AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7341, 20 June 1889, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Englandiso&eof the last Of the' 1 great nations tb establish a"' department "or Government board of Agriculture. A bill for the purpose was read the first time just before 2farllafqent adjoaraed, J and will come up at the present session. It transfers/-to the proposed department about all the powers and duties relatlie-to atcricultural matters,sow given to the Privy Council, the land commissioners andothqrg. Hitherto all that 00% been done by the Oovernmenthas been Ibitough various channels and upon no organised { eystetn, but the - proposed- bill groups' all these duties under the* one' bead. Th e board is to be composed of the president of the council, the principal Secretaries of Sljate,, the first commissioner -of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and of the-Pu«hy of {iancaster, and the Secretary for SeotfanS/one of whom, or a member of/the Privy Council, shall be appointed president by the Queen.

Replying to a question in the House of CounSionfc recently, Mr yfi H. Smitft Jeaid the P GoVernmenti fully recognised the importance of the proposal of the committee of the House for the establishment of a board or school of forestry, and if the. Board of Agriculture Bill should pass this session it would be part of that body's duties to see what could be done in accordance with the resolution. ~

( The* advanced examination in practical agriculture end allied subjects held by the Royal Agricultural Society each May, iea plan, worthy of imitation. The regulations fdri the >: next examination, just hsued, show that agriculture, bookkeeping, chemistry,' land surveying, agricultural engineering, botany, geology aqd anatomy are the principal subject a of examinatioß, In addition to a certificate, prizes are offered to those who acquit themselves most creditably. - The certlflcateti are much sought after by £gr Icultural college graduates and others in training for positions as farm managers or porkers in agricultural science. , Ij -i ■.>:■■ it

The Falkland Islands Company rear, a great number of abeep on the- islands, and bring home their wool, tallow, &c . The foandadfon of tielt 'flonjk Is" Cheviot, crossed withHomney Marsh and Merino. The company have recently shipped some young rams from the flock of Mr. Jgurdine, Dryfeholme, Lockerbie, They have a clargymatt, doctor and schoolmaster at their chief -country settlement for their own people onlf. All their eaperinteed«mtß are Scotchmen, and most of the people _ They are reported to be very content, ftnd able to eaye money, the Government jbtar. Irtg lately established a savinga banl: amongst them, which the company are supporting. " .... ■-~...,. . .

Six yearn ago, rechemTtTr f! Nenaghpri 2eß y e t eta , was \^» 9t h, |< Nenagh, county Tipped J°f*t*u t f object being thecreaS * fc profitable employment § capital oa small farms, aju » W I to be secured by the InstitnK r' on green fowl in aumwer an f« B% H fc and other crops L ment, it appears, wi»warmlv\nl mo ** S from the first, and ha s Sf ft undoubted success. The nrte*. i Tea •• to the best managed faW .Jf *X 6 bein,, taken of the nuTb | and fed on green food ( 9 oiledUnT keW as weU as f in proportion to the size of thl7*ll ?> $ the object of "^;, WUh P the system ,of feeding^Sti^ W foods (a summer, we Sag fromV^ B I port for the paat year that coniW J* F introduced, and that this plaotSlV" I" played an important part in theprolZ f of the movement. u »resj g> jj

A somewhat novel, bat useful ttmw I mcnt has recently been I Messrs Biggar and Sons, the weU-ktao,/ I breeders of Galloway cattle, Chiriatl 8 I Dalbeattie, N. 8., with a'VibwtiEjT , F the increase in size of turnlpa whea pnii!? P in autumn and stored by placing Jn«7 l< row, and covering the bulbs by thetttofefch' V In the first week of November a nattl * " of a field, about twelve acres of puriliTfe 1 swedes, was etored by the plough iv «,' manner usually practised in the distrWt! Five roots in different parts-were carefcn measured and maiked by driving opposite each. On 20th February thewm 8 * roots were measured again, whbWtt "«i c r~ found that an inirease of about fow tan* I' per acre, aeeuming the crop to webA & twenty tons in November, was thewjb ¥• obtained, and; of course, the extra wefeht Pof stored roots, as compared with r&eu r" unprotected, ia very much greater," F^

Speaking at a largely attended meetlae of Midland dairy farmers, uiftfcf" Hi auspices of the Leicestershire Xkin Farmer's Association at Meltoa Mr Nuttall, a well known dairy said that in the manipulation of mWj fJ butter making purposes the object o{ tfc? dairymaid was to get rid of thetrtU (which constituted over 80 per ceQtcdJJj} milk) and retain the fat. In kutteptnjflcH,, they must Ret out. the cream, composed of fat globules that wereheldlj' suspension in the milk, and represent' five out of every hundred gallons. lfcw« therefore, very necessary that they ehouli get the Whole quantity of cream oreUeffe did not get the full yield of the Mr Nuttall dealt very minutely principles which underlie the t«iw appliances for cream raising, but reniiijfej his audience that it was not necessary tljt they should dispose of their preseal dilr, machinery for the purpose of setting w new fangled ideas. He 3tronß]yadTocaN

brine salting, and said that nothmglajaie,} than working salt Into It fan » dry state, as grains of salt were t%, 1 worked Into the body of the butter, aadln i

about 24 hours these dissolved and formed in little drops of water inside. The propej way of salting butter wes to make brineot one poqnd of salt to every gallon of water f strain it, and put it into the churn.,

The - last piece of advice that Jthe •'late Sl r J.B. Lawes gave to the British target was hi reference to the system of selling ' cattle Dy weight. "It ajjpeaw tt> Sje "V j; wrote, "a somewhat serious matter"t 0 -J keep stock upon {flood food lor 14 or 15 b weeks, and then to find that, it wo eeß- f] mate; the beef upon thorn at the market 8 price of the day, the animals are not worth |l more than we gave for them three orfoaj j; months before. Now, such a thing coold : ( not. happen if farmers would, ptjrehwe r [ stock by weight instead of by guess woife I * and could make some estimate regarding l\ their rate of increase wherT-jteedioft 1,, the value of the manure they. pro. I ' duce,&c. - farming is not thep«rf|fcb!o L business it was a quarter of a eestoy P ago, and we must meet the exigences of || .the times by adopting ' more weurate |t modes' 6f carrying it on, such as ttytofca g, bridge, which 1 consider to be ibsjfsWj f necessary, In the sale and 1 stock. "Having for many years wdjftsJefl P the etoek on and off my farm, I fisatoWj [ to the great value of the system; andu i the legislature has made it cowpnlsery < upon those who'take tolls to erect bridged at the fairs and markets, It-muit ; surety be f worth while for farmer to > satisfy themselves as to the value of ft* ; system." The Times has lately commenced "" . giving a weekly special refcaupa a* th 3 weights of all animals sold afc toe IsJiagtos >, cattle market, also giving the price at $a [ . spqne of 141b, and remarks opposite eafch | entry descriptive of the character of eaci L. lot and the quality of the flesh, The $tt f < taken by the Times in this direction Is said to have flnully and officially f% j,the new and better preefctee by wHch fa beasts are sold entirely upon their merits p and both buyer and seller are put nftt |,' an equal footing. ' f[ - An Item of great expense to em tr farmer ia.thafc involved in theibuiJdJagatiJ *„ maintaining of fences. Formerly, wh«» J*' timber was more plentiful tban it in mady pt the country, ■a«d ; -f*& '. building was merely a matter ofJafeoSft^ 6 Jμ'-' cxsqnj»e of keeping np long lines of feaf«| : was"ridfi considered, for while the avcraft gb farmer is economical of "money, he thinks llfctle oTt»l|; ■economy ©1 labor. Now, however, "s»|/ come when fences cost njOßffl , ? ■as weH as work; material Iβ actacetoig Valuable, and every year it becomes, ewe f so. U is time that we should- bejdtt to * consider the cost of fence*, and adopt;W"t ■ rm&naboci»rtalllt In the tot place it wo&l i. be well to-reduce the amount of fenclsg | wherever possible. No doubt jßaoy^r-1 mere believe they have only suoh fences ** sare 'absolutely necessary, but; by ft Hl» study meansmay often be devised whenW *,■ a very material cutting off might \p VF® h tiisei, dnd still result in not & particle** U inconvenience as regards t Imelnes9 of ttie farm. 'We noo P^ nt yJ j>; farW that are crossed and checkered etf i; with long lines of fence that every W L must entail coneiderable outlay » { - r tain, »nd are o£ no boneSt ww ? - owner. They are, in fact, incurnbwßta ?, -and> an aggravation. The less Mm , After a cerlaio point, ana hse th&MKf , It is. better because It reducea the eSMft • of keeping them up, and it is cause a considerable amount of ««*** . Jand is saved foe producing perpsw- - rather than taken up with weede epa«»» „ tbftt too often fiourish along the tows. v 'jTt is better because the #elds f. {. 'larger, and also because the waste JWJ t the oufcer cd«e- .of «wj3 f cultivated spot is materially «*"**; 5 Every farmer should lay oat hla Wg i systematically; and, with a Httle care t study, he can easily form plan* waejOT | a large amount of fencing can be, eawtj* t, t