AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1099, 24 March 1893, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

A member of the Hawke's Bay A. and P. Association said at the meeting the other day that in about ten years' time there would be very few who would go in for grain growing if the bird pest were not checked.

According to the Hawera Star, Mr J. Ball, of Kakaramea, put in a ten acre paddock of oats last season. Prior to attending the ram fair in Wanganui, Mr Ball had a good look at his oat paddock, and to all appear, ance it would stand several days before cutting. The crop was a most promising one, and if all could be saved 100 bushels per acre were expected by the owner—this is not an over-esti-mate, as Mr Ball generally averages between 80 and 90 bushels per acre every year. On the owner's return from Wanganui he expected his crop, and to his surprise and loss found the caterpillars had absolutely cleared the whole paddock, leaving nothing but the dry stalks, even eating off the flag, so that it could not be burned. It is certainly a big loss to the district and to Mr Ball in particular. Oats are not too plentiful on this coast this year, either,

About the heaviest yield of Tasmanian wheat on the record (says the N.W. Post), comes from the Don, Messrs Jefferey and Henry, of the Seaview Estate, had two acres of wheat thrashed this week, which gave the enormous return of 208 bushels, the grain being perfectly clean. This part of the estate has an unprecedented record for heavy yields, and about six years back Mr James Suckling obtained 33 tons of marketable potatoes from it, which were sold at £3 per ton. Mr William Henry states that the land has been allowed to lie idle for a couple of years, and after having been run with sheep was used as a fattening paddock for pigs, and the refuse, chiefly boiled peas, has turned out excellently as a manure.

Swine fever is cause by a specific virus or poison developed in a preexisting case of the same nature, and cannot be produced by any means except the introduction of some of this virus into the system of a pig; no amount of bad feeding or uncleanliness will actually induce the disease, although these circumstances favour its introduction into the system, and also its development when so introduced. When or how the first virus sprang existence is as uncertain as when or how the first pig put in an appearance. The symptoms of swine fever are as follows :—The animal is dull, refuses its food to a greater or less extent, shivers, seems to feel cold as it creeps into its litter when possible; there is a discharge from eyes and nose, constipation is generally present at the commencement of the attack, but, as the disease advances, this is followed by an offensive diarrhoea; the animalgets weak, especially in the hindquarters, there ig great feverislmess and thirst, redness, and sometimes an erruption, behind the ears, inside the thighs, &c. These symptoms become more intense, until death takes place. In most cases a hacking cough is present from the commencement of the attack, but in some few instances, where the lungs aro not greatly affected, the cough is slight or even entirely absent.

An English agricultural authority in answer to a correspondent, who asks for a definition of the word ' yeoman,' says :—' Unquestionably, as at present used, the word means a farmer who owns the land he occupies, as distinguished from a tenant who farms the land of another man. In Bailey's Dictionary, the fifth edition of which was published in 1731, the word is given in the plural, " yeoman " being defined as " the first degree of the Commons, freeholders, Avho have land of their own,' and live on good husbandry." Sir Thomas Smith, in his " Commonwealth," says a yeoman is "free-born Englishman, who may lay out ol his own free land in yearly revenue to the sum of 405." The derivation is doubtful. In Cassell's Encyclopaedic Dictionary the most probable is said to be that of Skeat, from the Anglo-Saxon ga, a district or village, and man. In old times a nobleman's or gentleman's

servant was frequently termed a yeoman j but that was probably because the lords of great estates had to serve their, in war and otherwise, men who held land on their manors as free tenants, who afterwards became freeholders.'

It seems a remarkable fact (writes the London correspondent of the Australasian), that last year over 50,000 tons of frozen meat were imported into London. Of the total amount. 37,450, or 1,505,000 carcasses, came from New Zealand; the next largest quantity, 9,420 tons, representing 449,000 carcasses, came from Australia ; the balance arriving from the River Plate and Falkland Islands. During last year the average top price obtained in the metropolitan maricet for Australian mutton of prime quality in the carcass was 3|d per lb and for New Zealand 4|dper lb, Scotch mutton fetching 7§d and English 7d per lb.

The Queensland Government has decided to establish a bacteriological and pathological institute in Brisbane for the special study of diseases peculiar to stock in Queensland, it being con sidered that the importance of the matter to the pastoral industry of the colony warrants independent action. Endeavours will most likely be made to secure as director a member of the Pasteur Institute.

Evidently there are many parts of Great Britain, where modern farming is an unknown art. A Welsh farmer, writing to an English paper, says he adopted the following treatment in dealing with a bullock suffering from hoven :—' I gave him a handful of salt, and burnt some poultry feathers under his hose, and cut his ear with a knife to start the blood.'

Anburys, sometimes described as warts, are best treated by surgical removal and the several methods that may be adopted have over and over again been described. The simplest plan, and perhaps the only practicable one for the amateur surgeon, is removal by ligature. Ihis is applied by tying around the base of the growth a piece of thread, waxed silk or twine, varying in stoutness with the size of the excrescence, and lotting it remain until the death of the growth is secured by the constriction cutting off supply of blood, by which it is nourished, when it will drop off. Either the ligature knot should be used or a form of fastening known as the double-hitch, which can be tightened up from time to time as the cord cuts into the growth, the ends being left sufficiently long for this purpose. Alternatives are removals with the knife, ecraseur, or hot iron, but where the growth is large, and the blood supply of corresponding magnitude, and hcemorrhage likely to be troublesome, it is best to obtain professional assistance. Caustic agents are slow and unreliable for large excrescences.

As showing the opinion entertained in Australia of the existence of the botfly in New Zealand, we quote the fol-

lowing from the Melbourne Leader : The breaking out in New Zealand of the painful and fatal malady known as bots in horses requires that the authorities' should take special care against its introduction here. As the disease is caused by an insect called the bot-fly, it is urged that no danger need be feared to horses here or elsewhere, where the fly, so far as is known, does not exist, but care should be taken to see that horses affected with the disease are not allowed to land in the colony, as it is by means of the eggs deposited upon the Naw Zealand horses that the introduction of the destructive fly is to be feared.

We regret to learn now—the thresh-ing-mills have begun to tell thsir tale —that some of the farmers on the Waimea Plains (says the Southern Standard), are realising their harvest yields are not by any means coming up to expectations on some farms, where 40 bushels to the acre were confidently looked for, only 25 bushels are resulting. Many of these farmers are ' croppers' with the New Zealand Agrictural Co., who last year paid high prices for the use of the land, and it seems likely they will find it no easy matter to steer safely round the corner this year. The recent heavy winds are held responsible for this somewhat alarming deterioration in the prospects ; and for once, little blame is being attached on this score to the small bird nuisance.

Mangolds or turnips form an excellent food for sheep. Animals thus fed have longer and stronger wool than those fed on grass alone. Carrots given to a horse once a day will give the animal a sleek coat and a healthy appearance, and he will seldom require any medicine.

The people who attended the Cheviot stock sale consumed three bullocks, 228 sheep, 57201bs of bread, 100 dozen eggs, 120 pairs of fowls, besides hams, bacon, and sundries.

The Rev. W. H. Jones, rector of Goddington, Oxfordshire, was summoned to the Bicester petty sessions, recently, for withholding proper and sufficient food and nourishment from 13 heifers and steers.—lnspector Jowett,, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he visited the defendant's farni on Jan, 11. A man named Roone showed him a bull in a very emaciated state. He found eight yearlings in a very weak state, fastened in a shed, which was deep in dung. These also had no food and no bedding. He gave them some rotten hay, which he found outside, and they ate it ravenously. The carcasses of three heifers were lying outside the shed. On the second day he again visited the farm, and saw another heifer lying in the shed, dying. At the inspector's suggestion one of the defendant's men cut its throat.—For : the defence it was urged that the animals had been suffering from husk. Two veterinary surgeons, two farmers, four men in the defendant's employ, and the purchaser of the carcasses gave

it as their opinion thst the animals had suffered from husk, and that they had been properly fed.—Defendant was fined L 5 and costs, or 21 days' imprisonment.

We take the following from the Lyttelton Times :—Many of our readers, says the Coleraine Chronicle of Jan. 21, are doubtless watching the progress of the New Zealand frozen meat trade, which has now reached astonishing proportions and still goes on increasing. They will therefore be interested to learn that Mr D. O. Campbell, manufacturer, Ballymoney, has just received a carcass of frozen lamb from a friend in Christchurch, New Zealand (Mr J. R. Sharp). The carcass, which was despatched about Nov. 22, was received about ten days ago in splendid condition, and the meat was of excellent quality. When the success of the New Zealand trade becomes better understood, there can be no doubt that the ' old country ' will send on unlimited orders. Mr Sharp, of Rakaia, has sent us the following extract from a letter he has received from Mr Campbell, the gentleman referred to in the above paragraph. • The lamb arrived here in splendid condition, being ■ only some twentyfour hours in transit from ship's side (London). Surely these are wonderful days of locomotion ! Our opinion of your New Zealand produce, as well as friends' opinion is, that so far as your mutton is concerned, it is equal to the best Scotch, which is considered by epicures inferior to none in this country. . . You might let me have the full particulars of this trade, price per pound, &c, and how the meat can be kept fresh for a time after leaving the vessel, as none of it, so far as I am aware, comes to Ireland. We have been thinking that probably a lot of it could be sold in Belfast and Dublin if cheap enough, and in as good condition as the carcass we have just received.'

A deputation from the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria waited on the Minister of Agriculture on March 1 in reference to the removal of the restrictions placed on the importation of sheep from New Zealand. They asked that the restriction should not be removed until the Minister was certain that the ' bot' fly, which was said to exist among the sheep of that colony, would not be introduced here by allowing sheep from New Zealand to be imported into Victoria. Mr Webb replied that he had not removed the restriction, and did not intend doing so at present. The Government had communicated with the Governments of the other colonies, stating that the ' bot' fly was reported to exist among the sheep in New Zealand, and pointing out the danger of removing the restriction against the importation of sheep from that colony.

As to the best treatment for lousiness in cattle and horses, says an expert, there are dozens of agents equal to destroying the vermin, and that without much risk if the dressing is properly applied and repeated often enough. Lice

dressings require repitition at short intervals in order to deal, with successive broods, as any remedy potent enough to affect the vitality of the ' nits' would be injurious to the animal. It would occupy too much space to enumerate all the agents that are successfully used for the destruction of lice on the domestic animals, but here are two useful formulas from which you may choose ; —Boil together 4 ounces of bruised stavesacre seeds and 2oz of coarse shag tobacco in water for ten minutes j strain and make the product up to half a gallon. Apply with a hard brush, beginning at the head, tail, and legs, in order to cut off the retreat of the pidiculi before dressing the body. The other formula is:—Jeyes' Fluid, 4 oz; carbolic soft soap, 4 oz; infusion of quassia, 1 gallon. Apply warm as directed above. Select a bright, sunny day for dressing, ani walk the animal about to prevent its taking cold.