EXPERIENCE AND INCIDENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1682, 16 February 1884, Page 7

EXPERIENCE AND INCIDENT.

(Condensed fro.n our Exchanges ) . — John H. Guill, the thrifty farmer of Little Chico Creek, brought to our office this forenoon a stool of the evergkeen millet, dug out roots and all. It is a curiosity indeed. The roots aro sprangled out in all directions, from a foot to two feet and a-half long, aud as large as your finger and joined every half inch, resembling huge tapeworms. They are said to be rich teed for hogs, and will be eaten eagerly by cows and horses wh«n the soil is washed off. This plant with its numerous roots is the growth of a single season. Mr Guill is enthusiastic over the plant as a hay producer, ana is now engaged in planting out a field of ten acres. He thinks it is the best thing for hay— -producing immense crops and growing perpetually from ono planting. — Chico Enterprise.

— We are harvesting a very light crop of applks. This is, of course, not without a cause ; but the. barrenness is not universal. A good many men have a few trees well loaded. 1 have some myself, and I observe that all of these productive trees stand in exceptionally good spots, made so by Nature or by man. There are also some whole orchards that are bearing good crops of apples. I know of two instances. One of these fortunate orchardists is the very' one whom I have lor some years regarded as the highest feeder in all this region ; and the other, without doubt, keeps his orchards in a far better stats of fertility than the average of good farmers. The prime cause of the short crop may have been the drought of 1882 ; and as it is well known that crops in general suffer less fiom drought on rich than on poor land, we need not hesitate to believe that fruit treed are subject to the same general laws, and that a remedy for drought in the orchard will be found in better fertilisation. — " C. G. A.," in Kural New Yorker. — " Old Peachy " in the Gilroy Advocate has always something sensible to say of FauiThaising :—": — " In England we used to wind a soft hay rope around each tree, and take it off once a month and burn it, and replace it with a fresh one. This and the night lamps saved our crops every year. It is not possible sufficiently to impress upon the mind of each ono who has an orchard the importance of using one or more of tho known methods for tho destruction of the codhu worm. So rapidly do they multiply, so destructive are their ravages, so sure are yome of them to escape — their very insignificance aud littleness shielding them — that it will be only by the uso of every means of destroying them that we. shall so succeed in keeping them in subjection as to secure a portion ot sound fruit, if the labour be too great, then cut down your orchards, and not leavu them to be breeding places for these pes>ts, from which to spread into the orchards of your neighbours who aro trying' to securs some fruit that shall be sound and fit for market."

— It is twelve years since Squire Davidson brought his first cow to Kirby Homestead to get a Jersey cross. He has followed in tho same line with all his otheis since, and as a result ho now lifts an entire dairy of thig blood. A3 fast as he raised heifois of Jersey blood ho disposed of the natives, because he found that the former mads more butter than tho latter. Last year, from the same number of cows, ho says, he made twice as much butter aa he used to from native stock. It i-s a common thing for the neighbours' graded Jerseys to make from ten to twolve pounds of butter a week, and some have exceeded those amounts.

—An enterprising farmer in Glenville has a novel way of iianorinu potatoes. He likes to grow them in a sand- field, as potatoes aro always smooth and clean in sandy soil. As it is not very fertile, he has experimented in various ways to find out the best method of making them grow well. Ho used to manuro them in tho hill, putting the potato on top oi the manure; another method was to spread the manure on the ground and plough it under. With both of these plans thero was danger of the dry weather drying up the manure and really injuring the crop by absorbing the moisture, which otherwise would have fed the plant. This is always the case in a dry time when manure is not well rotted. His present plan, and one whicli he thinks the best of all,' in to plant the potatoes without any manure, and when they aro well up out of the ground, put a couple of forkfuls of barnyard manure directly on top of the hill. This application insurers moistness by preventing evaporation, and the manure is also leached and worked downward by the rain, giving the potatoes a vigorous growth during the whole season. This is not all ; the manure on the top of the hill prevents the weeds from growing, and almost entirely saves one hoeing.

— It is much the better way to mix alsike with timothy, or the common red clover, or both. When thus mixed they are a help to cacli other. The alsike, being a native of a cold climate, does not winter-kill, and, besides, it acts as a mulch in winter and spring to common red, and keeps the latter from being destroyed by the heaving-out process. As the red clover shades the roots of the alsike, whicli grows close to the surface, it protects the latter from the effects of drought. The timothy and red clover being both upright growers, lift and keep up the alsike from tho ground, which is very desirable. The stom of the alsike is too fine to support its many branches in an upright position, and hence is more inclined to lodge than tho common red. For the reasons given the combination of the three named plants h „vory important, and will prove successful wherever tried. — Toronto Globe.

—Major Henry Emery, Lowell, Mass., has reclaimed swampland once constantly coverod with water, using 2p,oooft of under drain (stone, plank, and tile), so that teams now travel over any portion of it with perfect safety. Further particulars of the work and its results are given in the N. E. Farmer : — " In connection with, aud making a part of the drainage system, are numerous wells dug and stoned up, into which the water flows from variou'u directions before being taken away by a singly main drain.' Thesa serve 'the double purp'oyu of furnishing good drinking water Jj-pr men and teams at work, pn^i, enabling inspection o f the nVny an<\ concUtion, ot the drains at all timos, while jn whiter the open wells take off any surplus surface water that otherwise might bo retained and form an ice covering very damaging to the crops underneath. Sixty tons of hay now annually grow, where but two or thrco years ago water covered the ground the year through."

— Mr Martin Allen, as evidence of the possibility of clothing with fokest Growth the treeless plains of Western Kansas, gives an apcoutit; of his siiccQs^ 2J22. yiilg.s weat of the capital ot

the State, and 2000 ft above sea level, where the average rainfall has been scarcely 20 inches. Of nine kinds planted, using only sound, fresh younjy seedlings or cuttings, cottonwood made nearly an inch of diameter each year, wild cherry and . black walnut half an inch, and otheis jn proportion. To retain water, which they lose by its running off their soil so quickly, he advises the forming of dams wherever a road (section-line) crosses a depression, which would give ono to five reservoirs to every mile. His statements show that the direct profit from sales of wood would be handsome, to say nothing of the benefits to tho country and ihe people at largo of establishing leafy trees where hitherto the land has been swept by annual fires,

— A short time ago, and an expert would have undertaken, in absolute confidence, to determine the ages of cattle and sheep. But a gradual change has come in the time of development of those peculiar marks of animal age— the teeth. We mention a few of the difficulties that beset the expert animal anatomist aud physiologist. The marks of full development are that the teeth are complete, the animal fully grown, and all its physical qualities perfect. The ox tormerly perfected his teeth in from four to five years. This was under what was called "the natural system." But as long ago as 1846, M. liegnault, at a cattle fair in France, found a bull only two years old that had all iiis permanent teeth complete, and all the points of development and maturity in perfection. This surprised him, and, on reflection, he came to the conclusion that an improved system of feeding, which produced a change in one part of the system, produced also a change in all parts of the system correlated with it. The teeth are still indicators of age, but this modification in development must be taken into account. The expert of forty years ago in the age of cattle would hardly be the expert now, unless he had noted all the modifications since. We are glad to see that the managers have determined to bring the knowledge of experts to boar upon this most important matter connected with the great American Stock Show.— National LiVe Stock Journal.