FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2572, 5 January 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

TRADING BrLLS. —It seems strange that anyone should bo so thoughtless as to get in front of ii bull ho was leading , , but that is what a man from Upper Maft'ra did while leading a bull at Traralgon, with tho result that the animal rushed him and tossed him over its head, of con roe injuring him severely. This may suffice as a warning to any of our readers who have not had much experience with bulls.

The Dairying or the World,—The number of cows in- milk or in calf is 1,910,000 for England and Wales, 3!)o,000 for Scotland, and 1,400,000 for Ireland, whereas Denmark has nearly 1,000,000, Norway 75,000, Sweden 1,500,000, Holland 1.000,000, France 7,2.)0,000. In other words, Great; Britain has wnly 1 cow to every 12 cultivated acres, Norway has 1 to 4, Sweden about 1 to S, Denmark 1 to 6iJ, Germany 1 to 10, although she has twice as many cultivated acres as Great Britain. The factory system is preferred, chiefly as a means of encouraging the farmer to produce milk, which he certainly will not do under present circumstances, if he has to stand the risk of the trade in large cities, or to devote most of hi 3 time and that of his family to the manufacture of butter and cheese!. With a factory at hand, good prices, little trouble, and a regular monthly cheek, the whole thing looks different.—San Francisco Chronicle.

The Wolselkv Sueei , - S/rnAP.ixct MACHINE. —" Bruni," in tho Australasian, writes :—" During the past shearing season evidence has been plentiful as to the successful working of the Wolselry shenviatf machine, but the most pronounced statement in favour of the mfchiue oornos from Air H. Ricketson, of Arotula and Curualla estates, New South Wales. Krora the report by the special representative of the Pastoral Times I le.'ini that on both properties there were 83,000 sheep shorn, of which half were shorn with the Wolseley machines. The average clip from tho two flocks in previous years has ranged from 700 t« 740 bales, but this year the total has been raised to 1000 bales. From the report we learn that Mr Ricketson is of opinion that had the whole of the flock been shorn with the machines he would have been £5000 better off. It is seldom that any invention has proved such a ptonounced success ou the first trial as the Wolseley shearing machine."

A Plague of Grasshoppers in Fea.nx'l!.—Some idea may be formed of the magnitude of the plague of grasshoppers which has visited France this year, from the fact that in one single

canton—that of Goron, in the departmeu of Mayenue—l,694,ooo lb. of these in sects, representing 92.500,000 in number

have been killed, filling 229 tumbrils,

each of the capacity of a cubic yard, Thoy were collected by women am children in the early moraine at a cost o: £GOO ; aiid it is estimated that by this means a loss of £80,000 was averted fron the canton. Henceforth it is proposec that the teachers and scholars in all tin S til to schools throughout the countrj should make war upon the grasshopper* morning and eveniug during the season and should participate in the rewarded a lb. — paid for their destruction. A: there are nearly 4,000,000 of. ehildrei receiving public instruction in Franeithe grasshoppers are likely to have a bat time of it. KxfOJlT OK POTATOKS TO GrKA , Britain'.'—Potatoes have been occasion ally imported from Great Britain, bu till recently none that wo arc aware o have been exported to the old country until last August, when Mr Georp Stevenson, of J-j. Stevenson .incl .-'ons procured a ton of Brown's Hive: potatoes from Mr K. Parks, of Kochford. in the Laneefield district. These weri packed in fruit cases, and shipped h) R.M.S. Arcadia. By the last mail, M'i Stevenson received a reply from hi: brother in London, to whom they wen consigned, and who states that the; arrived in splendid condition, many o the cases not having ;l bad one in them and none contained more than two 01 three. Their quality was found to In excellent, beautifully floury and of gooi flavour. It is satisfactory to know thai potatoes can be carried safely to otn antipodes, but there is little hope of i profitable business in them being tfouc, as potatoes were only worth £4 a ton ai the time those would arrive.—Melbourne Leader. The Miumjra Irrigation Colony. —It appears that Mr Fiuky, proprietMof the Wyuna Station, in the Goulburii Valley, has been making statements regarding the Mildura enterprise which have given umbrage to the Messrs Chaffey. According to the Gouiburn Valley Yeoman, MfFinlay, speaking on the evening after the Tatura show, said that ho had visited Mildura, and was greatly disappointed. Ho warned people not to bo misled by the glowing reports circulated about the colony. He saw stock dying by hundreds for want of water, and lie did not see a cereal growing there. It took a week to get to Mildura, and when one got there there was nothing to see. Victorian people did not want Yankees to come out here and show them what to do. The water in the '' only canal" they had made would not run, and he did not consider the land at Mildura worth £20 an aero, or anything like it. Mr Challey told him that cemented canals would be made, but refused to say, when asked, where the canals were going to be. In consequence of this he considered the scheme was not worthy of public confidence. According to the Mildura Cultivator, the Messrs Challey are preparing to bring an action against Mr Finlay. A Tarasaki Dairy Faism. —The Whakamaia correspondent of tho lliiweni Star, writes as follows : —"I next wended iuy way in the direction of Mr Putcivoii's celebrated dairy farm. I was fortunate enough to find that fjeiitlcmim at home, an! received a cordial invitation to luuu round his plaoo. Mr Pefccr.-;on informed ma that at present he was milking

over fifty cows, find certainly hi< stock shed is well worth a visit, some 120 ft. in length with n broad pathway down Iho centre carpeted with clean straw, along either side are tho .sialic for tho oaltle. Here I was shown iitj ingenious rluviue invented by Mr Peterson by which Ihs cows nan nil be fastened up to let loose at once by merely pulling n string. From hero I went into tho engine house where a four-horse powor entrino was working a De-Laval Cream Separator turning out per hour, The " ohuri) " next met my view, in which 7011)3. of butter are made at one time, but Mr Peterson informed me thatoliecseniaking at previiit pny.-s butter than butter, and ho mikes 7uwfc, per week for tin: Sydney mar.Lot — IOJ-il per Hi. being the price ho commands—-the "loaf" "cheese" being the most in demand. Tn bis store-room.-; were some 500 or (i()0 clieases ready for ox port. 1 examined the cool cellars, tho wanning troughs, the packing rooms, the a ''ens, &c., &c. , but to describe these minutely would occupy more space than you ctin at present spare."

Tub Fackixg ok Fruit fob Export.— The Agricultural Bureau of South Australia recently forwarded a request to the Agent General for information as to the condition in which shipments of fruit fiom South Australia ai'iived in England. Sir Arthur Blyth has sent out the following report from Messrs Keeling and Hunt, fruit trader, London:—"During the year 1886 we several times attended the Colonial Exhibition at the rpquest of the Avrent-Generiil and commissioners for Now South Wales to inspect parcels of oranges sent over experimentally ; some also reached us for sale, and durimr the year ISB7 wo received rather large quantities for stile, which proved on being landed to bo of varying quality and condition. Some were good, well selected, and carefully packed in clean white tissue paper, while cthcis were very irregular and roughly and loosely packed, i'.-irt of Iho fruit was fresh, .but a hirjre portion provd to be old, leathery-skinned, and acid in flavour ; also mixed as regards size, while some were suffering from the effects of frost. We have during the present season received a largo quantify of applets from Tasmania, many of which were also frozen, Some being coated with ico for three or four days after being landed. We called the attention of the .-hipping companies to this fact at the time, and now hear that the matter is being piesaed on the other side with a view to obtain some rebatemant, as well as to secure |for the future an average I even temperature of from 40 dog. to 50 dog., never letting it reach freezing point, as fruit once frozen is absolutely spoilt. lie apples—Wo experienced a good demand for well coloured, showy kinds, such as ribston, pearmains and and other varieties. Several styles of packing were tried—some in paper and straw, some in chaff, some in rice husks ; all these tend to heat the fruit. Hence our advice i.s to select as i cards size, &c, carefully wrapt iu white tissue paper J fonce round) and pack tightly in the box I to prevent the fruit chafing during sliipI ment or on the voyage, or when being lauded. The first two or three shipments arrived in good condition and sold well, hut directly the frozen fruit was scon the buyers lost confidence, and wo had to open and classify each box." Frozen Meat Trade : Lambs £4 aHead. — Messrs Nelson Bras'. frozen mutton report, dated London, November 3, maintains tho melancholy character which distinguishes their monthly statements of the state of the meat trade. They have always something to report to account for low prices and a depressed market. Sometimes people won't eat meat ; at other times they are eating enormous quantities of imported stuff from the continent, and won't look at frozen carcassc.i ; then it is the game season, when the smart folks of the West End of London, whose custom Messrs Nelson alone seem t» court, only touch grouse or pheasants, such liko delicacies. Last November it appears there were in stock what is described as an enormous quantity, US,OOO carcasses, which completely glutted the market. We are told " tho supply of Scotch and English mutton is to day rather shorter, and couspqucntly values are slightly improved as compared with recent quotation.':, but this has now unfortunately no influence upon the value of frozen mutton owing to tho enormous stocks of the latter " " Enormous fiddlesticks," wo are inclined to say. A system has yet to be discovered of bringing the consumer and the mutton together. When lambs are being sold at close upon £i a head, it seems rather queer that New Zealand mutton cannot be quitred at 4 r Jd per lb. We take the following from a London paper of the same date as Messrs Nelson's report; — " At Manchester fair on Tuasday last Mr J. Harris sold by auction 10). wether lambs from Mr George Judd's flock for £397 10s, or an average of 7H.s 9d each ; also 101 from Mr C. King's for £371 II", or an average of 71s 2d each ; also IC/1 from Mr F. R. Hunt's for £333 ss, or an average of GOs u'd each. We have a great, and, as we hope, wholesome terror of the word "unprecedented," but with the exception of 200 lambs sold at the same fair in October, 1882, for £823, or over 80s a head, wo have never heard of these prices being equalled. The cry of the present day is all for enrly maturity, and it is to ho noted that none of the lambs sold laet Tuesday were over ten months old."—Napier Telegraph.