NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2413, 7 June 1900, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

A regimental vet. has an interesting and sensible letter in ono of the Sizcgand Poiver English farm papers about of the comparative ability and Horses. usefulness of email and big

horses for saddle work. He says he has for 40 years advocated the claims of the small horfie in vain, but now, he finds, the military authorities are convinced that the useful animal is one of ]4 hands or thereabouts. Be says that whether in India, Africa, or at home he has always found a horse from 13hds 3in to 14 lids 3in of more service and all-round utility than bigger ones, except for very special purposes. He is of opinion that there are two falpo standards by which horses are judged in England, and thj first is weight-carrying. For example, what is meant when a horse is calr.logv.ecl at a jumping competition or at a &plea&e a& being up "to 14st? It is supposed to mean that a horse can cony that weight over ploughed land or raft grass in htrating, but has come into general tise as the estimate of an onimal's powers as a saddle horse, though apart f.'nm ihe lequircments of hunting such is not the ca=;e. Tliero pre plenty of stout ponies, he bays, that can curry l^st all day and day after day on avera&s roads wiihoxit

It is only when a stiff pace has to

ho i»iunt.Tt'r.cd-* lwt l-heiglr(Tand"~Bise~aTe-of-any advantage, and he argues that for ordinary hacking a horse under 15hds is as good as one of 17hds. • It occurs to me that he has omitted to bring forward a fact which would have strengthened his argument, and that it, that a short man can do the same work and tho Fame quantity of it as a big man. In ha-ndiing and carrying sacks of wheat a fhort, cloggy man is as good as the biggest and very often botter, and an employer of labour docs not make any distinction between men according to their size, either in the matter of labour allotted or in rate of wages. Height simply means longer bone in the legs and spine, and that is no advantage except ioc special kinds of work. It is a principle of mechanics that length gives speed, but fast runners and, in fact, good all-round athletes, are often of middle height or below it. The army vet. whose article I have referred to says that the big cavalry horse is a survival of the middle agos, when knights carried half a ton of armour and tilted at one another upon what we should now call cart horse.-. He mentions the tough little Basuto ponies upon which the biggest Boers, their arms, and swags have been carried about from place to place in quicker time than our big chargers could move. He is certain that a smart cob is what the army requires as heavy cavalry charges are of no lire nowadays. Ho quotes the Arab horses, and shows how they deteriorate when attempts are made to raise the height. Those who are buying remounts in this colony, for South Africa are not giving any preference to size, in fact the nuggety mokes are snapped up wherever thes" can be got. The ideal cavalry chargers are very imposing and make a fine appearance on parodc at Home, but the superior mobility of the Boers has been the cause of hundreds of good men and horses losing their lives during the present ho&tilitie*, and the Imperial authorities are now convinced that henceiorth quality must be considered before size end imposing appearance. The .moral is that horsebreeders must go with tho times and try to combine plucb and endurance in horses of medium size.

In my note upon the stalk blight in potatoes a month ago I at-ked those of Potnto my readers who had observed Disease. the disease, to furnish me with

'. their experience, and I was glad to see a letter from Mr O'Donnell, Tarauaki, describing the laa^iur in which the stalk blight had occurred in his dktiict. The pout o fuivjua (Pezisa. posiuma), as this disease is called, was first observed in 1880, in which year it made, its appearance in. The We=t of Jreland, and a description oi it appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle of that year. In my forraer note I interred to the little black mvellings (Sclerstiu) about the size of a pin head, and if these can he seen on lli" roots- of the diseased plants there is no doubt of the diseaos being the Irish potato fungu-.. This is not the same rotting disease which lias caused such terrible destruction to the potato crop in Ireland, and which brought about the famine theiv jn 3 845. The black swellings serve to keep the fungus alive from year to year, and one remedial mva&ure recommended i.s to g,o through the crop irom time to time with a f-harp knife find lemove any stalks thpt iliov; s-igns oi disease, by cutting off just be":ov,- the decayed portion. When," however, it comes to be such a serious business as that I think the best plan is that suggested by Mr O'Donnell — namely, to' leave off growing potatoes until the land has become free irom the taint of the blight. This is the best course to adopt in the case of land infested Yiith. the B.essian fly, and if probably the only effective way of combating such pests. It is agreed nowadays that artificial manures are better for potatoes than farmyard manure, unless the latter is thoroughly rotted and incorporated with the soil in the pievious autumn. There aro three things to attend to in coping with this potato fungus : Never plant potatoes where they have been diseased the previous year ; avoid allowing the sets when planted to come inio immediate contact with decaying vegetable matter or fresh farmyard manure of any kind. A good authority recommends the following "mixed" manure for potatoes: lewt kainit (a potash -manure), lewt nitrate of soda, iewt iron sulphate, and 2cwt of a mineral superphosphate. This in England costs 183 per acre, but here would be probably 103 more. As Mr O'Donnell says his land is free, well-drained, and contains sufficient potash and lime it is difficult to say what preventive Treasures he should adopt besides those suggested by the Maori and his own with regard to ceasing to grow potatoes for some years. The third preventive measure is to be very careful to burn all the dead potato stalks, weeds, and all decaying vegetable growth remaining on the ground after the potatoes are taken up.

This has become a burning question in the old country, . and I seer that Destroying an Irish farmer writes to his Potato Tops, paper advocating legislation which shall make it compulsory to burn all the potato tops. Ho says that farmers have been co long accustomed to using the # dead stalks as litter and for putting on the potato pits in place of straw, that it will be difficult to break them off thei habit except by imposing a penalty, although they are well aware of the folly of so using the tops. He very sensibly remarks that wl»en tho majority of the growers in a district are careful about this matter it is very liard that "an obstinate, pig-headed minority should counteract their efforts by neglecting to destroy the medium by which the disease is perpetuated. The same argument applies lo dipping sheep, poisoning small birds and rabbits, and to the destruction ot noxious iieeds such a<? the Californian thistle, and as long as the world goe=. round there will always be found some individual* who are blind to their own inte"ests and have to be coerced into doing what is plainly conducive to their own advantage. In this country we know very little of the practice which is so largely folPigs lowed in some parts of Bngaiid land at this season of the Acorns. year, when pigs are turned by the fcore into woods to pick up the o corns and" beech masts. It is a common fight to see large herds of pigs rambling about among the ancient oak and beech trees and crunching the acorns which, lie thickly among tho glass. It is said that an acorn diet produces tho very best bacon, but I have not j r et had a chance to test that theory. Although pigs seem to thrive upon aconib when rambling at large, and they can get a picking of gra'-s and other xoocl, they are not good when supplied freely to pigs conlined in a fty. The astringent pro2>ei ties of tho acorn has an irritant effect upon the digestive organs of the -pig when in confinement, but cottagers at lLome liko to feed their pigs with them both on account of thon 1 cheapness and because Ihe c-.com is thought to impart a lery desirable fla\ our to the bacon and pork. Tn olden times when the wild boax used to wander among the

oak forests of Merrie England a boar's head ~was- considered a great delicacy, and it was, perhaps, owing to the diet of acorns he had been accustomed to from his yotith up. AGRICOLA.