FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2546, 3 November 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Irish Soil.—An English agriculturalist's opinion of the Irish soil—"exhausted and spent." ''If I were chloroformed and kidnapped and taken over to Ireland, and led blindfold across ten yards of Irish grass, I could tell it was Irish. It is not grass at all ;it is wire. It scrapes against your boots like wire. It contains no nutritive property.' A Future Field fop. Wheat Gnow-inc;.—-Manitoba last year exported 14,000,000 bushels of wheat, and this year it will have more to spare. If onehalf of the land was cultivated, it would be able to send away annually 100,000,000 bushels of wheat—so a Canadian tells me who has just returned from that province. He says that when the seed is sown at the proper time on properly prepared ground very few complaints are heard of the effect of frost on the plant. StateAdvanoes ox Corn.—Wo read in the L' Echo Agricole that a very important Ukase has been sent out by the Russian Government, authorising the railway companies, in the name ot the State Bank, to make advances of money to farmers who give the guarantee of their wheat warehoused iu the railway depots. This will enable the farmers to keep their corn for longer time, and to avoid compulsory sales when market prices arc low. —Exchange, A Good Dairy Cow.—lu connection with the dairying exhibition at the Yorkshire Agricultural Show, at Huddersfield, Mr Thomas Nuttall delivered some interesting lectures. In one of them he describes what a good dairy cow should be. His ideas are admirably compressed in the following words, which are so few that they can easily be committed to memory by the inexperienced : —" In selecting a dairy cow you shotiJil choose an animal broad between the eyes, with a placid countenancc, ribs well sprung from the back, deep sides, and above all a square, well-shaped udder, the teats being set at equal distances and of a medium size.

Luxurious Food for Cows.—The St. Louis Journal of Agriculture says : — " Tomatoes make excellent food for cows duriug August and September. A half acre will, under good condition, produce from five to six tons of tomatoes, and in tho States south of Pennsylvania will continue to bear ripe fruit from August until cut by frosts. Cattle relish them, and an increase in the flow of milk and improvement in the butter are noticeable as soon as tomato feeding begins. In States where tomatoes can be grown, that prolific vegetable plaut promises to bo one of the most profitable field crops," ISuglish farmers, however, are very unlikely, for climatic reasons, to feedstock on tomatoes.

A Good Price for a Southdown,— The breeders of Southdowns are somewhat delighted because of the breaking of the record of the previous prices of

that sheep. A ram bred by Mr Hugh Pensfold has been sold at Tunbridge Weels for 185 guineas, which is said to bo the highest figure ever given for an animal of that breed. The purchaser was Mr Marietta, of Wedhiust. Two shearlings made respectively 37 and 21 guineas. The whole of the sheep sold were remarkably oven and of excellent quality, 3!) rams averaging £21 10s 3d ; lit ram lambs, £S 16s (id ; and tho ewes, Jl4 4s ; total of 480 animals, £2,025 10s, an average of nearly ,L'(i per head.

Lrci; in Fowls: A Rhmkdv. — A writer m ail exchange says : —" For the last few years I have used kerosene as a preventive of hen lice. It is more effective perhaps than most other remedies. I apply it to the perches in the henhouse from the common lainp-lillcr. Turn a very small stream from the spout, and move the can rapidly from end to end of the perch. The oil gets upon the feet and feathers, and is soon distributed all over the fowl. The lice leave on very short notice, and the fowls are entirely relieved. An application three or four times a year will keep the roosts free from vermin. It is a great safeguard against lice on chickens when first hatched to use the oil in the boxes, before the nest is made for the setting hen. It takes but a small quantity applied to the corners of the box to keep away insects. Take care that the oil does not touch the egg ß '"

Indian Competition*,— Even with the rude method of cultivation followed by the natives of India in the growth of wheat, and the consequently small yield per aero, they can compete easily with the rest of the world. Sir Samuel Baker, in some " Reflections in India," printed in the Fortnightly Review, says that tho crops produced thero are only one-fourth of tho average of the yield of good soil in Great Britain. "The land,'' he explains, "is ploughed and allowed to lio fallow for a few months during the hottest weather to kill the weeds. A second plouging just before the rains in June prepares the land for sowing, and the harvest in March repays the labour by a return of only 10 or 11 bushels to the acre. Tho rate of wages being 2d daily, at the present rate of exchange is in favour of the ryot or proprietor ; but the railways have had an anomalous effcct in benefiting the latter through the increased price of corn, which formerly he could not transport beyond his district, and at the same time the labourer is a direct sufferer; as his food has somewhat increased in price, while his wages remain at the standard of former years. Wheat at an average of only 10 bushels yield to an acre can not bo produced, but will benr tho charges of a railway journey of a thousand miles in addition to freight to Liverpool, and undersell tho British farmer.'' It appears that the fall in the value of the rupee has had an important effect on agriculture, for in 188S it will buy as much corn as it would in 1858, though its value is but Is 4d as against 2s thirty years ago. This, Sir Samuel Baker points out, means a competition ruinous to tne British farmer a competition made -worse by the reduction of Indian freights on wheat to 15s per ton.

English and Forkign Butter.—The editor of the fanning column in the Bristol Times ami Mirror writes as follows:—I find that an " Englishwoman," in a letter to this paper, takes up the cudgels on behalf of English butter, which she, in ignorance positively to be envied, evidently thinks cannot be inferior to foreigu. I admire the lady for her patriotism, but I venture to suggest most respectfully that her love is more wisely bestowed on our good old country in the abstract than on its bad butter in particular. In the neighbourhood of Bristol I have eaten some of the best English butter it is possible to make, and, which is important, it was obtainable in the ordinary way of trade ; but in the same locality, I am bound to say, I have seen and tasted butter of far worse quality and flavour than any I have ever seen or tasted from abroad. I think " Englishwoman " mistakes the motive of those who point out the superior character of much of the dairy produce which is imported into this country. It is not to promote foreign tastes or trade, or the sale of foreign butter, but to inducc dairymen at home to produce as good or a better article, which they are perfectly able to do, if they will set to work in the proper way. We do not want so many of the English dairymen to continue to be known as "bad butter makers," and (as " Englishwoman " so nicely puts it) "avoided by all customers." Take the Danish butter trade as an instance of what can be done. A few years ago butter in that country was execrable in quality, and there was no export trade, as they were kuown to be bad butter makers, and "were consequently avoided by all customers, Now, by the introduction of co-operative dairies, and the employment of modern scientific methods of manufacture, they make butter of a superior and uniform quality, and place it in the market in the best possible condition. They are becoming known as good butter makers, customers flock to them, and a considerable export trade has been established. It should be so in the case of English butter, which, I ean assure " Englishwoman," I highly appreciate as an article of food, when it is' well and properly made.

Silage in France-

The Paris correspondent of the Melbourne Leader writes as follows :—The wintry summer that farmers are passing through has destroyed the hay harvest. The out grass rotted where it lay, and what was intended for food will hardly serve as litter. But the wet season has not been without its lessons. It has done much to promote stack silage—now superseding silos—and happy the farmer who has had confidence in this plan for ensuring a Biipply of "brown hay," as silo forage is called by the Germans. The quantity of forage lost by waiting for the appearance of the sun to achieve the making of the hay, and that never appeared, is incalculable. And it is so simple and inexpensive to preserve green grass, clover, vetches, rye, &g., stacked in the open air, while at the same time guaranteeing a provision of nutritious and palatable food. Uf course, on large farms where the Reynolds or Johnston tackle can be economically employed, such a system will be adopted, and then there may be no limit to the dimensions of the stack. But on the Continent this cannot be, as the vast majority of holdings are relatively small —not commercial farms. Forage cut aud loft under rain on the field is left for fodder. The moiety of its nutritive elements will bo washed aw ay, for analysis shows that about 50 per cent, of its nitrogenous matter disappears. It is M. Rouviere, of the Tarn, that has most distinguished himself by success in open air or stack silago. He selects any site, ] provided it bo horizontal, then he pegs off a rectangular figure, of which the small end will be oue-eighth narrower than the planks intended to roof the stack. If the planks arc 12 foet long the width of the stack must not bo more than 10J feet; the remaining 18 inches are intended to form two eaves, 9 inches long-, on each side of the stack to allow the rain to drop into an open trench 10 inches deep and wide, running round the stack and emptying' into soruc reservoir or g-enoral outflow. The length of the rectangle will depend on the quantity of forago to be stacked. On the site thus marked off the forage will bo regularly piled in horizontal layers. For the sides the workmen ought to form folds with the stuff as if making bundles of hay. This will impart solidity to tho sides. The latter, till the required height bo attained, ought to be firmly built, so as to keep the centre three feet lower. Later, when tho mass settles down and the sides form themselves, the centre can be filled up to tho centra of tho edges; or, better still, made a little convex, to facilitate rain running off. If the stack can rest against tho wall, so much the better. In forking tho stuff into position, , it is well to causo the carts to empty the

forago nltornntoly on each side, to guard against, any possible leaning of tho in ahp The planks ought to be an inch thick, and placed, of course, crossways, so as to allow their ends not, to project nine inches over the sides. After the first Inyer of planks, lay-a second to cover joints, jm-t as in slating. To keep tho planks in position, nail a narrow flip of wood down on them in a line with the edge of the the Stack, arid do tho same in the centre by means of two wider slips, fastening (.ho latter themselves by a slender coupling hold-fast. This wooden roofing will have sufficient flexibility to allow tho weights to press uniformity. The latter may be blocked of t-tone so compiled that they will represent n pressure of 12 owt. to tho square yard. All tho secret of silage, whether in trench or f-tack, consists in shutting or squeezing out the air ; uniformity of pressure secures this effectually. All the stones need not be placed in position lit once ; an interval of one or two days may be allowed to permit tho heap settling down. It hi not tho .slightest consequence if tho forage be wet. jTo open the stuck, remove three or four of the planks, according to the width of the cut intended, and the ration required. A hay knifo will perform tho cutting or even a sharp old spade. Where stones are not to bo had, bricks, &c., will do, or balks of timber kept lightened down by chains. On opening tho stack, at the end of two, three or six months, this "brown hay " will emitan agreeable odor, recalling that of honey or stewed plums • the " preserve " wiU have a kind of pea-lumpiness if pressed between the finsors. It is tho brown colour that marks tho desired stage of fermetation, What are tho changcs that the forage undergoes in the stack or in the silo ? The air well excluded by the requisite uniform pressure, a portion of the starchy matters is transformed into sugar, augmenting that naturally in the forage plants ; the sugar ferments, and simultaneously with the production of small quantities of vinons spirit, some others are formed, which commnuicate to this mass its odoriferous properties and savory taste, qualities that after a few days make the feed so acceptable with stock. The nitrogenous and fatty matters undergo no change. In the course of four or five days, when tho animals bccome habituated to the food, they will eat it greedily. In the case of milch cows, the yield of milk will diminish during the first three days, after which the normal yield will be resumed, while being of richer quality. If very superior milk bn desired, cotton cake, oats, liuseed, with 2 oz. of salt, and some chopped hay can be added with profit. Tho open air silage has the advantage over the silo that it requires no expense for construction, and M. Risler, a pupil of Chemist Muntz, asserts from repeated analyses that the stack is superior in quality to the covered silage. The former system is thus especially adapted for small farmers ; it will save, in wet seasons like the present, their grass from rotting, and enable the aftermath in ordinary times to be similarly preserved. Haymaking expenses are thus avoided. The well fermented forage, the "brown hay," will weigh about G cwt. per cubic yard. The temperature will at first run up from 140 to 158 deg. Fahr. ;and when the oxygen has been expelled, the mass will cool down gradually to 104 deg., and remain at that temperature for a long time. According to Pasteur's discoveries, 122 deg. of heat suffiec to destroy the vitality of the ferment germs. There is no waste on the outside of the stack farther than a depth of 4 in., a& with ordinary stacks of hay.