Agqiqultuqal and Pastoral.

Otago Witness, Issue 752, 28 April 1866, Page 4

Agqiqultuqal and Pastoral.

Baklby fob Malting. — Now that a number of brewers are established Jn this Province, there is, or ought to be, a good market for barley, and it is time that our farmers turned attention to this grain, with a view of obtaining a good variety for malting purposes. Barley is a grain which has a wider range -of cultivation than any of the other cerials. It, thrives in nearly every climate in the world, and there is no reason why the farmers ot Ot3go should sot produce a grain which will maltae well as that grown in Great Britain. What they require is seed possessing all the qualities suitable for distilling purposes; great care in preserving it from mixture ■with other varieties, and a little more care in the cultivation than is usually given to the common barley. Twenty-five distinct varieties, enumerated by Lawson, are said to be cultivated in Great Bri'ain. The«e different varieties are preferred in different districts, owing to their real or supposed suitability to the soil, the climate, or the markets of the districts in which they are grown. The Annat is a greater favorite in some districts, especially in the north, than even the Chevalier. The sample is alway* clear and good. The Chevalier is the favorite variety in those districts where barley is cultivated for malting purposes The ear is long, from fourteen to eighteen grains on a side; the grain ia of a pale golden color, plump, and round at the end; skin fine, mellow, and less wrinkled than in most other varieties ; packs close, and weighs heavy in the bushel. The straw is Btout, and stands up well, rendering it suitable for rich soils, where its yield is generally very good. It is better suited for early thin for late soils. The common or early English, is the barley in ordinary cultivation. It is the variety best suited for general purposes. The Golden Drop is a good cropper, and the grain malts well, but the quality 13 not equal to the Chevalier. The Nottingham Longeared is greatly esteemed in some parts of the country, and works well in the malthouse. The Pomeranian or German, is a food sort for cold soils and late districts. t is hardy, early, and generally productive. The Norfolk Short- necked is a useful variety for certain conditions of cultivation. The grain of the Naked barley is euitable for malting purposes, but there is great loss in harvesting. The Bere or Bigg is represented by several varieties, whose cultivation, however, is confined to the northern and exposed districts of England and of Scotland. The Winter White is a coarse, productive variety, suitable for winter sowing ia late exposed districts, as it then comes to maturity a fortnight earlier than any sown in the Spring. On the Continent, this i 3 a great favorite, and is used largely for distilling and brewing purposes. The Victorian Bere is a valuable variety adapted to the Lowlands as well as the Highlands. There are other varieties, which it is unnecessary to mention. As it is of great importance that some of our farmers should endeavour to produce a grain which will fully satisfy the requirements of the brewers, we will continue the subject, giving at a future time, a description of soils suitable, advice as to selecting seed, tillage operations, &c.

Husbanding Resources. — Dr. Mueller gives the following excellent advice in the Directors' Report to the Melbourne Board of Agriculture :—": — " I would press the importance of husbanding resources, not merely because the failure of crops seem, in many instances, clearly traceable to poverty of the soil, but because the very means for the restoration of fertility are often absolutely wasted for want of ioreright, circumspectness, and exertion — vide the enormous loss continually sustained in the waste of the sewerage and solid egesta of centres of population. It suffices not to adopt rotations of crops, which only partially return to the soil the elements of mineral food, without which, cultivation will become finally extinct. It is equally useless to rely on the fallow for reinvigoration. Unless consumption of the food of plants drawn from a soil stands in a fixed relation to the means of restoration, absolute unproductiveness will only be deferred in the san c degree as the natural mineral food of such land may hold out. To restore land from sterility to fertility, when even finally its lower strata have been exhausted, will become as difficult as unprofitable. We shall at last have to look to imported restoratives, when pasto- j ral pursuits will but sparingly afford them, and finally, misery and famine, with all their terrors, can no longer be obviated The true maxim should be for agriculturalists to aim at a lull retention, or even augmentation, of the fertility of their land, and thus to afford not merely for the present, but also for futurity, the means of realising from each acre of ground the largest possible uninterrupted return of field fruit for the support of an ever increasing population."

Feeding Dairt Cows. — "The fullfeeding system," says a writer in a late English paper, "is better understood now, and much more generally acted upon than

it was formerly ; and, encouraged by the high prices obtained for its produce, dairy husbandry is extending itself, and penetrating into the most remote districts ol the kingdom. Even in the Highlands of Scotland, where sheep and black cattle were until lately the only stock considered suitable, the Ayrshire cow is fast displacing them, so much so indeed that a very serious diminution in the numbers of young black cattle at the Lowland lairs is beginning to be observable. At late fairs dealers have experienced the greatest diffi culty in making up their lots to take south, and have had to give euch prices as would scarcely have been dreamed of a few years ago. This is partly due to the extension of sheep walks and deer forests, but also in a great measure undoubtedly to the introduction of dairy stock, and consequent I displacement of the native breeds. The Scotch carry out the full-feeJing system probably to a greater extent than is done in either England or Ireland. Their favourite breed for purely dairy purposes j is the Ayrshire, and it is astonishing bow by constant care and attention the milking qualities of this breed has been developed. A small cow, scarcely larger than a Shorthorn yearling, and costing from LlO to L 32, will, by the excellent system of feeding carried out, yield produce in one season to the extent of twice her own value. Such a return is surely ample encouragement to all who are favourably situated for so doing, to carry out the fullfeeding system ; as, being the owner of a herd of well-fed cows, a man has not only, as the natural and unfailing results, rich land, an easy and contented mind, but a comfortable and ever-increasing balance at his banker's." j

Wab Losses or South Carolina. — Of 15,000,000 dollars in bank stock all is lost. Oi 5,000,000 dollar bills in circulation the market value is not more than 20 per cent. Of three insurance companies neither can continue business. Of 20,000,000 dollars in railways, no dividends can be expected Of 5000 houses in Charleston, 1500 hare been burnt, and others almost irreparably damaged. Of estates of descendants aad minors, and of property in litigation, four-fifths are represented by Confederate securities, and are therefore valueless. Of the many large and valuable estates in Beaufort district, and the adjacent is'ands, all have been abandoned, and many have been sold for taxes. Of the larpe cotton estates still further from the seaboard, many have been desolated. Of cotton on hand at the beginning aud raised during the war (amounting in value to at least 20,000,000 dollars) the larger portion has been taken or destroyed. Of the stock, horses, hogs, cattle, farming implements, utensils and furniture, and silver j ware, all but an inconsiderable amount have been consumed, destroyed, or taken. Of money in the hands of our citizens at the commencement of the war, or accruing from the sale of property, or the practice of professions, or the payment of debts, all has been invested in securities of which nine-tenths have no possible value. Of the debts uncollected few are expected to be paid. Of the funds of churches, colleges, charitable institutions and societies, all also, or nearly all, have been sunk. Of the lands of the State not held by the Government, little has marketable value. Into this frightful gulf of ruin has also been swept the value of 400,000 slaves, estimated a few years since at 200,000,000 dollars ; and thus, therefore, of the 400,000,000 dollars worth of property in this State in 1860, but little more than 50,000,000 dollars now remain. — Charleston Daily News.

Prairib Grass. — Wit'i regard to the different grasses named in a paper lately read before the Acclimatisation Society oi New South Wales, it is remarked that the Californian prairie grass is considered soft, and alone is insufficient to fatten cattle or to feed working beasts ; it is valuable for dairy farms, for the nursing of young and sick cattle, and as a resource when other feed is wanting ; but, to be generally available, the land on which it is grown should, while the grass is quite young, have a second sowing with cock's foot or some other hard gra«s, which will fill the interspaces and keep out weeds, and afterwards give sub-tance to the feed. Rye grass is apt to grow tufty ; it is perennial, but, unless watched and occasionally resown, will disappoint the sower, who will find after three or four years, very little grass in a pasture that may have been a perfect carpet of useful vegetation, and is now a bed of weeds.

A French dentist has hit upon a novel expedient for puffing his wares. He advertises that he has had the honour of supplying one of the most distinguished and lovely of the guests at the third serie at Compiegne with a complete ratelier of false teeth, and challenges the other visitors to detect it if they can. The result will prebably be that every lady who does not wear a ratelier on that occasion will profess an earnest desire to submit to an ordeal to which Gladiateur did not submit at Doncastcr.— " Pall-mall Gazette."