Agricultural Notes.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 859, 17 August 1888, Page 19

Agricultural Notes.

A Placer County Farmer’s Experience with Forage Plants—the value op Brown-necked Lady-Bugs Oregon Wild Cattle—thb Army Worm Exter.

minated in Sonoma—Prices cf Fruits.

Having experimented to some extent to asceitain the best plant to cultivate for pasture and {provide winter provender for stock, the writer thinks perhaps he may be able to give a few practical hints that may be of some value to foothill farmers or those to become such. Alfalfa is undoubtedly the most valuable plant yet known on our coast for both hay production, and where the necessary conditions exist is' the most profitable. The land should be deep soil, well drained, and put in the beat possible* condition before sowing. If new ground is üßed it should be well broken, all stumps and roots removed early in the season, and reploughed and well harrowed in tbo spring. Sow twenty-five pounds of seed per acre and cover with a brush-drag. If the land has been cultivated a few years, it is much better than new, as the soil is pulverised and a much better stand is obtained. Under these conditions, on good red land, ten tons of hay may be obtained per acre, besides affording much pasture. These results, however, cannot be obtained without irrigation after each mowing. Three crops a season are enough, a 3 the hay . will be much better by allowing the plant to mature enough to be in full bloom when cut. Almost every foothill farm can have a small field of alfalfa if the place has a running spring, by holding the water in tanks or a reservoir, and flooding after eaoh mowing, the amount cultivated to be measured by the quantity of water obtainable. Naturally wet laud will not do at all. The next most valnable is the Italian rye grass, which will flourish under the same conditions as alfalfa. It becomes very valuable in connection therewith by sowing the seed on the alfalfa field, a very small quantity of seed being necessary, as the plant seeds the ground. The grass will take hold of every vacant spot and thus keep your crop full. The quality of the hay is fully equal to alfalfa in value for hay, but it will not produce near so much to the aore. T. ;j iC'?;

I prepared a piece of land four years ago and sowed therein, in separate lots, alfalfa, Indian, rye grass, orchard grass, mesquite, Alsiki clover, evergreen millet, tcesinte

dhoura, and other kinds to ascertain their respective values for pasturage. The land was deep red soil on a side hill, and there was no chance for irrigation. The seed all came up nnd grew pretty well, but the hares and deer raided so that only a few plants of a kind were permitted to seed, and on letting the cattle on it I found the rye grass, orchard grass and mesquite were injured by the trampling and pulling up of the plants, the alfalfa and millet not being injured by grazing. The tcesinthe nnd dhoura are annual plants and will not do without irrigation any more than corn. Evergreen millet will make a good growth on any deep soil and afford a large amount of fodder for pasturage. I would advise all to be careful not to sow it in ground where anything else is to be cultivated, as it is very hard to get rid of. The pasturage of the foothills can be greatly improved by oiearing off the brush and sowing many of the kinds mentioned without ploughing. The coat will be very little for seed,—G. W. Applegate, in Auburn Republican. A VALUABLE LADY-BUG. On the 25th of last month I received from A. Scott Chapman of San Gabriel, a specimen of a Bmall beetle with the statement that it was bred by him from a larva he found feeding upon the eggs of the cottony cushion scale. Th ; s beetle is known to entomologists as the Soynmus marginicollis, and may bo properly called the brown-necked lady, bug. It has the same general form of the other lady-bugs, but it is very small, measuring one-tenth of an inch in length. Its head and thorax are reddish-brown, while its wing cases are black, and there is a blaokish spot on the top of the thorax. I first bred specimens of this beetle in the summer of 1883, from larvie found at Sacramento on -a thistle infested with plant lice, upon which the larvae greedily fed. These larv£6 were of the usual wormlike form of the other lady-bug larvie, and like them were provided with three pairs of legs; thoir bodies were of a yellowish colour, thickly covered with a white, mealy powder, and with a covering of white, matted hairs, resembling wool ; their heads were of a pale, yellow and were capable of being wholly withdrawn into the forepart of the body. When fully grown they measure about three- sixteenths of an inch in length. They assumed the pupa form within the old larval skin, the latter simply splitting along the back ; and in the oourae of a week or so the beetle makes her appearance. I can find no account of this lady-bug in the eastern part of this country, and the earliest record I possess of its appearance on thi3 coast is that given by Dr Leconte on page 25 of the twelfth volume of the report on a survey for a railroad to the Pacific Coast, made in the years 1553-55, where he records the capture of this species in California. The discovery that this lady-bug feeds upon the eggs of the cottony cushion scale is very interesting, and perfectly in harmony with the well-known carnivorous propensity not only of this species, but also of the other species belonging to the same genns. On page 122 of his first report as State Entomologist of Missouri Professor Riley records finding a Scymnus larvse feeding upon the woolly aphis while, on page 51 of his sixth report, he records finding a larvae of this kind preying upon the grape phylloxera ; and on page 100 of his fifth report, he says : ‘ 'the larva of certain small lady-bugs belonging to •the genus Scymnus with their dense and even clothing of white cottony tufts, feed alike on the bark lice, (the pine leaf scale) and upon a woolly aphis (Chermos pinicortici?, Fitch), which often covers the bark and is aften found in conjunction with the leaf scale. I have bred Scymnus consobrinus, Lee., aud S. cervicalis, Muls., from larvae thus found, and Dr. Shimer has found S. terminotuß say under similar conditions.’ It is to be hoped that these lady-bugs will increase to such an extent as to materially lessen the numbers of scale inseats in this State ; there is a fine field for a whole army of them in this county alone.—W. G. Klee, in Pacific Fruit Grower. TOUCH OR HANDLING OF CATTLE. In judging cattle the touch as well as the eye is brought into request, and, except in regard to certain points of conformation and colour, we are by no means sure that ‘touch’ is not the most important qualification —The akin and flesh can only be fully-examined by touch or handling. And in ascertaining if the bones are well covered with flesh, aud if the latter is soft to the touch; and ample in quantity on the examined points, the squ eze of the palm of the hand is not so delicate as the tcuch of the tips of the fingers, the former ascertaining the quantity, the latter judges of the quality. The touch may be hard or mellow, line or harsh, good or bad, as it is frequently termed. A slow feeder is marked by a tbick-set, hard, short, hair, which constitutes a bad touch ; a thin, meagre, paperery skin covered with thin silky hair, though the opposite of the one just mentioned, does not constitute a good touch, but is indicative of weakness of constitution, though probably of good breeding properties. A good touch will be found in a thick, loosa skin, floating, as it were, on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the leasr pressure, and springing back towards tho fingers like a piece of soft thick c-.amois leather, and covered with thick glossy, soft hair, which loolc3 rich and beautiful and seems warm and comfortable to the animal. A curly pile of soft hair indicates a vigorous constitution and also a propensity to fatten. Such a skin is termed ‘mossy,’ from resembling a bed of fine, soft moss. The sensation of a fine touch is very gratifying to the handler ; the animal is liked, and more especially as it is mostly accompanied by a symmetrical form. Long practice is required to appreciate a fine touch, but when it is acquired it is alone sufficient to estimate the feeding properties of an ox. In the fat animal the position of the flesh on the carcase is a great consideration. The finest meat lies on the loins and ramp, and on the fore and middle ribs : consequently the ox that carries the largest quantity of meat on those psrts is the most valuable. The other parts, of various qualities, and used for soups and salting, do not fetch the high price of the parts described. The point or top of the rump is the first part of a feeding ox that shows the fat, and the parts that are last in being covered with, flesh are the top of the shoulder and the point of the shoulder-joint. When these points are felt to be well covered, the other

and better parts may be considered to be in perfection, nnd a prime condition may be expected. But the general handling must establish tho real condition, for there is a wide difference between tho apparent aud real fatness of an ox. The flesh of an ox that appeared very fat to the eye may feel loose and flabby ;; but a truly fattened animal always feels * * hand fat.’ Such handlers never deceive the butcher, while loose fattening 3 never kill well.—Scottish Agricultural Gazette. WILD CATTLE IN OREGON. A strange breed of wild cattle is found in the high hills skirting the Umbqua Valley. In the mountain, near Riddles and Rosebud, they are probably most plentiful, but they do not venture down in the valley much. They stay on the mountains and get water from the living springs which rise there. For the most part they are concealed in the dense growth of oak and fir in these mountains. There is heavy underbrush, too, so that it isiahard matter to get them. . They go in bands of six or eight usually, but at night a herd of forty or fifty get together and lie down in the Bame yard—that is, they sleep in the same spot, which is usually secluded among the trees. A band of wild cattle have been known to get together on a cleared place like this every night for .a couple of years. When feeding there are always a few bulls to act as sentinels. While the cattle graze in bands of half a dozen or so, they are, nevertheless, close to other bands, so that aft any alarm from any one of the bulls, which leisurely feed on higher ground, they all run away together. The cattle are of all colours, and wilder than deer. It is a hard matter to get a shot at them, for the reason that their soent is so keen. They can smell a man a long distance off. They got wild in 1853, when the old man Riddles and two or three others of the first settlers came to the valley. Their cow wandered off aud could not be found. After two or three years all the pioneers had to do when they wanted beef was to rig up two or three pack animals and go up in the mountains. The cattle had to be killed on sight, the Bame as deer and bear, for they could no more be driven down' than deer could. Once killed, they were quartered, packed on horses and carried down. They have been hunted a good deal of late, so that there is not so many as there used to be. A peculiarity about these cattle is that their eyes and horns are jot black. The retina, iris, and the whole apple of the eyo is one mass of black. You can’t distinguish any difference in any part of it. The horns, too, while being black as ink, are long and sharp. Brought to bay, the Oregon wild cattle are wicked fighters.—Portland Oregonian.