FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2956, 25 June 1891, Page 4

FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Judging tub Proijable Growth of a Cor/r.— The following simple rule for judging the probable, growth of a colt appears in a sporting contemporary : — Take a colt at any time between six weeks old and one year, stand him on a level surface so that he will stand naturally, then measure the distance from the hair of the hoof to his knee-joint, and for every inch or fraction thereof hu measures he will be hands high when mitured. If he measures 15 inches, he will grow to be 13 hands high ; if to.} inches, he will be IjJ hands high, and so on. I,mi-: as a Preventive" for Worms i -i! ;ki'—After thirty • eight years' . ;iKripruu amongst sheep, writes a n-/i - tii«ru grazier in the Australian, I iiavc corns to the conclusion th.it lime is a curtain preventive as also a sure cure for shee ( ) suffering from worms of auy type. The treatment is simply to put lime in the water troughs to a depth of throe inches. Stir tliu water occasionally, and replenish the lime wheu ex'misted, tin , , sheep having no access to uther water. All sheep depasturing m districts where they are likely to be elected with worms should be invariably and wholly watered with water impregnated with lime. Tho abovo is i\ very uconoiniiMl and certain euro. HiiAvvCwu , of Lαmils — The crop of lambs is nil unusually henvy this season in most districts in Kngl.iud Pair? nre pretty iccnoral, whilu numerous iustacera of tiiplers- and oven quadruplets are roported. In the Shropshire flock of the Duke of Devonshire, on tho Holkor Homo Farm, 2'JiJ ewes have 43G living lambs, MO doubles and 13l> sinclee. At the Home Farm of tho Enrl of Bectivo, at Underly, 91< of half-bred Cheviot and Border Leicester owes have produced 150 living lambs, six triplets, nineteen singles, nnd the reet doubles, by Shropshire rams. The ewes were bought at St. Boswell's Fair in the autumn of Inst year. In many other casee tht proportion of lambs to ewes have been eejunlly marked. TnuEK Acres and ax Ego.—The following pleasing announcement appears in tliu advertisement colnmns of the Kast of Fife Record :—" Wanted, cottagers and others to hatch eggs. Liberal terms. Apply, &c." We are i;lad to see the men of Kife thus taking thu lead in creating now opcuings for the agricultural labourer. Of course the weather will have much influence upon the success of the new avocation. To sit out hatching eggs in one of such blizzards as we havu had since Christmas would be exceedingly inconvenient upon whatever " liberal terms." But, given a fair summer day or a quiet autumn evening, there seems something quite idyllic in the picture of the agricultural labourer sitting out in his ovvu three acres hatching eggs—probably laid by the cow. — Punch,

AIiIiICI'LTCKAL LAUOUn IX ITALY.— The life of the agricultural labourer does not appear to be a very happy one in Italy. According to a report recently prepared by Professor Bodio, chief of the Statistical Department of the Government, agricultural labourers, can rarely f.'.irn more than lid to Id per tlay, and out of that he has very often to keep, not anly himirlf, but a wife and family. The \h that many can only have ine meal a day of polenta (Italian corn), anil this has to he eaten without a sufficient allowance of salt, which isaC!overn> merit monopoly, and thus is excessively costly to buy, health is impaired, and disease is v<>ry prevalent. The statistician entimarea tint 100,000 Italians suffered l::s-t year from one rli.-uase alone -pellagra which is, heppiiy, not known in this e"'tntr\, and is produced by bad food j Mid want of salt,

Tiik Hknkfitsof Limk. - Speaking lit :i ini;c-tini; last week f.f tho We-t Riding Oh itnnrr of Aiioulture, on tho hhu of limo :i7i(l limn refuse, Professor Muir, the tiMvly-app'iintoH I'rnfess'ir of Ajrietilturn lit, thn Yorkshire C'.llegP, » :, '<l t ,lO q'",ntitv of lime to be; need on land depended tip'cn ciriiim.itanoL'.i, (.nmo laud rtciuir* inir more limn ibati others. Theiiuantity lined vitriol with tho depth of tho soil, mid sn-.irnnd badly draiund land required much heavier dressings of lirao than pasture land G. u Tally speaking, the best practice! was to u-e n little limu and often, in preference to I'Oiivy at rare intervals. An average dressing was equivalent to ton bushels of limo per year, four tem* every tenth year, or two tons every fifth year. Lime when mixed with soil combined with other properties, destroyed the acids and Hweetened and purified it. It nNo exerted a uenful influence in making ingredients in tho eoil more available. In further mado land rooro open and rendered it more easy to work, and it enabled plants to retain more water than on unlimed land. How AntTLTEnATiON Affects Farmers. The agricultural societios of Victoria have eommenced to mako inquires with the object of ascertaining how far adulteration affects tho farmer. At a meeting of tbo committee of the Mnffra Agricultural Society, held on tho loth instant a paper dealing on this subject was read by Mr M 'Donald. It was pointed out that an immense loes of revenue to the country Tras sustnined in duties through various chemicals, such as liipuline, being lined as a substitute) for hops, lib. of which hotmal in strength to 121b. of hops. The duly on imported hops boiug 8d per lb., and tho chemicals 12 times the strencth, showed that there was a clear evasion of the tariff so long ae tho duty was not baeed on the reputed strength, of the article). The farmers also suffered severely through the use of sugar ae a substitute for malt. Mr Hayler gives the quantity of beer manufactured in the colony as 20,000,000 gallons. This, if made solely from malt and hops, would require 2,000,000 buahels of barley to be used. The area under barley in thooolony gives a little over 1,800,000 bushels. It only requires to deduct the quantity consumed through the ordinary channels (about nine tenths) to show the small amount of grain that goes into the hands of tho malstor. LuCKKXK FOR FatTENIKU SIIEEI*. — " Bruni " in the Australasian writes : — " I have lately received another illustration of the value of lucerne for fattening cheep. Mr J. J. Reilly, of Yarrawonga, has a small area under lucerne, which he irrigates with water drawn from tho Murray bv a stoam pump. On January Ghe purchased a lot of broken-mouthed ewes at 3s Gd per head, 188 of which he put on to 10 acres of Income. Towards tho end ofFebruary he sont 54 to Melbourne,whero thoy realised 5s 6d per hend. On tho 15th March tho remainder were sent to markotand they realised an average of 6s 3d. In a letter to the hroeder of the sheep Mr Reilly remarks : —" I have the balance. 300 head in a 20-acro paddock for next Monday. This shows the facts in my case, aud the possibilities Ut others.' I have seen Mr Reilly'a irrigated land, and consider that ho has achieved a greater success than any other person in Victoria who has used irrigation for crops. Last year Mr Reilly fattened three lots of sheep on hie lucorne, and would have done more but for t.he devastation caused by a visitation of locusts. The success which has attended the experiment shows what may be c'one by an intelligent mau who gives his heart to his work." Breeding Hackneys for Size.—Mr Burdett-Coutts recently read a paper to the Norfolk farmers on horse breeding. His remarks on increasing tho sizo of hackneys, the average of which he helierea is below what it ought to be, are very pertinent. "We want," he says," more size. How are we to pet it? Breed, weed, feed. That's the only way. Breed : Send your mares to sizeable stallions, or stallions that get size, which is bettor, and pay the extra fee—it's worth it. If that won't do pick up a shapely, not a ragged, flat-sided, but a well bred, well-turned hunter mare, with a game leg, and put her to a hackney stallion It's a little risky for action, and, in many cases, don't expect much from the first cross ; but put the fillies to a hackney stallion again, and then see what you get. Or, still better, go over to Newmarket and buy a good big thoroughbred mure that hasn't got winners, and isn't fashionably bred, for £40—which you can do—and do the same with her. Weed: Don't breed from littlo mares, unless they are clinkers, or have dropped big oues. Sell them at a loss and buy a big one. Feed : Do your foals well their first winter on as much good corn as you can afford not show feeding on slops ; and let them run out in the day to work it into their bones and muscles. The first winter will do it, or the best part of it. You jjet their frames a-growing and moderate food will keep them at it afterwards. What wo want to know is not how to wiu a yearliug prize at a show, but how to breed a horse, which, dropped ou the new grass, and well douo for the first winter, will coma out at three with sue, boue, and action. And, pray remember this, those who don't liko size, if any such there be, no matter how carefully you may breed for size, you ore euro to get plenty of little ones."

Locusts not Easily Destroyed.—The locust, individually au interesting little insect but, collectively, frequently designated by agriculturists "au infernal pest" (eays the Weekly Times), waa discussed from the latter point of view at a conference of delegates from various shire couiicilH and agricultural societies on the 20th ultimo, at tho Royal Agricultural Society's rooms. The meeting wan conveyed by Mr Trowton, Nathalia, who hae himself suffered feverely by the invasion of thelocuat, alias grat)shopper,for the purpose of devising some means of combating tho evil and of onlisting tho active sympathies of the Government. Mr Tret> hawiin's suggestion was all occupiers of land should becompulaorily bound to keep thoir property clear of locust*, and considered this would be practicable if lands holders followed a plan he himself '.ricd with succoks. He pointed out that in the oarlior stage of their careor the locuete congregated in beds, or patches, and thie plan was to plough the land round these patches and erect ti rough obstacle or fence of old timber, etakes, pens, &c, to which the locuat would swarm and then could easily be destroyed by fire. This scheme, while admitted to bo feasible for windless insects, was voted useless in regard to their winged relations, who flew at a level of about 15 ft. or 28 feet abovo tho ground. Another speaker advocated the growth larkspur, which he found to be instnnt death to locusts, while he fed cattle on it without any ill resulting. Here, again, however, the ''doctors" I differed, another delegate having also tried the larkspur remedy with the result that " tho locusts fattened on it." Another gentleman present had tried a remedy recommended by a newspaper correspondent—namely boiled »il, and had succeeded iu killing large numbers of trees with it, but vury few locusts. Trenches, 2ft. deep wherein to entice locusts to dayosit their eggs, and afterwards to be filled in with oarth, was another suggestion, while the chairman (Mr John Hurst) dea> paired of the pest being combated by human labour, and proposed to enter into iin alliance with certain of the birds of the air. These, be considered, should be protected, he noticed that magpies especially did good eervico in feeding on the eggs of locu3ts." This scheme found favour but it, was much doubted whether sufiiicient birds could bo maintained to effect any substantial'results. Another delegate had a scheme, bnt an nnapprcci.itive llovcrnmnnt had refused to givo him a " reasonable consideration to divulge it," nor did ho disclose it to the conference, Tho conference resulted in tho appointment of a deputation to wait on thn Minister for Agriculture, who will bo asked to introduce a measure into Parliament, devifing , the " best poaeiblo means " for eradicating the pest.