GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1321, 24 June 1897, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

Some men start the plough when the soil leaves the mould in glistening rolls, and water follows in the furrow. As a rule, clods, weeds, poor crops, and poor land follow in their wake, and the man who waits wins, providing he pushes as soon as the ground is in order.

Few farmers, says the Rural New Yorker are as careful as they should be in the selection of their seed potatoes. In order to save a few cents per bushel at planting time, they lose as many dollars at harvest. Poor seed never produced a good crop, and good seed hardly ever fails of producing a good crop.

Careful experiments have shown that heavy selected seed produces more vigorous and productive plants than seeds taken at random from the general crop.

Whether or not the farmer can make money by the growing of fruit, there can

be no doubt that he can add to the health, comfort and pleasure of his household by so doing.

The clover plant is tho cheapest and most effecttve subsoil j)lough that can be used on soils where it will work ; runs deeper than a steel plough, is self-pro-pelling, and in passing leaves more fertility than it takes.

If anyone (says a writer in the Canadian Farmer) has swine weak in loins, or dragging hindquarters on the ground, afflicted with what is known as kidney worms, give them a taste of indigo in thick slop, twice a day, for three days. If not cured, wait three days, and repeat the dose. I have never known it to fail of curing in 18 days. Usually twelve doses cure those dragging their quarters.

A fungus disease in lucerne is giving some trouble in Victoria. It is known as " leaf spot," and attacks the upper surface of the leaves and covers them with small dark brown spots. Then a pustule forms in the centre of each leaf and spores are developed. " Leaf spot " is checked by frequent cutting, but if the disease is in a bad form straw is laid on the land and burned off.

It should be the aim of every farmer to increase the fertility and improve the mechanical condition of the soil to a point where ho can grow a paying crop every year. The first step in this direction is to underdrain, and remove the excess of water which fills the space between the particles of soil excluding the air. Wet, close soil is a cold soil. A well-drained soil is warm, and the air circulates through it, and seeds germinate with greater certainty, and plants grow luxuriantl}'.

If young teams are over-loaded they are apt to become discouraged or vicious. From such treatment come our baulky horses, and loads which they might be taught to move with ease become a terror to them. A little prevention in this line is worlh any quantity of cure.

When manure is so well rotted as not to interfere with cultivation, we would, in applying it for crops, prefer to use it as a top-dressing, harrowing it into the surface soil. The loss by evaporation, of which some complain, is practically nothing, because it is only the water which evaporates.

Take the horse to the harness shop, and see that a collar fits him before you buy it. His working capacity depends much xipon his harness. AVith galled shoulders he will not pull steadily and squarely, and tho pain will affect his whole nervous

organisation, and lead to general derangement and incapacity.

A Canadian farmer, in relating his experience with ensilage, states after the maize was all in the pits, the little about the machine was run up the carrier, and scattered evenly over the surface, welltrodden down, and this repeated for three or four days, or until it had become quite mouldy. Then they loosened it up, trod it down, working in a half bushel of oatscreening, distributed a barrel of water evenly over the ensilage, and gave it one more treading. The result is that the surface is covered with this decayed ensilage, and over it is a fine growth of oats, the roots of which have bound the cover into a regular fibre blanket. If covers are needed, which he still doubts, this one, he says, is far in the lead of any he has ever had in his ten years of silo experience;

The chief cause of scabby potatoes, says the Australasian, is a fungus of bacterial origin. The fact seems to have been abundantly demonstrated. Certain conditions of soil and climate are favourable to the development of the germs. But if the germs of the disease upon the seed are destroyed before planting, by so much will liability to scab in the new crop be reduced. This may be done by soaking the cut tubers from one and a half to three hours in from two to three and a half ounces corrosive sublimate to 15 gallons of water, Not one potatogrower in a hundred as yet uses this very simple safeguard against potato scab. It will not absolutely insure against scab, but in almost every case where tests have been made under controlled conditions the result has been extremely favourable to this treatment. Wo would, by all means, urge that it be generally employed, since the cost and labour involved are very slight.

The demand for Australian wool in Japan is certain to increase, says " Engineering," as that country can never be a producer of wool. The sheep, which is so hardy as to be able to thrive on a great variety of inferior foods, and to accustom itself to apparently hostile climatic conditions, is unable to stand Japan. Several attempts have been made to introduce sheep, but they have all ended in complete failure. The 'native grass is of a very coarse nature, and it is not difficult to masticate, but even when masticated irritates the intestines, and the sheep fall oft in condition and die. Moreover, all the good land is fully cultivated, so that it is impossible to lay down the grass. For all the finer manufactures, therefore, for which Chinese and Indian wools are too coarse, Australia is the cheapest and nearest source of supplyj and it is expected

that a large and profitable market for Australian wool will be found in Japan.

No fewer than 82 applications from all parts of the colony have been received for the position of secretary to the Manawatu Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

At a meeting of Cabinet last week tha question of removing the prohibition of the importation of bone and bonedust from Queensland was under discussion, but nothing will be finally settled until the return of the Acting-Premier from the South.