AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 8756, 1 April 1889, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

The Aorangi brought five draught entire horses of the breed known as Suffolk Punch, for Mr J. W. Williams, of Hawke’s Bay. The animals were valued at £SOO in. England. A Eangitikei paper says that Mr James' Coomhe, of Fern Flat, has had a magnificent yield of grain this season.. He has threshed 83 bushels of barley to the acre, G2 bushels of wheat, and 70 bushels of oats.

A circular has been issued by the Department of Agriculture of Queensland,, stating that arrangements are being made for procuring a complete working dairy, which is to be taken to different parts of the colony under the charge of an expert, who will explain the principles of working the machinery, implements, &c., as has already been done in New South. Wales and Yictoria. •

Another example of the marked depreciation in the value of land at Home is reported from Fifgshire. The estate of Pow in the parish of Torrybnrn, extending to 230 acres arable and 20 aereg of woods and plantations, has just been sold by private treaty. In 1877 the property changed owners at the price of £7500, In 1882 it was again sold for £6OOO. The price now obtained is only £3750, or exactly half what the property brought in 1877. Mr Mark Stuart, M.P. has given notice of his intention to move on an early day next session that “it is desirable that the Government should revive the constitution and proceedings of Fiara Court in Scotland in order to obtain a better and more uniform system of striking corn and other averages than at present prevails, and also to consider the advisability of including other agricultural subjects in the Mars Courts, especially meat and dairy produce, with a view to annually collect and publish the same in an official form.

It would be interesting to know, says the A gricultural Gazette, what English chemists have to say to the experiments in the use of sulphate of iron as a manure, carried out in Prance during the last two years. The use of the manure is said to have, worked wonders with vines, and to have increased greatly the yield of forage crops, potatoes, carrots, grass, and even cereals. A great many results of experiments carried out during the last two seasons are given in the Journal d’Agriculture Pratique. A special effect of the manure is said to be the destruction of of moss in pastures affected with it. The quantity of s ulphate of (iron used varies from i cw't Jo cwt per acre, or to a great dealmore in a few cases.

The disease in horses, to which the name of " Australian stringhalt” has been given, and which destroyed a large npmljer of horses in 1886 at Moss Vale# about 100 miles from Sydney, is still id existence there, and has again become prevalent. Mr Stanley,! Government veterinarian, upholds the opinion which he expressed in 1886, that the disease is due to the presence of worms, the curative treatment recommended being a change of food with stabling, Give sulphate of iron,-2 drachms,.

and fealti loz eachday for a week. Then, if the case is obstinate, commence a system of drenching once a week until a loose skin, and general good health return. The . drench, may be composed of 1 pint of raw" 'linseed and 2oz of e *X^sidfla^^^t r fy».. district (says 'the Ta/pawd 'CoMffer) who has been’ experimenting with the' culture of hops' on a small scale for some years past, assures us that they succeed admirably* in a sheltered situation. The plant yields* abundantly, and isfreefrom diseaseof any? kind, and the grower >3 confident that th«w hop plant could be Maxed here at a profit; to the farmer. The crop ripens, as inj England, just after the grain barest, eo| that agriculturists 'would have ample] time to garner their grain iCtopa before! starting on the hop ytoefy Along the! banka of the slieKferedl : places,oratthe base of the Blue Moimtains,) are suitable spots for the culture) of the] plant, but strong shelter from the southej westerly winds would be In recent months thereiave been eeveraEj prosecutions in Liverpool because of the! sale of cheese |mporfced from itmenow which contained a ocmaiderobh) proportion] of foreign fat. Similar action abet beett] taken in the Sheriff Courts bum the impugned article xn this Instance is-of] native manufacture. Skim-milk cheess! having become unsaleable,the makers hard sought to improve it by adding cow fat] which compensates for the cream that id] taken away, and makes cheesefioft ancL more digestible.. It is sold very cheaply,,: the retail price being 4d per lb, The pro* secution did not allege that the cheese Was unwholesome, or that itrwas sold aboye itn value, hut the contention was that when & purchaser asked for cheese he was entitled: to get cheese that was mads entirely from milk. As nothing was done to increase the bulk, weight, or measure of the food or drug, or conceal the inferior quality thereof," it was not to convict. ]

By way of illustrating to-a Torkiahiroj audience the other day the necessity of!j better agricultural education, Mr Euck-I master, of the Science and Art Depart*; ment, said there were thousands of acres] of land now lying idle which ought td contribute to the food of the people and] the wealth of the country, and that which] was cultivated might be made to produce more if scientific and less wasteful jhethodfl were adopted. He looked to increased!-; production, the result of more knowledge*] as one of the remedies for the present! agricultural Condition. He instanced aj quarter of an acre on an allotment which] produced with artificial manures alone] more than four times the average pro?] duction. Better to cultivate one acre; thoroughly than two acres badly. We had] never attained the maximum productive! power of the land. There were every] winter hundreds of lads in rural parishes, who grew into manhood with nothing to, occupy their leisure but a short pipe And; a dirty bagatelle board. These gught toi he gathered into these propoaedagricnllurall science classes. They should pass on from; day schools to the science and ext night!' classes, without that interval which was] often the grave of all further effort* Ifel was far easier for a lad to go on .than.'in* begin again.