AGRICULTURE IN OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 852, 28 March 1868, Page 14

AGRICULTURE IN OTAGO.

A proper rotation in cropping is an indispensable requisite to success in farming, equally demanded by the soil and the crop. Different crops require different nourishment; and although the soil may at first possess all the ingredients necessary for their production, ■ continued cropping of one sort, extracts the producing principle, and leaves the land in an exhausted condition, which it will take very many years to recover. Liberal manuring will for a time keep up the supply, but even that will fail, and a sickness be produced which rest alone can cure. Many fine patches of country in our Province may be seen in this condition, resulting from a too frequent production of grain crops. A similar state of affairs has occurred in America, the largest corn-growing country in the world. There, as here, agriculture is roughly conducted, and far behind its position in Britain. It is not to be expected that the neat well kept farms which are the rule at Home, should to the same extent, or on the same scale, be found I with us. Efforts towards the end should be made, however, and their profitable results will commend them to general adoption.

The principle of exhaustion, which has been followed here, is telling its tale : How many fine fields are to be seen covered with dense crops of sorrel, dandelions, and other noxious weeds ;• and when these do not prevail to so great an extent, the sparsely growing grasses bear evidence to the same effect. Crops of wheat and oats followed each other as regularly as the season returned, and little or no rotation has been observed. Here and there a root crop, generally potatoes, maybe observed, but usually

on a very limited scale. Fertilizers have been very little used., JEhe bonea of the country have been cast aside as of no •atsc6ttitt7'%M^gtfaH»*aM otlfer portable 1 manures little heard of. Themrery straw* prpdm:ed had been destroyed— -perhaps not burned now to the same extent in proximity to the town as formerly, but if not, exported in. the shape of chaff to other places,, and nothing returned |d the soil,' in its stead. This, course- as fiie penny-wise, and pound-foolish one ; for' however profitable it may.be at the time, the •ultimate result will be ruin. ,

. Root crops ,are. not grown by the farmer because of there I eing .a direct source of profit to, him. The reverse is generally the caso". ..Excepting potatoes, very few such crops , would, pay to grow for .driving to market. It .is.;seldom a sufficient demand exists for- turnips, mangold, carrot, &c, to offer inducement for their growth on a large scale, and the prices usually realised are not remunerative. .Their value .and, importance must be estimated from their indirect results. , A properly managed green crop entails a far ; greater amount of labor than a crop of any of the cereals. But this .additional labor is compensated for by the good done to the soil. The field, that during the previous season, produced oats or wheat, is obtaining rest while under gr^en crop ; because the principle ' which the* one extracts from the soil is quite different from that taken by the other, and is being replenished. Again, the turning over, and stirring, which must be given, is of the utmost importance, as it exposes the soil to the action of the atmosphere and the light, rendering it free and loose f orthe spreading of the roots of other plants. Land cannot be too often stirred or made too loose. II is a mistake to suppose that the soil can be too highly pulverised. In this state it is more capable of absorbing the moisture from the atmosphere, and the dews, than when it is hard and compressed. The old idea, that the roots suffered more from the stm's raya and drying winds, -when the soil is free, is abandoned, and the end now sought to be obtained, is to keep it as open as possible. Rolling the ground is only of advantage in breaking the clods, and not in benefiting the seed sown. In the process of green cropping the weed roots which may be in the land are disturbed, and theirgrowth .prevented by being carted off and made into compost, and the leaves of the root crops are mostly of a highly fertilising character. The produce is also turned to profitable account, whether fed off by sheep or in enabling the farmer to stall j feed his stock, and so yield him their profit, as well as convert his straw (otherwise of little value) into invaluable manure. It is indirectly, therefore, the agriculturist must look for gain in turning his attention to green crops ; and it is proved, beyond the slightest doubt, that their value is as great as the best grain crop he can produce.

The principle of the rotation, whether it be a five or a seven year, can be adopted according to the judgment of the farmer, or to suit his convenience. No absolute or universal rule can be laid down ; circumstances alter cases ; and of these each must consider and act as it best suits him. If some system of rotation were adopted, the farming .community would not be so much subjected to periods of depression arising from low prices and little demand as they are now, inasmuch as they would have a larger number of sources from which to realise profits. At present almost the whole of them depend on grain ; whereas, if their attention was turned to green crops and feeding off, they would have an extended basis on which to act, and the present cry of dear meat would soon cease to be heard.

How to But Meat. — Dr Letheby gives the following description of good and bad meats, with whica his duties as sanitary officer in the city of London have required him to be very familiar : — Good meat is naither of a p tie pinkish nor a deep purple tint. It has a marbled appearance, trom a ramification of light veins of in ercelluUr- fat ; and the fat of the internal organs especially is firm, hard and suety, and is never wet, whereas that of diseased meat is soft and watery. The feel of healthy meat is somewhat elastic, and hardly moistens the riuger. Diseased meat is soft and wet. Good meat has but little odor, and this is not disagreeable ; whereas diseased meat smells faint and cadaverous. Good meat bears cooking without much, shrinking or losing much of its weight ; but bad meat ah'-ivels up and boils to pieces ; this is due to the larger proportion. of watery and gelatinous material, and the absence of fat and true muscular sut>stanc<--in the meat: Under the microscope the fiber should be clear ani well defined, and free from infusorial animalculse ; while that of diseased meat is sodden and tumid, as if it had been soaked in water, the transverse streaks are indistinct and wide apart, and animalcule abound in it.

At Ryde, on Christmas eve, a lady with, a child went down to the pier to catch the steamboat. In the darkness she fell over into the water. The crew of the steam- r rescued the lady, but the child was drowned.