Farm and Garden.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 387, 12 July 1879, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

At a sale held at Beremboke recently, Waterloo Hero, a bull purchased a short time ago for 300 guineas, was knocked down to Mr. Jackson, of Sandford, for 45 guineas, whilst a yearling ram of the same strain was bought by Mr. Jackson for £5; as also pure bred cows, some with calf, for 955., and 67 pure bred heifers for 655. each. The Qeclong Advertiser says that the whole of the stock was sold for about a fourth of its cost."

A cure for the terrible disease among cattle called pleuro-pneumonia has been reported in the Toivn and Country Journal. A correspondent writes that, having some of his cattle suffering from the malady, and hearing that burnt sulphur was a good thing, he tried the experiment with the following result, having fastened the cow to prevent it jumping :—I then put about a cupful of sulphur into an old coffee pot, and then a good coal of fire. I held it to her nostrils in spite of her struggles with a pair of tongs, till all the sulphur was burned out. She rapidly recovered, and this year is rearing as good a calf as any I have ; none of the cattle have shown any sign of disease since.

The Rev. M. Sauppe, a Great bee-master, in Luckendorf, makes the following calculation, intending to prove the eminent agricultural and economical importance of the rearing of bees :—Of each of 17,000 hives to be met with in Saxony, 10,000 bees fly out per diem—equal to 170 millions —each bee four times, equal to 680 millions, or in a hundred days equal to 68,000 millions. Each bee, before flying homewards, visits 50 flowers ; therefore the {whole assemblage has visited 3,400,000 millions of flowers. If out of the ten only one flower has become fertilised, 340,000 millions of fertilised flowers would be the result. Supposing the reward for the fertilisation of 5000 flowers to be one German pfennig, the united bees of Saxony have obtained per annum a sum of 68,000,000 pfennigs—6Bo,ooo marks (£34,000 sterling). Each hive represents in this way a value of £2 sterling. THICK OR THIN SOWING. We sow our grain from a quarter to onehalf too thick, thus throwing away each year a large quantity of seed of our choice grain, and all under the mistaken notion that it is needed. The grains, like fruit trees and plants in general, want sun and air in plenty, not only as a necessity in growth, but to their perfect growth, and in particular the fruit and seed. Corn sown or planted close, it is well known, will not produce ears, and the stalk is less nutritious. So fruit trees, with dense tops, fail to color and mature well their fruit, only that on the outside being perfected, and not then so well as if sun and air had reached all parts of the tree. Grain standing thick has weak stalks, (from the effects of the shade) unable to grow STich large well filled heads as we find in the more scattered stalks standing high with large drooping heads, supported by the strong stem, which seldom gets down. A little moisture lays the other flat. The effect is upon the cells of the plant, elongated and enfeebled in the shade, toughened and perfected in the sun, making a stout, healthy plant. This is the explanation of science, and does away with the common notions about lime, ashes, silex, etc., as having that effect. To sow thick is to exclude the sun and air from the start. The stem of the plant, kept thus constantly in the shade, is weak through its whole growth, becomes pale and spinding, and the most affected where the longest confined to the shade, beginning at the foot of the stem, which seldom fails of turning yellow where the stand is a close one, however rich the ground may be. The stem thus suffering, the berry, of course, cannot be expected to equal that of a strong, healthy plant. We s ee this exemplified where the sowing is done in streaks, the dense lines showing a shorter, weaker and closer growth than the adjoining sparse growth ;which always has the longer, stouter stalks and the larger full heads. The heads in the other case are small, on a fine dwarf growth of stems faded and shrunken almost to nothing. It is only necessary to test the matter by such extremes anywhere to satisfy one. What is wanted is to sow thin and even, aTid cover well. But besides this the absolute necessity to the highest success is a rich soil, in good condition ; that is, well-drained and mellow. The object should be to give the plant a chance to spread and occupy the ground without crowding ; nursed by sun and air from the start throughout its entire growth. Then one seed will multiply its stalks, making a hill, as we say of corn ; a field of HI!." occupying toward the last, the whole ground, the surface of the grain not so level as when thickly sown, but with a great depth occupied by large, drooping heads and, although the number may fall short of the other, yet the

yield is much greater for the very good vp.u'no.i that the heads are larger, better filled, and with a plumper berry, one head being worth two or three of the other, I never saw this so well demonstrated as in the great wheat year of 1877, where a field of wheat hid a stand that showed somewhat thin, but with uncommonly largoTieads. The guesses as to the yield of wheat ranged from 25 to 35 bushels per acre. The yield proved to be 46 bushels, surprising every one. In this case the ground was in perfect condition, and the seed was sown broadcast about a bushel to the acre. Even here, some streaks were observed, only, however, at first, but the tillering, especially, in the more vacant places, was remarkable —a conclusive proof of the benefit of thin sowing on rich land well prepared. The drainage was deep and perfect, the seed was clean and every grain sound. The same thing done in a poor season will show compai-ative success, as has been tested, whereas the usual course (of thick sowing) will be a failure.— E. G. in N. Y. Country Gentleman.

KOUMISS OR FERMENTING MILK. Mr. E. Salisbury, the contractor connected with the Eresh Eood and Ice Company, who during the past year has done signal service by causing the distribution of pure country milk to become widespread in this city, has initiated a new industry, the manufacture of koumiss or fermenting milk. Erom a paper written by Dr. E. Hiller, at whose instance Mr. Salisbury commenced this work, we learn that koumiss is a white lactescent liquid, with the characteristic odor resembling that of whey, with a slightly acidulous, sweetish taste, savoring somewhat of buttermilk, and that it leaves a fresh, very agreeble after-taste, and is more effervescent than champagne. That these statements are acurate is conceded by those who have partaken of this new beverage, which we believe will soon become popular in several private circles and possibly may find a place in public refreshment bars among drinks ol a less beneficial character. It is known that milk's chief constituents are albumen and fat, and that as an article of food its strength is too great for those who have not strong digestive organs ; but fermenting milk, being the most digestive food known, while it contains all the elements of the human body, may be taken of freely even by the weakest invalids. The leading medical journals describe it as the most powerful medication against consumption and all forms of wasting disease, and report cases in which its power as a curative agent is fully proved. In fact, from a medical point of view, the credentials of koumiss are perfectly satisfactory, and we are glad to say are recognized by the faculty of the colony. We are informed by Dr. Hiller that the first scientific description of koumiss, and of its application to medicine, dates back nearly a century. It is due to Dr. John Grieve, who, in Lis position as a physician in the Russian army, had been able to study on the spot, the remarkable action of this beverage. He published his experience in "An Account of a Method of making a Wine called by the Tartars ' Koumiss,' with observations on its use in medicine." Since that time several works on koumiss have been published, and a koumiss factory was established in Paris in 1872. The original koumiss of the Tartars was made from mare's milk ; but chemical research and the experience of the last 10 years have proved that cow's milk makes an equally good koumiss, and has given remarkable results. Koumiss from cow's milk has been in use for two years in the United States, and there are at present koumiss cure establishments in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington. Mr. Salisbury's circular states that, althoiigh but samples have been circulated, testimonials arc already obtainable as to beneficial results from use, from physicians with others ; and he says : "Apart from its distinct and special iise as a medicine, koumiss is the coming beverage for mere refreshment. Tt will, to a considerable extent, take the place of spirituous and alcoholic drinks—for the man in health, whose elasticity of body, and consequently of mind, will be sustained by its use, instead of that of the enervating liquors which are now so largely taken, with undoubtedly little or no good effect ; and for the greater number of persons who, not positively ill—hardly even unwell—are wanting in the tone and natural vigour and spring of sound health."

DEFECTS IN COLONIAL AGRICUL-

TURE. fErom the N. Z. Agriculturist.) The disastrous and ruiuous effects of the exhaustive system of agriculture generally followed in the colonies have been frequently pointed out, and numerous and varied suggestions have been made indicating the means by which an improved and more rational course of cultivating the soil might advantageously be adopted. But so far as our experience and observation have extended, there has been only very partial attention given to one of the most important matters closely affecting the future prosperity of the agriculturists as a body, and indirectly the whole community—how to maintain the fertility of the soil unimpaired. It is an ascertained fact that the agricultural lands of this colony are, when first cultivated, extremely fertile, and produce more abundant crops than almost any other country having a similar climate and temperature. It must be evident to an accurate observer that, in many portions of the colony where agriculture has been carried on, the lands are gradually deteriorating in their capacity to yield such crops as formerly, and yet our remark is true that small interest is taken in the important problem we have stated. Various reasons could be given for the singular disregard of the warnings and advice of those who have written and spoken on the subject. It certainly cannot arise from ignorance of the fact that soils originally capable of raising rumunerative crops have been slowly but surely deprived of those constituents essential to the production of good crops. Everyone does know, or ought to know, that in the older colonies at least—such as South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania aud Victorian-there are thou-

=, n<s of fanners who have practically realised .!:•■ truth of what we state, by the loss of their capital, the heavy mortgages on their properties, and the wretched and costly shifts they

miiafc constantly adopt to raise money for current expenses by the forestalling of their growing crops—yea, frequently even before the seed is sown. The ultimate l-esnlt of such a kind of

funning is the Bankruptcy Court. We believe the chief reasons for the neglect of the principles which generally guide other men in the maintenance of their capital intact (for the soil is the fixed capital of the agriculturist) are these : Eirst, the insufficiency of the money capital of those who become cultivators of the soil. They are therefore compelled to get as much from the soil as possible at the least expense, and they cannot afford to relax from' this course of robbery until the evil of which we write has been accomplished. Second, the prevalent ignorance of the first principles of the science of agriculture, and too frequently the experience of the details of good practical farming. And third, but not least, the great difficulty arising from the high rate of wages, and the scanty supply and poor quality of the labor obtainable for the numerous minor operations, essentially necessary to the carrying out of the alternative system of cropping as practised in Great Britain and elsewhere. The practical benefits from the adoption of a rotation system are now universally admitted in theory, although, from the reasons already stated, it is practically ignored and neglected in most of the colonies. The lamentable results that have been consequent on the neglect of this rational system —one of nature's most apparent laws—have not to any great extent manifested themselves in New Zealand. The limited time that has elapsed since the originally fertile aoil of New Zealand was brought under plough is barely sufficient to develop the mischievous consequences of cropping too repeatedly with one kind of plant on the same soil. But while this is, as a rule, fortunately true, there are not wanting many symptoms of the over-crop-ping with cereals in the agricultural districts of the colony. We have recently seen crops of oats and wheat-growing in some of the best soils in the district so light and altogether so inferior as to force us to the conclusion that the management must be deficient, for despite the dry season, we maintain that by a system of deep and more thorough cultivation, in conjunction with some degree of attention to rotation, the crops on the soil referred to should yield a larger return of bushels per acre than what can easily be obtained on the hilly moors of Scotland. Farmers of large agricultural experience who have visited this colony have remarked the very small ■ area under root crops, and a perusual of the annual statistics distinctly proves that restorative crops bear but a small proportion to the cereal crops under cultivation. We have every reason to apprehend that in the course of a few years more we shall have cause to lament over the fruits of the ruinous course of farming so generally followed, be the reasons what they may which may be urged for its continuance. The crops usually considered as restorative are turnips, mangolds, potatoes, carrots, &c. ; beans, peas, tares, &c. ; and grasses and clovers, &c. One potent cause why the two first divisions of restorative crops are not more generally cidtivated is the high expense involved in performing those simple operations connected with their cultivation which are mainly done at Home by boys and girls. This at least is given as the reason for their not being more largely cultivated. The rapid development of improvement in all kinds of implements will ere long make this excuse untenable. No argument of the kind can be successfully urged why clovers, and especially red clover, should not be more universally grown as intermediate crops. The expense of seeding chiefly with red clover for one year's crop of hay may be considerable ; but having regard to the preparatory qualities known to be connected with such a crop for the successful growth of wheat in succeeding years, the perfect mine of ammonia which the ploughing down of the after math would convey to the soil, the large quantity of nutritious food that would be available in winter for dairy cows and other half-starved animals, we think powerful considerations have been adduced in favor of its more general adoption. The usual practice of lying land down under grass does not, we confess, impress us with an opinion that the improvement to the soil consequent on the presumed rest from cropping is frequently fulfilled. Observation and statistics prove that grasses are grown to a considerable extent by farmers. But we contend that their growth is often but an aggravation of the evil's from perpetual grain-growing. Fields after fields are to be seen sown down with rye-grass for the purpose of raising seed, that have probably produced several crops of grain, and without the aid of manure in any shape. Every stalk of these cereal crops is again religiously deprived of every seed by the merciless thrashing machine, the straw alone remaining to be offered to half starved animals as hay. We ask what possible benefit can the soil derive from the substitution of one cereal crop for another? But this is not all. After this foolish robbery of the soil, the weakened plants are left to form a pasture upon which to graze a a few cows or bullocks, until every root of good grass is eradicated and replaced by couch or other abominable weeds, ever too ready to occupy the. place of useful plants in badly farmed }?r^d n The breaking up of this socalled old iea is followed by another similar proof of punitive and exhaustive cropping. Is it difficult to fortell the inevitable result ? We strongly advocate the general cultivation of red elover as one of the means to resuscitate the soil after a course of grain-growing ; and tmst our remarks will have the effect of eliciting the opinions of some of our farmers in this district. If corroborative of our opinion, well and good ; if, on the contrary, they are prepared to oppose our views, we shall gladly re-open the question, and endeavor to conclusively prove that we are right. At all events, the subject is one worthy of earnest consideration.

INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL ] EXHIBITION. A great effort is being made to secure the success of the International Agricultural Exhibition which is to be held in London this summer. The Lord Major, Sir Charles Whetham, has just addressed the following letter on the subject to the daily newspapers : national Agricultural Exhibition in London, to draw attention to and invite support for the fund which is now being raised at the Mansion House for the provision of prizes, in addition to those offered by the Royal Agricultural Society, and for the bearing of some of the very heavy expenses incident to the holding of an Agricultural Exhibition ia the heart of the metropolis on an unprecedented scale of magnitude. Up to the present about £BOOO has been collected for those purposes, but the cost of the Exhibition to the society will, it is estimated, be not less than £40,000, andfor the recoupment of this large sum the society will have solely to rely upon the <witrance fees of the exhibitors and the admiabion money paid by the public in the seven dajs during which the Exhibition will be open. Should these Bources fail, the society will find itself involved in a very heavy loss. A few facts in regard to the Exhibition may not be out of place. The sits—which is 100 acres in extent —is at Kilburn, within easy distance of the Marble Arch, and quickly accessible from all parts of London. The exhibits will be nearly double those of any past Exhibition, and the entries include British and foreign cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, asses, mules, and goats ; butter, cheese, hams and bacon, pork, and preserved meats, cider and perry, and seeds. In all these matters the great object in view is to increase the supply, and therefore to cheapen the food of the people. Over £13,000 is offered in prizes, to which, and for the expenses of the site, the Mansion House Committee have already voted over £6OOO. During each day of the show interesting operations connected with some department of agriculture will be in progress, including the Erench, Scandinavian, and English sytterns of making butter ; and there will be a competition for railway waggons for carrying perishable goods, and for the different processes of meat-keeping. Altogether the Exhibition will be of a very interesting character. The Queen has graciously contributed to the Mansion-house Eund, and the Prince of Wales, as the president this year of the Royal Agricultural Society, i 3 taking a very lively interest in the show and its arrangements. Looking at the great benefits which will accrue to the public by this gathering ; to the instruction and pleasure it will give to many classes of Londoners who have _ never witnessed such an Exhibition ; to the important results that may be produced in the cheapening of the food supply, and in other desirable ways, I venture to ask for additional support to the Mansion-house Fund, and for the increased co-operation of the public in making the show a financial success." CANCER IN HORSES. A correspondent of the Queenslander gives the following account of his treatment for cancer in horses :—" The modus operandi is so simple that any person can do it with any piece of iron to hand. I use the fiat side of any branding iron at hand, only taking »are not to sear any healthy flesh round the edges of the diseased part —as that would leave a scar. Until the cancer is unmistakably developed, which may be recognised by the discharge of a thick dark glutinous pus heavily tinged with blood, and puts on a fungoid appearance, I should do nothing more to the swelling { which at first appears like a large boil) than try and soften the outer skin. When vou are thus assured of the nature of the disease, heat your iron red hot and pass it firmly over every part of the diseased Burface exposed to view, taking care not to touch the true skin round the edges with the iron. This is very easy, as at this stage the diseaned part stands a little higher than the other, especially towards the centre. Most horses will stand moderately quiet under the seAring; the growth being of a fungoid character is less sensitive than healthy flesh ; consequently I am guided considerably by the movements of the horse as to the degree of severity required. Should the growth not be in a fair way of disappearing in (say) ten or twelve days, or even less, the first searing has not been severe enough, and should be repeated—lightly or otherwise, as appearances may suggest. It 'is however, seldom necessary to make the second application if the first is carefully parformed.

AMERICAN EXPORTATION OE MEAT. NOTES ON THE IMPORTATION OF AMERICAN MEAT INTO ENGLAND, AND ITS PRESENT AND FUTURE EEEECT ON THE AUSTRALIAN MEAT

TRADE, By Mr. A. Bruce, Chief Inspector of Stock. Although no doubt the importation of chilled meat and live stock from America has of late years affected the trade in Australian tinned meats, I am persuaded that it can still, if properly conducted, hold its own with American meat ; and when means are found to convey our meat to England in the same state, or nearly the same state, as the American, there is no doubt that ours will cut the American meat out of the market. I make these assertions on the following grounds:—l. The average quality of our cattle is at least 40 per cent, better than that of the American.

2. The average cost of keeping and fattening cattle in America is double what it is in Australia, as the Australian cattle are fattened on the natural grasses, while the American are so on artificial grasses and Indian corn. 3. Our tinned meats are, perhaps, not so palatable as the best chilled American meat ; and they cost more to preserve than the American does to chill and keep sound on the voyage to England and while there. But, then,

our meats have the important advantages of being thoroughly portable, capable of being kept any length of time, and of being free from bone and ready cooked.

The cattle in America may be described as being of four classes—l. Purebreds. 2. Grade cattle. 3. Native cattle. 4. Texas cattle.

Judging, again, from the description stockowners from these colonies who have visited the States bring us, and from the accounts given of them by writers from Great Britain who have seen the stock in Canada and the States, but more particularly from the accounts which Mr. James Macdonald, the editor of the recent practical and exhaustive work on the " Eood from the Par West," gives of the American stock, I would say that the different classes into which I have divided the cattle in the States number something like the following, viz.:—

In all about 30,000,000 ; and Mr. Macdonald says with respect to the diffeßont sorts : The purebreds are principally shorthorns. The grade cattle are crosses of all degrees of purity, from shorthorn bulls and native or Texas cows. The native cattle are an inferior race—big-boned, high-standing, unshapely, fiat-ribbed, sharp-ehouldered, and coarse in quality. And the Texas, Kansas, and Colorado cattle have long, spreading horns ; long legs ; thin, lanky bodies ; big, ill-put together bones ; high at the hocks and low at the rump and loins, thin thighs, coarse heads, and of various colors—yellow, red, roan, dun, or black—with an iron-colored stripe along the back. They are bad milkers and inferior beef. Erora this description of the American cattle, as compared with the cattle in the Australian colonies, it may be said :—l. Their purebreds are as good as ours. 2. The very best of their grade cattle are as good as the best of our common herd (bush) cattle. 3. Their second-rate grades are equal to our middling and inferior herd cattle. 4. Their inferior grades to our worst. 5. Their native cattle are worse than any we now h&ve. And, 6. The Texas, Kansas, and Colorado stock are worse still.

In order to give some idea as to what the different descriptions of American ctock are like when fattened, what th«y are worth, what they cost to fatten, and how the prices of meat are ia New York compared with those in Sydney, I give the following quotations from Mr. Macdonald's work as the prices ruling in 1877 :—l. An average Texas bullock, 4g- years old, fattened there on the grass, and sent direct to Chicago dressed, when killed, 6201b5., and was worth in New York, per lb., or £B. 2. A Texas steer sold at 3 years old to a farmer in Illinois, who fattened him for five months on artificial grasses and maize (30 bushels, costing Is. 3d. per bushel), dressed 550 lbs., and was worth in New York 4d. perlb.,or£9 9s. 3. A.naveragegradesteer,Bi|year3old,maizefed for one winter on 25 bushels at Is. 5d., sold at 4 years old, and dressed 8411b5., -worth in New York 4£d. per lb., or £l6 13s. 6&. 4. A choice grade or pure-bred steer, 3 years old, cost £l4 35., partly grain-fed for 18 months, and afterwards maize-fed for seven months, at a cost of £6 65., dressed 9781b5,, worth 5%d., or £22. Mr. Macdonald says again in another part of his work that Texas steers cost in Missouri (in store condition) from £8 to £4 12s. a head, and the finish off they receive adds £4 to £4 Bs. to their cost per head—that is 75 bushels of maize to each steer at a cost of 14d. to 15d. per bushel, and months' keep. Eed in this way the Texas steers would weigh about 550 to 6001bs. when dressed ; while native steers, at the same age, would go from 650 to 8001bs. While our best meat can be sold wholesale in Sydney at from 2d. to 2£d. per lb., it will be gathered from the particulars I have furnished that meat of the same clas3 cannot be laid down in New York or Philadelphia at less than from 4d. to sd. per lb.; and although the Americans may improve the general quality of their meat, and perhaps reduce the cost of it to some extent, they will never be able to produce that class of meat at less than double what it costs us to do so. This will be at once seen when it is recollected that the severity of the winter in America obliges stockowners to stall-feed their stock at a heavy expense for roots and corn ; while ours can not only maintain their condition at all seasons, but even in some parts of the colony lay on fat in the middle of winter.

Pure breds .. 23,000 to 30,000 Grade cattle .. . 2,500,000 to 3.060.000 Katire cattle . 8.000.000 to 0,000,000 Texas, Kansas, &c.. . 16,000,000 to 17,039,000