CLOVER SEED.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3354, 16 April 1868, Page 3

CLOVER SEED.

The large sums of money which are sent to England every year for the purchase of clover Beeds might very easily be retained here if we would only set to work and learn how to supply ourselves. White clover here usually ranges from £7 to £9 per cwt., whilst in England it can be bought for about £3 per cwt. Supposing that we get our seed here at Is. 6d. per lb., or assuming that one third— which is a very low average— ia old and bad, and never comes up at all, two shillings per lb., it would be worth our while, one would think, to try and grow our own, and thereby secure good seed for our own use at less than half what we now give for bad seed. There is no reason why we should not do this. That white clover wilt seed here, and most profusely too, is very generally understood ; so that the only difficulty lies in getting the seed ready for market. Now it might be made a condition of a prize given for colonialgrown seed, that the mode of cleaning was distinctly stated, and the entire cost per lb. of the whole labour estimated ; and if it were found to be profitable to grow this seed— and there is not the slightest doubt but that such would be the case— a new industry would be developed, to the profit of the community in general, and the agricultural interest in particular. Then again, with regard to potatoes, there are now only about two or three kinds grown here to any extent, and many of these appear to be almost run out. At a good show these old favourites would be brought into competition with other kinds, and would be judged on their merits ; and it would be strange if, out of so many varieties as are known to exist, no better selections than the ones now cultivated could be made. At a meeting of the Inverness Farmers Society, held lastlj November, there were no less than 150 varieties shown by one gentlemen, and also 27 distinct varieties of turnips Our carrots, too, would bear * good deal -of improving, for many of our crops are, even in this Bplendid season, for sorts only very poor ; and this is only in the majority of cases the result of sowing bad varieties, or of bad management in working the land. That more attention to this matter would be profitable may be judged from the experience of Mr. Jackson, M.P. for North Derbyshire, who said at a farmers' dinner not long a*o that by trenching his land, and putting in a good quantity of stable manure in the bottom of each trench, he got carrots as long as his arm, and as thick as the thickest part of it, or after the rate of 42 tons to the acre. Then, again, as regards bacon. We have some of the best pigs ia the colony, and yet our bacon is almost unsaleable, because so many of us don't know how to cure it ; if we did, our export of this article alone would be enormous, for we should have a never-failing market in our neighbouring colonies. A show of the kind referred to would show u« what some of our best curers could do, and we should not be long m learning their method when we saw the good results ; and en passant to those who are fond of smoked bacon, we will confide the following simple w»y of getting it ;— Hang up the bacon in a chimney, then underneath put * layer of dry straw, upon this a layer of shavings, avoiding those from deal or pine ; next a good layer of sawdust and some jumper berries if you can get them ; and over all a covering of wet straw, which makes the fire give out much smoke without burning away too rapidly ; this must be repeated three .or four times, and you will get good smoked bacon. We have endeavoured to point out some few of the advantages which would be likely to result from an annual grain show, and must now leave our suggestions to those who are able to carry them into effect; sincerely hoping that they may take the matter up with that zeal and discretion which we feel assured its importance demands. Many willing hands and cheerful givers would, we are quite sure, be found, ready to assist if the initiative were taken by tlie farmers themselves through their representatives, tne committees of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association and the Farmers' Club, -Canterbury Tvm*.