BUDDING.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 83, 10 February 1876, Page 7

BUDDING.

Almost all intelligent farmers know ihow to graft, and large numbers emjpiby that knowledge in spring time to <put a head on a wild tree or to change the character of one to something more •desirable. But the. spring is crowded with work. Few get dene what they •desired and intended to do *; and among the put-off things very likely of all •others will be the grafting job. Something of this can be made up at this •season by budding, or innoculation as it is sometimes called. Ii does not find the same favor with farmers as with nurserymen, because no time seemed to be gained over grafting six months 'hence., for the buds put in now do not push into growth till the next spring ■season. If grafts are put next year •they grow immediately and make stronger growths and form a good head much sooner than buds put in this season will. But then there is the question of time. If one waits for spring it may never be dene. This is compara fcively a leisure season, and a tree budded now is done with. It will keep on •growing," and will certainly beat the tree that never is done. .

Budding is so simple an operation, •and has been over and over again described in the papers, that most persons who are likely to be benefitted by this article know how it is done. A piece of bark containing a leaf stalk and the •eye at its base is simply put under the hark of the stock to be improved and which has been slit and " lifted " or loosened^? the back of a knife for the purpose. -After insertion the bud is tied firmly in. < Anyone can understand this, and only experiment will teach more. But there is one thing which all budders do not understand and we will explain why , even some good hands fail in their work. Tne branch on which the bud is" to go must be thrifty, vigorous, aii^ in every way healthy, or

the buds will not "take." Failure in ( most casos comes from this. It does j not make miich difference whether the branch to be operated upon is more than one year old, so that the bark separates freely from the wood — as the budders say " runs freely " — but it is essential that it should be in perfect health. The bark generally loosens freely at the end of summer, if in the condition we have described. In regard to the bud, it must not be too young. Failures generally come from this. There is far less chance of failure with very old buds than with young eyes, though of course all the buds must be of this seasori's^growth.

It is hardly necessary to say that in budding, as in grafting, like musi; be suited to like, and the nearer, the bud is like to the .stock the better, -will be its success. It is not often. that s plants of two dissimilar families will grow together. The pear will grow on the quince, but this is rather an exception. So closely allied things as the apple and the pear will not do very well and only at. all with difficulty.

The ■* Gipps Land Standard ' states that pleuro-pneumonia has made its appearance in the Alberton district.

The ' Hobart Town Mercury ' relates that in .September last a man named Lloyd, while driving a valuable young mare in a dray, managed, through carelessness, to upset the cart. He was so severely injured that he died, and the mare was also so much hurt that it was thought she must be shot. Her owner, however, took great care of her, and she so recovered that by the use of a foot with a wooden shoe she is now able to canter about with other horses, although she has only three feet, the fourth having been amputated to save her life j ie was the near foot at the joint.

Tobacco, the ' Gipps Land Mercury ' reports, bidds fair to be as scarce tbis year as it was plentiful last. The disease that has destroyod the plantations in the north is making havoc in Gipps Land. In the Bairnsdale district onehalf of the tobacco planted died, and has been replaced with maize. In Briagolong one of the new plantations is totally destroyed, and some of the others are affected.

Choosing Poultry. — In the choice of poultry, the age of the bird is the chief point to be attended to. A young turkey has a smooth black leg ; in an old one the legs are rough and reddish. In domestic fowls the combs and the legs are smooth when the bird is young, and rough when it is old. The bills and the feet of geese are yellow, and have few hairs upon them when the bird is young, but they are red if it be old. The feet of a goose are pliable when the bird is fresh killed, and dry and stiff when it ha" been some time killed. Geese are called green till they are two or three months old. Ducks should be chosen by the feet, which should be supple, and they should also have a plump and hard breast. The feet of a tame duck are yellowish, those of a wild one reddish. Pigeons should always be eaten while they are fresh ; when they look flabby and discolored about the under part they have been kept. too long. The feet, like those of most other poultry, show the age of the bird; when they are supple, it is young ; when stiff, it is old. Tame pigeons are larger than wild pigeons. — • The Knapsack.'

Foul Feeding of Swine. — Tf there is any one thing in rural practice which needs reforming more than another, it is the manner of raising and feeding* swine. From the day they are large enough to eat, they are offered all manner of refuse about the place, such as rank weeds, filthy slops, spoiled vegetables and meats, dead fowls, &o. They are allowed to rumage the dung-yard, and glean the refuse of food in tlie | faeces of cattle and horses, on the { ground of economy. But we imagine \ that the quantity of food saved in this way is very insignificant — not to exceed the value of a bushel of shelled corn a year among all the stock on an ordinary-sized farm. The objections to the practice of keeping swine in this > way are so serious, however, that the , reasons in favor of it have no force at all. The origin of trichinosis in swine may be always traced to the consumption of vile stuffs in their food, or to being housed and yarded amid filth and foul air. Every few months the press announces a case of trichinse in an individual or a whole family, with all the horrible details and sufferings which attend the parasitic attack. Only lately some new cases are reported here in the West, which are alarming. We are quite sure that every farmer, and everyone who feeds and fattens a pig, will only need to have their attention called to so important and serious a matter to secure a complete reform in the practice of feeding an animal which will take whatever is offered to it, and will live in the most filthy holes and yards. Interests as dear as health and life require ; a thorough reform in keeping and feeding swine. Let their food be as pure as that which other animals consume ; let them be kept in clean quarters and have pure air ; let diseased or unthrifty animals be separated from those in; health,, and we. .may. have no fears of trichinosis among either swine or human being'S.^r' Detroit Tribune. 7