FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2578, 19 January 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Fat Stock Chami'ioxship. —It is announced that the championship of the great Chicago fat stock show in November was won by a 2-year-old Aberdeen Angus bullock. Ivoiii' From Potatoes.—Much of the so-called ivory now in use is simply potato. A good, sound potato, washed in diluted sulphuric acid, then boiled in the same solutiou, and then slowly dried, is all

ready to be turned into buttons, poker chips, and innumerable other things that ivory was used for once upon a time. Evergreen Ryegrass. —A variety of ryegrass is mentioned by a writer in the Agricultural Gazette, who gives it the name of Evergreen Italian Ryegrass, and states that, in an experimental plot, this grass, both this year and last, was fur ahead, though all had been cut twice this year ; this yielded far more than the others, and, in former years also, far more than any other variety of ryegrass, the seed stalks being fewer, and the green succulent leaves much more luxuriant than any other variety, It might therefore be worthy of being imported. The Spectroscope and Weather Forecasts.—lt appears that the spectroscope may be utilised in foretelling changes of weather. Mr Piazsci Smith, late Astroinoner Royal for Scotland, has been experimenting in that direction, and in the middle of September he stated that the aerial spectroscope showed him that an almost total change had taken place in the physical constitution of the upper regions of the atmosphere. The moisture elements had all but entirely vanished, whereas during last month and this the spectroscope had shown no end of rain bands which were terrible to behold. The prediction was fully verified, for since that date there has been a long course of fine weather in Great Britain. Training Vicious Horses.—A new and simple method of training' vicious hor.-es was exhibited at West Philadelphia. The first trial was made with a kicking and bunking mare, which, the owner said, had allowed no rider on her buck for five years She became tame in about us many minutes, and allowed herself to be riddeu about without a sign of her former habits. The means by which the animal was tamed was by passing a piece of light rope round the front jaw of tho mare, just above the upper teeth, the rope being crossed at the back of the neck. It was claimed that no hor.se treated in this manner will kick and jump, and that after an animal has been so dealt with a fete times it will abandon its vieinus ways for ever. Never Pasturb Alfalfa.—Alfalfa should never be pastured. In the first

place it will pay better to cut it and feed it to stock. There is an immense waste in having a lot of stock in on a rank growth of alfalfa. The waste is more than what is eaten. The great objection, however, is that if pastured the weeds are allowed to grow, while the alfalfa is eaten down. It is evident that in this way the weeds soon take the field, but if it is cut the whole is taken down together, and when given a fair chance alfalfa will not be rooted out by any weed. If a person has even as many as 10 or twelve head of stock to feed he will find that it will pay big wages to mow it and haul it out to them. A field will feed three times as much stock and save the grass from being killed out by weeds. —Colusa Sun.

Exhibition' of Calikorxiax Produce. —lu order to make the productions of California better known to the world, the fruit growers of that state propose to establish an Exhibition in Kurope for the purpose. A writer on the subject says : ■' The trouble with California is that we raise more than we can consume and more than we can find a market for, and we have reserve lsiml, millions of acres of which is still in sheen pasture or lying idle, which, when put into cultivation] will grow enough olives, figs, lemons, oranges, peachus, raisins and wine to supply a goodly portion of this mundane sphere, and we propose to hold an exhibition in one of the cities of Europe of canned and dried apricots, peaches, almonds, raisins, dried wine grapes, hops, honoy, wax, hides, and last, but not least, an unlimited supply of unadulterated pure wines, olive oil, Waudy nuts, canned salmon, &c."

Advantages ix Keeping Sheep.—lt has been proven that sheep husbandry, I carried on, will maintain the fertility of the soil indefinitely. If the manure is all saved, as it should be, and properly applied, the loss by fertilising matter carried off in the wool and mutton sold will be so small that it will not be noticeable, and the productive power of the soil will be kept up. There are other advantages in favour of keeping sheep, too ; among these the fact that the income from the flock comes in twice a year—from the sheep and lambs sold in the early spring and the wool at a later period. The returns from a flock, if only of moderate size, will be found very opportune to the farmer, coming, as they do, at a time when he often needs ready money. Sheep are specially valuable, too, as gleaners, gathering their living in a great measure from what other kinds of stock will not eat.—Journal of Horticulture.

Ex port of Pork fbom Russia.—An Odessa telegram states that the Russian Government are very desirous of encouraging the export of salt pork, and last year they sent a Commissioner to England to gather information as to the requirements of the English market, and how bacon ought to be cured. He recently returned to Russia, and now, probably acting on the information he put before the Government, the Minister of Crown Lands has petitioned the Minister of Finance to grant to those who will devote themselves to this trade through the Imperial Bank an advance of GO per cent of the local market prices against delivery of bill of lading, which the bank will remit to the Russian consul at the place where the sale is to take place. Should tho Russian consul not be able to obtain the limited price after a lapse of six months, the goods are to be sold under his directions by public auction. According to the latest statistics the number of hogs in Russia is 11,u00,000 and the importation of foreign hogs is strictly prohibited.

Smut in Oats and Baulky.—One- of the most important papers in tho new number of the Journal of tho lloyul Agri-

cultural Society is contributed by Mr Jensen on Smut in O.itS aud Barley, in which he makes statements which show that farmers are great losers by the common pliin of dressing seed wheat for the prevention of rust nnd hunt. Mr Jensen says that in some experiments made in Denmark he found that an ordinary dressing of sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) killed some of the seed, and injured much uf the rest, or of the resultant plant-*. Hi! obtained 30 per cent, more grain and 23 per cent, more straw from a plot for whirh tho need had been soaked in hot water to destroy the fungus than from another plot, the seed of which hud been dressed wiih sulphate of copper. He objects to all chemical preparations of the kind lor dressing seed corn, and recommends, as proved to ho effect mil, tho souking of the grain for five minutes in water heated to a torn] erature of 127 deg. to 133 deg. Fahrenheit. In the oa.-e ot barley, for reasons given in the article, a day's previous steeping in cold water is ad-

vised. Cooperation in Fjianch. —The agri-Riilturi-tH of France aru rapidly syndicating for tho purchase of seeds and manures ; they have learned to know that union is strength from a like principle behi'-r applied to implements. Bankers, who would hesitate to lend to simple individual.--, display no difficulty in the matter of advances when dc:ilinjr with a syndicate. This plan of agricultural co-operation in very general in Italy. Another good feature in the syndicate movement is that where they delegate one of thoir members to visit the practical working of a new method of culture, or of stock management in different parts of tho country. Indeed, it is plainly hinted that syndicates will take up thexubject of experimental firms on their own account, for testing practical predentin" advantages especially suited to their locality. It, could also be made si depof, fur associated breeding stock, for implements to be owned in common, and to raise seeds for the members. Beyond doubt, the terrible fight farmers bei'3 have had to sustain during the past toil yeirs is cornpolling them to make a final effort before going definitely under. This syndicate movement will in time absorb theso associations for the joint disposal of produce, ■whether butter, cheese, poultry, fruit or metit, for there are eia:ns Mint farmers contemplate founding , and feeding , town butcheries.

Cheap Wheat-growing.—An Agriculturist in Russia sends to a contemporary a somewhat astonishing account of the cost of wheat-growing in the province of Riga. With such prices an lie drives, the statement of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, that wheat-growing, as a rule, lias not paid at recent price*, seems almost incredible. He states that three acres of wheat cost him only £3 ISs 2d to grow, while the produce, nineteen bushels per acre, realised £6 19s Gd, leaving a profit of £3 Os 4d on the three acres, after paying rent and all other expenses. The low csi-t of production is accounted for by the wages paid to labourers, regular hands getting ouly Gd a day, and extra men, in summer, 10d for 14 hours' work, exclusive of meal times. As for horses' keep, it was put down at od a day, grass land being free, so that the horses cost nothing during the summer. The carting and spreading of manure are put at Is 5A per acre, two ploughing!* at la lid each, harvesting at Is Bd, and thrashing at Is 4d. The heaviest amounts are those charged for rents and taxes, 8s Id an acre, and for seed 5s -Id. No manure is debited, because straw is not credited. Management, repairs of building, and repairs and renewal of machinery are charged in the total, but not interest on capital. Loss from Warble Flces in En'bland. —Mr J. McGillivray, of the Newcastle Hide Inspection Society, read a paper on " Warbles in Hides " before a meeting of the Newcastle .b'armers' Club, in which he stated that the direct loss that was caused to the cattle owners of this country by the ox warble fly was from £5,000,000 to £7,000,008 sterling per annum ; that this loss recurring annually with the regularity of the seasons, was really greater than that caused hy many epidemics ; (hat it was wholly preventable ; aud that each cattle owner, at nominal expense, had the means at his disposal of entirely protecting himself from it. In the Newcastle hido markets they inspected, in rouud numbers, 100,000 bides every year. Of these, fully 60,000 were more or Ipss warbled, reuisling an

average of 5s ea;;h in consequence . Thus in Newcastle hide markets alone in one year the hide? sold for £15,000 less thiin they would bring were they clear of warbles. The galloping of attacked cuttle during the hot mouths must prevent them from feeding properly, whilst in case of dairy cattle the results were still more serious. Mr Richard Slrattan estimated the loss por head from this cause at not loss than £1, and Mr Bynl, Spurston Hall, placed the loss on feeding cattle at £2, and more on dairy cows. All kinds of cattle—old and young, fat and lean—wern attacked by the fly indiscriminately, lintomologists were agreed that the fly did not travel far from where it eame to life, and as the fly came only from the magsrot, and the maggot was found nowhere but in horned cattle, it was clear that if they destroyed the grub in the cattle they were going to the root of all the evil. Even in tho worst case, if proper measures were taken during the hot weather to protect the animals, there need not be, and there ought not to be, a single eirg deposited on their backs,

Nitrocenous Manurks. — Professor Wagner is looked upon in Germany as an agricultural authority. Hβ has published a book on the increase of the produce of the soil through the rational use of nitrogenous manures. Its chief characteristic is a condemnation of some of the

newest theories and an advocacy of some of the oldest. He has a strong bi-lief in the efficacy of ploughing in green crops as the best method of supplying nitrogen. The practice is a very ancient one, but"the arguments by which he supports it are now advanced for the first time. H* divided cultivated plants into two classes

—those which are collectors of nitrogen and those which are consumers. In the first category he includes leguminous plants, such as peas, beans, vetches and

lupins, as well as clovers, and in the second the cereals, grains, turnips and flax. He contends that the leguminous plants have the power of using the free nitrogen of the air for tho purpose of nutrition, while the cereals are able to

take next to nothing from the store of nitrogen in tho air, but waste the

litrogen of the soil, and must take

from it, in the form of nitrates, all tho nitrogen they contain. He therefore argues that the green crops to be ploughed in should consist of the legumino«e. These, he says, aro able to supply upwards of 1801b. of atmospheric nitrogen per acre per annum continuously for a

period of three years. If this be the case, the mode of supply is certainly easy. All that is required is to secure the full development of the nitrogen collectors by supplying them with sufficient water, phosphoric acid, potash and limo, so that they may exert their powers upoa the constantly passing stream of air—they then provide nitrogen for themselre*. These ideas aro at variance with those which find favour at llothamsted, where the professors teach and the students believe that the nitrogen of the air can only be fixed by the mineral constituents of the soil, and not by the growing plants. In their anxiety for tho good name of a pet hypothesis, tho theorists are apt to overlook facts. To the farmer it does not matter whether tho collecting power _ rests in tho plant or hi tho soil. The leguminous plants are highly nitrogenous, more so than the cereals, and yet they do not exhaust the soil to tho same extent. The fact is generally admitted, and it goes a long way to suppert the views of tho German professor. It points to the propriety of selecting them as tho green crop to be ploughed in. No one thinks that the cereals should bo grown and ploughed in to prepare the soil for peas and beans. Tho soil may bo able to supply itsolf with nitrogen from the atmosphere, but the

nattiro of the plant has evidently something to do with the operation, nnd if the leguminosa; have a beneficial influence, it does not mailer wl.ethcr they take tho iiitriijfi-ii from Die airor merely predispose the mil to appropriate it. If the fact be tliiitii beneficial influence is exerted by tho pl;inu, it t-hwild not be disregarded merely because it docs not tally with orthodox teaching, a true theory should explain the f.iolinstoad of beingatvariance with it.