Agricultural and Pastoral. OTAGO GARDENERS CALENDAR FOR AUGUST.

Otago Witness, Issue 715, 12 August 1865, Page 14

Agricultural and Pastoral.

OTAGO GARDENERS CALENDAR FOR AUGUST.

The days are now rapidly lengthening, an* 3 , -we have occasionally a cold and stormy nir-ht to remind us that vriater has not quite passed away •, still the month is usually bright and sunny. Mr. W. Wilson, a horticulturist of •extended practical experience Va the Middle Island, gives the following account of the •weather during the present month :— " One <tay is warm and pleasant, vith a soft, mild, and spring-like atmosphere ; a second is cold and bracing, with sharp morning frosts, -whilst a third is cold, wtt, and stormy. Alter •which several delightful days may succeed, Tapidly exciting vegetation, and fully indicating the presence of spring, as further exemplifie 1 by the swelling buds of gooseberries and thorns, and by the re- appearance of crocusses, snowdrops, and other early spring Howering bulbs, whose leturn reminds us that the season is at hand for renewed exertions in sowing, digging, pruning, and planting, as often as favorable weather and a suitable condition of the soil may afford proper opportunities." Trench, dig, and put out manure, if such operations were delayed by the weather last month. Make up ior lost time now, but do not force a season in any respect. Plant broad beans for a full crop. Sow peas, radishes, and lettuces, on light rich soils. Sow cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli seed, for early spring plants. Onions may be sown for a full crop, weather and soil being very favorable. Sow carrots and parsnips. _ and transplant the potato or underground onion. In the fruit garden, renew the surface soil about fruit trees. Plant the tree at the same depth as it was before, and be careful that a correct allowance i 3 made for the subsidence of the soil. Autumn is the best season for planting fruit trees, as soon as the trees have ripened their wood and most of their leaves have fallen. The early planting of the trees admits of their becoming thoroughly established before the wet weather sets in ; therefore the earliest planted generally succeed best. Grafting must be prepared for, by obtaining scions, which may be thrust half way into the ground, and will keep for weeks, if necessary. The planting of iruit trees should be completed this month. Clear the strawberry beds of ruuners, and of every sort of useless stuff ; and, if it be wanted, lay some fresh earth among them ; then loose the ground among the plants, and mix the fresh earth with it. In the flower garden sow mignionette, sweet peas, lupines, sunflowers, hawkweed, and other hardy flower seeds. Plant fuschias, roses, dahlias, holyhocks, pinks, carnations, chrysantheums, &c. Sow tender eeeds on heat, and protect them from frost. Prune onehalf the roses in the garden, leaving the other half to be pruned a month or six weeks later. Graft roses on common stocks ; if well done, you will make plants of the pmnings of your choice varieties . Plants in pots should be kept pretty dry, and always have plenty of air in fine weather. Frost comes when least expected, and if you have not provided for it, much damage may be done. In the green house, remove to large flower pots all plants requiring additional room. Be careful that the soil is not clammy, and that it is free from duDg. The earth should be rich and mellow, and broken pottery shonld be in the bottom of the pot. You do not want to grow the plant too fast. It is no credit to you ; becanse anjbody can do it, and it spoils the plant. Alter potting, re-arrange the plants in the greenhouse, shading slightly from ths brightness of the mid-day sun, and sprinkling freely with slightly diluted water every morning and evening for one week, throughout the whole of which abstain from giving any water at the roots.

Sheep Dogs.— Mr J. A. M'Kersie calls attention to the fact, through the columns of the " Australasian," that with all that is said upon the breeding of sheep, cattle, and horses, ■we hear nothing about an animal which merits the attention of all who own and all who have to do with the lordly flocks of Australia — namely, the sheep-dog. He says :—": — " It must be admitted that the sheep-dog, as he exists at present in Victoria, is neither so useful as he should be, nor so useful as he might be made by careful breeding and training. Anyone 'who has seen the better class of sheep dogs at work in the mountainous districts of Britain, cannot fail to perceive the wide difference in point of usefulness between the British and Victorian dog. The former ■will work widely or closely, at hand or miles distant ; stand at a moment's notice ; bring sheep to or send them from you, quickly or slowly, silently, or with voice at bidding ; and perform evolutions incredible to any who have never seen them performed. The Victorian dog has comparatively a scanty stock of acquirements. He performs few evolutions, and those very ill. His highest effort generally is to ' Ret away forrit.' Given a mob of sheep heading too far to the right, a shepherd behind them, and along with him a dog— how will the dog act in bringing them back to the proper ! course ? Generally thus :— The shephevd gives the invariable order, • Get away forrit.' Off flies the dog like an arrow from the bow, impetuous and uncontrollable — dashes right up the side of the flock, opens loudly as he goe8 > runs 8.0 closely that outsiders are cut off, and a fg* of the others overturned. After his energy has spent itself in a forward coarse, back he comes as he ■went, close, loud, and i urious. The head of the flock is violently ' slewed,' and again he has occasion to 'get away forrit ' on the left side. Now, this getting away forrit' is the chief movement which the average Victorian dog will perform with any degree of certainty. Even • the best dog in the colony ' — and you can find him in any township or on any station — will seldom do more than that, and that only in the mode

above mentioned. But if this view of the Victorian sheep-dog be nearly correct, he must be deficient either in natural capacity or in training, or in both. Why, then, is he deficient in natural capacity ? Because, to speak correctly, he is not a sheep dog at all, but a mongrei merely — only a substitute for a sheep dog. He has no innate liking for sheep more than for goats, cattle, or horses. The pure sheep-dog has, by nature, a strong preference for sheep. The natural impulse of the one is to run violently at them ; that of the other to run widely and craftily around them, to prevent them from getting away. The one has a lingering inclination to kill ; the o<her a vigilant determination to keep. The Victorian dog is not to be trusted out of sight in the vicinity of sheep. He is still a semisavage. It would take in-breeding, with careful selection for ages, to eliminate from his nature the propensities of ancestral curs, and to impart to it that strong natural preference for sheep, and kindly care for them, which are so remarkable in the pure dog." Mr M'Kersie concludes that, taking into account the mixed breed, the bad training, and the prevailing indifference as to both, we can well cease to wonder that the Victorian sheep-dog is stilf in his dark ages, his highest achievement being to "get away forrit."