Miscellaneous Items.

Southland Times, Issue 7030, 19 January 1885, Page 3

Miscellaneous Items.

High Art.— The Farmer's Tribure tell this chapter of real life :— ' Your daughter graduates this monih, Mr Thiatlepod ?' ~ • Yes, she'll be home about the 20th, I reckon.' ' And your son graduates also? 1 «Oh, ye 3, he'll come home about the same time.' ' And what are they going to do ?' . ' Well,' said the old man thoughtfully; 'l don't'ju?t exactly know what they want to drive at, but Marthy ehe writes that she wants' to continue her art ' studies on the Continent, so I think. I'll jast send her to the dairy and let her do a little plain jnodelling in butter ; and f*'am, he sajs he's got to go abroad and polish up a little, ' and as good luck will have it, he'll be home iust in time to spread himself on the grind, stone and put an edge on tbe cradle-blades against the wheat harvest. 1 A Sliding Bcal%— *t the auction* mart in London the other day," an auction was held of freehold agricultural land on the unusual terms of unreserved eale. Brazil sJFarm, 163 acres, principally arable, is situated in the parish of -Woodham Feni*, Essex, and ten ' yeara since was let at £193 per annum, tennnt paying tithe. In 1874 the estate was put up for sale at a reserve of £5500, which was not reached, and the property consequently was bought ior Several abatement! 0( reat have fjlncVbcra KWU. fWI iMt 7W* it *M *t

only £40 per«,anmim, plus tithe #36 The tenant, and his family before him, have done thorough justice to the land, but increasing years determined him to relinquish business at Michaelmas, and. the farm could consequently be offered with immediate possession. There was a hvge Jittendauce in Tokenhouse V >rd, and after much bidding the hammer fell at £2400, -or "less than one-half of whav would have boeu freely given ten years since. ?ugar for Cattle. —Attention hav'ng been drawn 1o the prerent price of sugar of common . qualify being under Id per lb in England, &x- Farmer writes :— ' I think that the value of sugar ia fattening cattle and pigs must be unknnvn to our farmers. Yews, ago it was gi\ei to pigs intended for exhibition at agricultural shows, with most satisfactory results. It p;oved (he cheapest food to be had for laying on flesh aud fat, even at its then high prices In India it is given when price is low, as a partial substitute for grain, to harness and riding horses, with great benefit to their coats and general condition. Per^ ! haps some of your readers would give their' experience of a suitable daily quantity. If my memory does not fail me— beginning with a smaller quantity it was gradually increased to lib a day, dissolved in warm water, and for cattle and horses mixed with their chaff or chopped bay or straw. ■ My idea is that lib of sugar is now cheaper than lib 61 linseed cske, and that it ia two or thiee times as valuable for fattening purposes. I hope this letter may induce some of your readers, whether farming or scientific, to give us the benefit of their practical experience and expe.'imental knowledge, believing that in this season, when root crops are a partial failure, the information will be of importance to the country.' . Quite Another Theory. — Herr Fischer, a farmer in Silesia, has since 1871, conducted bis farm withont live stock save si few milch cows, because there is a good demand for fodder and straw in his district. - Commercial manures have therefore been substituted for farmyard manure, but he does not consider, the. practice advisable unless there .is a specially good market for fodder and straw/ •He. considers bone-meal to be the most'important fertiliser after farm -yard manure, and it hasbeen particularly favorable clover in bis neighbourhood! Potash silts have yielded very variable results ; in one experi-; meat with, potatoes; potash sal's "gave even better results than guano. Herr Fischer uses _ phosphoric manures for cereals, and fofgreen crops he employs nitrogenous; and when required potash manure?, He is well pleased with the results, and says his farm produce has been steadily increasing since the banishment of cattle. . » A Lost Opportunity.— 'The N.Z. Industrial Gfizettesays that the; very best possible immir gration .agents -if the get their opportunity — are. some %brewd. experienced old colonists, who take a trip from the. colony to see the Home Country and rtvisit their friends. For ins*ance, Mr- Allan McDonald, who was member for the East G jast District in the last Parliament^ went Home sometime back and visited the north of Scotland, whereof, he is a native. A number of well-to-do farmers interviewed him— men with capitals of fro^n £300 to £3000— and got him to telL them all . about the resources and .advantages of New Zealand as a field for colon zation. The outcome of all this was that seven of the farmers expressed their, readiness to go out to the colony on a visit of inspection, if the AgentGene r al would allow them to have passages at £5 each— the same.terms as those given to | immigrants nominated by their friends in the colony. The Agent-General however could not grant their request- as feeing contrary to rule. It is a pity that this request was not granted. . If these farmers had been allowed to visit the colony on the terms mentioned, they would probably have taken back such a good report of it that a whole lot of Scotch farmers and their families, possessed of practical knowledge and capital, would have emigrated to New Zealand and taken up land. Tbese'jire exactly the sort of people that are wanted in the colony, and every encouragement should be held out to induce them to come out and become eettlera in it. A Farmer's Opinion. — Before the Babbit :Comimlte.3 of --the House of Representatives Mr H Jackson, a Wairarapa settler, said : — ♦ I am strongly against the use of the rabbit's natural enemies. What is the use of all that your Acclimatization. Societies are doing in introducing birds to destroy insects, if you introduce other animals to kill them 1 I have myself partridges, and keep a good many turkeys to kill grasshoppers and caterpillars. It is not only that they destroy insects, they are a decided benefit to the farm. It is, I have no doubt, the same with other people as it is with me, I have three or four hundred turkeys on my place. The grasshoppers and caterpillars used to destroy everything green. Since I have had turkeys, partridges and peeasants L I have kept that plague under, If you bring ferrets, stoats, and weasels to destroy the insectivorous birds, we shall again have a plague of caterpillars and grasshoppers.' And Mr Jackson adds:— l think it is class legislation to enable a large owner to turn out weasels and ferrets to destroy a neighbor's property, You have no right to destroy his poultry ; you have no right 1o destroy one industry for the sake of another. lam li^e most of the settlers round about.' It should be said that Mr Jackson succeeded in clearing the rabbits off his 2000 acre holding by the use of dogs and guns. Mr Jackson thinks that where the rabbits are very numerous, poison should first be laid down and the dogs and guns afterwards used. Mr Jackson's plan, though successful in the' case of a holding of 2000 acres, would not be so in a large run of 100,000 acres.

Far remainder of reading matter see fourth page