equal to two and a half pounds of boneless beef. If our people had a just conception of the value of milk is an article of food, the quantity used would be donble, and the health of families would be largely increased. Even farmers, who generally have plenty of milk do not use nearly as much in the family as they should. Give the littlo ones plenty of milk.— San Francisco Chronicle.

When farmers learn from experience that by housing their manure and thoroughly working it over, mixing with absorbents, such as swamp mud, earth, road dust, leaves, &c, to take up the liquid and the ammonia set free, it value is double what it now is, and that, too, at an expense much less than the same amount of plant food could be obtained in an artificial fertiliser, a new era will have dawned upon agriculture, and we shall see the fertility of land brought back to at least its original condition.

Kffect ok Zin'O on Water.—ln Gin/it Honpitril Report* Dr. Stevenson alludes to a generally accepted opinion that water stored in 7 inc, or zinc-coated tanks is not affected by the zinc to any appreciable extent, and states that he has abundant evidence that water does, under certain conditions, acfc energetically upon zinc and galvanised iron. He mentions a case in which rain water, passing from a reservoir through galvanised pipes, was for many weeks turbid and milky in appearance, and contained a notable quantity of zinc in suspension and some in solution, Dr Stevenson's experience is ;ilso confirmed by that of other writers.

lir-vrSoir, for a Dairy Fakm.—Ah a rule the best dairy districts are those in which lime and potash rocks prevail and grass grows spontaneously. But it is not only the soil that should be considered : the character of the surface is equally important. Low. marshy, wet land never makes a good dairy farm, unless by drainage it may be made so, if the soil in of the right kind. Lime and potash abound in soils that are filled with mica, the fine glistening \nv tides which are so conspicuous upon such land. High rolling land, with running water, should bo chosen in preference to any other for a dairy fary. Good, pure running water is a very important thing to be considered. — Sun Franciteo Chronicle,

The English Druggist has discovered that the devastations of French vineyards by the phylloxera do not effect the French wine industry in the least. The French, it remarks, arc great chemists, and what their vineyards do not produce or the phylloxera destroy, they make np by the manufacture of artificial wino from glucose, potatoes, rotten apples, dried prunes, dates, figs, raisins, currants, and even red beets. It has lately been discovered that the flowers of the Bassia tree, which grows in India, and will yield in pood seasons six or seven hundred pounds of dried flowers, forming in connection with water and sugar, an excellent base for the manufacture of artificial wine.

To Keep Milk Swket.— Milk may be kept sweet for a short time by scalding, but that does not improve its flavour. By putting a teaspoenful of fine salt or horseradish in a pan of milk it may be kept sweet for several days. Milk can be kept a year or more as sweet as when taken from the cow by the following method : - Procure bottles, which must be perfectly clean, sweet and dry ; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled immediately cork themtightand fasten them with a string or wire ; then spread a little straw in the bottom of the boiler, on which place the bottles with straw between them, until tho boiler contains a sufficient quantity. Fill it up with cold water, and as soon as it begins to boil draw the fire and let the whole cool gradually. When quite cool, take out the bottles and pack them in sawdust in hampers and store away in the coolest part of the house.

SOWIMS ANI> AfTKU-TREaT.MKNT OF Grass Rkeus anm> Clovkrs. —Messrs James Dick son and Sons, Cheater, in their new illustrated list of farm seeds, say :—L-uid should not, on any account, be sown to a permanency unless in thoroughly pood condition, and as free ns possible from wwda. This being tincase, and a line tilth obtained, a good rolling, so as to make a firm and solid bed for the seeds, is necessary to success. April is considered the best month of the year to sow ftrnsa seeds, though they may be sown with advantage about the beginning of September. A full herbage is undoubtedly sooner obtained by sowing the grasses alone ; bnt if with a crop, as is commonly the ca?e, the rolling of the land should be jnst as carefully observed. It is the best plan generally to roll immediately prior to sowing, afterwards liehtly to bush harrow, and again roll, though the hitter rolling might much more readily bu dispensed with than the former. Frequent rolling after the seeds have got somewhat established, also afterwards, will be found very beneficial.