AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11369, 11 May 1900, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

Mr. D. A. McPheeson, tho noted Canadian manufacturer of cheese,'lately shipped six cheeses to En"ljnd which weighed lOOOlbs each.

Grasshoppers attain their greatest size in South America, where they grow to a length of sin, and their wings spread out lOin.

It is said that Belgian farm products consist chiefly of cereals, potatoes, sugar, and tobacco. More than 67 per cent, of tho total area of Belgium is under clutivation.

At Wnitland, in England, a cow that had been ailing some time, died, its malady having baffled experts. After death a live snake was discovered in its ear and neck.

An Irishman, upon being asked by an American "What is an Irish bull, anyway?" replied, "Well, it's like Suppose thore wer thirteen cows lying down in a field and one of them was standing up; that would be a 'bull.'"

Down South some good crops have been produced this year. It is reported that Mr. Jarvis, of Rongotea, thrashed out 71 bushels to tho acre from a crop of sparrow bill oats, and then a largo amount was wasted on the ground. lie obtained 54 bushels to the aero from a crop of barloy. Gvpsum applied directly to soils acts as a fixer of ammonia, but its greatest value is for use in cowhouses and on dunghills. It gives good results on clover, but is now seldom used as a separate article, as all superphosphates contain it in large quantity. It is somewhat deplorable to have to be reminded that every recurring year thousands of pounds' worth of farm machinery is left standing out in the fields and around the barns to rust and rot. By fixing up sheds and taking tho machinery apart it could be stowed away and kept out of tho sun and storms, and would last very much longer. _ A new Jersey farmer says that farming is a lottery, and not dependent so much on protection as climate. You plough and sow, and what you get depends on just how climate spaces off heat and cold and wet and dry. In some lines tho prices received are dependent on climate. Gradually but surely the great herds of range horses on the interior plains of Washington, Idaho, and Montana aro being driven to the wall. In tho last two years at least 65,000 head of horses havo been removed from the ranges of Eastern Washington alone. Many of them are canned into horse meat. The donkey can do a good day's work without hurting himself if given a fair chance. Some years ago, Mr. Samuol Taylor, a Colchester coachmaster, had a common English-bred ass which for two years had regularly carried the postboy and his mailbag the 51 miles from Colchester to London. Bacteriologists of the Liverpool School of Tropical Diseases claim to have discovered the microbe of pink-eve in horses. A very large number of eggs are used in the manufacture of dried albumen and yolk powder. It seems that American manufacturers claim that their business is injured considerably by the importation of theso products made from cheap foreign eggs, and are making an effort to have a duty put on imported eggs and egg products. It is estimated that the world's losses of sheep last year amounted to 25,000,000. In addition to the heavy losses in Australia, Sou*ch America and Europe also suffered, while in the United States tho severe winter, while it did not actually reduce the number of sheep' in the country, caused a heavy mortality, which kept what would otherwise havo been a very largo gain down to about 1,000,000. An English journal states that the edible frogs of Franco are chiefly the green frog (Rana esculonta) and the red frog (R. temporaria). They are raised in ponds, mostly in Alsace and Lorraine, and a single pond Has yielded as many as 15,000 a year. They arfl taken with nets and hooks, and their voracity is such that a bit of red cloth can serve as a bait.

It has been well established by numerous experiments by scientists, that the longer time that elapses between milking, the less ■ solids will tho cow secrete in her milk. • Those who havo made tests of cows for purj poses of competition, have also noticed that I a cow will givo considerable increase in solids, as well as in quantity of milk flow, I if she is milked three times a day instead of | twice. But milking three times, as a rule, is impracticable. In his interesting History of the York and Ainsty Hunt, Mr. Scarlh-Dixon describes a curious fall as follows:— horse, driven fast at a wide drain, changed his logs and I stopped so abruptly on its edge that his rider J shot clean over his head and landed on his j foot on tho other side. Tho horse, reli? '"d by his master's weight, instantly jumpod the drain and landed safely beside him. fcju';h a fall was worth having as a curiosity. In the Royal Agricultural Society's journal, Mr. Charles Whitehead makes casual mention of a peculiar habit of the Kent or Romnoy Marsh sheep, which ho claims fits them in a special degree for grazing marshes. 'He remarks:—"Kent sheep always feed singly; on being put into a pasture thoy immediately disperse over it and feed it down evenly and thoroughly, whereas Downs and sheep of other breeds feed in groups, and make baro paths in all directions by their ' follow tho leader' habits." It was thought that tho growth in popularity of tho motor-car among French people, ; especially in Paris, might have led to a reduction in the number of horses; but when the annual census of animals suitablo for military purposes was taken in January, it was found that tho total was 98,284, as against 93,652 in 1898, an increase of nearly five thousand. In the same way, despite the growth of mechanical traction for public conveyances, notably tramways, the number of horses belonging to the company which has the monopoly of this traffic has increased by a clear thousand—from 15,823 to 16,838. . A wonderfully trained horse was lately giving nightly performances in the London Hippodrome. The animal, which is appropriately named " Mr. Goodnight," not only undresses on tho large stage, but actually brings in his own bedstead, makes his bed, and finally, after a glance at the latest evening edition, puts out the light and settles down to rest, pulling the counterpane over his shoulders, The London papers characterise the wholo performance as a wonderful one, and it oortainly shows to what extent a, really intelligent horse in good hands can be trained. Tho performer, a white in colour, is sa-d to be of Flemish breeding.