Agricultural and Pastoral.

Otago Witness, Issue 747, 24 March 1866, Page 4

Agricultural and Pastoral.

Laying down Land to Grass.— With the object of improving grass land, the Royal Agricultural Society in 1857, offered a prize for the best Essay on the subject. Mr. J. Dixon got the prize for his essay

on " Manuring Grass Lands;" the Rev.

W. R. Bowditch also sent in an sssay " On the Manuring of G- r ass Lands,-" a third was contributed by Mr. H. S. Thompson. The two first articles are on manuring, and have distinct kinds of value ; but that of Mr. Thompson deals less with manuring than management, and is siid to be the production of a man of large experience and ability. He describes his experience on thirty acres adjacent to the river Oase, on which he operated for permanent grass during twelve years. The land fifty years previously had the repute of being good feeding pasture, but the owner (the writer's grandfather) was tempted to plough it out by the excessively high price of corn, and the first three crops he had upon it averaged 10 quarters of oats each (worth L 3 per quarter) and realised more than the fee simple of the land. But when the war prices had passed away, the land still remained under the plough, and as it was loam of tolerably good quality, and very favorably situated for pasture, the writer resolved to try his hand at it, and spare no reasonable expense in bringing it back to its original state of good feeding pasture. The authoT shall give the result in his own ■words :--" This was a singularly well marked case, in which there could scarcely be any mistake. The land was of more than average quality; the seeds came uo well, and during the first season were strikingly luxurient, whilst the subsequent treatment "was such as to supply the land with an unusually large amount of fertilising matter of the richest kind ; nothing, in short, vas wanting but success ! Yet the failure ■was so marked, that the most care'ess farmer could scarcely have avoided pondering over it and trying to discover a solution of the riddle. I was slow, indeed, to give up my perfect confidence in the fertilizing tread of the sheep; but after the failure of repeated endeavours to find any other sufficient cause, I was reluctantly brought to the conviction that amongst young grasses the gnawing tooth was more than a match for the golden foot. Nothing, in fact, but the repeated cropping could explain the gradual but steady dwindling of the clovers and finest grasses, notwithstanding the uniform consumption over the land of such an amount of linseed cake as would, if applied in the usual mode to any ordinary grass land, have produced a luxurient development of all the best fodder plants. Following up this idea, 1 became sati-fied that to graze sheep on young seeds intended for permanent pasture was a mistake, and ( that in all probability it had been the cause of several previous failures I had experienced. Up to that time I bad never succeeded to my own sr.tisf action in laying down land to grass; but since making a rule rigidly to exclude sheep for some years from newly laid grass during the season of active growth, I have never had a failure, though I have twice had occasion, for local reasons, to lay down fields of which the soil was strong clay. The method which I have found to answer best has been to sow a liberal allowance of the hay seeds of the district, with a sprinkling of cow grass and ■white clover ; to sow them with a crop of wheat (one of the short- strawed varieties); to mow the first year, and as soon as the hay is removed, to give a good dressing ol farm-yard manure, and then for some years pasture it with cattle, beginning for the first year or two with young stock, until the turf is close and strong enough to bear the treading of heavy cattle. If farmyard manure is not to be bad, 3 cwt of best Peruvian guano per acre will prove a tolerable substitute, though by no means equal to the former. For some years a newlylaid pasture will, unless the land be of very superior quality, require assistance from time to time to keep it in an improving: state ; an occasional dressing of farm- yard manure is, of course, the best."

Arms Blight.— Mr. Wm. Powditch communicates the following information to the Auckland Neivs : — "About 1823, a Mr. Shepherd, proprietor of a nursery at Black Wattle Swamp, Darling harbour, Sydney, published four lectures, principally "on the culture of the vine in New South Wales. In these he mentioned that, having planted an apple plantation, it was attacked by this blight. Fortunately, being furnished with the report of the Bengal Horticultural Society, wherein wa9 detailed the practice they had introduced, and its success by grafting on the loquat (Japan quince), he immediately rooted out his whole plantation and renewed on the loquat slock, since when no blight had taken hold. It is now the common practice of New South Wales, from whence I have now two plants — the HereforQ pearmain. and silver russet— in good health. I lost an entire acre of apple orchard by the blight some few years back. I had kept the blight very much down for about four years, but every temporary absence or other accidental neglect always produced an increase of the blight, from

which rooting-out became necessary. The creosote of the tar alwaj'B killed insect and egg, but did not prevent the return— even 1 the same year and the same spot. This : last two years I have preferred the use of American turpentine, which I have found • much more cleanly and effective on two r trees still remaining in my flower-garden : • well coated it de ? troys both egg and insect, [ and being a vegetable gum, lasts the whole 1 year without any check to the sap. I have : found it also very effectual in preventing [ bleeding of amputated branches of stone fruit 11 , by the addition of a saturated strip ' of calico. Mr. Wren, in charge of Mr. 1 W. S. Graham's garden at Remuera, has : been to Sydne}', and satisfied himself of the Sydney practice, and is novv operating on loquat stocks." Shoeing Horses. — To preserve (he foot in a sound state, the shoes should be removed every mouth. When the shoa is carefully taken off, the sole surface on which it has rested should be rasped to remove any ragged edges, and any portions of adherirg naite. Having for a month been protected from the wear to which the exposed portions of the foot are subjected, it will probably have grown considerably, and in a stout hoof will require to be cut down with the drawing knife, especially towards the toe. Except in very strong feet, and in farm horses wjrking on soft land, the surface of the sole uncovered by the shoe seldom require? to be cut. It is the natural protection of the internal delicate parts, and mu3t certainly be preferable to the leather and pads ofteo artificially substituted for it. The bars must likewise remain untouched, for they are of great service in supporting weight; whilst the tough elastic frog must be scrupulously preserved from the destructive attacks of the knife, and allowed uninjured to fulfil its functions as an insecsible pad, obviating concussion and supporting weight. When the shoe is put on and the nails well driven home, they should be broken off about an eighth or even the sixteenth of an inch from the crust, and hammered well down into it. This obvionsly gives the shoe a much firmer hold than the usual practice I j of twisting ofl (he projecting nail close to , the crust, and afterwards rasping down any ] 1 asperities that still remain. When the shoe \ is firmly clinched, the rasp may be very 1 lightly run round the lower margin of the i crust, just where it meets the shoe, to t smooth down any irregularities; but all ( further use of the rasp must be interdicted ' The clinchfd nails if touched will only have their firm hold weakened; nor must 1 the upper portions of the crust, which blacksmiths are so fond of turning out j rasped and whitened, be thus senselessly t deprived of these external unctuous sstru- t tures, which render the unrasped foot so t tough and sound, and so free from sand- t cracks. To prevent the hoof from becoming too dry and hard, it is advisable, l especially in roadsters, and in hot weather, f to stop the feet several times a week with c a mixture of equal weights of lard, tar, bees' wax, and honey, with about one- t fourth part of glycerine, melted together ; f well stirred, and preserved in pots for use. c