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Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 10, 10 September 1874, Page 4

Turf. — The appearance of a garden depends greatly on the quality of the turf and the way in which it is kept. Close cutting- and continual rolling is the secret of good turf. On good soil, 1 little else is requisite ; but on poor 1 sandy soil the verdure must be maintained by occasional waterings with i liqnid manure, and a dressing with guano or soot, if the lawn be not so i near the house as to render such applications objectionable.

UNpER.GROU»D.OisTERN. r -The 1)6---•'shapeifo'r an ; underground; cistern is that of an' e£g. - ;The roof should be^of j brick. , If the soil, is-- very "compact clay the lower part, or about two -thirds 'of ;the cistern, may be cemented directly upon the clay and a shoulder about six inches wide left' upon which', -to spring the arched roof. The centres v for the arch should be made of scantling and boards, supported by posts resting upon the bottom of the cistern. The bricks of the roof should be laid in cement, and afterwards the whole should be cemented upon the outside to prevent leakage into the cistern. If the soil is not very compact and is unable to bear the thrust of the arched roof the whole cistern should be lined With bricks. Critical Time for Colts. — It very often happens that in the third year of a colt's life -it falls off in condition, stops growing, and mysteriously becomes poor and emaciated. Disease is suspected, various nostrums and absurd specifics for imaginary complaints are administered, which fail of -effect, and it is only after a lapse of time that a mea- ' sure of improvement takes place, which) however, leaves the colt permanently injured and with an impaired constitution. At this period of the colt's existence an important dental change is going on. The central temporary milk nippers, or cutting teeth, in the front of the mouth are shed, and the permanent teeth take their place. If , the colt is at grass it is almost impossible for it to graze, and it suffers partial starvation. This is the whole secret of many a colt's sufferings. The trouble in such cases would be fivoid6cl by occasionally examining th.3 mouth, and when the temporary absence of the nippers is observed, to supply cut feed of tender hay, with ground oats on soft mashes or cut green fodder. This provision would tide over tha necessarily occurring period of disability, and prevent the otherwise inevitable falling away and poverty of condition, with its disastrous results. Gate Hanging. The followingplan for hanging- gates, so that they will keep in good order, is given in the ' Cincinnati Gazette, and will be interesting to our readers : — " In the spring of 1867 I hung four large gates. The j posts were six by eight inches square, j and were put into the ground two and i a half feet. The post that I hung the ! gate to was put down first, and the gate ' then hung. I then set the other post, j so as to let the gate shut, inside the-; post, against two pins driven in the post, one foot from the top and bottom of the gate. Then I put a one -inch pin through the gate the same way the gate shuts, and extending- through four inches, with the point of the pin elevated one inch. The pin was thus arranged so as to slip over the top pin in the post, with sufficient bearing to take out the spring of the gate. In this way, when shut, the gate is supported by both posts. The gate is made of timber one inch thick, four or five inches wide, and eleven feet long-. I take for the two heel pieces, pieces one inch thick, four inches wide, and four feet ten inches long*. I also take two pieces two inches wide for the head of the gate. I then put a brace on both sides, running from the top of the ; centre upright slats to the bottom of the heel pieces, all being firmly bolted together. The latch or bolt (three and one-half feet long) is placed on the top of the third or fourth bar. A -mortice is cut in the post, for the latch or bolt to slide in. The above four gptes were hung in the spring of '67. . They stand as firm to-day as they did the day I hung them." Hay. — To prevent g-reen. hay from firing, stuff a sack as full of straw or hay as possible ; tie the mouth with ii cord, and make the rick round the sack, drawing it up as the rick advances in height, and quite out when finished. The funnel thus left in the centre preserves it. How to Plouoh. — The 'Irish Farmers' Gazette' says : — " By the usual mode of ploughing, the soil is cut into solid slices and partially turned over. This slicing and partial upsetting of the soil varies in depth, and when, the operation is repeated next year it consists in merely reversing what was previously done. The furrows cut in ploughing lea, by most ploughs, present a .firm, unbroken, nicely cut surface, very good to look at, but it is not efficient cultivation, and the less effective it is, as is the case of ' high-crested ' ploughing, the better it looks to the eye which is satisfied with mere straight lines. Such lines are, no doubt, very good as showing the skill of. the ploughman, and the excellent construction of the implement for- the purpose for which it was constructed, namely, cutting the land into nice looking slices ; but, as has been observ ed, it is not cultivation. It does not free the earth ; it does not let light into it nor heat, nor cold, nor air, nor moistu-e, Slices of land are aerated on the outside, but it only gets skin deep, an 4 the. lumps remains a solid, and it is -, either heated, lighted, or watered by atmospheric showers, bringing ammonia with them. .Nor does the frost act on a compact mass of solid, though fine cut slices, as it .would do were these slices knocked about, broken and smashed to the extent of letting the atmosphere in and around it The finest plough, then, is not the implement to. molehill our soil, and hence it is not the implement, to cultivate" them, in any- true sense of tho word."