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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1049, 8 April 1892, Page 25

Mr Ritchie, of the Stock Department, has now charge of the Dairy Department, and also of the Fruit Department. In fact he may now be called the secretary of the Agricultural Department, of which stock, dairy, and fruit are really branches, At a meeting of the General Committee of the Wellington Agricultural and Pastoral Association yesterday week a letter was read from the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, notifying the postponement of the proposed conference of agricultural r delegates. Messrs Borlase and Barnicoat, solicitors, Wanganui, wrote on behalf of Mr Thatcher (an errliibitor at the last Show),asking for a copy of the report of Mr Hill, an English wool buyer, on the wool exhibits. It was decided to reply that Mr Hill merely made a verbal report. It was resolved to decline an offer made by Mr Charles Monaghan (on behalf of certain Natives) Lo sell for L 5500 220 acres of land, situated between Ngahauranga and Johnson villa for the purpose of a show ground.

VEGETABLE POETRY. Potatoes come from far Virginia; Parsley was sent us from Sardinia ; French beans, low growing on the earth, To distant India trace their birth ; But scarlet runners, gay and tall, That run upon your garden wall, In South America were found ; The onion travelled here from Spain : The leek from Switzerland we gain ; Garlic from Sicily obtain ; Spinach in far Syria grows ; Two hundred years ago or more, Brazil the artichoke sent o’er, AndSouthernEurope’s sea coast shore Beet root on us bestows ; "When ’Lizabeth was reigning here, Peas came from Holland and were dear; The South of Europe lays its claim To beans, but some from Asia came; The radishes, both thin and stout, "Natives of China are, no doubt ; But turnips, carrots, and sea kale, With celery bo crisp and pale, Are products of our own fair land ; And cabbages—a goodly tribe, Which abler penß might well describe, Are also ours, I understand. —Goldtliwaite’s Geographical Magazine. SHEARING IN AUSTRALIA. In our advertising columns appears a notice inviting applications for competent shearers for shearing work in the early districts 'of New South Wales. The Secretary of the Pastoraiisfcs’ Union (Mr Whiteley King), informs us that this invitation is not addressed to New Zealanders because there is any present or threatening difficulty with the local men, but because he has been deluged with letters from New Zealand shearers asking for particulars of the approaching shearing, etc., and he is anxious to keep the promise made to the men who worked under the Pastoralists’ Agreement last year when there was a difficulty with the local Unionist shearers, viz., that if they completed their engagements satisfactorily they should be provided with work in succeeding seasons.

The bulk of the shearing in New South Wales (60,000,000), will be conducted under the immediate supervision of the Pastoralists’ Union during the ensuing season and ariangements are now completed for the necessary preliminary operations on the Paroo and Darling Rivers, where shearing will begin in June, and engagements for the first ten or twelve sheds (involving the employment of about 600 shearers and shed hands) will be made about the middle of April. If, therefore, New Zealand shearers who desire to participate in the shearing wages fund of Australia make early application in terms of the advertisement npptaring elsewhere, they will receive the same consideration as the applications of local men. FEEDING COWS FOR BEEF. What constitutes good beef, good mutton, and good poultry? It is the sweet, juicy, tender lean meat. But a small portion of the fat of beef or mutton is eaten. Look at the bushels of butcher’s waste in any market, and see what a large per cent, of fat it contains. And the icarketman will tell you that very fat corned beef is ‘ slow sale.’ I have never known of an instance where prize beef gave good satisfaction. • Oil the contrary,

it has been very unsatisfactory to both the butcher and the consumer. How shall we make good beef of our unremuneiative dairy cows 1 My theory and practice may be illustrated as follows : We will take for example a gargetty cow—the worst in the list. There are bub few cases of that class which cannot be controlled by proper feeding and a judicious use of saltpeter. In a bad case I would say do not feed corn meal or oil meat Feed wheat bran, mill-feed, ground oats, or any other easily-digested, milk-pro-ducing food ; and give night and morning a great spoonful of saltpeter (if so much proves to be necessary) dissolved and mixed with her grain rations. For feeding a healthy animal I would add to the above list gluten meal and a small ration of cotton-seed meal, omitting the latter during the last two or three weeks previous to killing. Well-cured, early-cut clover hay is preferable to any other dry feed. Turnips and cabbage can be fed quito freely during the earlier stages of meat production, without injury to the milk or butter, if fed ten or more hours before milking, as during that time her breath, skin, and kidneys will have eliminated all the odour from her Bystem. Give milk-producing, muscle-sustaining food. Feed only that which is sweet and free from mould. As a rule I think it better to keep the beef cows farrow and in milk ; and with good keeping, we get a fair quantity of extra good milk, the cows often paying for their keeping up to.the last day. In winter, for a few weeks previous to killing, give the animal enough beets—sugar or long blood-red preferred—to keep her bowels in a healthy condition ; it may take half a bushel or not more than half a peck a day. Never overfeed; never spoil the appetite. "Undigested food makes no blood ; imperfectly digested food makes impure blood ; and impure blood cannot make good meat. A little saltpeter tends to allay fever—which is often an attendant of high feeding—and stimulates the kidneys to throw off any impurities of the blood. The animal when killed should be in a thriving, gaining condition, not . on the shrink. Remember that the juiciness of the meat depends largely upon how the cow was fed for two or three weeks before killing, and that the flavour depends upon what it was fed for the two or three days previous to killing. Our sea-coast butchers do not allow salt marsh hay to be fed to their animals for a few days before killing; and turnips are not allowed anywhere. A man who was an army butcher during the war said that they turned some cattle into a wheat held in "Virginia one night, and some of the cattle were killed the next day, but that the meat couldn’t be eaten by anyone but a Frenchman ; and, on examinatioh, it was found that field garlics were growing among the wheat, and the cattle had eaten freely of them. There can be no hard and fast rules for feeding ; animals differ and the same animal requires different feeding at different times. Before turning out, in changing from dry feed to pasture, give in the morning all the hay they will eat, and for their grain ration give mostly corn meal—scalded if convenient — continuing the daily rations of meal for three or four weeks, and the hay as long as they will eat it. Let the change from dry to green be gradual. A full ration of immature grass is as bad for a cow as green apples for a boy. For a butter-producing cow in dog days, I prefer ground oats to any other one kind of feed. Ic makes sweeter and firmer butter than most other kinds of feed. Through the summer feed primarily for milk and butter, but always keep the cows gaining in flesh and yet not too much in fat.— American Agriculturist. DANGERS IN HORSE SHOEING. A correct knowledge of the science of

horse shoeing is as difficult to obtain as knowledge of any science, and yet the great body of our horse Bhoers are men who have bat the faintest appreciation of the principles that underlie successful work of this kind. The wearing of any shoe whatever is an unnatural condition for a horse’s foot, but the unnaturalness is aggravated a hundred fold by the very prevalent ignorance in fitting the foot for the shoe, and in properly fashioning this iron or steel appendage. The owners’ and trainers of trotting horses realise keenly how much the animal’s work is dependent upon the weight, the shape, and the fitting of the shoes. But the owners of work and ordinary driving horses, as a rule, take them to the smith, and order them ‘shod !’ They very commonly then walk away to attend to other business in the village or city, while the blacksmith -rnshos through his work and h&s it done when the owner calls. If the horse goes decidedly lame he is taken back, and a nail is drawn out and inserted in some other direction, or the slice is reset, in the hope of better ‘luck’ the next time. The danger from such a course lies in the fact that the evils of improper shoeing are not always apparent, but a continued strain from an unnatural position of the leg, or a pinching here, or the bearing coming on the wrong place in the foot there, very materially assists in ‘ using up ’ a good horse, and so shortens his years of usefulness. The remedy lies in the employing only such shoera as one has reason to believe are thoroughly skilled in the art, and also in making oneself so familiar with the subject that he may be able to properly direct the work if he sees it is being done improperly, which will necessitate the owner’s presence when his horse is shod. Moreover, the principles that apply to one horse’s feet may not to another’s. The owner must study the needs of the individual animal if the best results are to be secured, and a man is not fit to own a horse if he will not give it this attention. Some horse owners will allow the shoes to remain on until they become loose. This is poor economy from every point of view. The shoes should be frequently reset, both to keep the feet in a healthy, growing position, and also to secure the best work that the animal is capable of. A horse whose feet are uncomfortable is as disinclined to move with alacrity aa a man would be under the same circumstances. Again, some farmers tire their horses out, and so lose much work, by compelling them to carry an unnecessary weight of iron around with them. It is a tiresome matter to work in yielding soil with heavy shoes on, as a man ought to know from his own experience. Light shoes, without calks, are boat fitted for farm work where there is no danger from slipping. It allows the foot to comedown to "the ground more in accordance with Nature’s method of horse shoeing. It is necessary that the feet be frequently examined to see that no nail has been pulled out or become imbedded in the hoof, and the shoes have not become broken. With less complete reliance upon the blacksmith and more careful investigation into the general principles of shoeing, and especially into the needs of his own horses, there will be very much more comfort in the farmer’s stable, and most likely more money in his purse. THE MODEL COW. Imagine her standing before you. General style a wedge-shape, nearly the opposite of the beef type, or as the triangle to the parallelogram. Her quiet disposition is deceiving in a measure. For, let a stranger, a stray dog, an unusual noise, or anything startling appear, and her meekness is laid aside ; her quiet eye flashes, her head is thrown up from its normal position of a slight decline, her

back seems to become rigid, tail slightly elevated, and nostrils extended. She stands on the defensive, or is ready to take the aggressive if any danger threatens her calf. Now her appearance is that which is often called the nervous disposition Every good dairy cow seems to be made up this way. But this nervous temperament of the cow should not be excited, or she will be short at the pail, and short in cream of what she does give ; for the quiet,| meditative way should be hers when she is making milk. But to her points : We note a rather long, dishing head, large prominent eyes set well apait and down her face, largo muzzle and mouth, small feminine ear, with rich oily secretories inside, small tapering horn, if she is not of a polled breed, though it may be good sized at butt, wide jaws, throat well cut up and free from dew lap until close to the brisket, a long ewe-neck, sloping shoulders, thin at the top but opening wide down at the forelegs, so that they stand well apart, showing wide chest and plenty of room for heart action. Let us step to the rear and note the ‘ business end ’ of the cow. The first point that receives attention is the immense udder extending from away up in front to away up her back parts, the further the better, with plenty of loose skin in her twist. I place great importance on the udder being extended well to the front, with four well-placed medium sized teats, with two or four rudimentary teals ; the skin should be loose and hairless ; large, extended milk veins, crooked and large holes, for more depends on the size and numbers of these than on siz i ol veins, for certainly the veins will carry off all the blood the hole will let back to the heart. The famous cow ‘Jewel’ has four on each side. Tivese veins are called by different names, and not so essential as to have the above essential as to have the above characteristics. The so-called butter cord lies in the flank ; it a rounded core, about the size of one’s little finger to three times that s : z *. 1 noted that all good butter cows have it largely developed. But I find upon investigation that it is simply a cord to assist holding up the abdomen, and has no connection with the udder. The oscutcheon, i.e., the hair in the twist and on rear bottom of udder which goes the wrong way is usually on good cows, but not always, should be continuous, for if broken it indicates the stopping of the flow of milk, or that it is not kept up through the year. The back should be straight, but when aga begins to tell the spine will sink somewhat by reason of the weight of the stomach and the incessant and large dedcma'.ds on the nerve force which runs through ihe spinal cord. Open back, i.e., open, large vertebrae, indicates large nervous force. This is of greatest importance, for on a good back hang all the law and the profits. It nob only has to hold up the large abdomen but is the insulator through which flies the nervous force. Note the wide hip 3 and pelvic bones, t i large at its juncture but tapering * o ■■■ fine point below the hocks, with —j. *. i o'.iib of oily matte?, at point, and ivi n a good brush. These may seam of sin ill importance, but each one has its special bearing on the making of a good dairy cow. Large barrel, with ribs well sprung, flat, and space between them, open twist, thin bony thighs, small feminine legs. Thrown over all a loose hide, golden colour, covered with thick hair—the more to the square inch the better—and you have a type of a dairy cow of which, if bred and fed aright, you will have no trouble in getting a good specimen.

Always breed to a dairy type of a bull, and from the time the heifer is born always feed for a butter cow. She should be bred so as to come in from twenty to twenty-four months old, for nature sols at work those qualities that provide for the forthcoming young early in ifc.3 life,

thereby giving an impetus toward milk instead of beef. Then feed those foods that will produce milk instead of boef. In fact, study not only to properly breed but to develop your auimal. It is a scieuce worth studying, for no animal will give such quick and remunerative returns as a good dairy cow. ABOUT RENNETS. Iu preserving rennets for factory use, dairymen should empty the calf’s stomach of curds, and then blow it up like a bladder. Previous to expansion the rennet should be rubbed with salt, and then filled with air and tied, it can be hung away in a dry place to cure. When the cheese industry first began to develop in this country rennets brought excellent prices, at one time retailing for fifty cents apiece ; now, half a dollar will purchase ten rennets, in consequence of which American farmers have of late years ceased to preserve this part of the calf’s body when slaughtering the young creatures for their hides. This is to be regretted, as properly cured American rennet is preferable to the imported article. The imported skins, packed in small bales, frequently derive in a badly damaged condition, owing to ’mold and the ravages of worms. They are generally sold under the title of ‘ Bavarian,’ although many of them come from other portions of Europe, and not a few never had a bovine origin, but were derived from the digestive functions of swine, sheep and goats. In home cheese making dairymen should either use the rennets secured from the young of their own herds, or rely on the commercial article for coagulating purposes. Probably the latter would be the most economical, and give the most satisfactory results. Commercial rennet, ‘ rennetine,’ either in fluid or tablet form, is without doubt the best way to apply it to milk to gain uniform results. Some large cheese manufacturers claim that they cannot afford to use the preparation in their • factories on account of the low price they receive for their goods. This I think is a mistake. If commercial rennet is a factor in lending uniformity to the cheese product, as it surely is, no manufacturer can afford to dispense with its use. The short-sighted cheese maker sees in rennet, in whatever form it may be, merely a common coagulating agency, and as the skins are cheaper than the extract he buys them accordingly. He places about a dozen skins in four gallons of salted water, and after a day’s soaking begins to use the fluid for cheese making, relying simply on his own judgment as to the quantity necessary to incorporate with a vat of milk. This partial guesswork is one thing that accounts for the variability in quality of cheese emanating from many factories, although there are other potent causes that tend to the same end. Prominent among these are the acceptance of tainted or nearly sour milk at cheese factories when it should be flatly rejected ; employment of probationary or apprenticeship help where the most skilled labour is essential to the output of peerless goods; and last, but not least, attempting to make butter and good cheese under the same roof and from the same milk.

Rennet should be inooporated with milk when the latter is at a temperature of about 85 degrees. After this a gentle stirring of the mass with a long handled dipper should be continued some five minutes. Then, a slight agitation of the surface should be kept up to drive the cream down until signs of coagulation appear, which stage of time will be governed by the amount of rennet used. In most factories in "Western New York coagulation is generally sought to be effected in about ten minutes. A quick action on the milk by the infusion of a normal quantity of peptic fluid indicates that the former is overripe, or at a too high temperature. Milk will sometimes

thicken in a granulated form, which is caused by stirring after coagulation has commenced. Always apply the colour to milk before adding rennet, and never run any fresh milk into the vat the latter has ‘ set.’ —American Agriculturist. SELF-SUPPORTING PRISONS. Presumably, if rightly managed, our entire criminal population might be made self-supporting by planting it on waste lands, and converting the latter into fruitful fields and gardens. In fact, we do not require to put the matter forward as one of conjecture at all, the system having already been tried and found to be preeminently successful on Dartmoor, so far as its economical results are concerned. It will be well to get a clear notion of what has been actually accomplished on the Prison Farm, Princetown, Dartmoor, where a tract, 2000 acres in extent, at about 1500 feet above sea level, has been nearly all reclaimed from waste since 1850. The prison itself was erected a great many years previously for the confinement of prisoners captured in the French and American wars, but being converted into a convict establishment in 1850, about twenty-five acres yearly have been reclaimed by the criminals, who also are made to erect high stone walls, built of granite boulders, around square fields of from fifteen to twenty acres each. The prison establishment sometimes numbers upwards of 1000 persons, and sixty-seven acres have been laid out as meadows to receive and be irrigated by the large volume of sewage obtainable therefrom. The produce of these meadows is converted partly to hay and partly to silage. Thirty acres are devoted to the growth of garden vegetables, this area being laid out in plots of an acre each, divided by high hedges of elder, the object being to give shelter from spring frosts. All kinds of vegetables are grown, not merely for consumption in the establishment, but for sale. As many as 700 cucumbers have been sold in a single season, and celery succeeds well, and is grown for marketing. As for cabbages and winter greens, no fewer than 120,000 plants are raised and planted out yearly. Of live stock there is a dairy herd of forty-five cows, the whole of the calves of which are reared. A great many cattle not bred on the farm are also brought in to be fattened. The flock of sheep consists of 400 improved Dartmoors, some of which are every year exhibited in show-yards. The work of cultivation is performed wholly by the convicts. Annual auctions of surplus live stock are held, at which from £I4OO to to ,£ISOO worth are often sold, in addition to numerous private sales of ponies, sheep and pigs. A considerable revenue to the Government accrues from this laudable enterprise, sufficient to show that wherever other waste tracts belonging to the Crown are to be found it would be a matter of strict economy to build our prisons on them, so that not only the worst classes of offenders, but those who are incarcerated for petty misdemeanours, and, in fact, our entire criminals large and small, might be made to perform similar works of reclamation first, and then those of ordinary farm labour. By such means we might in all probability make our prisons and convict establishments selfsupporting. —Agricultural Economist. THE WORLD’S WOOL. (WAREHOUSEMEN AND drapers; JOURNAL.) To many people with vague ideas about our dependence upon vast flocks of sheep in purely pastoral countries, the information that Europe possesses by far the largest number of those stupid but very necessary animals will come as a surprise. It is true that New South Wales is more densely crowded with sheep than any other part of the world, averaging, according to recent statistical conclusions, 149-J- to the square mile; and it is equally beyond doubt that the bulk of the wool supply, something over 55 per cent of the whole quantity produced comes from Australia. But while Australia returns a stock of about 98,000,000 of sheep, Europe boasts more than 168,000,000, and South America can show over 101,000,000. North America comes next with a total of _ 46,000,000, then Asia with 36,000,000 estimated, and Africa in the rear with some 29,000,000. The importance of the wool trade to Great Britain, which makes up more than three times its own supply of wool, is shown by the fact that over 40 per cent of the whole of the woollen yarns and goods under export from all countries is furnished by this tight little island of ours, the workshop of the world, as Mr W. H. Smith once called it. In calculating_ the wool crop and its probable course, it is roughly reckoned that, at present, lib of wool is grown to every 2£lb of cotton, but that the duration of a piece of woollen cloth is more than double that of a piece of cotton. From this point, and taking into consideration -the average yield of wool at so much per head of different breeds, there are other and more remote contingencies upon which estimates are based, such as the comparative use of woollen goods by various peoples, and the proportion of the population of the globe who do not, and are not likely to, wear woollen materials ; but such calculations require, of necessity, to be accepted with caution. For instance, France is said to expend more per head upon woollen manufactures, s and Italy least of the principal nations of Europe, while, in the other respect, it is believed that nearly one-half of mankind must be set down as not wearing wool. How far such considerations piay or must affect the ultimate future of

the wool and woollen interests must be left for others to determine. AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS. Grass seed sewing is being pushed on at Birmingham. There is an increased demand fur young cattle in the Feilding district, and prices continue to harden. Carrots make an excellent food for horses, particularly during sickness. They improve the appetite and slightly increase the action of the bowels and the kidneys.. They possess also certain alterative properties. The coat becomes smooth and glossy when carrots are fed. Some veterinary writers claim that chronic cough is cured by giving carrots for some time. The roots may be considered an adjunot to the regular regime, and if fed in small quantities are highly beneficial. There are two way 3 of farming—the one to make a living, the other to make money. In farming to make a living, a man may have 320 acres of land but little capital. Then lie grubs along, with poor stock, poor tools, and little help, and by close managing and rigid economy he manages to hold bis own. Vi it-h 100 acres of land and capital enough to buy good stock, such implements and laboursaving machines as would enable him to give the best cultivation with the minimum of labour, with the ability to hire such help as was needed, and fo hold his crop lor advantageous sales, ho could farm to make money. Which plan do you adopt ? The New South Wales Department of Agriculture is at present organising a system by which it is hoped monthly crop reports will be obtained from nearly all the district of the colony. The method of procedure to be adopted is mainly based on the detailed monthly and yearly reports of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and is briefly this A staff of voluntary sub-re-porters will be appointed in the different agricultural districts, who will report and fill in specially prepared monthly returns. These returns will not be forwarded direct to the department, but a principal agent, who will collect and collate them for each county, and forward to the head office in time for publication on the first of each mouth. The seavices of the local sub-reporters are to be given gratuitously, but as an equivalent they will receive the Gazette and bulletins of the department, a supply of published reports and of the different seeds distributed, together with an adequate allowance for postage. The Pahialua Star says:—There are cows and cows, but the cow we heard of in the Tenui districL wants boating as a milk producing machine. Her yield for several weeks after calving was eleven gallons a day —six in the morning and five at night. We can produce witnesses to prove this statement. Mr Robbins, who has lately visited the South Island, was not impressed with the idea that the butter factories there are much, if at all, in advance of Taranaki establishments, taking the average in both cases. The low value of fat stock in some parts of New South Wales is shown in the following extract from the Wellington (N.S.W.) Gazette. At the Orange saieyards lately ‘ brokeri-mouthed ewes were sold at 8d per head, and eventually biddings were confined to 26s per 100. Fat sheep brought up to 3s 6d each. This is a deplorable state of things, neither good for producer nor consumer. Surplus stock and fear of drought are the cause of the low prices ruling. We are informed thaf there is now coming down Curra Creek a mob of cows from Queensland, which can be bought at 10s per head. Boiling down is being commenced on one or more of the Macquarrie stations. Messrs A. Lynne and Co. offered at auction at Nyngan, on Wednesday, 3500 ewes from two tooth up, mostly four year old. They succeeded in placing 500 at 2s, and passed in the balance, which they subsequently sold privately at a reduction. A Wellington owner was offered this week £2 a head for a mob of fat bullocks.’. The mild wet season just experienced has caused a large number of fruit trees in tlio Oamaru district to bloom a second time, and orchards now present the somewhat anomalous picture of autumn blossom. In some instances a second crop of fruit has formed. This unseasonable vitality will doubtless have its effect in the falling off of the fruit next Beason. A London correspondent reports that at the last monthly meeting of the Chambers of Agriculture attention was directed to_ the disparity in the charges for sending agricultural produce to London as between English provinces and the colonies, a parcel of meat weighing 151 b costing 15d transmission from Deal, while meat was conveyed all the way from New Zealand for Id per lb. The death of a valuable carriage horse, the property of Mr Fulton, of Rangioi’a, Canterbury, occurred the other day, owing, it is supposed, to the mischief caused by the hot fly. The animal died somewhat suddenly from symptoms indicative of high inflammation. An examination of its stomach showed that a largo part of the mucous membrane had been perforated and destroyed, apparently through the action of the grub of the hot fly, which was found thoroughly infesting the inside of the stomach. At the Dunedin Ram and Ewe Fair the en ries largely exceeded last year's, number, ing 339 rams and 575 ewes. The principal demand was for Leioesters, and treble the number entered could have been sold. The highest price was fifteen guineas for a six tooth- Leicester sheep. Romney March ranged up to 3sgs,

As giving some idea of the extent to which the crops have been injured by the rain in Canterbury, it is mentioned that of twenty-six tons of grain sent down for one of the vessels at Lyttelton the other day twelve had to be refused owing to the damaged condition of the grain. During the current month 20 000 sheep have come through the Wairarapa by road from the Hawkes Bay district. Of these 13,000 came along the beach of the East Coast, and the rest through the Forty Milo Bush. 40,000 were freezers and the others all store sheep. The North Otago Times says that a few crops in that district are not yet in stack They were late in ripening, and this, too, was delayed by the spell of wet weathor. It is many years since the crops wero cut so late i"the Oamaru district. Mr J. Stanton, farmer, lias a hen which, one day lately, laid an egg weighing 3§oz. q'he Temuka Leader reports that * on Thursday wheat threshed out of the stook before the wet weather set in was sold in Temuka at 3s lid per bushel.’ A most useful scheme for technical educa. tion in gardening and spade industry is now under the consideration of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners and the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain. The two societies propose to ostablish a British School of Gardening, where lads of from 15 to 18 years of age may receive a thorough and practical training, and elementary scientific instruction. The Gardeners’ Company proposes to furnish a house at Chiswick, in the immediate neigh~ bourhood of the. Royal Horticultural Societv’s gardens,for the roception of students, to appoint competent lecturers and instructors, and to establish classes for the practical teaching of the craft of gardening and spade industry. The cost for a lad living at the school would be about £45 per annum, inelusivo of everything except clothing ; and for a lad attending the classes only £lO or £ls. To carry out the project it is calculated that an initial sum of £IOOO is required, and an annual income of £250 for three years, aftr-r which th© school should bccomo self" supporting. It is proposed to raise the funds by subscription. The Gardeners’ Company heads the subscription list with £250. A gentleman who is a thorough expert in land values has just returned from a trip toInland Patea and back from Huntervilje. He is most loud in his praise of the district, and considers the land between the rivers Moahanga and Rangitikei as fine as anything in the Colony. The self-sown cocksfoot and clover are running riot over the district, and the sheep and cattle all in 1 show ’ fettle. It is this district which would be opened by the central railway. An examination of two head of young cattle was made on Thursday last, says the Hawera Star, at Messrs Nolan, Tonks, and Co.’s yards, at Hawera, with a view to ascertaining the disease from which they were evidently suffering. Mr A. Munro, Government Inspector, suspected the presence of tubercle in these two animals on account of the emaciated appearance. The owner ass :red Mr Munro that the cattle had been kept in good feed and one of them had only lately begun to waste and pine away. A subscription was got up to pay a low price for the animals, both of which were then killed, and their internal organs opened and examined in the presence of a number of farmers. Dr Chappie found ample evidence of tubercle, and was surprised to find tuberculous ulcers present in large quantities in the intestines, where such tuberculous deposits are not often situated. Later in the day he made a more extended examination of these parts with satisfactory results. He has offered, in the interests of the fanners, to deliver a lecture on the subject shortly, and we understand that notice of such meeting will shortly be given through the Farmers’ Union. There is said to be an increased demand for young cattle in the Feilding district, and prices continue to harden. At a meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce, held yesterday week, the letter of the Minister of Public Works re the representation of this Colony at the Chicago Exhibition was discussed, and the terms in which the Secretary should reply were decided upon. Five new members weie elected to the Chamber. A letter was received from the Central North Island Trunk Railway League soliciting the patronage of the Chamber for the public meeting, which is to be held shortly in furtherance of their objects. _ It was resolved that as this has become a political question, it would not be becoming for the Chamber to take any part in it. There was quite a lively scene on the Queen’s Wharf on Saturday afternoon previous to the departure of the s.s. Wakatipu for Sydney. Several horses had been got on board, but two stubborn animals remained, and resisted every inducement that could be held out to them to board the vessel. A decoy in the shape of another and more tractable animal was provided, but the sagacious beasts refused to follow him. Then they were blindfolded, but even this stratagem did not avail, as they kicked and bucked in a most alarming -manner, one of them getting a man right under his feet, luckily without injury. At last a long rope was provided, cne end was tied round the horse’s neck, and the assistants commenced to give a * long pull, End a strong pull, and a pull all together. Gradually he budged, but not far, and then be jumped over the rails of the landing stage and _ had to be let go. This manoeuvre was tried several times, and at last happily succeeded, with the assistance of two men pushing behind, the result which was the same in the case of both the animals, being greeted with loud cheering from a large number of interested spectators who had been attracted by the spectacle. At a meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, held last month, Mr Price, the Treasurer of Oriel, Oxford, gave some very curious figures, drawn from the College accounts, as to the agricultural depression of the last few years. ‘ The acreage of the College estates amounted to 6068 acres in 1876*77, and to Q 142 vW<?3 in 1891 ; hut the rental had fallen

from L 10.472 in 1876-77, to L 7689 in 1890. The broad result of the depression was thus a fall of 27 per cent, in the rental, accompanying a slight increase in the acreage. Owing, however, to certain changes in teuure, these figures do not represent the full loss of income sustained. Mr Price mentioned the case of one of the College estates in which two-thirds of the gross rental was intercepted on its way from to landlord in order to meet rates, taxes, repairs, insurance and management charges, &c. Dr Steele showed that Guy’s Hospital was even worse off than Oriel. Its income shrank from L 41.840 in 1575, to L 27.550 in 1891. These figures explain how it is that many landed millionaires, even when they own estates unencumbered with jointures and charges, find it difficult to maintain anything like their old scale of expenditure.