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Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 14, 8 October 1874, Page 4

It has been questioned by some stock breeders why a bull which nine out of ten competent judges in the ring would select as the better of the two. should sell for 500duls only, v/hen the inferior one sold for 14,500d015. The odd Ll4,ooodols was the price of the pedigree nccording to some people's judgment. Potatoes — In districts lying along the seaboard potato planting takes place during the current month ; inland and in high-lying districts later on in the season. The potato, for its successful culture, requires a rich friable soil, and it loves to revel under a green pod. Much of the soil in the Warrnambool district is naturally adapted to the requirements of this crop, and the climate is also favorable. But there are other places where the soil and climate are not considered so favorable, in which — and especially in the neighborhood of towns — potatoes might be grown with advantage if the ground were only properly prepared, and the crop planted at distances sufficiently wide apart. It is useless to place two rows of plantspotatoes or anything else — on land where, owing to natural dryness and narrow cultivation, there is only moisture''enough contained in the soil to bring one row to perfection. Therefore,, to grow potatoes in such places, deep cultivation, and, if the land is poor, autumn manuring should be re- . sorted to. The rows, instead of the . orthodox " every third furrow," or about 27 inches, might stand not less than three feet apart, and the plants 18 .inches from each other in the rows. Let this practice be carried out, and many soils now considered unsuitable } will be .found capable of producing pro-.ifitable-crops of potatoes. After, chickens come out of the shell, persons are. too eager to feed them, ,which is not .necessary until they are { &xty hours old.

We observe that the eleventh annual show of the Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Association has. been fixed to be held on the 19th and 20th November. The prizes offered appear to be on a liberal scale. A twenty guinea •silver cap is to be given to the largest prize taker in the draught horse class; two of a similar value in the cattle classes; four ten guinea cups in -the sheep classes, and one of the same value in the dairy produce «lass. The other prizes are also on a liberal scale. We observe in an auction sale adver tisement in the '■ Poverty Bay Standard,' amongst other stock to be exposed is '* a most extraordinary animal — -a calf with two tails." i A correspondent of the f Nelson Co- [ loaist' recommends the Government to [ assist in the planting of the larch as a tree, which will materially improve the soil, and add largely to the wealth of the country. Here is a Japanese recipe for keeping meat fresh in hot weather :— Place it in a clean porcelain bowl, and pour very hot water over it so as to cover it. Then pour oil upon the water. The air is thus quite excluded and the meat preserved. The Ayrshire Cow. — A famous writer expatiates upon the qualities of this animal as follows : — " The Ayrshire cow is bred, and has been bred for milk ; her inheritance is all in the line of milk producing. Her form indicates it : her records prove it. When aged and dry, the same functions which ordinarily fill the udder fill her muscles with fat; but while milking, inheritance, intensified yearly by selection, turns the energies of her system towards extracting materials from her food, and secreting the larger and richer part in the udder. As the short i horn stands with the grazier, who had tried their quality, so does the Ayrshire stand with the dairyman. By seeking improved breeds the farmer is adding materially to the profits of his farm, for he is utilising the great power of unerring certainty of inheritance." The successful introduction of the three-furrow plough is chronicled from Corowa. The trial of tbe three-furrow plough took place at Glenlee, on the farm of Messrs Martin Bros., containing 500 acres, 400 of which is without a tree. The plough is now at work on lands one mile in length, turning over three furrows often inches each, and from four and a half to five inches deep, neatly and well cut at the edges, and perfectly level at the bottom. The furrows from one end of the one mile land to the other are as straight as it is almost possible to plough. The depth or width can be regulated by a single turn of a screw, done in an instant. Four average horses can do, in an ordinary day, abo'n five acres in pretty stiff soil. Instead of requiring a skilled ploughman, any active lad who can drive horses and regulate the screws, can manage the implement. The superiority of the work, and the saving of labor effected, were the subject of general comment. Transplanting Trees in the Night. — Agentlemananxious to ascertain the effect of transplanting at night (says the ' Maitland Mercury') instead of the daytime made an experiment with the following result: — He transplanted ten cherry trees while in bloom, commencing at four o'clock in the afternoon, and transplanting one each hour until one in the morning. Those transplanted during daylight shed their blossoms, producing little or no fruit, while those planted during darker portions maintained their condition fully. He did the same with the dwarf pear trees after the fruit was one-third grown. Those transplanted during the day shed their fruit ; those transplanted during the night perfected their crop, and showed no injury from having been removed. With each of these trees he removed some earth with the roots. The incident is fully vouched for, and if a few more similar experiments produce the same result it will be a strong argument to horticulturists, gardeners, and fruit growers to do such work entirely at night. Regarding the reaper and binder question, a committee appointed for the purpose brought forward the following report at the last meeting of the Glenlyon, Franklin, and Daylesford Association, Victoria : — l< 1. We consider the principal object to be attained in a combined reaper and binder is simplicity of construction and lightness of draft, combined with strength and durability. 2. That the sum of LI OOO be offered as a first prize. 3. That each society subscribing over L2O shall have the power of appointing a judge. 4. We would be satisfied with a machine that could be worked with three "men, and that would cut and bind eight acres per day of ten hours. 5. That the bands shall be made of the material that is being cut at die time, and if this could not be done, we would prefer rope-yarn to wire." It was resolved that the committee's recommendation be adopted and forwarded to the Department of Agriculture. It was-further resolved " That this society is still willing to contribute the sum of L3O towards a prize for a reaper and hinder." The management of the English Short Horn Herd Book is about to be changed. It is proposed to purchase the copyright from the present editor for. £6.500, and to edit and publish it under the management of a club or committee by a joint stock company com- ' posed of short hprn .breeders.

The Califbrnian wood-cutters require half a day's time for three men to fell a red-wood tree eight feet in diameter. A tree 15 feet in diameter is cut down by four men in two days. Those who would live happily to the good old age of a century are advised to drink buttermilk, whose virtues are said by a member of the French Academy, M. Robing, to be such as "to free the system from those causes which inevitably cause death between the seventy-fifth and the bne-hundreth year. An aged and observant dairyman said — " Look out for the poor cows ; there is a great deal of money made by the dairy in this country, but it is all : | made by the good cows." An old English farmer mixes bean and pea meal into balls with linseed oil, and feeds a few each day with cut straw and hay. He never has a case pf windblowing or colic in his stables. A correspondent of ' The National Live Stock Journal,' points out the fact that two short horns are entered in the 13th volume of the Short Horn Herd Book, which were calved in 1864 and 1865, whose sir-e, as entered;', is a bull named Squier, and who Avas 26 years old when the latter calf was sired. A merino ewe in California is said to have sheared this year a fleece of 33 pounds. Last year her fleece weighed 34£ pounds ; but the present season, a Cashmere goat kept in an adjoining pen, reached through and eat off what was estimated at five pounds of the fleece. A short-horn breeder, Lady Pigott, of England, has the reputation of possessing extraordinary judgment and skill, not only in breeding, but in raising her stock. She is said to possess the best selection of the Booth class of short-horns in England, excepting only that of the Booths themselves. One of her prize cows had not a drop of new milk after it was two months old. To make whitewash that will not wash off by the rain, one peck of lime should be slaked in five gallons of water, in which one pound of rice has been boiled until it is all dissolved. The rice, water should be used hot, and the mixture should be covered up closely until the lime is slacked. Then a pound of salt should be added, and the wash heated to boiling* when used. At one of the German Experimental Stations, it occupied four professors several months to discover that extra food does not go to increase the richness or quantity of the cow's milk. On the other hand Prof. Arnold relates the fact that Dr. Franklin of Long Island, by extra care and feeding kept a twoyear old heifer of no unusual capacity, producing a pound of butter a day, all Summer, Fall, and Winter, and "after her next calf she made 291 pounds 10 ounces of butter in 316 days. The Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture in his late report mentions an apple tree at York that was brought from England over 200 years ago in a tub, and was still bearing fruit in 1870 ; another, near Wicasset Bay, that was an old tree in 1805, but is still fruitful; another, in the town of Bristol, known to be over 200 years old, still bearing fruit, and other trees that yield occasionally from 25 to 65 bushels of fruit each. He however charges the pilfering boys who steal the choicest fruit with being* the chief obstacle in the way of profitable and improved applegrowing. The noble rooster ! His paternal in* stincts have been peculiarly utilized, it is said, at Cape May, where one of the Shanghai sort has submitted to harness and to act as the steed of a baby's waggon. It is presumed that he also refrains from sounding his trumpet, that he may not disturb the slumbers of his tender charge ; but if nature should prove too strong for him, and he should engage in a duel with another noble Shanghai, what would become, of the waggon and the little baby then ? Apples every Other Year. — Two years ago, as we all well remember, the country was flooded by an immense apple crop. They were not worth the cost of picking and housing in many places. Farmers having large orchards were tempted to give up raising apples as a farm crop, because when they are plenty the price is so low that there is little profit from the crop, and when the price is high there are no apples. Why it is so we shall not attempt to explain, but it seems to be a fact that apple trees bear about all their fruit in even years, not only iv New England but throughout most of the Western States. In a few orchards in New England the trees bear in odd years, and in some of the extreme Western States the habit of bearingonly in even years does not seem to be as yet fully established The tendency, howevnr, seems to be all that way. Now we wish every farmer and every farmer's son in New England would make the experiment of picking off all the fruit from at least one apple tree this year, as soon as the fruit is as large as acorns ; and from another tree pick off the larger portion of the fruit at the same stage, and note the results. • Whether the bearing years can be changed by this course we are unable to say with certainty. It has been often claimed that the change may be made in this way. At any rate the object is well worth working for. The trees should be manured and the ground cultivated to stimulate growth and the formation of fruit buds, as the crop of fruit is always determined the year previous/— N. E. Fanner.. * '