Rural.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1039, 22 June 1894, Page 3

Rural.

NOTES.

Oldish sheep are apt to lose wool from their bellies if grain fed, especially in feeding with corn. The cause is indigestion from overfeeding. In extreme cases clumps of wool are loosened from all parts of the body. Such sheep are, utterly worthless for keeping. After lingering through the winter their owner has their hides and some very poor wool in the spring for their keep. The experienced sheep breeder will not feed anj' sheep with corn except those he is fattening, and even then with great caution

A curious custom in Uruguay is the manufacture of butter. The dairyman pours the milk warm from the cow into an inflated pig or goat skin, hitches it to his saddlft by a long lasso, and gallops five or six miles? into town. when he reaches the city the butter is made and h« peddles it from door to door, dipping out the quantity desired by each family with a long wooden spoon

Heaps of coarse manure may be reduced quickly lo good condition for ase by liberal applications of quicklime. It will naturally be accompanied by great losses of ammonia if the heaps are not covered with dry earth. If this is done no harm will result provided the lime and manure heaps are where their decomposition will nob set fire to farm buildings.

Among the new markets for New Zealand dairy produce that ought to be easily captured is that of South Africa. Captain Simpson, of the Thermopylae, who has just arrived in London, ' tells that when he was at Capetown three weeks ago butter was being sold retail at 2s 6d a pound. The one difficulty in the way of opening a market is the non-existence of cold storage. Neark all the ailments from which fowls suffer are due to a lack of 0 grinding material in the crop. Always keep broken glass, pounded crockery, or sharp flint gravel within reach of the fowls. Cold draughts of air blowing across them, or down on them, will cause swelled head and eyes, and finally lead to roup. It is often the case that weak legs may be caused by high roosts, the birds being injured by jumping therefrom to thei ground. When the roosts are low, and a hen is unable to stand on her legs, remove her from the male at once, as the cause may be traced to him, especially if he is very heavy.

A speaker at Watimuck, Victoria, advocating cheaper rates for farm produce, said that sixteen shilling carried a ton of wheat 1,000 miles in America, 500 miles New South Wales, and only 200 miles in Victoria. This showed an absurd difference. Practically, the railways were in patnership with the wheat growers, and it was impossible that the railway managers could long maintain their contention — that they could look on at the farmers' struggles for existence, and declare that the low prices should not affect freights. The. community was reducing charges all round, and the railways could not stand aloof from the community.

I have heard it said that young turkeys are wanting in stamina, because the egg is so small compared to the size of the bird. This seems to me a foolish reason, for, so long as the gerru of life is strong, it matter? not

the size of the egg. The alligator,

which grows to the length of 22ft. or 23ft., lays an egg no larger than a goose, and I can say from experience, (hat the young alligator is not wanting in stamina, being 'fully armed and fit for the battle of life, the instant it leaves the shell. I 01500 hatched four of these interesting monsters under a hen, and I am convinced that they would have eaten her had she not find in horror directly they appeal el. I kept them in a tub of water for a few days till they became a nuisance, then killed and pickled them in the cause, of Science and Natural History. One, strange coincident in connection with this, was, the hen that hatched those alligators never hatched another chick ; she always deserted her nest a day or two before, the 21st day ; once some of the eggs were chipped even, when she left them. I believe she had received such a fright when she saw the creatures she had brought into life that she never got over it.

The Hackney in England has been bred 200 or more years to be the allround useful horse of the farmer. He is the horse that would be used in the plough or harrow during the morning, and then hitched up to the English gig or market waggon, able to go to town at a clinking good pace ; ahorse that knows no such word as tire • can road 10 to 15 miles an hour in all sorts of weather and over any sort of highway. In other words, the Hackney has been used as the work hoi'se, where, the hunter and thoroughbred have been tended and cared for as too valuable for such . work. The English farmer has a liking for a speedy bit of horseflesh as well as a beautiful bit. While the Englishman likes speed, he prefers a horse, that can go all day and return the same distance the next day, rather than one that can go a few miles at a 2-20 gait. The levelheadedness and kindness of the Hackney have won an enviable position for him all over the world to-day. — Hural Now Yorker.

Every farmer should- be thoroughly acquainted with every piece of machinery he own?. He should study the binder from the neckyoke to the sheaf carrier. Not only should he have every portion of the machine in mind, 'out he should understand the why of it. Thus, and only thus, will he be able, to make it perform the greatest amount of wcrk with the least possible wear and tear. Every box and every bearing of any kind should be familiar to him, and he should become so well acquainted with its workings that he can tell just how much oil it takes to keep it well lubricated. Use the wet days for putting all the machines in order.