THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 858, 10 August 1888, Page 19

THE FARM.

INSECT POISONS. The Bureau of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, Washington, sends out the following for use as insecticides on or about plants, etc. : London purple —To twenty pounds flour from one-quarter to one-half pound is added and well mixed. Thi3 is applied.with a sifter or blower. With forty gallops of water one quarter to, one-h,alf pound is mixed for tprpying. ' e „ Dario green—With twenty pounds of flour from three-quarters to one pound is mixed and applied by sifting or by a blower. The same amount of the insecticide to forty gallons of wator is used as a spray. Bisulphatc of Carbon —For use in the ground a quantity is poured or injected among the roots that aro being infected. Against insects damaging stored grain or museum material a small quantity is used in an pir-tight vessel. Oarbolio Acid —A solution of one part in 100 of water is used against, parasites on domestic animals and their barns and sheds ; also on surface of plants and among the roots in the ground. Hellebore —The powder is sifted on alone, or mixed one part to twenty of flour. With one gallon of water one quarter-pound is mixed for spraying. Keroeene Milk Emulsion—To one part milk add two parts kerosene, aud churn by force pump or other agitator. The butterlike emulsion is diluted ad libitum with water. An easier method is to simply mix one part kerosene with eight of milk. Soap Emulsion—ln one gallon hot water one-half pound whale-oil soap is dissolved. This, instead of milk, is mixed to an emulsion with kerosene in the same manner and proportion as above. Pyrethrum (Persian incect powder) Is blown or sifted on dry ; also applied in water, one gallon to a tablespoonful of the powder, wellstirred and then sprayed.

Tobacoo Decooction—This Is made aB strong as possible as a wash or spray, to kill insect pests on animals and plants.

THE CULTURE OF FLAXThe one thing absolutely necessary to the successful growing of flax is that the land should be free from weeds of all kinds. I am told that some crops will choke out weeds, but flax will not. For this reason it is best that flax should follow corn, potatoes or some other hoed crop, or should be sown on summer fallow. If it follows some other small grain, and the ground is in good condition and free from weeds, a good crop may sometimes begrown byploughing very late in the spring and giving good deep and thorough cultivation. Flax can be grown most sue. oessfully on a soil with considerable clay in it; bat whan grown on the rioh vegetable mould of our North-western praries, deep ploughing, which brings the clay subsoil to the surface, will put the ground in condition for a good crop. I sow flax in this latitude between May 20th and June Ist, using a broadcast seeder aud sowing half a bushel per acre. It is ready for harvesting about three weeks later than spring wheat, and I handle it in the same way ( binding it with twine 1 and stacking as other grains are staoked. Many here do not bind, and it can be handled very well in loose gravels, but I prefer binding. With proper cultivation I have sound flax as profitablo as any crop I have grown, but it will not bear neglect or poor cultivation. One tiling may be set down as certain iu the cultivation of flax ; that is, an average crop will never pay. With good cultivation it is easy to produce double an average orop, and not difficult to run it up to three times the average, as flax responds most cheerfully to superior cultivation. I have never found that flax exhausts the soil , more than any other crop of small grain, but of course it will not do to follow flax after flax from year to year.. But I always consider it bad management when I am obliged to sow the same crop on the same land twice in succession, and always consider that. I deserve the poor crop which almost invariably follows. —Dakota. Corr. Rural New Yorker. Useful to Know. We take the following useful categorical information from our exchanges : SNEEZING. 1 Subscriber ’ says : —I have a seven-year-old pony, fed on hay and oats, that has an unpleasant way of blowing through its nose eveiy quarter oE a mile or so when driven in harness, as if it could not breathe comfortably. I thought the collar might not fit, so tried a new one, but without effecting a cure. She is a free goer and in good condition and has no cough ; but I notice she breathes rather short'and generally has a water? discharge from the nostrils when at work. Can you advise me as to what treatment is likely to benefit such a case ? - The sneezing or snorting depends upon a very sensitive condition of the lining membrane of the nostrils to the influence of cold air. Beyond its unpleasantness to the people in the carriage, there is nothing else to find fault with, as it does not interfere with work or speed. As for a remedy it is difficult to suggest one, beyond keeping the pony in a cool, well-ventilated stable, for sneezing is generally the result of being kept in a hot stable. The inhalation of carbolic acid frequently should also deaden the sensibility of the membrane.—F. PARSNIPS FOR DAIRY CATTLE. ‘ A.(LK.' asks :—Can you tell mo if parsnips gre good for dairy cattle, or do they t.aste the milk ? Given in moderate quantities, parsnips will be found useful food for cows in milk. If you were to out off tho orowns, say half-an-inch deep, so as to remove the leaf-roots, so to speak, the danger of giving any flavour to the milk would be lessened. It would be still further lessened if you pulped the parsnips, mixed the pulp with hay or strawchaff, and let the mass slowly ferment from twelve to twenty-four hours before giving it to the cows.—Cineinnatus. DISTEMPER. *A Farmer ’ wishes to know the best treatment for horsesin distemper orinfluenza, and what kind of medicine, if medicine is' necessary. The proper treatment of influenza in horses entirely depends upan tho particular form the disease takes. In some outbreaks it assumes a very mild character ; in others it is so severe that the patient’s life is lost despite even skilful treatment. A curious feature in this complaint is that at one time almost every animal attacked suffers very much from inflamed throat, and the glands in the neighbourhood of the throat. At another time the lungs became more or less affected in almost every caßo, and in some outbreaks the liver appears to suffer most. In all cases except those of a very mild character the aid of a veterinary surgeon should he sought, for tho good of both owner and patients. In mild cases, however, as soon as an animal is seen to be failing be should at once be put into a loose box if possible j bran mashes, with a little linseed added, and a few oats, and meadow hay, be given to eat ; while all the water he drinks should have the chill taken off. When it is impossible to isolate the patient every means should be taken to prevent the animal and everything that is used for him, such as buckets, clothing, brashes, and even the person who attends him, from coming in contact with healthy animals, as this disease is very contagious and infectious. a few days’ careful nursing and-the administration of a dose each of nitrate,and chlorate of potash night and morning, which can bo given, either dissolved in the drinking water, or in a bran mash, many cases will make a complete recovery, but 1 repeat that if the patient toe really ill it will be cheaper and wiser to place the case under skilled hands. —A. SEPARATED CREAM. ‘Cream’ aßks : —Can you tell me in you* next issue how to make separated cream thicker ? It is not thiok enough for the public taste. The separator is a vertical hand one. I have tried turning as fast aa the regulations recommend, but still it is too thin. 1 have tried letting it stand twelve hours and that doeß not alter it. The f cows are pure-bred and grade Shorthorns,

fed on oats, bran, meal, hay, and Bibby meal and cake.

These cream separators can usually bs regulated to produce thick or thin cream, at will. The one we have had in use, a vertical machine, made the cream too thick if any. thing. We fancy you have been running the milk through the maohine too rapidly, aud having it at too high a temperature. If you would write to the agent or maker of that particular machine stating your difficulty he would no doubt tell you what to do to make his machine produce cream as thick or as thin as you like. BROKEN WIND. ‘X.Y.Z.’ says: Having a favourite Hackney mare which has unfortunately become affected io her wind, I would thank you if you could inform me if there is any care for it, or could you tell me how I could relieve her in any way ? Would you reconimend me to breed from her, as she is wellbred and has first-rate action ? . You do not Bay what symptoms the mare presents, hut we presume she shows signs of asthma, or, as it is commonly called, ‘ broken wind.’ If this is so, then very little can be done in the way of a cure ; but she may be much relieved iu the way of careful feeding. The food should be of a very nutritious kind, and small in bulk, as well as easily digested. Crushed oats and good chopped hay make the best feed, with a linseed mash new and again. Bulky food, and large quantities of water before going out are to be avoided. Above everything, prevent her eating litter. If the disease is only broken wind, she might,be bred from.—F. WARTS. ‘W.’says :—I have a heifer whose teats are covered with a mass of warts which make it almost impossible to milk her. Could you recommend anything that would take them off ? A piece of common washing soda rubbed on the warts night and morning after milking is sometimes effectual iu removing the warts, but a more successful operation is equal part 3 of powdered savin and muriate of ammopia made into a paste with hog’a lard and applied twice daily.—A. HORSES' LEGS ITCHING. ‘T.D.L.’ says :—Please let me know how to treat my cart-horses. They are much troubled with itchy legs. They stamp and rub the hair off iu winter wheli housed, and in summer when out to grass they rub the hair off their manes. I should be glad if you could also tell me how to force the growth of hair on the maaes and legs of horses. Mix thoroughly a tablespoonful of carbolic acid with about two ounces of soft soap, and dissolve the whole in a pail of milkwarm water, with which wash your horses’ legs once a week until tho -itching ceases. After washing, the legs should be carefully dried and enclosed in a hay bandage for a a couple or three hours. Where this treatment does not suffice, give a dose of physic and a fair proportion of brau and oarrots in the food. The floor of the stables should bn kept clean, the drains active, and free ventilation encouraged. Two ounces of linseed oil given to each horse in the food once daily is a good preventive agaiußt itchiuess of the legs.—W. A. PRESERVING EGGS FOR, WINTER USE. Sir, — How soon may you preserve eggs for winter? There is a perfect glut in the market just now. A man offered me three bushels at twenty a shilling. Is salt any use to preserve them in a dry state, stood upright ? The only drawback to lime water is that when boiled they craok.

Is there any other superior preservative ? Can you not give ua a useful article on the. subject from your long experience ? —F.W.P. [We have on more than one occasion given some long and elaborate articles on the preservation of eggs for winter use. Tho results of the numerous competitions of preserved eggs that have taken place, notably at Birmingham and the Dairy Show, have been to prove the superiority of two very diverse methods over all others. One is preservation in milk of lime, which, as our correspondent says, is open to the objection that the eggs crack in boiling—which evil, however, may usually be prevented by rqnping a needle into the egg before conking—and the second packing with tho large end upwards in salt, phis acts in great part.by absorbing the moisture from the egg, and thickening tho albumen. It is needless to say that the eggs should be preserved as soon as laid ; eggs a week old do not keep well. It is not desirable to commence preserving for winter use so early in the season.— Ed.]