FACTS FOB FARMERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1273, 22 April 1876, Page 18

FACTS FOB FARMERS.

No matter how particular the milkmaid may be, a few drops of decaying milk will send a sourish j-mell through the best kept dairy. Whenever this is perceived remember that a pan of dry charcoal will drink in every mite of it. Apple growers in France have learned by years of trial that the best top dressing for apple orchards is rotten fruit or apple pumace from cider mills. The latter should pass fermentation or be composted with quicklime before it is spread.

In the State of Maine they have a law providing that to every bag or barrel of commercial manure sold there shall be attached a card or label giving the maker's name, his place of business, and the percentage which it contains of insoluble phosphoric acid, of soluble phosphoric acid, and of ammonia. Any dealer may be punished by fine and sued for damages if the stuff he sells shall not come up to the requirements on the label.

For vermin on cattle or sheep they use sulphur in England, and always with good results. For a horse or cow give about a tablespoonful of sulphur in any feed twice a week for three or four weeks. To sheep give a tablespoonful of sulphur twice a week for three or four weeks, and at shearing time there will be no trouble with sheep ticks. In market gardening one man on one acre with plenty of manure, can niako money if he 10 a money-making man, It ia not possible to give a receipt foy getting rjch,

or making a happy home, or picking out a farm, or choosing a wife that will apply to all alike, except that in all these groat acts in life the successful man is guided by vigorous common sense, he does the right thing at the right time, he sees the main point, and moves straight for it ; he ponders well, decides, then acts with vigour, and depends upon himself.

In one of the German States there are seventy-four beehives on an average on every square mile. This is more than a hive for every ten acres. Suppose we had a hive to every ten acres in Australia, how much honey and beeswax could we export 1 We believe the production of beeswax to be one of the most profitable rural industries that could possibly be entered upon.

The farmer must practice one of three methods to keep vegetable mould in his fields ; use a great deal of straw and other vegetable refuse in his stock-yards, haul many loads of swamp muck, or plough in clover once in three or four years. The last way is the cheapest. There are ihose who employ all three of these methods, and it is noticeable that their farms are not for sale.