FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2698, 26 October 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

High-priced Cows,—At a sale of Jersey cattle at New York two cows fetched £400 and £420 respectively, while the others fetched over £300 apiece. The Channel Islands cattle at the Winds' show were nnre in number of all the exhibits, being an entry of 434—nearly double that ot the shorthorns, next in numerical force. The Si'AKKow : Unqualified Condemnation - —Tho Department of Agriculture at Washington lias issued a report regarding the Eunrliali sparrow. The report shows that from the few b'rds colonised at 16 parts of the United States —between 50 and 60—they have spread over every state in the Union east of the Mississippi and some points to the west. The weight of testimony taken on the subject is against the sparrow, and shows it is injurious to grain, fruits, grasp, &c, and drives off other birds, while it is not a destroyer of insects. Making E(;i; Siieu.s.—A flock of 100 hens produce in egtr shells about 1371b. of chalk siniiHfilly, and yot not a pound of tho substance, and perhaps not, even an ounce, may exist around the farm house within the circuit of their feeding ground*. The materials of thu manufacture arc found in tho food consumed, and in tho fitiud, pebbly stones, brick dust, bits of bones, fee, which lions and other birds :iro continually picking from tho earth. The instinct is keen for these apparently iumitritious mid refractory substances, and they are devoured with as eager a relish as tho cereal grains or insects. If hens are confined to bnnis or outbuildingit is obvious that tho egg-producing machinery cannot bo kejit l"iig in notion, uulosh tho materials tor tho shells are supplied in nmplu abundance. The I'ltoDiuiK of Individuals —It. has been estimated that ouch labouring agricultural producer actually produce!*, on tho average eight times us much us ho consumes. If this be true, ami yet he finds the result of his labour only sulTi cient to securo to him a bare living, it follows that thero must bo a great inequality in prices, and that the unjuH ratio in prices between what he consumes and what he produces must average S to 1. This great disparity is brought about by the custom, by which tho producer disposes of all his produce to the speculative class, which brings a strong and constant uureleoting preßsuro to bear on him towards lowering prices. Ho purchises all he consumes from the speculative class also, allowing them to dictate prices ; hence tho friction, the leakage, the loss. He produces nil he can and turns it over to the speculator, who gives him in return u buro subsistence—that is, all his brute nature needs, and tho presumption is, on the part of tho speculator, that the producer shall be satisfied. Cuke FiiK Potato Disease.—Experiments made in various partsof France have served to prove in the most positive manner that the potato disease may be checked by the use of mixtures containing sulphate of copper, provided these be applied to the plant before the disease betrays its presence upon the leaves, the application being preventive rather than remedial. Two preparations are employed, either of which is efficacious. The one, boudlic bonlclaisc, is made by dissolving lib of sulphate of copper (bliiestonc or blue vitriol) in 10 gal. of water, and stirring into this solution a mixture of 31b of fat lime, with four pints of water. The other, can celeste, is obtained by dissolving lib. of copper iu 4 pints of boiling water, and adding, after cooling, 2 pints of ammonia solution ; tec whole is then poured into 10 gal. of water. Whichever mixture may bo employed, the important point is to distribute it at ouce over the leaves of the growing potatoes. Subsequent applications may be made as may be deemed necessary, the progress of the malady iu adjacent districts being the eipnal for greater activity. By the use of this method, fields yet unattached will escape the visitation, and the same means will be found effective in dealing with tomato disease.

Us'FAVOURAJiLE OjIXIOX OX THE FaCTOHV Sv.STlOt OF BtJTTER-MAKrXG IX Ireland.—Lord Limerick writes to a Cork paper in reference to the statement of Mi , T. Carroll, head inspector of Glasnevin Model Farm, on the butter factory system in Ireland. At one time, liis lordship says, lie was a great advocate of the factory system in Ireland, but, from what he has seen of its working, he agrees with Mr Carroll, that it will not be for the interest of the fanning class generally to patronise it. He knows a factory where the farmers have been selling new milk for 3Jd per gallon, aud the man that had good milk got only the same price as the man with inferior milk. It was strange also that factory butter did so little at the late Cork Agricultural Show ; very few, if any, of the prizes were taken by them, aud one factory in the county of Limerick, receiving 3000 gallons a day, gr-t nothing, nor was its butter looked at a second time, Lord Limerick advocates the establisement of markets for the sale of butter in important centres in the South; and he believes this, with the

training of the fanners' daughters in the Munster Dairy School, will do more to improve the make of butter, and serve the material interests of the farmers, than any other system.

How They Wacik Wai: Against LvSEcra in California.* Orcharuk.—The Journal of Horticulture supplies the following written by Tomahawk" :—"The business of fruit proving in California has assumed such tremendous " proportions within the last 10 years that wo saw plainly that a vigorous polioy must be pursued in combating theso enemies to horticultural civilisation. It is customary to spray our orchards thoroughly in the winter with a strong caustic solution as follows :—.Ub of caustic soda, Alb of crude commercial potash, ogals. of water ; to bo applied hot, using a force pump with brass cylinders and a fipray nozzle attachment. The whole apparatus is arranged on a two-horse waggon driven down between the rows of trees, there being two separate hose and nozzles so that one side of two rows of trees, is sprayed at once. Four men aro required—one to drive, one to pump and two to spray. Tliie makes progress rapid —quite an object when 500 or 1000 acres have to be gone over in one orchard. For peaches or apricots this formula should be altered to read '• Sgnls. of water ;" pears, tipples, and plums will Rtand tho full strength. This wash will kill the eggs of almost any insect, and leaves tho bark in a smooth and healthy condition." The Champion Cow at the Paris Exhibition. —A. Paris correspondent writes as follows :—" Malines is a district whose farmers have the speciality to purchase the best dairy stock that can be had in Holland, to keep the Paris dairies supplied weekly with fresh animals. It is found that a tnileh cow after two seasons in a city byre becomes unfit for milking purposes. The animal then displays symptoms of delicacy—in a word, becomes consumptive, and the sanitary inspectors condemn such stock instantly. It was aM. Michels, of Malines, who carried off the "blue ribbon " for a Dutch milch cow, purchased as a heifer in Holland. It was a perfect animal. It was awarded the first prize of 400f. and a gold medal in the class of milch cows aged 4 years and above. It carried off Hie prize—an objit (Tart, value 500f.—ae the best milch cow in the division. She obtained the prize of honour, value 1500f., as the most perfectly formed animal, and was, for testing the latter, compared alongside a " blue ribboned " Durham bull; aud, finally, her presence, her beauty and her excellence secured the prize of uOOf. for the best lot of milch cows.