Agriculture. Utilising Corners and Waste Patches.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1967, 14 February 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Agriculture. Utilising Corners and Waste Patches.

Tiiere is not a farm of any size but has corners and vacant spaces which seem to remain always unutilized. From year's end to year's end these plots, if it may be only a few feet, or it may be larger, seem to escape being sown by some accident or other. Along with the general area, they have been cleared, and are probably even tilled every year ; but from their proximity to out-buildings, the lay of the ground, or one or other of a great many causes, nothing grows on them, or ia grown on them. They accordingly present tiny irregular patches, or corners, or borders, of bareness, usually covered with useless weeds, and this may be seen, as we have said, on avery farm. To those who live in towns, and to whom the possession of the smallest strip of ground on which a few flowers or vegetables or fruits may be grown is a perfect enjoyment, these unutilised patches, however small and irregular, appear to be a great waste, and the possession of them would be reckoned a boon indeed. For our part, we cannot see why such strips and corners, even of only a few feet in extent, should remain unutilised. They can be made to produce something, and something useful. They are cleared, they are good ground, they are there available, and as such, in their aggregate or Bum total, if left unused, represent just so much loss to the farmer, even if the loss be very little. To take them in hand and utilize them would require neither skilled labor nor any appreciable expenditure of time. Some few odd, unconsidered minutes of even the good house-wife's time would be sufficient to utilize them for growing a variety of things, besides cabbages and green things, too, that would not require the care and attention of the latter, and are always of value in the domestic economy, especially of farmers and those who live in the country. Such being the case, we conceive that it ia only ignorance of the value of these corners and patches, and the way in which they may be utilised for growing various very necessary and even prized articles, that are the reasons of their being neglected ; and that our farming friends will be only too glad to get a few hints from us as to what to do with regard to them and as to what may be easily and usefully grown on them. In all older countries, and where land is scarce, or where farms are of limited extent, or the farmers are thrifty and -have some ideas beyond the " single" one of producing a certain staple only for the market, and nothing for their own domestic use and comfort, these corners and patches are sedulously attended to, and present, space for space, even the best returns. This ia specially the case in France, notably the best tilled and cultivated country in the world, and the farmers of which— often very small farmers, indeed— are reckoned the wealth of the country, as, indeed, they are its mainstay. Conceiving, then, that farmers in Australia will be thankful for a few hints how to utilise these vacant spaces and corners of their land, we furnish the following notes on the subject, remarking previously, however, that owing to the great diversity of climate and zone in such ti great continent it will be apparent that some things that may be grown near Brisbane will not answer in Tasmania ; and a farmer near sugar or tobacco cultivations will have a chance with even a few hundredweight of augar-cane or tobacco-leaf, which a farmer further off will not. The most part of our following notes, however, will be found to apply, not locally, but generally, and will therefore prove generally useful. Now ginger is such a plant. It is one of the most useful and valuable of spices, useful alike at homo as we shall show, and valuable in the market ; may be sold in any quantities, email or large. It is a tuber or root that will grow in almost any soil, requires no attention or trouble after it is once put in, yields a large return, and with the fierce summer heats of Australia, may grow anywhere. We have seen it thrive alike in New South Wales and in Queensland ; and to some few housewives in Victoria also green ginger is not unknown, For the outside market green ginger is at present purchased to form the most pleasant and wholesome addition to melon jams, and, to such as know its use, to slice up in curries, stews, soups, and invalid broths. And dry ginger ia also sold for these purposes, and to chemists and to manufacturers of curry powders. A small strip or patch of ginger in a farm, however, so wholesome and useful it is, instead of being sent to market to realise a pound or two, would be well used at home. As we have said above, green ginger forms a most pleasant admixture in, and imparts a most delicious flavor to the otherwise wholly sweet or partially insipid melon jams. Again, it can be always used in curries, stews, soups, and broths. And the crop, when gathered, cannot spoil, not that there will be much to spoil. The roots shrink and dry up, and remain perfectly good as dry ginger. They do not rot like potatoes ; nor will rats and mice nibble at them. If there be a hundredweight of dry ginger available, it may be sent into the market, sure of realising its value. Taking the order of the spices, we next draw attention to chillies and capaicumt. A plant or two here and there may already be seen in many farms, growing hardly one knows how, never taken care of or thought of, but always coming handy for a variety of useful domestic purposes. For chillies and capsicums enter into most varieties of pickles and sauces ; and these form not only a relish of even tht plainest food, but act as tonics to the blood and system generally. And chillies cut up and mixed with the food of fowls operates in making them lay. Green chillies put into curries also imparts a genuine fresh and wholesome flavor to them. As useful alike to man and poultry, and even tame birds like cockatoos and parrots ; as growing easily and in any soil, but with an aspect to the sun ; and as producing more than a hundred fold ; we commend this spice, along with ginger, for unoccupied strips and patches. And for any large quantity there is good market for them, being bought up to make pickles, sauces and curry powders. We next note muitard. This hardly requires more care than the preceding, and while the fresh young sprouts may be used in salad or as cress, fresh mustard seed is very useful as an addition to most pickles. It is remarkable how little we think of this most -wholesome and delicious stimulant condiment, and are content to run in the old rut of dry and powdered and adulterated mußtard imported into the country. Finally, in the matter of spices, we draw attention to the garlic plant. This grows like a shalot or small onion, and a few plants of it should always be about every farm. When very young, and the decided rank flavor has not yet been developed, it is very useful and wholesome in salads. For most colics and other stomach complaints, which depend on weakness of the bowels, it acts as a suro remedy. A small clovo or two is always good in a stew. And whether young or old, it acts most marvellously in such severe throat affections as diphtheria and hooping cough. It is also not generally known that makes avoid the garlic plant. We have seen the hut of a bushman, living in the far interior where snakes abounded, completely surrounded by a garlic fence, which though only six or seven inches high was effectual in keeping oil every snake* We have also personally observed its efficacy in the throat affections mentioned above. We now come to the cla.es of small trees and shrubs, and chief among these the lemon. This fruit is nature's own special provision against heat, scurvy, sameness of flesh food, and a variety of disorders ; at the same time that it can be converted into delicious preserves and most appetising pickles. It is dear enough in the market ; but as will have been noticed, we are not writing for the abundant production of these articles, but simply the utilisation of a corner here and a strip there, for domestic thrift and comfort. The lemon is a most hardy tree, and will thrive in any ■oil. A sunny aspect will always be the best for it. It produces all the year round, and the fruitfulnesß of iome trees is beyond count.

The small oval variety, known in Australia as the Fiji lemon, is the best, as being the smallest and most handy, containing the most juice in proportion to its size, and having the thinnest of rinds. Lemons may be preserved whole by simply boiling in syrup, and then letting it stand for a few days. It is better and more wholesome than all our jama. And lemons may be pickled by simply being pricked with a wooden fork, and thrown into a bottle along with salt and a little vinegar, and allowed to stand a week in the sun or by the fire. This pickle, too, ii more wholesome than all the imported piokles put together. The cost of bad pickles thus may be entirely saved by having two or three lemon trees. We now come to the tea shrub, the plant which furnishes us the leaves which, prepared and soaked, furnish us with the tea we all drink. It is a hardy plant of the camellia tribe, will grow almost anywhere, and with the least possible attention will repay having a dozen or more plants about. It is produced from seed ; but at first start it is best to get good plants from nurseries or the Botanical Gardens. The plot in which they are set, say at about six feet apart, should bo either well drained, or on a declivity to allow excess of moisture to run off. Excess of moisture lodging about the roots is fatal to its success. For the tea plant, too, a special rainy zone ia essential, that ia, to its full development and bearing of leaves, for the value of a teaplant lies in the number of flushes of leaves it puta forth after each shower during spring after each flush as it comes out is picked. Thin shoots coming out from near the roots should be all trimmed, as they not only crowd the bush, but take off the nourishment of the other main branches and the sap which goes to produce the flushes of young leaves. When the plant is about a couple of feet high, the flushes after a shower of rain should be watched for, and as soon as the flush is out and the leases yet tender, that is, not matured or fully grown, it should be picked, and the branches left bare to be operated on by another shower to produce another flush. The leaves when picked should bo left in a cool, dry, shady place for a day or so, when they will present the appearance of being shrivelled up, and feel limp. They have then to be taken on to a clean table or deal board, and so kneaded by the hand as to express all the moisture that ia in them. It is this juica that is acrid and hurtful in the leaf ; and according as the leaf is young and tender, and this acrid juice thoroughly expressed from it, and the subsequent drying and parching thoroughly carried out, that the tea is superior and excellent, or not. After r.3 much juice as can be kneaded, rubbed, and squeezed out, has been expressed, the leaves should be placed out, well spread, on broad sieves, in the full heat of the sun if there is a good sun, and if not, Bhould be thoroughly parched and dried over a gentle but hot and steady fire on a wide pan, the leaves being stirred about with a bundle of twigs. It is always advisable a day after the first drying or parching to give it a second drying or parching. Care should be taken in drying over a fire that the flame is not so hot as to render the leaves biittle. They should merely dry and crumple up. The tea thus prepared may be put up in packets or put into an old lead tea chest ; and will be found superior to the ordinary purchased teas. The tea-tree is very prolifio in buds, and the flushes that produce the most buds, afford the best tea. It will thus be seen that it is neither difficult to grow the teaplant, nor to manufacture it for home use. There is the satisfaction of knowing that it is pure, and a considerable item of domestic expense is saved by very little expenditure of trouble. And mistakes made at fir«t will be observed and rectified afterwards. About thirty or forty plants ought to be suflicient to give the tea required for a year by a Broall family. Care should be always taken, after the first year, that the bushes do not grow too woody. And it will be useless to attempt to make drinkable tea from the mature or old leaves. The last plant we would recommend farmers to place on their spare patches is the co[he. This ia a plant of the same order as the tea, but with a slightly diverse leaf, and much smaller white flower. And hero we have not to attend to the flushes of the leaves. Where it will grow, and there are few places where it will not, it requires no oare beyond keeping it trimmed and the roots clean. The plants should be placed out six feet apart, and allowed to grow in one, two, or three branches from the ground. From these smaller branches and twigs shoot out, which pioduce in abundance the blossoms, which afterwards form into email green berries. On ripening these turn first a brownish red, and then a brownish black. When dry thoy are picked off and properly dried in the sun, rolled and rubbed to take off the shells, and tho berry or seed preserved to be roasted, ground, and then soaked and drunk as coffee. This would be pure coffee without the hurtful admixture of chicory, and a less quantity would go further than the ordinary adulterated stuff. C.