FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2802, 28 June 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Seeds to a Pound and Acre. —Foxtail contains 900,000 seeds to the pound, cocksfoot 580,000, aud meadow fescue 318,000. A bushel of Italian rye-grass, weighing 251b , contains 7£ million seeds, and this is the quantity usually sown per acre in a one-year ley. As the important point to be determined in a prescription for a mixture of grass seeds is the relative proportion of the varieties, the percentage as well as the examples of prescriptions for permanent pastures, the number of seeds per acre varies from about W to 22 millions, and the weight 401b.

Site for an Oruiiahd.—ln the selection of sites for fruit plantations a raistako .is very frequently made. Although shelter is desirable ; it is better to plant on comparatively high ground than in hollows where mists are common, such as are too frequently selected because of the soil being fertile, and protection from wind being , there obtained. Trees planted in the latter situations often grow too luxuriantly, and the wood fails to ripen, besides which frost is most fatal in a damp atmosphere. Two orchards in one parish weie planted, one on a level with the water-course of the distript, arid the other on ground a hundred feet higher. In the former the trees grew and blossomed freely, but the promise was destroyed by frost and no remunerative return was obtained; in the latter, being above %he fog line, the results were satisfactory aud profitable.

Preserving VEqKTAUujs. — Oarrots aud mangplqs should be taken up as soon as growth has aeased in autumn ; the present is a good time, but if left till rain falls they would start into fresh growth which would reduce their keeping properties. After they are dried they may be laid in ridges, not in very great bulk and simply covered with soil. Cabbages may be, aud are in. th,e STiie mannpr in countries where frosts arn severe, but in this climate it i-i better to dig them up, roots and all, aud lay, or plant them upright in deep trenches, the stem completely buried in the soil. We are not acquainted with any method by which tomatoes can be kept in a fresh Etate longer than pv tljreo WGoks. The ripe fruit ought to be cooked at once. Those unripe may be cut of): with a portion of stem and placed in a dry and rather warm room. Vegetable marrows and preserving melons should be placed in a dry cool room. You can cjo nqth,ing with green fjgs, as, they will noi ripen and are valueless.

HOW TO TbkAT AN INJURED KnKE. — When a horse goes down and outs through the skin of the knee, it is best to treat the wound carefully. The knee should be bent to the position in which the wound was received, so fhat c?aaper injuries ir,ay oqrrQspo.nfl v;ith the superficial, and a!} dirt, gravel, &0., should be washed out. There is no need to touch the wound, nov should it be probed about, as thero is risk of opening , cavities which have not been injured. Tho water should bo squeezed from abovo from a clean sponge, and aljcjvcd tp trickle gontly tf 4 rov)gh tl,B wound, Tho edges should be brought together by strips of plaster, collodion, or tow, dipped in a. spirituous solution of shellac. Pin sutures or stitches should never be used for wounded knees, as they are almost sure to be torn out, owing tp, m.ov;eraent of the jqirjfc, wh;le in sijy case they increase "the blsmisb. A bandage may be put on, and the head should be secured. If there is swelling , , and evident inflammation, this bandage should be removed and the parts dressed with a lotion of carbolic aqid— o»io drachm to each cmayfc of \/.ntet. Mv. HoT.iUr.vAY, M.P., and Co-oper-ative Faiohno.— Mr Holloway, M.P. for Mid-Gloucester, owns an estate and a thousand acres as Temple Guiting, on tho Cotteswolds, and ho is about to introduce a scheme of co-operative inxtain?, by -which, his employes will hnvie all to gain and nothing to lose. Tho rent is fixed at 7a 6d per acre (only a little more than a third at fivo jears ago), and the interest on capital exponded iu improvement} (at 5 poiioeiij;.) will as popicr.e, together 12s Gd p,er acre. The bailifi ana ktcurers will be p.aid the Vagea cf tie

district, and at the end of the year the profits will be divided amongst them in proportion to the wages they havo received. This profit will receive 5 per cent interest, find the loan would be paid off by degrees, until the whole capital employed upon the 1-ind will belong to the bailiff and labourers, when the annual profit will bo paid in cash, and Mr Hollowiiy's claim will bo for the rent only. In conclusion Mr Holloway snyn : " The effect of it will be to make every permanent labourer upon tho estate a mncJl farmor, with ample capital at five per cunt, interest, and at a rnorely nominal rental, with every advautago to bo derived from the best machinery and implement:', and with tho most economical appliances for marketing on a large scale, which such co-operation ennuos. If this management does not ensure the prosperity of all who work upon tho estate, then I am afraid farming upon the Cotteswolds will soon conio to an end." New Method ov Utilising Skim Mif.K.—The latest advance in the dairy world is tho discovery or a new mathod for utilising skim milk. The invention emanates from the Technical College, Sydney, and is fully described in a report to the Minister of Public Instruction. It appears that in April last, when Mr C. F. Jcannefet, a student of the agricultural classes, was visiting some of the butter factories of the Southern district, he saw the difficulties iu the way of using up the large mass of material discharged from the centrifugal machines each morning, and, having a fair general knowledge of the chemistry of milk and its various properties, it occurred to him that if the milk could be got into a portable form so that it could be carried cheaply, and without risk from souring or other form of decay, it would relieve the factories of what is really a trouble to many of them. A series of experiments were set on foot with the most gratifying results. The akimmed milk, it appears, is made up of 92 parts of water and 8 parts of solid matter. By a process of evaporation 70 parts of water can be satisfactorily removed by the new process, and the solid matter with 12 parts of water only remains, at about the consistency of treacle. In this form it is easily portable, of course, and used in combination with the various other food substances mentioned in the report, it becomes available in one form for cakes and fine bread of various kinds, and in another an excellent feed for live stock. The value of the discovery is therefore very great, not only to the dairy farmers, who have been puzzled hitherto to get rid ot the enormous quantities of skimmed milk left after their dairying operations are completed, but also to those by whom a valuable feed for live stock is not a thing to be despised.

The Bee's Sting a Useful Tool.— A. new champion has arisen to defend the honey bee from the obliquy under which it has always rested. Mr William F. Clarke, of Canada, claims to have discovered from repeated observations that the most important function of the bee's liting is not stinging. In a recent article he says : —" My observations and reflections have convinced me that the most important office of the bee's sting is that which is performed in doing the artistic cell work, capping the comb, and infusing the formic acid, by means of which honey receives its keeping qualities. As I said at Detroit, the sting is really a skilfully contrived little trowel, with which the bee finishes off and caps the cells when they are filled brimful of honey. This explains why honey extracted before it is capped over does not keep well. The formic acid has not been injected into it. This is done in the very act of putting the last touches on the cell work. As the little pliant trowel is worked to and fro with such dexterity, the darts, of which there are two, pierce the plastic cell surface and leo.ve in the nectar beneath its tiny drops of the fluid which makes it keep well. This is the 'art preservative' of honey. A most wonderful provision of Nature, truly ! Herein we see that the sting and the poison bag, with which so many of us would like to dispense, arc essential to the storage of our coveted product, and that without them the beautiful comb honey of commerce would be a thing unknown." If these things are so, how mistaken those people are who suppose the bee is, like the prince of evil, always going aboutprowling in search of a victim. The fact is that the bee attends to its own business very diligently, aud has no time to waste iu unnecessary quarrels. A bee is like a farmer working with a fork in his hay field. He is fully occupied aud very busy. If molested or meddled with, he will be very apt to defend himsnlf with the instrument he is working with. This is what the bee does; and man, by means of his knowledge of the nature and habits of this wonderful little inseoi, is enabled, in most oases, toward off or avade attack.— Scientific American.

Cooked or Uncooked Food fok Pigs ? —A pig-breeder writes, desiring us to point out the fact that potatoes are unsuitable food for breeding sows. Until he gave up the practice of feeding his brood sows ohiefly on boiled potatoes he was never unsuccessful, he says, in rearing strong, healthy pigs. If fed ou potatoes, the sows may appear healthy and in good condition at farrowing time, but the pigs will be weak and puny, the chances being that the majority of them will die young. It is equally important, however, to note that potatoes should be fed sparingly after farrowing as well as before. The milk produced from this class of food lias, for some reason or other, a most injurious effect on young pigs. A few potatoes will not prove hurtful, only the diet should not consist solely of that food. The sow should be fed with mixed rations before and after farrowing , , and nothing givos better milk thau a liberal allowance of bran. The question of feedin" pigs on cooked in comparison with uncooked food may here also be referred to. ■ Mr Sanders Spencer, the greatest English authority on pigs, stated the other day that as far as he could discover the theorists were in favour of the former, while practice proved the latter to be the best. Some years sinqe he i tried the cooking*of corn and meals for , pigs, and found that |h.e pigs would not eat aa muok cooked as unoooked food, and that they did not appear to thrive so well on the aooked food they did eat. A considerable number of experiments have been carried on in the States to thoroughly test the respective merits of the two systems, and in every case it has proved a loss to cook the m.ea.l, Jt is the same with the of roots of all kinds, potatoes alone exoepted. Whilst objecting to the oooking of meal, Mr Spencer is strongly in favour of mixing the food with warm water when the weather is very cold ; little pigs especially will thrive far better if their foo,d be given to them new milk warm,. If the meal be mixed with hot; water, this must be done just bgfoi'c boing fed to tho pigs ; not some hours before, as is usually the case when cold water is used, as the hot water will cause; fermentation to set iu vapidly and extensively,