Rural Notes.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume I, Issue 47, 8 September 1893, Page 3

Rural Notes.

Within the last half-dozen years (he Shropshire Downs have come so prominently to the front in Britain, and are so much in favor with sheepfarmers all over the world, that we may fairly assume they are the leading sheep of the future. At the Chester show the Shropshires numbered more than one-third of the sheep of all breeds shown, which clearly indicates the popularity of this handsome and profitable breed with British husbandmen. With the flockmasters in the United States the Shropshires are great favorites, and scarcely a British agricultural paper comes to hand but which contains notices of Shropshires being shipped to all parts of the wo-ld. They have gained a footing in South America, they are already in much favor with South African sheepbreeders, and they are being employed in Spain to cross with the low-class merinos of that country. They have not yet attracted much attention in Australia, but in each of the colonies there are a few studs, the originals of which were drawn from the finest flocks in England. The Feilding Star says : —Mr G. P. Church sent us down several Sturmer pippin apples, which has been put in a pit (in the same manner in which potatoes are sometimes stored) some time last May. The apples are fresh and good—in as prime condition, in fact, as when they were taken oft’ the tree.

A writer in the Prairie Farmer says : —“ We have found out this season that one tomato plant, properly set, staked, and pruned, is worth a dozen cultivated in the ordinary way. They bear more bountifully, have more perfect fruit, ripen earlier, and are more free from rot.” People who are unfortunate enough to live in a damp house, particularly near undrained land, are apt to think that there is no help for them save in removal. They are mistaken. Successful experiments have shown that it is quite possible to materially improve the atmosphere in such neighbourhoods in a very simple manner—by the planting of the laurel and the sunflower. The laurel gives off an abundance of ozone, whilst the “ soul-ful-eyed ” sunflower is potent in destroying the material condition. These two, if planted on the most restricted scale in a garden close to the house, will be found to speedily increase the dryness and salubrity of the atmosphere, and rheumatism, if it does not entirely become a memory of the past, will be largely alleviated. The Daily Times says : Stall fattening cattle, which is largely gone in for in the Home country, is finding favour in our midst, and evidently with good results. On Wednesday at Burnside yards Mr Charles Shand (of Balclutha) sold a draft fattened in this way, which were admitted to be the primest-conditioned cattle that had been in the yards for a long time. Their merit is evidenced by the high price realised—£lß per head—-the highest price so far this yevr.