FARM NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2412, 24 May 1900, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

SEED TESTS. The consulting- botanist to the R.A.S. of England reports that during the year 1899 the superior quality of tho seeds examined and tested has been maintained. Only one case of dodder in clover seed was observed. The o-erminations,weie high, though the differences in several C3 £ ies between the highest and the lowest results exhibited ?. considerable difference in the real value of the seeds. The following table shows fhe average, the highest, and the lowest results of the tests in regard to the seeds of the most valuable pasture plants': Average. Lowest. Highest. Ttir cf nt. Per cent. Ter rect

It will be seen that as marry plants again were produced by the best pamplc of foxtail as were obtained from the worst sample, though probably the price paid was the same for both ; and in the smooth-stalked meadow grass the better quality produced a third' more plants than the inferior quality. SHEEP IN WALES AND ENGLISH COUNTIES. Wales is much more heavily stocked with sheep then England, for while there are close on 700 head of sheep for every 1000 acres ot land ir. Wales there are only about 500 sheep for e*,ery 1000 acres in England. In the Counby of Breccon, which is the most heavny stocked with sheep of any of the English or Yfelrfi counties, there is a sheep for every acre of land. Of the English counties, that wn.ch .carries the heaviest stock of sheep is Kent, which contains about 900 sheep for every 1000 acres of its area. Curiously enough, tae counties which contain the largest number oi cheep also contain the smallest number oi catt'e ICent, for instance, has only about 70 head of cattle for every 1000 acres, wnerer.s Cheshire, which has only about JSO sheep to every 1000 acrei. has nearly double that number of cattle. ' In Northumberland, in the ••nine way there arc or.ly about 80 .head oi cattle to every 1000 sere?, while there are ten times that number ot sheep. INFLUENCE OF SOIL. Soil? exercise a considerable influence upon the colour oi" the wool produced by >tho sheep kerb upon them. This L one of the reasons advanced for the colouring of show sheep, a practice which is now being vigorously discussed by the principal agricultural societies and show promoting bodies. Some bolb colour the wool to such an extent that the sta-nle can nevei be washed quite white and clear, and it s for this reason that exmDitors llmiv* in districts which are not conducive i to the production of the finest quality of wool so strongly orguo in favour oi the practice ot colouring as it enables them to secure greater uniformity in the oppeirance of then- sheep "when ehown in pens than they could otherwise hotse to obtain. As a rule, the best wool conies off the better classed of land, for it is well known that the feeding whion the animals receive exercises a very important influence upon the quality of the wool, bo, too, does the health of the animals producing it. It is a well-known fact that wool staplers can always tell whether the wool which they arc handling wos produced by animals which at some period had a serious attacv of illness, as the wool produced during such illness is invariably finer and weaker in texture than that produced by the same animals when in normal health. — Home paper.

The police are anxious to find owners for a, number of ladies' umbrellas.

Foxfc&il ™ Cocksfoot ?0 Rough-stalked meadow gras> 7(i Fmootk-s balked do ... 52 Timothy f'6 White Clover &=> .Kei Closer SM Air ike 95 v 70 no 42 jn 79 , 79 HI 8S n 09 07 K0 100