NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The winter has made a. very good stait, for which most farmers throughSeasonable out the country will be thnnkWeather. ful. The past two summers

throughout Otago Central and northern districts generally have been too dry for Buccesiful farming operations. Mild, open winters have been aucceeded by dry, cold summers. As a matter of fact, last summer was colder ttfi times than the &Terane of the

winter that precedsd it. Along thft coast a region the spring was wet *nd cold, and although rain fell on *v average number of dajs, it was deficient in vjlume. Throughout the inland region there w*s not the usual amount of winter snow, and tb.9 summer was peculiarly a rainless one. All these circumstances combined towards reducing the farmers' profits to a minimum, and in a good many cases serious losses were experienced And agxin in the southern districts the season was too cold to permit; the crops to ripen in time to be I harvested in good condition. Ifc some cases, in fact, the crops hare net been harvested yet, and instead of a pro&t those unfortunate farmers have to sustain a heavy lots upon their year's" transactions. The better range of values ■will in a measure make sp for the lighter crops, but that is poor consolation to the farmer who has last Lis crops altogether, and that is what j has happened in not a few cases throughout ; Southland »nd Central Otago. The early start I o? winter must therefore ba all the more weli come, as it augurs w«ll for the succeeding .' summer. The good fall of snow that has already visited ali the back country right up to j C&nteibury will replenish the water supply and • give the soil the aoaking it failed to get last winter. No doubt the recent fall of snow will be followed by olher similar snowfalls throughout the winter, giving promise of a more seasonable summer next time. The seasons appear to pass through a cycle, which rccura at certain intervals, and it is to be hoped that .we are now entering upon a cycle of what might b9 termed seasonable seasons. Mild winters are a sham, a delusion, and a snare, so that we should always welcome a real stormy and cold winter as the right season at the right time. Of course if we have much snow on the high j country stock will suffer, and as feed is scarce i that would be calamitous ; but on the' other hand, s, real winter carries with it the promise of a good summer, which will bring in 'its train plenty for man and beast. Ia view of the possibility of a severe winter no time should be lost in getting the ploughing dene, for the land will then get all the beatfii of the winter's fro3t, which is the best of all pulverising agents.

A supplementary Gazette contains the usual annual statistics compiled by The the New Zealand Agricultural Agricultural department. Numeroui diviStatistics. sions aiid subdivisions of each branch necessitates a most elaborate classification entailing the employment of clerical work, and I question very much whether many farmers or stockbreeders take the trouble to examine any part of the returns except the summary for the different provincial districts, which is useful in making comparisons between different districts. Everybody knows that the Government estimate of the wheat yield was eauch too higb, and when the actual returns are available it will be seen that an average of 21 bushels is far and away too high. The department states that a few of the average actual yields in each county are being obtained as threshing goes on, and will be published "shortly; There were 345,800 acres in wheat last season, an increase of about 64,000 over that of the previous season. In oats there j was a decrease in area of about 12,000 wcres. | Barley seems to keep about; the same, only i 31,000 acres in the whole colony. Linseed j shows a continued decrease in area — there were j only 18 acres of this in the North Island and ! 981 acres in the Sou h Island. There was nearly double that area in linseed last year. There are 36,400 acres in potatoes, baiDg an inere*ss of about. 6ooo acres over last year. If • all reports- are true, . hp waver, about this crop, the total yield" this year will be much below that of ; the lasfc y«ar's~crop. - The turnip area shows a small decrease, but an increase is seen in r*pe and mangeltr. The shsep returns for 1897 give- an increase of about Lalf a million over the numbers in 1896 ; the returns for "98 will be taken this month, and will probably show that a steady increase has been maiataiaed, unless, indeed, the large number of old ewes that have left the country in tallow casks should appreciably affect the total returns. We have 253,000 horses, with aa annual increase ; 1,209,165 head of cattle and 186.000 swine, which is 24,000 less than last year's returns. I cannot understand why there should be such a large reduction in the number of pigs kept unless it is because of the high price of wheat. Dairy factories and dairying generally are on the .increase, and should cause an increase in pi^-keeping, but it does not appear to ba tbe ease. i There are upwards of 30 pages of detailed information, but the chief interest of the returns: is centred in tbe summary of provinces. Auckland had 7413 acres in wheat, Hawke's Bay 979, Taranaki 2585, Wellington 13,142, Marl borough 6000, Nelson 4245, Westland nil, Canterbury 201,000, Obago and Southland 80,445. These figureß are the area for wheat for threshing only, over 32,000 acres >eing deducted from the total area in allowing for wheat chaffed and fed down with stock.

The much-mooted question a3 to whether wide or narrow wheels are the beet Width of has been materially advanced Tyres. by the results o£ a number of

f experiments of a simple I character which have recently been conducted jia America. The object of the trials was to discover what width of tyre on waggon and dray wheels is moat conducive to easy draught and causes least wear and tear upon the roads. the tests were continued for 12 months, so that the matter could be thoroughly inquired into, and the tests applied to all possible conditions pf. roads in AlL*easo»s of tho year. The rei)ort

I have before me is not c. full one, but,, is sufficient to show that the definite result arrived at can be depended upon as being in i favour of wider tyres than we are accustomed to use upon our farms and roads. The net load carried — that is, not including weight of dray or -waggon — was 20001b (about 18owt) and the actutl draught was tested in every case by means of a dynsmometer. Ib was found that, roughly, in the case ofr ordinary hard metalled roads (whn.t are called tuftcidamised) tyres of 6in in width will carry 32001b wish no more draught than is required to draw 20001b with a 2£in tyre, and the 6in caused less it>jary to the roads. Many tests tvera made on grass, stubble, ploughed land in every condition, hard and soft, showing without exception a large difference in draught in favour of the broad wheels. , The average result of tbe investigations ia that 6in is the b»st width of tyre for a combination farm and road waggon, and that both axles should be the tame length so that the hind wheels follow in the track of the front ones of a waggon. I am aware that there has been at various times much bitterness and discontent caused by regulations mads by our local bodies in connection with width of tyres and weights to be carried on public road.', and as this question affects farmers as well as the general public who are interested in everything pertainiDg to the condition and cost of maintaining the wails ifc is, I think, a proper subjuot '.<> o v- . citegory of rural topic*.

At a conference held in Vi.-u.vi.* -o i. . ■> ago it was unanimously resolved that; is would badvisable to pass similar legislation to that which had been so long ana satisfactorily enforced in South Australia. The act there provides that loads should not exceed 9cwt per whsel for every inch the wheel is in width, so that* waggon with 2£in tyres could only carry 22£ewt per wheel, or 4£ toas per waggon, including tbe weight of the waggon itself. A waggon with 3in tyres is allowed to carry 5 tons Bcwt, including the- weight of the vehicle ; a 4-in wheel would be allowed 7 tons 4owt per waggon, and so on. It is generally considered that upon a 'hard "road on- which- a .load stakes no impression a narrow tyre runs lighter th*n'& wide one, because of the friction being less, and hence we see round tyres upon light dogcarts, etc., in which- the point of contact is no more than a mathematical line. And yet Ihe American report says that on ordinary macadam roads tyres of 6in width will carry 32001b with the same draught required to draw 20001b with 2|in tyres. Of course this ia a point which a dynamometer would settle ia five minutes*, and an erroneous statement wouid not, surely, be circulated when it could be verified or falsified so easily. In modeiateiy soft ground th^re can be no doubt that the wider wheels are preferable, but when th a . ground i« very soft and the soil or mud closes in over the rim and sludges along among the spokes, it U evident that in such a case a wide wheel would carry a much greater load of muck upon fhe felloe 3 than a narrow wheel and increase the draught. Most of the European countries hava laws regulating the width of tyres on vehicles. In Francs, if I mistake not, the u^ual width, of wheels of farm drays and waggon 3is from 4 ; n to 6in. Moreover, the hind axle is often l--n<eir than She front, so that the back wheels have-to make a track o? thsir owu, and hela tj nie-ku roads instead of catting them up.

Since penning the foregoing, l have corns >■ an expert statement- by a- proMore fessor of dynamics (the science Particulars, of powers), in wh'ch helsays that " the surface of sv wheel does not'interfare in the least with the,draugh<; cf a w»gsjon on a solid road, on hard grounU of any "kind, and on'soft roads ! be wide wheels require much lass draught." If" tVys is correct the popular ide* about the friction of wide wheels on hard road* is incorr-c 1 ". A wheelwright and waggon-builder in a large way^ writes to the i ftect that narrow tyres give the lightef t draught on smoath ronds and wide tyre* oa rough or soft roads. He proceed* to say tha 1 ; tha supply of timbsr for felloes for wide wheels is less abundant than that which is suitable for narrow wheels. On thi? account, he says, wide-tyre wag,'on"a are more expansive to build than those which are of ordinary width, and if a wide tyre became geieral the cost of material, and hence the cost of the vehicle, would be much increased.

In reply to "H.s" query last month loverlooked the conclusion of his Combined letter, in which hs asked what Grain and is the best kind of drill to use Manure Drills, for sowing manure with wheat. I need scarcely remind " H." that drills, like all other farm implements, ara constantly being improved, and that many farmers are in the habit of casting aside an article when only a few years old beciuse they tske a fancy to some new maker who has introduced suvdry improvements in matters of detail. Pr igress is gradual, and though each new drill has some little matter bsttar than the previous one, these improvements in the course of a few years result in a remodelling of the implement almost, and without doubt drills of the present day are very much superior iv every respect to those of 10 years ago. It U chiefly in connection T?ith the manure-box , and the free passage of the manure into the distributing pipes that changes and improvements have been effected. The regulation and deposition of the seed,

Japaness Plums.— The latest and best sorti of this valuable class of fruit obtainable from Nimmo and Blair. Dunedio.

whether of grain or tmnips, has generally been jatisFacfcory, and the efforts of implementmakeru of late years have been directed to the prevention cf the pasting and churning of the fertilisers and the consequent clogging of the orifices through which the manure should pass. The yarious makers have been pretty successful ia this respect, though ander certain conditions itnd with" certain kinds of manure the pasting and clogging have nob been totally prevented. There are numerous kinds of good combined grain and manure drills in bhe market, and I do aot think ifc is righb for me to make inyidious flistincbions and select any particular maker for commendation in the form of a cheap advertisement;. ,Any up-to-date "drill will be found pretty well as good as another, and though I could mention one which I consider superior to all others, all things considered, I do nob feel justified in naming it lest I should be suspected of being in collusion with the maker or agent in pushing its sale. All the modern drills are now made to sow fertilisers with grain as well as with turnip;, and if " H." msikes inquiries he will goon have a variety to choose from.

Whafe might be termed a splendid example of carrying coals to Newcastle is French Milk the conveying of the French - for ' milk from Normandy, in Londou. France, to supply the English

metropolis ; yet that is what Is being done on a large scale, for the n6w Preach export industry has got quite beyond the experimental stage. The iirsb experimental consignment was made at the beginning of last October Rnd. before the end of the month, no

I less than 20,000 gal were shipped from Normandy to London. At the end of three mouths the quantity had grown to 76,000ga1, and every effort is bsing made to substantially increase the export. In furtherance of the business it ii proposed to form a company in London for the 6upply of " pure Normandy milk, butter, and cream." Every facility is offered by the French Government, who own the railways, for tho transit of the milk to the coast, and arrived there the English railway companies, who own the Channel steamer eer vice, have given concessions such as permit cf a highly lucrative trade. Referring- to -the latter the Mark Lane ..Express says !—"! — " They have bo patriotism. They are corporations thab have no conscience to trouble them and no body to be. kicked. They are simply dividend-earuing machines, and so long us they are we can hardly blame them for doing the beet they can for their shareholders." The same journal expresses tho opinion that milk can be conveyed from the north of Prance to London cheaper at the present time than from the English south coast. IE that bo so it seems time the English Government inquired into the matter in the interests of the home producers. Ifc might; be inquired, How can a perishable commodity like milk be taken so far to be sold in ' competition with the local article ? The reply is that a chemical preservative iB used. As a matter of fact £ome preservative is used in nearly all foreign butter exported to England ; bufc the strange part of the business is that it is allowed bo pats, while colonial butter similarly preserved is a subject \of couit actions. The French firm interested ' in tke milk export business is said to have flat*

chased the secret of a new antiseptic steriliser, which is said to keep milk sound and normal. In view of the possible danger to health calculated to atise from the general use of milk so sterilised, tho English Government should certainly obtain experb evidence regarding the nature of the new preservative. The French Government; are exceedingly particular with regard to the food supply of the French people, and certainly would soon bar English milk if sent to, Paris undar similar circumstances. All antiseptic preservatives are harmful to health if any article of food containing them, even in small quantity, is regularly partaken of, and in view of that fact antiseptic preservation of food should, be disallowed by Government. Sterilisation by the Pasteur method is & different matter, and that system ought to be resorted to wherever milk is handled for public use.

While ordinary wheat flour will keep for a long time in *uoh & climate as ours, Compressed yet in some clisnates flour has Flour. to b» included in the list of

perishable food products. In Fiji and other of the South Se» Islands in a very few -weeks' time flour in the loos© state, unless kept closely sealed down, soon becomts alive with weevils, and is in consequence rendered unfit for hum»n food. To overcome this difficulty Mr J. L. Fletcher has patented a process for preserving flour by compressing ifc into blocks. His earlier experiments vrere made towards the beginning of 1896, and since that time Mr Fletcher haa be?n in constant communication with the War Office and Woolwich Arsenal. Under compression the flour loses two-fifths of its bulk, and in transit will only occupy half the spaco cf flour inbulk in sacko. Although the blocks of compressed flour stand tho handling necessary for ordinary carriage very well, yet they are readily reduced to tbe former condition by the use of a knife and rolling pin. Large quantities would naturally require some form of disintegrator. To further test tbe effect of compreseore upon the baking qualities of compressed flour blocks werekept for periods varying from six weeks tol2 months, and then systematically tested. In the case cf the blocks kept for six weeks they were tested against the loose flour from which they were originally made. The results throughout the whole/series of tests were identical. Tho obvious conclusion is, therefore, -that the act of compression does not in any respect alter the composition of the flour. Only small blocks, cylindrical in shape, and 2in in height and diameter, were preß3ed ; bufc the Woolwich authorities had a plant erected for compressing 6in cylinders. From one of these blccks, kept for six months under test conditions— that is, exposed to varying temperature*, &c. — a loaf was made quite iudisfcinguishafela from bread made of ordinaty flour. Some loose flour that had been stored on the same shelf as the compressed block for only ft period of two moaths had become mouldy throughout. After a farther test of 12 months the block was again exr-mined, and was still free from any mustinetis, and the resultant loaf was quite sweet and pleasant flavcuced. So the practicability of compressing flour and keeping it for an indefinite time in that condition appears to have been salitfactorily solved. The result will b« of great importance to the War Office, and should go a long way towards lightening the duties of the Commissariat dep&rliaeab in time of war. Ageicola.