ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 374, 29 January 1859, Page 1

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

PLOUGHS— SWING AND WHEELED.

To the Editor of the Otago Witness. Sin, — In a newspaper dated September 11, I find an account of the Highland and Agricultural Society's Annual Meeting, which took place at Aberdeen. I have extracted it, and hope you will find a corner for it in your paper. I have often heard it said in deprecation of the wheeled plough, that any one can plough with it— a fact which in my opinion constitutes its greatest merit ; for I cannot conceive why I should use mote muscular exertion than is necessary when an improved machine will relieve me. Perhaps a better recommendation than any I can offer, may be deduced from the fact that this wheeled plough, Howard's P.P., "received the first prize for general purposes from the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1855." " The gold medal of honour was awarded " to the same makers at the Paris Universal Exhibition, where 24 ploughs were tried. The competitors were from England, France, Austria, Belgium, Canada, and Prussia. The depth of Howard's furrow was 7 inches, its width 9£. The estimated draught in pounds was as follows : — Howard of England .... 291 Ball of England 380 Grignon of France 454 Ransome of England .... 694 Thaer of Prussia 1820 Add to this the circumstance " that the plough went a round without being held by the ploughman, and the work was well done."

PLOUGHS. The trial of ploughs was a very severa one, and excited a great deal of interest. The field was well attended, not by holiday idlers, for 6d. per head ytas exacted to keep such away, but by farmers and others, deeply interested in the matter. A great variety of ploughs was upon the field, principally of the construction familiar to Scotch predilections in these matters, the swing-plough, of course, being predominant. Some of these implements did their work remarkably well, bufit was evident to those accustomed to the best ploughingin England, that both man and horse suffered more'than they do with us, when our best implements are used. The prejudice of the Scotch agriculturists on this head is remarkable ; it would be a species of heresy amongst many farmers there to introduce the wheel plough, a.nd all manner of apprehensions are conjured up, some of them especially absurd, against that method of making the plough. Without it, however, they cannot turn over so good a furrow slice, nor leave so good a seed bed, as they might do •with it ; nor can the) bury the fiith upon the surface, nov leave the surface at such an angle in the furrow as would be the highest benefit to it. The soil, however, as we have already remarked, was in too mellow and too crumbling a condition to show good work for ploughing. It would noc hold together, however v>ell turned over; and as the hoises, in most instances,.were in too skittish a condition, the ploughs rather ran, or raced, through the soil, than steadily turned il over. The consequence was, the top of the furrow slice, or n3 our northern friends termed it, the " corners, 1 ' were at intervals slightly broken, and when the eye ran along the top of a furrow at full length, there was not that beautiful continuity that would have been obtained, had the soil been a little less friable. In spite of these drawbacks, however, which were of little moment to the practised eye, it was pretty evident which kind pf plough was the best for good cultivation, and for effecting an economy iv man and in horse. The P. P. plough of Messrs. Howard had not taken many turns about, before the farmers began to think differently as regards the superiority of their old favourite the "swing;" they looked and watched intently as furrow after furrow was turned over, and the bed sliced at right angles ; stick 3 and rules ■were out measuring the depth of the furrow, and hands were down examining the bed; and when the ploughman for a moment or so left the plough to go by itself, it formed such a contrast to the pressing, the bending down, the jerking, and the muscular exercise required on the part of their own ploughmen, that several were in ecstacies, many weie surprised, a few walked away, and the greater number looked on ns though they had been tricked into a surprise. The effect was remarkable ; and when many of the worthy spectators had recovered from their first surprise, human-like, they began to find fault there, discover a defect here, to say this would not last long with such an implement, and that it would be constantly out of repair, until the dispute end. disagreement of the more prejudiced amongst the spectators closed in a perfect diapason of discord, doubt, and dismay. To the more sober portion, however, who had seen something similar to such work before, the operations of the implement were perfectly satisfactory ; and it was clear, from the mode of expressing their sentiments, that the P.P. wheel plough is a much more efficient and economic implement than the 'swing,' good service ■ras that has done in its day. We have witnessed many ploughing scenes in our time, but this certainly was the climax of them all, the interest excited being much beyond unything that might have been fairly expected. The triai of the other field implements, after the ploughs, created but little interest. The steam plough of Mr. Fowler, however, under the able superintendence of Mr. Greig, commanded considerable attention, and did its work in its usual way, greatly surprising many of the spectators. Plough.

To tin Editor of the Otago Witness.

Dunedin, 25th January 1859.

Esteemed Frjeno, — One day within the week we made a purchase, and to accomplish which we did require to make a deep descent into a cellar 'neatjb a store in the more ancient part of old Dunedin Town. What we did net was of the liquid kind|g but teith's pellucid water, even in its most turbitfc state, does not resemble it — for it was Burton Ale of the best kind. What meets our eye — oh, honible! most horrible and ghast ! and yet of symmetry and grace there still remained a moiety — it was a skeleton, a female skeleton, we saw. It lies, there in bond, and Mills, that man of duty, •a; s it can't go forth until he's paid his dues— and he is right. Up ! daughters of Otago ! pay the dues, and have her buried. Hastie — thou man of might! rude bullock-driver ! — wilt thou not convey the relics to the Town Belt, near the Northeast Valley ? I know thou wilt ; for tears large as the Hawthorn's fruit did roll a-down thy rugged, cheeks to see a daughter of thy race thus so exposed, for she may be of thine own kin- Or why may sbe not be of a race royal ? — we will not say a Cleopatra or a Pharaoh's daughter — the nose aquithic says she cannot be of Afric's burning &un the.jjioduce. But Britain's Queen, who centuries ago aid fight the Romans — even Boadicea, of whom

we do not know that she was ever buried, is this not she ? In legendary lore 'tis said that Paul the Apostle did preach his holy truths in Albion's isle. Paul had no wife : we ask, had he no sister, who, whilst he thundered in the ears of Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, did the dear domestic duties of his wandering home, it may be, washed his muslin bands and tied them round his sacred neck ere he went forth to teach the wandering multitudes in Britain isle : is this not she ? It does not matter much whoe'er she is, — her name is woman, and therefore dear unto the sons of men ; and from forth that bonded store she must be brought, and buried, and embowered within the circlature of Zealand's towering, creeping, climbing plants. No monument of bnss or stone uprear, but plant ye blooming flowers upon her lowly grave ; for she will also bJoom — not like the flowers upon her lowly grave, which bloom, and fade, and die — but she will bloom, a blessed truth, to fade and die no more. 0 ! daughters of Otago ! up, bestir thee, and with united mites pay down to Mills, that man of duty, all his dues.

The bond she lies within is that of Richard, near unto those merchants' shop whose name is Jones and Gulielmus son.

And now we say to thee, esteemed friend, farewell.

Captain Cook, Junr.

General Government Gazettes. — By the " White Swan" we have received several Gazettes, which contain the following notifications, viz. : — Dunedin and Invercargill to be warehousing ports, and to be ports for the importation of tobacco, under the " Customs Regulation Act, 1858." — Collectors of Customs to receive their instructions from and to report to the Commissioner of Customs. — Persons acting as Custom-house agents are required to be duly licensed. — His Exceliency declares his disallowance of the " Otago Pastoral Districts Ordinance, 1855," and withholds his as. sent from the " Loan Ordinance, 1858." The other Ordinances passed by the Provincial Council of Otago last session the Governor leaves to their operation. — Robert Chapman, Esq., has been appointed Registration Officer for the election of members of the House of Representative for the Dunedin Country and Town of Dunedin Districts, and Returning Officer for the Dunedin Country Districts, and E'ectoral Districts of the Provincial Council ; John Giilies Esq., to be Returning Officer for the election of members of the House of Representatives for Dunedin j and A. Jamieson Elles, Esq. to be Registration and Returning Officer for the county of Wallace. — His Excellency has appointed John Hyde Harris, Esq., to be a Justice of the Peace for the colony of New Zealand ; to be the Judge of the District Court of Otago j and to be & Resident Magistrate. — Robert Chapman, E<=q., has been appointed Clerk of the District Court of Otago ; and Mr. John R. Monson, Immigration Officer at the port. The first session of the District Court of Otago is to be held in Dunedin on the 15th day of March next.

The Hon. Mr. Richmond has been appointed Commissioner of Customs.