FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2501, 21 July 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

E.vamkl for Butter Boxes. -Mr Pearson's jeeip' l for butter-box euamel: Take .yb shellac and 1 quart methylated spirits ; put them in a corked bottlo or jar, and shake occasionally, until the 'shellac is melted, which will bo in about twenty-four hours. The wood must be perfectly dry before the enamel is applied ; and it is to be laid 011 quickly with a broad brush. After drying in a warm place for two days, another coat is to be used ; and then, after a week to dry, the wond is ready for use. Mr Pearson considers this will'meat, all requirements, but that a stronger and more durable enamel can be. obtained bv melting the shellac on the wood. This process, however, is expensive. "Tub Busy Bee."—lt is estimated that to collect lib of honey from clover, 02,000 heads of clover must be deprived of np.otnr, and 3,750,000 visits from bees must be made. New Ensilage Plant.—lt has been ascertained by practical experiments in Franco that tho Lathyrus silvc4ris, or everlasting pea, which thrives on tho most arid and sterile soils, forms excellent fodder forcattle when treated as ensilage, and is more nutritious and richer in fatproducing substances than trefoil. It is said to yield upward of 40 tons (?) of hay to the acre. Potato Farming. —A Pennsylvania farmer recently sold over £1200 worth of potatoes from 12 acres. He fertilised with a compost of hardwood ashes and oystershell lime, ploughed deep, planted medium sized, well formed, uncut potatoes 3ft. apart, gave level cultivation and cultivated often. From one hill he took 41 fine large tubers. Fruit Manurinu. — Fruit - growers should pay proper attention to feeding varieties of any fruit with fertilisers adapted to it as well as its mere cultivation. Where there is a tendency to too much wood or l'oliige we should use potash or bone almost exclusively. Where there is a scarcity of foliage we should use barnyard or stable manure with potash and bono. Nitrate of soda will make an abundince of foliage, but has a tendency to make berries too soft for shipment. American Ciieksk. —The exportation of cheese from the United States to Great Britain has fallen off very much latterly. There has been a gradual diminution in the exports since IS7S, in which year 1,345,745cwt., valued at £3,306,(512, were sent to Great Britain. In 18S2 only 969,5020wt. were exported, valued at £2,711,259; in ISSo the amount had been reduced to 544,200cwt. of the value of £1,863,161, and in ISB7 only 7-59,403cwt., valued at -£1,817,412, were sent over. This falling off may be due to the depreciation in the quality of the cheese on account of its adulterations. Switzerland has 600,000 milch cows all of native breed, and divided into two sharply defined races, the brown and the spotted. The former colour varies from deer fawn to mouse gray ; the latter shade being held in most esteem. The brown race isshorthorned, and considered as the original type. It corresponds with tho remains found on the sites of the Roman cities of the third century of our era. The skulls of this race are identical with those found in the Swiss lake dwellings. Terrible Losses oe a Cattle Company.—Nothiug more dolorous has been issued to shareholders in cattle ranches than the report for last year of tho Powder River Cattle 00. The capital of tho company is £2f)0,000, in 40,000 fully paid ordinary shares of £5 each, and 10,000 fully paid preference sh ires of £10 each. The company was formed in August ISS2; and tho result of its working, as set forth in tha report for last year, is that the ordinary capital of £200,000 has been altogether lost, and that £4 per share of the preference shares havo gone with the ordinary capital. Altogether, tho conferred los-cs of the company are upward of £260,000. Debts to tho amount of £25,000 are due by the company ; and if these be not. at once met, the creditors will proceed to realise what remains of the property. Tho assets, as valued in the report, are rather better than in the circular of tho liquidator to the preference shareholders ; but in the present state of the market it is doubtful whether what is worth on paper £70,000 or £SO,OOO would realise more than would meet tho debt of £25,000. The preference shareholders arc, therefore, called upon to assess themselves at tho rate of £2 10s per share, in order to clear off the debt, and save the wreck of their property from a forced sale. In other words, they are asked to risk £2 10s to save a by no means certain asset of £6 per share, or to sacrifice £2 10s for a problematical gain of £3 10s. In ISB3 the ostimated herd of the company was 43,113. Fat Cattle Breeds. (From a London paper.) Shorthorns are famous for tlvir size and docility, for their coming to maturity early in life, and for their adaptableness to all countries and climates. They are, without any question, the most popular breed in Britain, and nro to be found in every corner of it. Great attention has been paid to the breeding of certain of what are termed families or tribes ; and a few years ago every female individual of certain families in a breeding state was worth thousands. But it is possible to have too much of a good thing; and in many cases shorthorns have been overbred, or bred on a wrong system. More attention has been paid to paper pedigrees than to individual merit. The consequence now is that, as farmers' cattle, many of the pedigree shorthorns are of little value. Their milking powers have been lost through neglect; and as beef cattle they want that flesh or muscle so highly valued by the butcher and consumer. They have been bred "in and in," or bred " in a line" in many cases till their constitutions are ruined ; and tuberculosis has become too common a disease among them. Still we have, a large number of shorthorns all over the kingdom which have not been so spoiled; and breeders are becoming more and more alive to the importance of breeding from good animals, having seen that the evils of the silly and dangerous system of paper pedigree breeding can only end in I mischief and loss.

Aberdeen-Angus are famous for the superior quality of their meat; it being full of flesh, with the fat beautifully intermixed with it. They mature early, anil attain quite as much weight as the shorthorn, although, being black, and on short legs, they may look less. Their being' hornless is, no doubt, a great advantage, more especially in those districts where cattle are kept in yards. It is generally accepted that one-third more polled cattle can be kept comfortably In the same yard space than horned ones. They are the cattle of the north-east of Scotland, a district which supplies the great proportion of the meat consumed in the west end of London. The wonderful success attained by this breed of cattle at national and international shows duriug the past twenty years lias encouraged them till they are now to be found in many of the counties of England and Ireland as purebreds. At the same time there is a very growing demand for sires of this breed for crossing purposes all over the kingdom.

Heuefords mature early, aro larpe in size, and docile and hardy. They have never spread much in this country out of their original homes. But in the United States there has been what may be termed a "boom" on this breed : and, in consequence, they have been well spread over the great western country. No doubt this arose in a great measure froic the reaction consequent on the shorthorn pedigree craze which ran riot in the States. Great attention has been paid to the breeding of theno cattle ; and a sensible preference is given to stock got by bulls which win at the principal shows; and their gets are looked upon as'valuable be-

yond what shorthorn breeders generally wou'd acknowledge. Devons and Sussex.—These breeds are famous for the quality of their meat and for their hardness of constitution. Great improvement has taker, place in these breeds during the past, few years, more especially in tlio Sussex, a breed which lias now attained considerable size at an early ; while tha meat of both is of a fine quality, luting well mixed. Shorthorns and Hereford* crossed havo pr.iduced occasionally wonderful specimens of show animals. Hut, as a rule, they are both, as I reeds of cattle, too much given to tho lute development to make a good, crossbred butchers' animal. The maximum wages of workmen in Hi lland are GO cents a day Nineteen members of tho Salvation Army including Miss Booth, daughter of " General Booth, were, at Torquay, on May 17'h. committed for trial 011 the charge of taking part in musical processions on Sundays ; and fines of 40s were imposed 011 four strangers, and 20s each on four local men. No penalty was inflicted 011 Miss Booth. An application for a case for the higher Courts was refused. As Irish sporting estate has been just sold at the auction mart at Cs an acre, " t'.ie lowest price," we are told, "at which land has ever been sold in the United Kingdom." It was advertised as having " extensive shooting," an indefinite term which seems to have been anything but an attraction. I cannot help thinking, however (says the London correspondent of The Argus), that the statement as to its being tho smallest sum ever given for land is an erroneous one. I seem to remember, when touring at the Lakes in my undergraduate days, having had an e3tate offered to me in Cumberland at half-a-crown an acre. It was near Waste Water, and consisted wholly of mountain, with nothing but stones on it ; but for a few sovereigns I might have become an extensive proprietor, and be owning some of the highest (and wettest) land in England.