AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6868, 5 March 1883, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

iKTKBOOtOHIAI. Sir W. J. Clarke has given another handsome donation—l6o guineas—for agricultural objects in Victoria, 100 guineas being for a Colonial ploughing match, and 50 guineas for the manufacture of a Colonial reaper and binder. The wool exported from South Australia during the eight weeks ending Deo. 16 is valued at £1.027.798. There are 83,000,000 sheep in Hew South Wales—s,ooo,ooo more than the total stock of Great Britain. The New South Wales wheat crop ia expected to average 16 bushels to the acre, and that of Victoria a little over half that quantity. No leia than 165 sheep runs ia How South Wales stand in the name of the Bank of Hew South Wales, the Commercial Bank coming next with 157.

The Oippilaud Mmmrg learns that a number o! cattle have become entirely blind in the district* of Morwell, Moej &o. The cause i* alleged to be the attack* of venomous flie*. The matter is a serious one, especially to bullock driver*, whose animats are thus rendered almost useless for working pur* poses. She result of some practical experience in rabbit poisoning (says the Leaiir), submitted at the last meeting of the Wyndham Shire Council, may be summarised to the effect that phosphorised grain was not so effective on the plains as in the timbered country. The shade, it was stated, helped to minimise the oxidation of the phosphorus. One experimenter said his bast results on the plains were from poisoned carrots. The harvest in Victoria has concluded in all but the very latest districts, and the steam thresher* arc now in the midst of their busiest time. The result* show splendid oat and barley yield* in all the coast districts, but the outcome of the wheat crop in the north is not expected to more than barely reach even* the low estimate made at, the beginning of the year. The hop crop is promising for a good yield at Bsirnsdale, the Ovens, and Ernestine, and the good prices ruling will infuse considerable spirit into this important industry during the eomiug season. A patent has been taken out in all the Australian Colonies (says the Amiralatian) by Messrs Felton, Grimwade and Co. for a fmoiphoriied wheat, to be used in the prisonug of rabbits. The article is the result of a long series of experiments, in which the patent grain has been exposed for months in the open air, and is warranted to be efficacious for the destruction of rabbits after exposure to rain or summer heat. .The I*®*“ Department is now testing the utility of tnis poisoned wheat GuuKinoa. Half a million acres of Texas, have bsen sold in Hew York for £120,000. . .. The average wheat yield per acre mMiehi-

gaa is mid to be 1841 bushels, os oomnawd with 188 bashelt in 1881. ' It I* stated that recently* parcel of several hundred pockets of old bans, of iha data of 1856. wae oold at a prise almost identical to what was considered their nine 26 jsan sine*. On# of the exhibits that attracted contiderablo attention at the Smitbfield Cattle Shoe was a well got np and cheap stockbreeders’ medicine chest. A well known Derbyshire bad agent states that, wit the exception of .1879, the eeaaoo of 1682 has been the mat unfavourable in his ooonty of any for the last twenty years. It is proposed to establish a fair at Melton, in Leicestershire, for the especial sale and exhibition of StUton cheese, with a tier of so improving the quality of the latter ae to revive the demand for it. According to the Ball Mall Octette it cost# about as much in India to take a tea of wheat from a point 800 miles island to tha seaboard, as it costs to take the same weight of American wheat from Chicago to liver* pool.

A monument to the memory of the late Mr Meobi has been erected in Tiptoe# church* yard, subscribed to by the deceased gentle* man’s friends, the amount of individual sub* scriptsons varying from £lO to 2* 6d. Bloating is caused by indigestion and tha formation of gas in tha intestines from the undigested food. The remedy i# feed very lightly for » lew days} to give an ounce of Unseed’Oil (for a call), and afterwards daily in the milk a tables poonful of carbonate of magnesia (calcined) with half a teaspoonful of ground ginger, A few days of tins with light feeding will restore the stomach. Oow*pox is the same disease as smallpox, but not so virulent, Zt appears on the odder and teats in young cows, and a stable in which it has been once introduced will always hare it. It requires no treatment, although half-ounce doses of hyposulphite of soda will ease its course. It passes off in three or four weeks; it makes the teats sore sometimes, and a milking tube is required. Practical dairy farmers who are students «! dairy literature will hear with regret of the sudden death of Mr X. A. Willard, of heart disease, at his farm, Herkimer County, New York. Mr Willard was 62 years of age. Ho was brought np to the law, but turned hie attention to farming. Ho entered into dairy* ing pursuits with great spirit, and as far back as 20 years ago achieved the production of an average of 6001 b of cheese per cow per annum over a series of years, while fais neigh* hours and countrymen bad long been content with from 3501 b to 4001 b. He was a frequent lecturer and writer. His works, “Practical Dairy Husbandry/’ and the <( Practical Butter Book,” are standard authorities. " Anglo*Australian ” in the j European Mail writes:—“Talking the other day to a Mark Lane export, be drew my attention to soma of the remarkable changes that had occurred during the hurt ten years in the wheat trade, whereby the Importance of some countries haa been diminished and that of other countries increased. Thus, the United States, which sent ns in 1868 only 10 per cent of our wheat imports, in 1881 sent us 63 2 per cent. Australasia ho*, it appears, advanced from 3 per cent in 1878 to 5'2 in 1881, which is pretty good progress, all things considered. It ap* pears, further, that the proportion of English and foreign wheat supplies at present are aa 3to 5. In other words, out of every 1686 loaves eaten i n tha United Kingdom, ICOO are made oat of foreign or colonial dour.” For the beat churning, as regards the quality of the hatter, aboat'2s to 30 minutes is Hi# right time. When butter comes in less time than this it is apt to be too soft, and if it is longer the butter will always have a poor or bad flavour. The cream should be brought to the right temperature before it is put in the churn ; adding hot water will sorely injure the quality of the butter. The right temperature is 62deg, and the churning should be done in a room jo colder than that. In the summer 60 would not be too low. To btisg the cream to the right temperature and ripeness, the jar should be set for 12 hours in a warm place and stirred several times gently with a long paddle. It may then be kept cooler than that previously. Hut it is best to set the milk and keep the cream at an even temperature of 60deg or 62deg all the rime.