NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2057, 27 July 1893, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Among the latest Ministerial bantlings is a bill by the Minister for Lands, the More eight of which" is enough to Grandmotherly make farmers' hair stand upon legislation, end. It is entitled "An Act to prevent the spread of noxious weeds and to enforce the trimming of hedges," and this extraordinary act, if it ever becomes an act— which heaven forbid— it will be the duty of all local bodies to; administer. Though the provisions of- the bill have already been published in the Witness, the matter is of such importance to farmers that I need not apologise for recapitulating them. The inevitable inspector takes a prominent place in this precious bill, and he is to be empowered to ester upon private Jands and report as to the prevalence of noxious weeds. During the month of November in each year he is to furnish the local body with a return of all infested land in his district, and the farmer is to clear hißland of weeds within acertaintimeorbe liable to a penalty of not more than £100. There are no less than 25 weeds and other pests specified as being unlawful, and among these are sorrel, dook, caper weed, ox-eye .daisy, Yorkshise fog, hogweed, and ergot, The inclusion of ergot in the category, of " weeds '' is intensely amusing. Surely Mr , JSf'Kenzie knows what ergot is, though to judge from -the place it occupies in his bill one can only conclude that he is under the impression that it is a plant which can be rooted out and' eradicated like thistles and wild turnip. Yorkshire fog, too, is classed as a porous weed. Tiie;e is mtmya paddqpk wfcioh. ■*> . . 1* - <

at this time of the year would not contain a bite of grass if it were not for the summer growth of fog, which the cattle would not eat when other feed was to be had, but which is very acceptable now when the better grasses are absent. Cape weed can scarcely be termed a very noxious weed, as it can be got rid of by ploughing, and whenever it appears it is generally a sign that the pasture ib worn out and requires renewing. As for sorrel, it is like the little birds and the rabbits : we shall always have it with us, and in certain classes of land it never can and never will be eradicated. If the bill had been aimed at the Bathurst buir and the famous Calif ornian thistle alone there would have been sense and reason in it, but as it now stands it is the most absurd production that has ever issued from the practically useless Agricultural department. Besides treating of the destruction of weeds and parasites the bill provides also for the compulsory trimming of hedges and the grubbing of gorse, broom, and briars. The only sensible clause in the whole bill is the one which runß as follows :— " Every person who knowingly removes from any land or knowingly sees or causes to be sold any hay, straw, chaff, grain, grass, or other seeds, or knowingly sows any seeds containing thistles or other noxious weeds' seeds shall be liable to a penalty." The clause also which compels the owner or person in charge of a threshing mill to dean out the same before removing to another farm may be of some practical use if, it can be enforced, which, however, is very questionable. It is fortunately a matter of certainty that the bill will nevez become law in its present form, buHta introduction is anpther cadence of the

incompetencyof the Agricultural department to deal with agricultural questions in a practical manner. Far better for Ministers to let the farmers alone and not make themselves, a laughing stock by introducing 'such measures as the Noxious Weeds Bill and the Codlin Moth Act. The Department of Agriculture has decided that the 4th prox. shall be Arbor observed as a public holiday, in Day. all public offices for the planting of trees and shrubs in suitable places, and all the inhabitantss..of, country districts are requested to forward the movement in every possible' way and endeavour to plant trees, flowers, and shrubs about their homes as well as in public reserves and recreation grounds. The idea is undoubtedly a good one, and should be followed wherever possible, _, for it is impossible to "devote too much attention to such a laudable object ; but I think that the fact is overlooked that a certain day in a certain month is not suitable for every district in the colony. In many high districts of the interior August 4 is muoh too early for tree planting; in fact the ground is oftentimes bound up by frost until the middle of that month, and I consider.the date fixed is at least a month too early for such districts. Moreover, the tree jrianting is very likely to b*e performed in a perfunctory and superficiaimanner, and thus become a mere sham and excuse for a general* holiday and for the indulgence in skylarking. The mere sticking in of a tree is not at all likely to prove of much benefit to anybody. The right kind of tree mußt be chosen ; then it must be properly planted ; and lastly, it is most important of all that the tiees should be securely fenced, or it is not of much use to plant them. Many farmers plant trees, but, do not take much trouble about fencing them 'off from the stock, and consequently the trees never have any chance of succeeding. ' The development of the natural resources of the ' country offer a field of ' f rnitf ul Neglected interest, and 'many a neglected Ees'ourccs.. product that now lies unheeded will one day be turnedtb profitable account. "I 'have on a previous occasion referred to the possibilities of the New Zealand flax, and there is another "native product I " should like to call attention to that may .be found a valuable one. Australia .had been colonised for a long time before the value of the native wattle was found out, and it was only when oak bark, the tanning agent most-gene-rally used, began to give ont that' the wattle «was put in the. market to replace it. So great has been the demand for wattle bark that this valuable Australian tree is also becoming scarce, and therefore the wattle is being cultivated extensively for the sake of its bark, just as the cork oak is cultivated for its bark. The cultivation of the wattle in this country for its bark would prove profitable, as the trees can be cut down and stripped in from 10 to 15 years after planting. In the Otago Central region, where timber is scarce, the wattle would grow;well, and when stripped of its bark the tree would be of great value for firewood, if nothing else. But it is not solnuch of the wattle that I have to speak *as of a native tree which I think might bo found no mean rival of the Australian^ wattle. 1 refer to the karmahi, or kamai as ifis generally called. This tree is known to botanists as , Wienmannia, and is often called by bushmen "bastard birch." There are two varieties of the tree, one found in the North, Island and northern portion of South Island, and the other peculiar to southern forests. In the great Tautuku forest, extending from the Clutha to the Mataura, -the kamai is one of the most abundant trees. It grows to a height of 30ft to 40ft, and often attains a diameter of 20in.to 30in. It is covered" with a tolerably thick bark, which contains a considerable amount of tannic acid and dye material that, I think, only requires to be .placed on the market to be extensively used.- The Maoris use the bark to dye flax, and produce a fast .black or darkbrown colour. They bruise the barkjand-boii it along with the flax to be-dyed, which js afterwards steeped in swamp Tnud, where the iron held in solution comes in contact with the tannin of the bark, and so fixes a nice black dye. In Nelson province some of the old colonists used the bark for tanning leather and got excellent results', so that the quality of the bark is not a matter of mere conjecture. Experiment is all that is wanted, I feel sure, to bring the kamai bark into Experiment general use, both at the tannery Wanted, and at the dyeworks. ' From a 'series of chemical experiments, made myself a few years ago on the barks of our forest trees, I proved the kamai to be orie>of the richest in tanning material. There are other trees— such as the rata and pokaka— richer, weight for weight of bark ; but the bark of the former is.too thin to possess any mercantile value, and the latter tree is too scarce. The solid advantage r of the 'kamai is that it is extremely abundant, so that a greater quantity t>f ,the bark could be used to get th§ same results. If someone living in the forest region where^the kamai grows in profusion had only sufficient enterprise to send a half ton or so of the bark - to a tannery, the value of the bark could be put to the test of practical experiment. .In the vicinity of the Catlins railway I understand the kamai abounds. If so, someone might take, the c hint and send a quantity, of the bark on trial to a Dunedin tannery. Even if double the' quantity of the bark had to be used to get as good results, it could easily enough be supplied at a less cost than wattle bark. There are thousands —if not millions— of tons of the bark in our New ,■ Zealand forests, and in the new settlement at Catlins where the forest is being cleared for' settlement the trees are cut down and burned out of the way. ■ This seems to be a great pity when the bark- is so valuable as I believe it to be. I made an attempt onee 1 to bring the matter under the notice of the Government, but the curt red-tape reply gave no encouragement in that direction. •The matter is, how- ■> ever, one for private enterprise, and I hope to see someone take it up before the valuable forests in which the kamai is most plentiful are completely destroyed. ■ I cannot understand why such out-of-date customs are stilladheredtoin many Threshing districts,, Beeing that they prove Customs, so unsatisfactory, in* many instances. Threshing, .for example, seems to be conducted upon a system whioh is constantly causing motion and unpleasantness between the farmer,- the millowner, and the j*ill hands. 'A very much better plan is followed in northern districts and in Canterbury, and I do not see why it should not be the same with' us. There is no necessity for the farmer to be bothered at all with disputes about the rate of wages paid to the mill hands. The better plan I refer to is as follows : The mijlowner contracts with the farmer tp,, thresh his grain at a 1 certain price per bushel and find everything required to perform the contract. The farmer haß nothing to do but supply the bags and see that th'e~grain is covered each night. If he wishes to have the straw stacked he must put on a man to do it, but, with' the paying or provisioning of the men*! he has nothing whatever to do/ 1 UntU recently ft WM

the custom for the farmer to provide a team to cart water, and also a, man to stack the sacks of grain ; bat of late years that has in most cases been done away with, and the farmer has now nothiDg to do but see. that the grain is threshed to his satisfaction. In olden times the shifting of the mill was a formidable undertaking fora small farmer, with only one team, bat the general use of traction engines has done) away with that difficulty. Now that there is plenty of competition among threshing mill . proprietors, farmers need not put themselves about more than is absolutely necessary, for if one mill will not take, the threshing upon reasonable terms another, can be found to do so. It is, I think, far more satisfactory for the farmer to pay a price per bushel for threshing which will cover all expenses incurred by the millowner than to pay for the use of the mill , plant and have to provide men to work it, and also be mixed up with the commissariat department. I once heard "an Irishman facetiously remark * that they were making everyCounterfeiting thing by steam nowadays excepb Nature. chickens and honey. Well, as to the former, they have come very near it, as imitation or artificial eggs are made so like the natural product that detection is not easy, and as for the latter there is nothing easier than to make what might pass for good honey. Butter is imitated so success* fully that stringent laws have had to be passed to insure the public against purchasing the abominable mixture known as' margarine instead of real butter. But it might have been thought 'that artificial eggs would present ingnperable difficulties, yet it appears » Parisian chemist has suo'oeeded in making so good a counterfeit egg that the barndoor fowl may well go out on strike in disgust, It is olaimed for these eggs that they have been served in clubs boiled, ttiedj and poached, and the general verdict is that it would be impossible for anyone to tell them from the real ones. When broken they look exactly like ordinary eggs, and the contents flop into a glass or cup, and the white and yolk* separate just as in any other egg. The shell, made in two sections and artfully gummed together, is a perfect imitation of the hen egg, and is stained to a variety of shades and made into various sizes and shapes. The basis of the artificial egg is cornmeal. The white consists of pure albumen, and the yolk is a more .'complicated mixture of albumen and other material. And the best of it is that these eggs can be njade at about 3d a dozen. For pastry the whites and yolks are put up separately in jars, and' the eggs will keep for an indefinite period. At least all this is olaimed for them by the inventor; but of course the claims of the manufacturer of artiBcial eggs must be taken with a grain of ealt. Every housewife who has among her other possessions a hen run would How to Keep appreciate any method whereby Eggs. eggs could be kept fresh for a time when prices are low. One of the simplest plans is to fit up a large box with shelves, leaving front and back open. The shelves reqnire to be perforated with holes large enough to stand the <eggs in small end down. The open box then should be kept in a cool place where the aircan play all around the eggs. Keeping the e#gs c°°\ ia an Jroprorwit part of the matter, but standing them small end down is still more important. As long as the vital germ in the eggs retains ite vitality ibe egg will keep fresh,' and by maintaining the upright position the duration of its vitality is prolonged. Eggs that have been handled with care and kept as described will keep fresh for many weeks, and caribe placed on the market •when the best prices rule. v Agbicola.