GLEANINGS.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 407, 12 March 1879, Page 3

GLEANINGS.

(TTrom the Canterbury .Times.') HAuxuss sho*fild ; n6ver be kept in stables where manure is constantly generating large quantities of ammonia. The ammonia is rapidly absorbed by the leather, ami the effect upon the leather is about the same as would result from saturating it with strong lye. In a' word, ammonia rots leather, ami hence keeping harness in the stable is sure to result in its damage more or less. Mr Grainger, a fanner near Guildford, was herding-his cows, when a neighbour’s - bull, who had broken bounds, suddenly charged and tossed him. The bull was eom'ng at him again as he lay on the ground, when two of his cows rushed in and stopped it, thus" enabling ,Mr G. to rise, which he did with difficulty"and made escape. . He is in the habit of treating /•his cows kindly, and some'of, them show much attachment to him. .He . says that , .their promptness in facing the bull saved his life. . ' i ’ - Reliable-authority-informs us that the production of vylieat is steadily on’ the decline in England, although in that country the production of grain is;next in importance to the raising of meat. The (leclinement is that of area and not in the quality produced per acre. The yield has been increased from one to one and a half bushels, within the present generation, and five bushels within 100 years past. The yield is now estimated at 28 bushels per acre, and will probably be pushed up to 50 bushels per acre, for the English farmers are exceedingly painstaking, and doctor their land so as to get the most possible out of it. A cheap lot of manure may be made of an old carcass of a horse or cow &c., which are often drawn away to pollute the atmosphere. JJo not do this, hut put down four or five loads of muck or sod, roll the carcass on it and sprinkle it over with quick-lime, covering over immediately with sod or mold, sufficient to make, with that already beneath, 20 good-sized waggon loads, and you will have 25d015. worth of the best of fertilisers in less than a year, and no fears Deed be felt in applying it to any crop. One beaut}’ of this plan is, the animal need not be removed far away, there being not the least stench. All animals which you are unfortunate enough to lose can be utilised in this way, and be made to go a great way towards replacing them. Smaller animals, such as sheep, calves, dogs, cats (we would like to see a large pile of cats used in this way ; they could be ma le of some use, to say the least), can b j treated in the same manner with about the average amount of sod or muck proportionate to their size. When possible, place three or four in one pile, as the labor of covering would be proportionately less ; but it is not much work to make a heap of any animal, however largo or small.