GLEANINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 7

GLEANINGS.

—New Zealand imported in 1880 six thousand nine hundred and forty-three packages of preserved milk, valued at ten thousand ono hundred and forty nine pounds. — The Napa Reporter says : L. F. Wilson, who died in Napa Monday, had been doctoring horses for pinkeye, and it is believed by some that ho became inoculated with the disease, which is said to be contagius. Portions of his body were found to be speckled with red spots, characteristic of the disease in horses.

— Pulverised alum will purify the most foul water, _ Take two heaping tablespoonfuls of it and sprinkle it into a hogshead of water, stirring it rapidly, and after the lapse of eight or ten hours all ' the impurities will have been precipitated to the bottom. The water will be pure and sweet. A teaspoouful will sweeten a pail of water.

— Foot-and-mouth desease is still spreading with alarming rapidity in Staffordshire, and now exists at 120 different places. From the returns furnished to the chief constable it appears that the total head affected are 677 cattle and 18 sheep ; 40 pigs are also suffering from swine fever. The number of animals which have been affected and are now reported cured are 215 cattle, 100 sheep, and 4 pigs.

— Harness should never be kept in stables which are not kept entirely free of manure. The a;nmonia thus produced is rapidly absorbed by the leather, and the result is said to be the same as if it was saturated with strong lye. It has the effect of rotting the leather and and harness thus exposed, and will consequently remain sound a comparatively brief time.

— "Duck mules" have come greatly into favour in England of late — that is a first cross between the Muscovy and the common duck. They are an exceedingly thrifty variety of duck, good for the table, mature early, and do not require access to water. The best cross is from a Muscovy drake ; but all the male birds should be fattened and killed — none but a pure male ought to be used. — AFrenchchemistclaims to have descovered a method of overcoming the danger threatening vineyards for the ravages of the phylloxera. His process is to inoculate the vines with the phenol poison. The phylloxera do not attack plants thus treated, and are extirpated for want of food. Tho vines are in no way injured by the inoculation process.

— Three pounds of Portland cement well stirred in thiee gallons of water makes a good paint for tho inside of an iron water tank. The iron must be cold and damped before applying the cement, which must be kept stirred all the time it is being applied, and three coats should be given. This, is also a cheap paint for wood and ironwork of all kinds.

—The agricultural returns of Great Britain for last year show an increase upon the previous year of twenty-nine thousand cows and milkheifers. A long row of figures is required to represent the probable quantity of milk annually produced in the United Kingdom ; it bas been estimated at sixteen hundred and twenty-eight million gallons. — How to Preserve Sacks. — The following is the plan adopted in Germany for making sacks and bags more strong and durable : — Take a proportion of 21b of wood ashes to twoand three-quarters gallons of boiling water ; let the mixture boil for an hour, and pour off the liquid, in which the sacks should soak for twenty-four hours. 3t is claimed that this process tans the vegetable fibers in the sacks, just as hides are tanned, and that sacks treated in this way will last twice as long as if not so treated. .

— It has been suggested that fout-and-mouth disease has boen spread iv some recent in stances by the means of p6rßons gathering mushrooms in the pastures wherein animals afFpcted with the disease have been depastured. This would appear to be very possible, and a not at all improbable means of conveying the contagion of foot-and-mouth disease.