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North Otago Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2081, 3 January 1879, Page 4 (Supplement)

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The agricultural returns of Great Britain for the year 1877-78 show a large increase in the exteut of land under cultivation, §nd in the number of the different kinds of live stock which are now being reared. New South Wales has taken at Paris the grand prize for wool, nine gold medals, seventeen silver medals, seventeen bronze medals, and twenty-six certificates of merit. The Rev. Charles Clark, when lecturing recently at Adelaide, showed his faith in the future ot that city by in zesting a thousand pounds in the purchase o( suburban land. Wheat and millet seed germinate in a day or two, barley in seven d.<ys, cabbage in ten, while almond, chestnut, and peaches require twelve months. It may not be generally known that bacon can be kept*during a very hot summer by putting it in a strong p*ptr bag, the outside of which is brushed with lime In Cuba, the milk man drives the cows round instead of a cart, and milks at the -loor the quanty of milk required by each eu«*nmer. While the importation of American dead meat info Liverpool i* steadily diminishing, thnt of lire stock is increasing with wondnrftil rapidity. A Waterbury man has obtained a patent for drvin» grass'hy^artificial heat. He is a nld(rinri'»t, however, a% Nebucbadnezzer was the first ?raw-hea.t£lr At a sale of coloniii draft mare* held in Melhnnrnc recently, forty-two animals renli«ed 3033 Guineas. A rather novel consignment (says the Auckland " Herald,'^ was received by Mr McLean, fishmonger, Queen-street Wharf, on Monday. It was sett from Melbourne, and consisted of a large number of magpies. The birds are quite tame, and met with a ready sate, aa they are known to be very uvftil in the pardon, keepins away sparrows and destroying "lusrs, while they rarely touch the fruit if properly fed and cared for. A corresp mdmt writing to the "Witangi Tribune," refers to the habit existing nf puffin? down native timber without •naking provision for the future by planting s ly :—ln: — In thenameof all thsiti* nrndent I *Uh to ask why the oawmillers of the disrict not pay more attention to the future, md vihile they ire vi«»oroii«!v cutting #own every tree, devote a little attention to tlnntinir. lam not one of those croakers vho imagine that " when the hu»h Is exh«u«ted Wiimate will be cooked" — for I Helieve Waimate will alwav be a thriving rownship — but still it i< undeniable that the longer there h a bu»h to cut at the better it will be for the district. If treeplanting were commenced now on the portions of land that have already been cleared, by the time the mills had worked into the back country up the gullies there would be a fre<h growth of trees for them to work on. It is well known how rapidly '.he blue gum grows, and it* value as a serviceable timber is becoming better appreciated every year, but there are many other trees that are also of rapid growth. I trust,that some abler pen than mine will take the matter up, and draw attention to what I am convinced is a matter of importance to the district general*)!'*- **-*+■ Recently was to be seen, (says the "N. Z. Herald") in the sbop#nfr McCrar^ cooper, High-street, a churn of anew construction. The churn was of the barrel lonn, and capable of containing about 36 gallons. The journals rested upon friction wheels, thus reducing the labor of driving it to a minimum. It was not in this improvement, however, in which the chief merit of the invention lay. While each end was fitted with a handle, and two people could have driven the churn, it was so arranged that while the person at one end was causing the barrel to revolve in one direction, the person at the other end could instead of helping to turn the churn, cause die dasher inside the churn to revolve in an opposite direction, from that in which the barrel wai revolving. By this means the cream could be subjected to a very great agitation, thus ensuring its speedy conversion into butter. While the improved churn has thus the power of play, ing at cross purposes with the cream, the two peroous using it. by tightening a small screw, can aid each other in turning the churn while the dasher remained stationary inside. The churn is certainly an improvement upon any form of bairel churn we have previously seen, and though it may cost a little more than tho«e in ordinary u-e it is certainly well worth the differeooe. A writer in a Sydney paper aaya : — I see by your last issue, Mr T. L. Richardson tueutions the weight of some heavy fleeces. 1 bought three rams iv Match last from Mr Carlo Marina, sons of his celebrated ram, Mount Victoria, They were out of surae ewes Mr .Marina bought of Mr Kiley, of Lowee, Mount Victoria, and bred by the Hon. £. K. Cox, of Rawdou, from a ram imported from Prince Leckuowsky of Silesia. My^rams were neither housed t»r fed, but exposed to all sorts of weather. Wheu washed, the/ were well crutched, and shorn four days afterwards — one cut 9£lb, one 10§lb, and one 11th iv all 311 be Contrary to the general impression, notwithstanding the 1 urkish blockfte of *S* Black Sea, itussia supplied Eußfc* 'iflm more gram iv 1877 than iv 1876. The returns show that wl o c in 1876 Russia exported 146,089,000 bushels of grain, in 1877 she exported 199,926,000 bushels. While the exports from the Black bea ports fell ufffroiu 54,000,000 to 29,000,000 bushels, the movement from the lialtio ports increased from 57,000,000 to 80,000,000 bushels, and the uveriand movement from 10,000,000, to 61,000,000 butUels.