OTAGO FARMERS' CALENDAR FOR JULY.

Otago Witness, Issue 657, 2 July 1864, Page 21

OTAGO FARMERS' CALENDAR FOR JULY.

This is usually the wettest and coldest month in the year, and there will be little sowing. The fanner, however, will find plenty of employment in ploughing, when his land is not too wet ; in carting manure, draining, fencing, threshing, planting live fences and trees, conveying his produce to market, &c.

As to the operation of ploughing, a good deal has appeared in the Farmers' Calendar, from time to time. A few remarks upon the various kinds of ploughs may now be interesting. The ploughs in most frequent use are those denominated swing ploughs, and which are not provided with wheels ; consequently they are hot liable to be clogged with dirt or mould, and are peculiarly calculated for strong lands. Swing-ploughs are in general use throughout Great Britain ; in Scotland they are almost universally adopted, and rarely more than two horses are now used at a time. These are harnessed abreast, and thus the advantage of their full strength is obtained. Ransom's patent - swingplough is simple in its construction, and is in very extensive use. Each wearing part is so contrived that it may be removed and replaced by the ploughman without mechanical assistance. The shares that fit this plough are case-hardened to the temper of steel, covering the whole surface of the under side of the share ; and as the upper part, which is not thus hardened, wears away, tbe share acquires and retains a thinner and sharper edge than could be produced by any other mode of tempering. Many ploughs are now made with wrought iron beams and handles, and cast iron bodies. Small's plough, used extensively in Scotland and the north of England, will never be superseded. It is also simple in construction. It is drawn by two horses yoked abreast, and is capable of performing, by no over-labor to the animals, almost every species oi tillage which the plough is required to effect. Of wheel- [ ploughs there is a great variety, adapted to every modification of soil. They are more easily managed than the former, and consequently better calculated for the inexperienced ploughman. The principal objec- I tion to them is their weight, and the increased difficulty of draught. They are useful on hard a^d tenacious soils ; they are not easily thrown oat of the ground, and they compensate for the additional \ expense of their cost, by the precision and neatness of their work. For breaking up fresh grounds, the double-wheel plough is used in some of the midland counties, in tolerably level soils. It divides them as well as two single ploughs, being drawn by four horses, and attended by a driver. In Staffordshire the common single -wheel plough has received an important improvement, by the addition of a flag, or iron earth-board, which is firmly screwed to the coulter. Its advantage is that, in breaking up the turf, the sward is cut off and turned into the furrow, where it is immediately covered with earth. On stiff and tenacious soils the Herefordshire wheel-plough, although a heavy, and, in some respects, a clumsy instrument, has not been superseded. The turn-wrest plough is also an instrument of great strength, especially where deep ploughing is requisite, on dry, rocky, and hilly situations. It turns' the soil to a considerable depth, and lays the furrow-slice perfectly level, without making any opening in the seam. Fin- j feyson s Kentish Skeleton Plough" is an improvement on this, and still further im- j provements have been made lately. Another implement for breaking up land is the double or two-furrow swing and wheel-plough. The chief advantage of the we of the two-furrow wheel-plough is, i the quantity of work which it can accomplish in a given time on ligfit land, viz., nearly double that where the old plan of ploughing with four horses Is continued. Then there are, the paring plough, the tonch plough, the subsoil plough, and the drill plough. In draining land the following axioms should be observed: I— Depth mnst be! governed by the nature of the soil and fubsoil* and cause of wetoess. 2— -That all water should percolate through the subsoil before forcing into drains. 3—3 — That water should pass through the soil quickly, and not take days to get off. 4— That grass-land may be over-drained. *~That the state land is in for agricultural purposes is the test of draining, not the quantity of water that runs from thei drama. 6— That no tile or pipe should cc used less than I^-inch bore. . j The planting of trees for shelter, as well as timber, is & matter of very great importance to the farmers of Otago, and advantage should be taken of the pretent season to plant extensively. Some have a great propensity for planting trees mi hedge-rows, in reference to which Mr Stephens says :— " lam decidedly inimical to the planting of trees in hedge-rows. It m quite impossible, even with the greatest care, to rear thorns to a good fence under forest trees," We find it stated in the

" Quarterly Journal of Agriculture " :— "Plantations and clumps of trees afford better shelter than single rows, and when they are judiciously planted in situations where little use can be made of the ground for culture— and there is no property without many such situations upon it— and in other situations where they would screen fields from the prevailing winds, they not only become useful timber, but ornamental objects in the landscape, and are a thousand times more tasteful than any siDgle row of stunted trees can be." We mu9t urge upon our Otago farmers the importance of cultivating peas aud beans. Peas are invaluable for fattening pigs, and where the soil is suitable for their growth, and a market is convenient, they are a profitable crop. The pea, like the bean, delights in soils of a calcareous character, and ia classed with it as one of the lime plants. The winter pea ttands the severest weather without injury, and might with advantage be grown in this Province mixed with beans. The beanstem affords the necessary support to the pea, keeping it off the ground, and giving it access to the air and sun, and the mixed crop yielding a greater return than if beans alone had been sown. This is a favorite practice in many districts, aB it is said not only to increase the yield, but also to reduce the chances of loss from blight, which appears to be less injurious in its attacks than when eUher plant is sown alone the beans retaining their vigour and producing a crop should the "green aphis " attack j the peas ; while the peas remain uninjured I when the " black aphis " is destroying the beans, In the preparation of the land the same general rules or principles hold good with all our cultivated plants, viz., that the soil be tilled as deep as possible ; that its particles be in a slate of minute division, finely pulverized ; and that it contains all the food substances that the growing crop requires. Broad-casting beans and peas cannot be admitted under any conditions. Even if the land is carefully cleaned before sowing, the weeds in such soils are sure to spring up and check the growth of the plant, by which the whole object of the fallow crop is destroyed, and a large outlay for labor again required before the land is fit for the succeeding crop. Drilling at a distance of from 18 to 24 inches between the rows, gives the plant a more regular and equal distribution of space to grow in, while it affords an opportunity of keeping the weeds down by hoeing, until the plants cover over the intervening spaces, and check their further growth. Those who give attention to the fattening of ewine will find that they »ot only fatten more kindly when fed with peas, but their flesh plumps in boiling, and has a good flavour ; while that of the swine fattened on beans will shrink in the pot, the fat will boil away, and the flavour of the meat will be injured. Roots and vegetables should be given to 9wine cooked, as numerous experiments tend to prove that they are more nutritious and digestible so than when given raw. Indeed, pigs fatten better and thrive quicker on cooked food of all kinds than they do on raw It is true that pigs will grow with any kind of garbage that fills their stomach, and that they will even put on a certain quantity of flesh when fed solely on potatoes ; but good firm bacon is only to be made by means of sound corn and pulse.

Feeding Sheep for Market. — A great improvement has been made in England within the last half century in the preparation of sheep for the market. They used to be kept until they were three years old before the farmer dreamed of offering them for sale, while now, and especially since the introduction of Swedish turnips, they may be sent to the butcher at sixteen or eighteen months. This is of the greatest advantage to the farmer, not only as enabling him to increase the number of his sheep, but better, to prepare his fields for the growth of corn. Some caution, however, is requisite. Where the process of fattening is quickened, it must not be urged on too eagerly at first, or the lamb, unaccustomed to it, may die from undue aecumulatiou of blood. In many places, however, the sheep have nothing but what the pastures will afford, except an occasional supply of hay during She winter months. This may do for a breeding flock, but will not bring the sheep into the high condition which the fashion of the present day demands. A writer in the journal of the Royal Agricultural Society strongly advocates the winter feeding ,of all sheep destined for the butcher on turnips, consumed by the animals in sheds near the farm or household. He says :-— 11 They are no way retarded by the weather, are constantly dry and healthy,* fatten more quickly, and consume less food in proportion to their progress ; besides, the manure is much richer, and far more effi-, cacious from being applied to the land just previous to the sowing, instead .of lying there exposed to wind- and rain to evaporate."

One hundred persons have been assassinated at Iraola during tbe year The population of this Italian place is only 11,000.