AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 993, 13 March 1891, Page 20

AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

The charge per ton for tho carriage of graiu, flour, potatoes, and other agricultural produce on New South Wales railways is 2s 7d for 25 miles, whilst on Now Zealand railways it is only' 5s 4d.

The Bush Advocate states that rabbits are becoming very plentiful about Norawood. The luspeotor killed thirteen and the Maoris about twenty, whilst several have been seen by different people.

Wheat supplies are pouring into the Victorian country railway stations in unprecedentedly large quantities, while the buying power, owing to the insufficiency of available tonnage in Melbourne, is nuable to fully nope with them.

It is understood, says the Mataura Eusign, that Messrs Arthur M'Donald and Co. recently purchased, on account of a wellknown Timaru gentleman, 155,000 sacks of oats, which comprise the bulk of last season’s oat surplus in Otago and South, land.

Even the vegetable kingdom has got somewhat confused by the vagaries of the Beason. A gentleman in Manaia has now got a splendid second crop of pears in his garden, the fruit being as large as pullets’ eggs. Unfortunately, the boys annexed his first crop, but ho is taking care they shall not have th& second.

During the season at Dunlop station, near Bourke, N.S.W., no less than 200,000 sheep were shorn, and a record was established by a shearer named James Blackley, who managed to get through 212 sheep during a working day of eight hours. Ha sheared 93S in forty hours, being at the rate of 2Jmin. for each animal. The shearing rate is 20s a hundred.

The time has now arrived when even the humble services of boys in arresting the depredations of birds among tbe crops, to say nothing of the inanimate but fearsome scarecrow fluttering upon a broomstick, is to be supplanted by machinery. A contrivaDce has just been invented hy Mr William Burgess, cf Malvern Well 3, Worcestershire, entitled tho Automatic Alarm Gun, which discharges a loud report at regular ..intervals, or at any given time.

According to the returns published, the total yield of the Italian vineyards last year was 621,562,000 gallons, as against about 500,000,000 gallons tho previous year, of whioh rather more than a fourth was made in Sicily, and another fourth in the provinces constituting the former kingdom of Naples, Piedmont about 72,000,000 gallons, and Tuscany about 49,000,000 gallons, and the returns state that the quality was very good for 12 per cent of the crop, good for 77 per cant, moderate for 10 per cent, and bad for 1 per cent.

The British consul at San Francisco, in his last report, gives some figures showing the magnitude of the trade in tinned or canned fruit. The estimated ‘ pack ’ of tho last fruit season is 7d0,000 cases, of which tomatoes and peaches amounted to 150,000 oases each, pears 100,000, plums aud white berries to 50,000 ouch, apricots and giapes to 40,000 each, black cherries to 30,000, strawberries to 26,000, and apples, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, nectarines, quinces and raspberries, to smaller amounts. The exports from San Francisco amounted to 529,760 cases by rail aud 264,832 by sea, the greater part of the latter going to Great Britain, Australia and New York. In addition, there was a trade in dried fruits last year in raisins, 19,000,0001 b ; French prunes, 15,000,0001 b ; grapes, bleached and evaporated apricots, 2,000,0001 b each ; peaches, ovsr 3,000,000!b ; walnuts, 1,500,000; and German and Hungarian prunes, nectarines, apples, figs, almonds, &0., under 1,000,0001 b. The produce of extracted honey in the State amounted to 2,000,0001bs weight. The quality in all cases is said to have improved greatly. While the increased demand from the Eastern States has raised tbe prices.

The Board of Agriculture having approved of the saheme for establishing a Chair of Agriculture at the Yorkshire College, it has been decided to appoint a professor, at a salary of £3OO, with emoluments in addition.

While tbe average yield of potatoes in tho United States this year is given by the Department of Agriculture as only 574 bushels per acre, an oiler of prizes by the Amorioan Agriculturist for heavy crops has brought to light some oases of extraordinary productiveness. The first prize, £IOO, was won by a farmer in Wyoming, who raised 974 bushels on a single acre of virgin soil. The profit on this acre, apart from prizes, was £143. The laud was rich in potash, and copiously irrigated by water containing much saline material. Taking GOlbs as the weight of a bushel of potatoes, this amounts to a littlo over 26 tons per acre.

Sir Samuel Wilson, writing to the Mark Laue Exp ress advooating inooulation as a preventive of pleuro.pneumonia, imagines that he is on the eve of a discovery that will be of tho most vital importance to the human race. Reasoning from the fact that immunity from smallpox is given from the cow, and that pleuro-pneumonia is not only prevented but cured (?) by Inoculation, he asks, * If calf lymp ba3 proved a protection against smallpox, may not the virus of luug disease be an equally potent shield and pro. teotion against consumption, with its curative powers in addition ?’ It is to be feared that Sir Samuel has confused the specific bovine disease with tuberculosis.

Mr William Nelson (Nelson Bros., Limited), who has lately been Home, brought the matter of cool stowage for dairy produce, fruit, &0., before his firm, whioh, It is understood, have taken the matter in hand aud will provide for such facilities being afforded shippers in all steamers chartered by the firm. The Woodville Examiner says : —‘ We learn that Mr W. Nelson was so impressed on his recent visit to England with the splendid opening in tho Home market for New Zealand grown fruit that he has determined to plant out a large area under fruit trees. Mr J. N. Williamß is also planting out a large portion of hi 3 property in fruit trees, and has engaged an expert from America. This season he intends planting out 2000 vines, and it is believed he intends going in for wine manufacture.

A great many suggestions have been from time to time thrown out for fixing sands whioh are liable to be blown about by the wind, tho means to be employed generally consisting in the planting of various deep rooting plants whioh are found to flourish in arid localities. Some satisfactory results have been obtained in the Department of the Landes, in France, and elsewhere ; but it is requisite to select different plants to suit localities and climates. The latest suggestion comes from Professor Schubler, who proposes to bind the sand in the vi unity of railways by using the roots of Triticum repeats. The roots are cut into lengths of about 9in, and these are mixed with earth, clay and water, so as to form a dough-like mass. Spread over the land, the roots, in from two to six weeks, extend so as to form a network whioh binds the sands firmly. It is well to dry different kinds of plants, 80 that the fittest may survive.

Mr John W. Bookwalter. of Ohio, who is well known in America as a writer on economic questions, is clear that the next * boom ’ in the United States will be a ‘ boom ’in farm lands. America, he says, is now exporting only enough wheat to feed 5,000,000 foreigners, s.nd the steady increase of her population will in a few years cause all her agricultural produce to be needed for her home requirements. As to the possibility of increasing her production, he holds that there is no fresh land in the west to break up exoept by the slow and expensive processes of draining swamps and irrigating arid tracts, aud that, of courso, involves a

large increase of the rural population and consequent consuming powers of these new districts. He is, therefore, forced to the conclusion that prices of farm products in America will rise before long, and that land values will consequently rise in proportion. Mr Dodge, the statistician of the Agricultural Department, is of the same opinion as Mr Bookwalrer as regards these points.

The Board of Agriculture has issued the summary of the estimated total produce of the three principal corn orops in the several parts of Groat Britain for 1890 ;—Wheat : In F.ngland, 69,442,417 bushels, average 30.79 bushels per acre, as compared with 29.87 last year ; Wales, 1,712,541 bushels, being 29.94 per acre, against 24.43 last year ; Scotland, 2,199,526 bushels, or 35.49 per acre, compared with 36.91 in 18S9 ; total produce in wheat in Great Britain is estimated at 73,354,484 bushels, from 2,386,336 acres, or 36.74 bushels par acre ; la3t year the figures were 73,202,773 bushels, from 2,449,384 acres, or 29 S 9 bushels per acre. Barley : English, 62,250,366 bushels, average 35.06 bushels per acre, as compared with 31,55 bushels last year; Wales, 3,621,793 bushels, 30.21 per acre, against 29.07 in ISS9 ; in Scotland, 8,061,642 bushels, 37.36 bushels per acre, compared with 35,09 last year ; the total produce of barley in Great Britain 73,933,801 bushels, from 2,111,17 S acres, or 35.02 bushels per acre ; last year 67,426,754 bushels, from 1,121,530 acres, or 31.78 bushels per acre. Oats : In England, 72,104,034 bushels, average 43.75 per acre, compared with 41.94 bushela last year ; in Wales, 8,116,344 bushels, 33.G5 bushels p?r acre, as against 32.73 last year ; in Scotland, 39,967,668 bushels, or 39.43 bushels per acre, compared with 36.61 last year ; the total produce of oats in Great Britain in IS9O is estimated at 120,185,064 bushels, from 2,902,998 acres, or an average of 41.40 bushels per acre ; last year the figures were 113,441,397 bushels, from 2,555,704 acres, or an average of 39 27 bushels per acre. Every grain crop throughout shows an Increase this year. Wheat has yielded OSS bushels more per acre ; barley, 3.24 bushels per acre more, and oats, 2,13 bushels per aorp more.

HOW TO MAKE A ROAD. We condense the following hints from a circular issued by the Roads Improvement Association of London, England, an organisation formed to distribute matter for the education of local highway authorities, road contractors, and others, on the proper construction, maintenance, and repair of highways. Never allow a hollow, a rut, or a puddle to remain on a road, but fill it up at once with * chips ’ from the stone heap. Always use chips for patching and for ail repairs during the summer months. Never put fresh stones on the road if by cross picking aud a thorough U3C of the rake the Burface can be made smooth and kept at the proper strength of section. The rake ia the most useful tool in your collection, and it should be kept dose at hand all the year round. Never spread large patches of stone over the whole width of tho road, but coat tho middle or horse track first, and when thi3 has worn in, coat each of the sides in turn. In moderately dry weather and on hard roads always pick up the old surface into ridges Gin. apart, and remove all large and projecting stones before applying a new coating. Never spread stones more than one stono deep, but add a second layer when tho first has worn in, if one coating be not enough. Use a steel pronged fork to load the bar. rows at the stone heap, so that the siftings may be available for binding and for summer repairs. Never shoot stones on to the road and craok them where they lie, or a smooth surface will be out of the question. Go over the whole of the new coating every day or two with the rake, and never leave the stones in ridges.

Never pot a stone upon a road for repair, ing purposes that will not pass freely in every direction through a 2iu. ring, and re. member that still smaller ones Bhould be used for patching and for all Blight repairs. Hard stone should be broken to a finer gauge than soft, but the 2iu. gauge is the lar* gest that should be employed under any circumstances. Never be without tho ring gauge. It should be to the roadman wuat tho compass is to the mariner, aud if you have no ring gauge remember Macadam’s advioe, that any stone that you cannot put in your mouth should be broken smaller. Use nothing but chips for binding newly laid stones together, and remember that the road sweepings, horse droppings, sods of grass and other rubbish, when used for this purpose, will ruin the beat made road. Water-worn or rounded stones should never be used upon steep grades, or they will fall to bind together. Never allow dust or mud to lie on the surface of the road, for either of these will double the cost of maintenance. Dust becomes mud at the first shower, and mud becomes a wet blanket which w ill keep a road in a filthy condition for weeks at a time, instead of allowing it to dry up in a few hours. See that all sweepings and scrapings are put into heaps and carried away immediately.

The middle of the road should always be a little higher than the sides, so that tue rain may run iDto the side gutters at once. Never allow the watertables, gutters, and ditches to clog up, but keep them clear the whole year through. Always be upon your road in wot weather, and at once fill up with chips any hollows or ruts where the rain may lie. When the main coatings of stone have worn in go over the whole road, and gathering together all the loose stones return them to the stone heap for use in the winter to follow, for loose stanes are a source of danger and aunoyance, and should never be allowed to lie on the road.—Engineering News.

SHORTHORNS. COLOUR AND CONSTITUTION.

Professor H. J. Sheldon (Euglaud) offers some very sensible remarks on the above subject. In the matter of colour he recommends that it be borne in mind that it is an attribute as decidedly hereditary as skin and constitution, but that there is no certainty as to its coming out in. the first generation ; indeed, it is quite as much influenced by that of a grandparent or even a much more remote parent as by that of the sire or dam itself. He has not found a whole red bull, such a 3 the South Americans love, beget any more whole red calves than a red, white, or dark roan bull, or red or red and white parentage, the colour being so very much influenced by the remoter ancestors. He sees no good reason for the aversion to white animals. He has seen as many or more prize animals in the show-yards formally as any other colour, and as many first-clasß wellbred bulls. He never found them more deli, cate than others. He considers it would be impossible to strike out white from the recognised colours of a Shorthorn, as it is certainly the most prepotent colour of all, and will crop out again after any number of generations if there has been a white bull at any part of the pedigree. As to skin and constitution, he places great importance on a good thick akin that fills the hand. This, with pleuty of mossy hair, he considers absolutely necessary to entitle the animal to ba called a good one. If they have not got that he cares not how good their make and shape may be, be would not put them in the front rank of Shorthorns. He considers there is no better sign of a good constitution than the thick hide and mossy hair. To preserve constitution in Shorthorns great care should be taken in selecting a bull, strongly developed, and with the thickest and hairiest of skins ; such a bull as, if the herd were in a wild state, would have been the master bull of it; and avoid all thin-skinned heifery. headed animals, and let no one be tempted, by their being purchasable at a low figure, ever to allow them to propagate their spe--cies, even in an ordinary steer-breeding herd. To secure constitution money will always be well laid out in the purchase of a good, coloured, well-bred, masculine, thick-skinned mossy.coated bull. METHOD OF APPLYING LIME FOR PASTURES. There is only one correot way to apply lime, in heavy dressings, to agricultural land, be it pasture or arable. It is to raise a quantity of soil where it can be conveniently found, form it into a body about a foot deep,

nnd leave It with a flat surface or top. On this the lime should be spread from the cart, and two men be set to work at once to throw it into a row with a hog-back, or of the shape of a maDgel clamp. If in doing this, a left® handed and right-handed man work opposite eaoh other and shovel the soil from the bottom the lime will fall as the soil is undei mined and thus be more thoroughly mixed with it, than three or four other modes of stirring it would accomplish. Lime is generally an expensive article apply. Therefore, the best should be made of its caustic and fertilising qualities. In the first place, then, to heap it in the open and allow rain to fall on it, or to spread it on the surface to Blake by its power to attract vapour from the atmosphere, is a ceitam way to lose much of its value. Even when mixing it with soil as above described, should a lump happen to fall on the outside of the hog-back row it should be fetched back and placed in the body of it. And when the lime has become slaked after being so mixed (which will result in about twenty-four hours) the row should be again stirred or turned over before a heavy rain falls, to prevent the volumes of dust arising from large lumps being formed into paste or m»-tar. This pasting or forming into mortar is the chief difficulty to overcome or guard aga.'nst in applying lime to the soil in unsettled weather. For when it has once got into lumps, not only has much of its direct value been lost, but much of its fertilising qualities has been locked up for an indefinite period. If lime gets into lumps the size of, say, cob. nuts and chesnuts, the said lumps will lie in the soil for years without being disintegrated bv atmospheric action or fermentation. *Ab to the quantity to apply to the acre, what is necessary varies so much that no one can give trustworthy advice on that point, unless he knows, from practical observations or small experiments where fields or pastures are of uniform character, what the condition of the soil is and how it has been cropped. But the best treatise on this subject is in Professor Johnstone’s ‘ Elements of Agricultural Chemistry,’ whioh was published in Edinburgh about 1840. In it thero are chapters on liming and on overliuiing, in which it is shown that from 5 to 20 tons may he advantageously applied to the acre, but that, while the former quantity would be ample in one place, the latter amount in the same case would be ruination to a pasture or arable field for years. In selecting soil for mixing lime with, the more vegetable matter it contains, in the form of plant-roots and the debris of stems, the better fertiliser it mostly makes when first applied. This is because the lime digests these ornde substances, or, io other words, converts them into a soluble condition, so that cultivated plants can feed on them at once.

A practical eye, if aided by the commonest or most elementary scientific knowledge, can read as crops are growing where soils will be benefited by liming. It may be seen in clover and grass fields where sheep are allowed to run over them and feed as they like ; where black or watergrass grows freely in clover and cereals there lime is needed; where kemi-aquatic plants grow there it is needed. It is more beneficial on all black soils than anything, as they are composed of crude vegetable substances that are not sufficiently soluble from atmospheric action alone. _ On clay soils, where king-cups are a prevailing weed, there lime or chalk, as carbonate of lime, should be the first remedy. On pastures of all kinds where sorrel and other acid plants grow freely, lime will be found equally efficient. The plan of applying lime in small quantities to the parts of pastures which produce grass that cattle and sheep leave till the last, and will then only eat it when they cannot find anything else, will fee attended with marked effect. To prepare lime for using in this way it should be spread in a covered place, as a shed or barn, and slaked with as little water as possible, when to it should be added a 3 much salt as will prevent any dust from arising when it is being handled. It should then be applied at once that its caustic or ‘quick’ quality may take effect, in the soil instead of being lost or neutralised by atmospheric action. It is of great importance that lime should not be allowed to get wet after it has been slaked until it has been finely spread on the soil. Then the sooner rain fall 3to wash It into the soil the better. There need be no fear that it will be washed through the upper soil beyond the roots of cultivated plants; for its affinity is so great for carbonaceous substances, as the decayed roots and stems of plants which form the black matter of surface soils, that it will at once combine with them, and thus render both itself and them readily eolubie by fermentation or oxidisation.

So important is it that an expensive corrective agent and fertiliser, like lime, should not lose any of its value, that in the case of mixing it with earth, as above described, and the weather should come on to be very wet, it would be advisable to roughly thatch the hog-back row or clamp mentioned to prevent the heavy rains from converting the lime and earth into a soaked, sticky, and therefore unaislributable masß ; or otherwise much of its required efficiency will be locked up or lost for the immediate future. It should, of course, be applied when the surface ia bare, and several weeks before the next crop is expected to begin to grow.— Agricultural Gazette. FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. , This important subject is dealt with by several flockmasters in the Journal of the Royal Agricuitural Society of England. Those whose opinions are given are Mr. James Nott, Pen Hall, Tenbury ; Mr. W. J. Malden, Cardlngton, Bedford ; Mr. David Buttar, Corston ; and Mr. Charles Howard, Biddenham, Bedford. Mr. Buttar thus describes his method of dealing with the disease Pass the whole flock twice during the year through a solution of arsenic, whioh Is thus prepared:—Boil 21b. of arsenio with 21b, of potash (pearlash) in 1 gallon of water over a slow fire for half an hour, Keep Btirring, and at any Blgns of boiling over pour In a little cold water ; then add 5 gallons of cold water. Put this solution to the depth of lin. to (just sufficient to cover the hoofs of

the sheep) in a strong, well made, water, tight trough, 15ft. long by ISin. wide, and about (fin. deep with narrow strips of wood nailed ac.oss the bottom to prevent the sheep from slipping. The trough must be set and fixed perfectly level alongside a wall or other fence in some out-of-the way place. It should be provided with a good waterproof lid, secured by a padlock, so as to prevent the possibility of danger from any poison which might he left in the trough. There should also be a wooden fence, on the other side of the trough extended somewhat at the entrance end to guide the sheep into it. Before the sheep are driven through their feet should be well pared ; then walk them quietly through and let them remain in pen No. 2 for half an hour or so beforo taking them back to their pasture.

If sheep are badly attacked, I would recommend drawing out all the affected ones, and pasaiug them through the trough a second time, after remaining for half-an-hour in the pen. Should this nob cure them repeat the process in a fortnight or three week’s time.

Having got free from foot.rot, the passing of the flock through this solution twice a year will completely prevent any new attack.

Before adopting this plan, my sheep wore scarcely ever free from the disease. Now I have not a single case, and have had none since I first resorted to tho practice in ISSS. Mr. Charles Howard comments on the statements by Messrs Nott, Malden, and Buttar a 3 follows :—Although there is nothing now in the notes of the three farmers, yet I hope the attention of fiockmastern generally will bo called to the subject, and something good may come of it. When I was a youth, and first went to learn farming (some fifty years sines), this disease was not known, or at all events not in the locality in in which I was situated. It has now beoome the bane of a shepherd’s life, and entails ua known losses to British flockmasters. lam glad to say I have now but very few lame sheeD. I owe this to the constant attention of my shepherd, and to the ointment I have been fortunate enough to meet with. In the summer of 18S9 I visited tho farm of my friend Mr. Henry Page, of Walraer Court, Kent. I found he had but little, if any, foot-rot among bis sheep; and in the course of discussion he told me ho could cure it in one or two dressings at most with an ointment which his old foreman prepared. He sent me some to try, and both i and my shepherd were so struck with it after using it that I wrote to Mr. Page requesting him to induce the old man to part with the recipe, by paying him the small sum he required. This is the ointment I refer to, of which the following is the recipe : 2 oz. verdigris, powdered. 2 oz. armenlc (Armenian bole) powdered. 2 oz, blue stone (blue vitriol), powdered. a oz. caustic potash, powdered. £ pint turpentine. 4 oz. Stockholm tar. 2 oz. hog’s lard. 2 oz. oil of vitriol.

Pour the vitriol oa last, and very slowly, or it will boil over. Keep stirring with a stick until it leaves off boiling. Mr. Page’s farm is on the chain, and therefore less subject to foot rot than many other soils, my own amongst the number. I have, daring a rather long experience, tried all'sorts of remedies f«r thi3 troublesome and wasting disease, but I have never found any so effective and speedy in its cure as this, I shall be very glad indeed if, by the publication of this recipe in the Journal, it should prove the means of doing the same good to many other breeders as it has done in my flock.

The course I pursue is to draw out all the lame sheep, take them to same dry hovel or shed, thoroughly well pare their feet so that the disease is bottomed, and then apply the ointment. Tho sheep remain in the shed, or in a dry gravelled yard, for at least one night. lam quite sure that, by the use of this ointment, and with proper attention, the disease can bo kept under. I fear that In many cases, the shepherd is not sufficiently relieved of his ordinary duties to attend adequately to the sheeps’ feet. When the disease is prevalent he should have all the assistance he requires. It is most desirable that the sheeps’ feet should be every few weeks properly pared, a practi e that will tend very much to retard this disease.

Foot-rot is one of the most Bubtle of diseases. I have known my sheep to be quite free from it upon one farm, but if taken to another, upon whioh there was pasture with abundance of trees, they would within a very few days begin to fall with it. Mr. Nutl’s theory Is not always correct. I have known many farms where no sheep are ever bought, yet foot-rot is always existing upon them. It would be useless for our west of England men to breed their lambs unless the holders of root.growing farms of other parts of England bought them for consuming their green crop 3. A SCRUB COWIt may be always said that the scrub cow is such by reason of its scrub owner. The cow always does as it is done by. In my neighbourhood the scrub cow reigns supreme. It is born and reared a scrub and fed on scrub; that is, on browse summer and winter, and never learns the Bmell of hay or the taste of meal. Consequently it is bred to a scrub bull and rears a scrub calf, and gives a gallon of milk a day at the best, for two or three months after which a pint tin cup holds all the milk. The poor calf gets half the milk for a month, when it is turned into the woods, and when a year old is perhaps a little smaller than it was eleven months before. Possibly, as scrubs, the common cattle of my present locality can scarcely be beaten. But as a proof of my statement on the first line I gave this record of a Bcrub cow which I have had for five years and whioh I have regenerated during that time into a very fair milker. At first, at three years old, ehe gave me, three months after calving and on the best feeding, six quarts of milk per day. By good feeding on clover pasture, clover hay and corn meal, as much as Bhe can use profitably, she has

come up in the five years to her sixth calf, and lier udder has gradually increased in size until It is forty two inches around at its upper part, and with her fifth heifer calf, all of whioh I have roared, her yield is eighteeu quarts of milk daily, from whioh is made eleven pounds of butter ia a week. One scrub heifer with her first calf, and two years old, is milking fourteen quarts a day, COWS NOT BREEDING. There are many cows nowadays which do not brood. I am asked for a remedy for this annoyance quite often so often, indeed, as to show the increase in the number of non breeders. There are several causes for this trouble ; many persons keep covv3 too fat ; many allow tlioir cows to be annoyed by the bull and by other cows which are unruly ; many cows aro so closely inbred as. seriously to interfere with piopagation. This last is a fruitful cause. The production of a pound or two of butter extra, and the reproduction of a peculiar type —generally mere fancy—ii at the expense of vigour of constitution and the strong, healthy cows which are needed for snro and vigorous reproduction. One of the worst and most ruinous practioes ia constant impregnation. The worst act imaginable is to keep on repeatedly serving a non breeding cow. Nothing is more irrational than this evil, or shows greater lack of all knowledge of the laws of reproduction. THE WOOL TRADEAccording to the annual review of tho wool trade in the Bradford Observer it appears that the highest price for many years was reached in November, 18S9, when tho Lincoln hog wool averaged 141 a pound. There was a fall of a penny in January, 18S9, and by December the uriee had got down to 104 d, or 34d less than in tho corresponding month of 1890, and i leas than in the following January. During the past year Norfolk Down hog wool fell from lljd to 11|, and N orfolk half bred wool from 12d to lOp. Down wool did not share materially in the great advance which occurred in 1889, having risen only a farthing a pound during the year, and it has been comparatively s'.eady during 18S0, having dropped only 4<i, tho December price being Jd lover than that of the corponding month of ISS9. Tho wool clip of the United Kingdom last year is estimated at 137.724,7001 b, as oompared . with 132,772,2001 b for 18S9. LIVE STOCK IN GRE AT BRITAIN. The returns of live stock presented in the Agricultural Returns for IS9O, lately issued, are the most satisfactory for many years. The 981,000 horses kept for agricultural purposes are by comparison astationaryquantity, while as regards unbroken horses there is shown a substantial increase, raising the total to 394,000. Mares also present a distinct augmentation, the total, 57,430, being an addition at the rate of 10 per cent. The result is said to bo due to the attention recently directed to horse breeding and the recommendations of the Royal Commission, which have made farmers realise the fact that the breeding of horses is a profitable business, capable of almost unlimited development. The number of cows and heifers returned in milk or calf, amounting to 2 535.000, presents an addition of 100,000 over the figures of last year, and the increase is shared by every county in Great Britain except Middlesex. Though cattle over two years of age have fallen considerably in number, those under two years have increased to the extent of 279,000, raising the total in the country to 2,532,000. The total stock of sheep, 27,272,000, is now greater than in any year since 1879, a recovery of nearly 3,000,000 since the losses sustained in the disastrous period 1879 S2. There is a large increase in the stock of pigs, bringing up the total to 2,774,000 attributed to the extremely low price of the potato.