JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1262, 7 May 1896, Page 6

JOTTINGS.

Scotch sheep, says " The Hutman" in the Australasian, have their share of intelligence, as Highland shepherds have their share of wit. For example, Lord Cockburn, after a long stroll, sai down on a hillside beside a shepherd, and observed that the sheep selected the coldest situation for lying down. " Mac," said he, " I think if I were a sheep I would certainly have preferred the other side of the hill." The shepherd answered, " Ay, my lord, but if you had been a sheep you would have had rnair sense."

A correspondent of tho Farmers' Advocate, Ontario, gives tho following plan for making straw a profitable stock fodder. He heats about four pails of water to boiling, adds two quarts flaxseed, and after stirring allows tho mixturo to cool. Thon the thick, slimy mixture is poured into two barrels—two pails in each; several pails of cold water aro then added to each barrel. Ho then fills a large box with silago and cut straw in the proportion of two to three, adding enough of his flax mixture to thoroughly moisten the mass as it is mixed up. This is left for 24 hours, when tho wholo is moist and warm. Two boxes are used, keeping one filled ahead.

A very curiou3 calf has been raised by a farmer in Massachusetts, of which the American Agriculturist gives tho following description :—lt has a belt of white hair, which is natural in texture and general appearance, but tho remainder of the body ha 3 a curious and indescribable covering of f. woolly nature, solid black in colour, short, fine xnd close.

Seventy-nine years ago, writes Coleman's Rural World, was the year without a summer. Frost occurred every month in the year 1816. Ico formed a half inch thick in May. Snow fell to the depth of Sin in Now'York and also in Massachusetts in Juno. Ice was formed of a thicknoss of a common window glass throughout New York on the sth day of July. Indian corn was so frozen that tho greater part was cut in August and dried for fodder, and the farmers supplied themselves from tho corn produced in 1315 for the seed of tho spring of 1817.

Unloached wood ashes aro held in high estimation by the farmers of tho United States as a fertiliser, and Urge quantities are imported from Canada. The report on this subject, from tho Connecticut Experiment Station, states that the lime in unleached wood ashes is worth more on the soil, under some conditions, than are tho potash and phosphoric acid thoy contain. In other cases, cotton-hull ashes contain all the alkali the soil requires, and it is pointed out that a ton of tho latter, costing -lOdol, will supply as much potash and phosphoric acid as six tons of wood ashes, costing 63d01. Tho six tons of wood ashes, however, carry 32001 b moro lime than a ton of hull ashes. It is perfectly true, also, that tho amounts of phosphoric acid and potash furnished in wood ashes can be bought cheaper in other forms, yet it is equally true for the reasons just noted that unleached wood ashes produco better results, dollar for dollar, than would the .same elements in other forms. The continued popularity of wood ashes seems to bo due to this agricultural value and crop producing power, which in this caso, as in many others, is quite difterenfc from the estimated commercial value. Out of 16 samples of unleached wood ashes analysed by the Connecticut station during tho last year, only one was deficient in soluble potash, it having li per cent, of potash soluble in water, whereas all tho other samples ranged from 3'B to (> per cent. In two samples, the proportion of phosphoric acid was below the average, tho usual range being from 1£ to 2} per cent. Their average proportion was 4), per cent, potash, and phosphoric acid H. These ashes usually contain between 45 and 50 per cent, of carbonate of lime and somo 15 per cent, of coal, sand and earth, and cost tho farmer lOdol to lPoOdol per ton. Allowing |c per lb for carbonato of lime, and 5c for phosphoric acid, tho potash in unleached ashes of standard quality at lOdol a ton costs just about 4c per lb. But if the limo is reckoned as only }c tho potash costs about 7c per lb. Leached ashes have lost most of their potash, and aro hardly worth buying, though it will pay to haul them quite a distanco if they can bo had for nothing. Coal ashes contain no available plant food worth mentioning.

Messrs George Wilcox and Co., hide exporters, of London, Sydney and Adelaide, says tho Australasian Pastoralists' Review, write directing attention to " tho present horrible system of branding along tho ribs or on tho butt. Cannot brands bo placed upon tho cheek, neck, or the lower portion of tho shoulder," they ask, " and still be of as much service for drafting purposes without ruining the best portion of tho hide?" As showing how the present system of branding restricts

trade in hides to the disadvantage of those concerned in raising cattle and those dealing with hides, they say that one of the firm has just returned from visiting America and Europe, where he was told on all sides:—"We could increase our orders ten times for Australian hides, und pay much higher prices, if we could get them without the horrible fire-brands on the ribs and butts." One large tanner said : _<< Why don't you agitate for a reform of this system. "Your cattle-raisers must lose immenso sums of money through simple carelessness to their own interests. Australian hides are second to none for growth and substance, yet you ruin them with your horrible brands." Some little time ago an order for 10,000 hides (only one of many such orders which would come to the Australian markets) was lost through the sellers not beinj,' able to guarantee that tho hides should be without brands on tho ribs or butts. The price offered was a half-penny per lb above the then current rates for hides branded as at present.

A common error in harnessing a draught horse is to buckle the throat strap too tightly, says tho London Lice Stork Journal, and the care shown by the judges —especially those of tho veterinary profession—in" examining tho fit of this portion of the harness must impress upon the drivers tho importance of its proper adjustment, po that it shall not constrict and impede the breathing power of this horse. What may appear a comfortable fit when tho horse is at rest may be a serious obstruction when he comes to draw a heavy load, and has to exert to tho full his breathing capacity and alter tho position in which his head and neck aro carriod. Besides, a tolerably loose throat strap adds not only to the comfort of the horse, but to the general good appearance of tho head, whether in biidlc or blinkers. On tho other hand, a throat strap too loose is unsightly, and dangerous as wellespecially in the case of well-bred, spirited horses in harness or under tho Haddlo—for there is some dangor of the whole head gear being shuffled off.

Messrs John Deans and W. Henderson have boon appointed to represent the sheep-breeders of North Canterbury on tho New Zealand Flock Look Council.

Mr James Kowin, representative in New Zealand of Messrs Lovcll and Christinas, London and Manchester, left Wellington by tho Corinna last week to join tho lonic at Lyfctolton, en route, for England. During the past season the amount of cheese and butter on which this one firm alone made advances represented at loar.t ,£200,000, and considering that their

first year's operations fivo years ago only totalled £2OOO, these figures show that not only has the output of dairy produce increased to an enormous extent, but the quality has also shown such a steady improvement that New Zealand butter and cheese compete successfully against the American products at Home, and are also beginning to hold their own with tho Danish. Mr Kowin, from forty yours' experience of the trade, has formed a very high opinion of the dairy produce of this Colony, and says that with the present progress, so far as quality is concerned, it will gain a first-class position in the Home market.