GLEANINGS.

Otago Witness, Volume 15, Issue 1562, 15 October 1881, Page 8

GLEANINGS.

It is said that 53,000,000 forest trees were planted in Nebraska last year. It is said that carps have been known to become 150 years old. The evidence is not cited.

Eight principal manufacturers in Italy turn out 6,000,000 cigars per day, moßtly from tobacco of American growth. Rinderpest is in continual existence among the numerous herds of cattle reared on the vast steppes ef Southern Russia. In the District of Nakosch Puszto, Austria, Bevere hailstorms destroyed the whole of the crops, and a large number of cattle were blown into the river, whence but few escaped. Mr L. N. Bonha»ja, Oxford, Ohio, saya he bags about one half of his grapes, and keeps them hanging on the vines till the clusters not thus protected are all gone. This practice not only prolongs the season, and insures against fungus and insects, but improves the quality of the fruit;.

The Preston corresp->sHefjt of the Daily Tele graph states thut a great i lugue of insects, un'-quallwl in Lancasbiro f>r inwiy years, is visiting the agricultural districts in the neighbourhood (if Clithtroa. The insects came in denne cloii'ls.

Water glass, soluble eilicate of soda, has been used by the German* for keeping eg^s. This is a clear liquid, rf the consistence of syrup, and, when smeared over the shell, soon drys into a thin, hard, gl >ssy coaling, entirely impermeable to the air.

One of Professor George H. Cook's recent bulletins from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station "shows very plainly the greater worth of the bone that is ground fine, and the loss which comes from sending it into market imperfectly ground." Mr A. K. Parsons, of the Connecticut Farmer, preaches a s-'vsre but just sermon to those 3hiftle?B dairymen »Dd women who "never made a pound of decant butter and never will," and who ought t> be dr '.yen out of thebusinese. '■ Oleomargarine and kindred abominations '' are having some influence in that direction. A correspondent of Laud and Water commeats on the remarkable attachment of geese to thosß who feed or care for them, and menlions the case of a miller whose flock repeatedly followed him a mil* to the village, and finally accompanied him to church— ft somewhat inconvenient demonstration of affection that had to he put a stop to. One would suppose that natural forest in a praitie country would be valuable property. On the contrary, an lowan says that the poorest investment he ever made is a tract of 600 ncrea of timber land on the Missouri. He can grow wood where wanted cheaper than he can haul ifc from hiti timbar tract.

Eggs are to be packed with the email end downward, hecause in that position the yoke is suspended exactly in the cantre of_ the egg, and does not touch the shell. When it touches the shell and air reaches it, decay instantly begins. One stale ur broken egg will spoil a whole barrelful. Th<> packing should be so placed between the eggs that no two shells come into contact.

At the Derby show ground of the Royal Agricultural S C'ety of England a plot of ground was gown by the Messrs Carter, of High Holbora, London, with grass seeds on June 2, and, in seventeen days from that date it pre sented a perfect sward of grass— certainly the most marvellous growth of grass on record. The latest addition to agricultural implements in England is the "steam digger," which is a combination of the plough and the spade. In the short s^ace of an hour, and at a working cost of five shillings, it will turn over an acre of ground, and that, too, in such a way as to produce superior cultivation. The invnotor claims that it will do aa much work as 170 men in a day. Of the 321 varieties of the apple catalogued in the American Pomological Society's latest report, Bed Astracban is found to have the widest adaptation, being starred in no less than thirty-seven States as recommended for cultivation, and in twenty six of these it is doublestarred, to show its superiority. Ranking next in order of general favour over a wide extent of country are Early Harvest and Maiden's Blush, these being voted for in thirty-five and thirty-two States respectively. In the future, forest cultivation is to be an established industry in this country, and one of the most profitable. Heretofore few could be found to wait more than a few months for a crop. Now there are farmers willing to wait ten years for a fair promise of greater net profit — twenty, if necessary— but forest culture begins to make returns in less than tke first-mentioned :^d -New York Tribune

pe*. . At a Inncheon preceding the Siddint?ton Bale of shorthorn cattle in England, Lord Fitzhardinge, who presided, alluding to his purchase a few years asro of a shorthorn bull for 4500 guineas (22,500 dollars), said people thought he was a fool f< r doing so, but he was happy to add that up to last year in sales and services the animal had earned him 7000 guineas (55,000 dollar.-), besides getting him stock which the exhibits from Berkley Cattle farm (his residence) showed had never been beaten. Farmers who have never tried tree planting fail to realise the rapidity of cultivated forest growth. Judge Whiting, of Whiting, lowa, has fifty acres ia trees of his own planting, none more than fifteen yearn' growth, including a belt of black walnuts 840 rods in leDgth, averaging sixteen rows of trees, and numbering 57,000. They are only eight or nine years old, and the largest are four or five inches in diameter, "In two yearß more," the Judge says, "I shall not have to go to Uhicago for my fence posts." A company for the production of Victorian preserved milk has been successfully formed, Messrs Joseph Boßisto, Oosmo Newbttry, G. E. Blackett, and other leading chemists, tested the samples, declaring them to be equal to the best imported brands. It was stated that the article could be produced at a very cheap rate, much below the imported article, and that the whole of the Australian colonies could readily take up the industry, Oliver Di Sevres, a Frpnch writer, in a work on underdraining in 1600, says :— " Should stone for replenishing ditches, fail onthe spot, do not have them brought from a distance at a great expense, but instead use straw. The rye straw, on account of its streugth, can be used, and this failing, replace it with wheat straw. The straw should be arranged into bundles, one foot thick and two and ahalf feet long, tip d up even at three equi-distant places. Straw thus employed will last a long time, for it is admitted that being within the earth and without the tfft-cts of air, straw remains sound over 100 years." The United States census returns of the quantity of wheat and corn produced in 1880 are now completed, and show a wonderful increase in the product of these leading cereals as compared with former years. la 1870 the total product of wheat in the leading grain States was 199,249 562 bushels, and in 1880 it was 372,647,500 busbele. Corn shows a much greater increase in these States, the yield in 1880 being 1,303,188 529 bushels, while in 1870 it was 441,630,624 bushels, or only about onethird the product of 1880. The wheat and oorn in the entire country produced la 1870 aggregated 1,048,690,175 bushels, and in 1880 tho product incroMed to 2,332,697,081 bueUfilfl,