FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Hungarian Wheat : A Goon Cropper. —A new kind of wheat, called Hungarian wheat, has proved under good management to be a prolific variety. Two pounds of seed was sown in ISS7 by Mr Wilkinson, of Thoruley, Arcadia, and yielded 196 lb of seed, of which 105 lb was sown on 3f acres, and yielded 16' bags of clean grain, the sample being excellent.

Butter-Making : Trru Old Way and the New.—Although butter from separated milk, being well made, has an inviting appearance, and therefore brings a high price in the market, it would appear that there is something wanting in the flavour which causes a preference to be given by connoisseurs to butter made in the ordinary way. We have heard of parties in Melbourne and also in New Zealand who are able to recognise the separator butter from that made by the ordinary method by the scent, and state their preference for the latter. Professor Brown has stated that the dairy farmers in Ontario, Canada, have given up the cream separators and gone back to the old system. The reason given by scientists for the lack of flavour is that time is not allowed for the oxygen of the air to act upon the sugar in the milk, which it changes into lactic acid, and it is that which gives the true flavour to the butter.—Leader.

Selling Cattlk dy Weight.—The .Journal of the Agricultural Society of Victoria contains, besides meetings of the Society, articles—original and selected — among which is one of much interest, entitled "Kothamstead and its Work," being the result of an interview with Sir J. B. L.iwes by Mr F. Peppin, who has been in England for the benefit of his health, and who reports a very interesting conversation, in the course of which Sir John spoke as follows on selling cattle by weight. Showing a number of young bulls just bought he said :—" That leads me to one point which I cannot get farmers in this country to adopt. I mean the buying and scllingof stock by weight. The present system may be all right for the butcher, but the farmer loses heavily. He never knows how much, and therefore is indifferent. If the butcher buys au animal too dear, he finds out his mistake ere the week is out, and takes care to be on the safe side next time. I have shown how the real value of any animal can be told with the minimum of trouble ; but it is of no use, and our farmer prefers to go in his old ruts, because his father and grandfather have taken the same way before him. Americans are splendid pupils, readily adopting new ways; but here the reverse is the case."

Fruit Evaporating in America : A Great Industry.—Referring to the great development of the fruit-growing industry in America, the Daily News, of 12th December, says :—" Mr Pidgeon lias published in a separate form his striking account of Fruit Evaporation in America, which lately appeared in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The pamphlet gives a clear and concise account of the great fruit drying industry, which now forms so large a part of the occupation of a Now England farmer. When the Western States began to come forward as wheat producers, the older States upon the Atlantic seaboard were undersold and ousted from the markets, just as our English farms are being driven out of competition. The Yankee farmers, however, being their own landlords, promptly took to raising fruit, vegetables, eggs and milk. The wheat fields became orchards, the corn mills have become factories, and so prosperity again reigns. But if it were not for the fruit driers a very largo proportion of the fruit crop would be left to rot. As it is, all surplus fruit, chiefly apples, but also peaches, plums, cherries and raspberries, goes to the evaporating apparatus. This is generally exceedingly simple. An iron stove stands at the bottom of a tall, upright wooden casing, up which the stream of hot air is conducted while the products of combustion pass away by a separate flue. The wooden ease, which is called the ' drier,' is fitted with a number of sliding trays made of open wire netting. The fruit is pared, cored and sliced, and then placed upon the tray and rapidly dried in tho hot ascending air. In this way Mr Pidgeon states lib. of coal will evaporate its own weight of fruit. The apparatus is simple and cheap, and should prove a godsend to our Kentish fruit growers, who would be able to preserve their super-abundant fruit to sell at leisure."

Quarters and Centals.—The small degree of power possessed by Governments in the way of changing old established customs, says the "Man of Marklane," is curiously illustrated in the case of the_ Weights and Measures Act. Becoming law just 10 years ago, this legislative enactment was to establish uniformity on our exchanges and promote business in various ways. The quarter of 4Solb was to replace all other quarters, and sundry other changes were to take

place. Yet here we are in 1888 quoting English wheat as worth so much by the quarter of 5041b, as well as by tho statute quarter, while we have different foreign sorts sold by 4901b and by 5001b quarters. That go"d old monthly, the Agricultural Economist, quietly ignores the Government quarter altogether, and quotes English wheat per 5041b, and foreign wheat liy 4961b weight alone. Business men, in fact, are too busy to

introduce changes. The cental, the new standard which was to carry everything

before it, is maintained by Liverpool, but the only resultsof 10 years' indulgence in this practice seem to be that nobody exactly understands the Liverpool quotations, and the tables of imports, sales, stocks and the like have to be laboriously converted back into the old fashioned " quarters " before they can be added on to the London, Glasgow, or Dublin totals. The cental, however, has a great deal to be said in its favour; its general adoption would quicken reckonings and trade calculations in a very marked manner. The gist of tho matter, as already remarked, is the absence, in these buty times, of breathing space wherein to effect the necessary changes. This is the real drawback ; the conversion of old tables into the new standard might safely be left to statisticians.

Tun Crovs in South Australia.—ln a summary of the crop returns, furnished by a correspondent, the Adelaide Observer remarks ; —How great is the difference between the area sown and the area reaped will be apparent to any one who has glanced at the returns as they have been published by us. In one district, a small one it is true, not one acre was cut. In others the proportion reaped varied from two-thirds to a tenth, and in a few instances the stripper was put into tho whole of the crop. In some of the southern districts the whole of the crop lias been cut for hay. The average for wheat varies from 10 up to 25 bushels, and we fear the general average cannot exceed 4 bushels, and will probably be under it. A calculation of the surplus this will leave us we defer until the other returns are in. A marked feature of the reports thus far is the extraordinary fluctuation in the yield in the same districts, and where there are apparently no natural causes sufficient to account for it. Thus in the Hundred of Hart it ranges from 3 to 16 bushels, with an average of about 7. In Wirrega and Tatiara it varies from 4 to 25 bushels, with an average from 9 to 11 bushels. The best crops appear to have been in the south-eastern district, where, in the neighbourhood of Mount Gambier, the harvest is proving to be the best they have ever had, the yields being unexpectedly good, there being few below 20 bushels, while several run as high as 40 bushels per acre. But on the poor sandy soil to the north pud nor.h-east, adjacent to the Victorian border, the crops are so poor that some of them were not worth reaping.

The Englt.su Milling Trade.—The improvement in the English milling trade, says the "Man of Mark-Line," may already be spoken of as an accomplished fact. Within the past month soveral mills, which had been standing idle, have beeu re-opened, while some of the bigire-,t have been working night and day. The small shipments of flour from the United States constitute a leading cause of this improvement. Although but a thin? — comparatively speaking—of yesterday, the United States has already come to be regarded as able to send ns 1,000,000 bags of flour per month. September, as a matter of fact, did send 914,000 bags, and October 925,000 bags, but November shipments dropped to 389,500 bags, and the difference is already making itself felt. The English miller is recovering from his former scare, and with a spirited investment in improved mauhinery should be able to take full advantage of the present breathing space. I Bay " breathing space " advisedly, for it would be a grave mistake to allow a single unfortunate season to delude us as to the resources of the American north-west.

This astonishing fertile atid productive region, with its immense area of unexhausted soil, has for onco failed to supply the Minneapolis and Chicago millers with a sufficiency of good milliug and export, able flour. Another year it may be reversed; the north-west may have a superabundance of excellent wheat. In that case, the quantity sent us in the form of flour will again approach the level of 1,000,000 bags monthly, for the American flour has won extensive appreciation on this side of the Atlantic especially certain patent and fine grades.