AGRICULTURAL.

Woodville Examiner, Volume V, Issue 458, 1 April 1889, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL.

SOWING 11 APE. A correspondent of the Colonist (Tasmania gives his experience ot rape. He says: —I have grown it for some years ana always with success. I li.id it useful for pigs, sheep, horses, and cows; t fie latter certainly inilkiuuch better on i . Tuis yea. I intend sowing itjon all my sruDoie laa.i. Last year about this time 1 sowed a eon siderable quantity, but in consequence ot toe drougnt it did not come on till after the rains, which weie very late. However, I found it very useful in Che spring. . . . . It is commonly fed off trom May until October, being valuable for fattening sheep or supporting ewes and lambs. If sown in February and fed off in time for barley, oats, or potatoes, it may bo sown on ploughed stubble and eaten off by sheep in September and October. It may with great advantage be sown with grass seed on the ashes, and will leave a good pasture. It is very useful in a rotation of crops, and keeps up the fertility ot the soil; it has a goon effect on the soil, and a good crop of wheat can be uepenJed on after its growth.

POTATOES. A writer in the “ Gardeners’ Cronicle ” said:—l can endorse wnat has been said respecting the removal of potatoe haulm as being a means of preventing the tubers from becoming diseased. I had hero this season a patch of Myatt’s ashleaf so attacked with disease ; and as the Haulm was already showing signs of ripeness, i determined to try the experiment. I hau the haulm cut (instead of pulled) close to the ground, cleared away and burned, leaving tne tubers undisturbed for 1U days/ so as to allow their stuns to set. When lifted there w ere from 3D bushels, only two bushels diseased, aud not more than half a bushel of tubers have since gone bad. Our other varieties, nine in number, including early and late kinds, were left to take their chance: and in each case numbers were diseased varying from one-quarter to two-thirds of the crop. In my opinion the removal of the haulm, either by pulling or cutting (I should prefer the latter, the tubers being less disturbed) as soon as spots of the disease are detected, would be a safe plan to adopt in all cases where the crops are approaching ripeness.” ROARING IN HORSES. The operation by which roaring in horses is relieved, and which was discovered by Dr Fleming, C. 8., has been tested on a large number of Jioraes in England with every success Preliminary to the operation, the animal is thrown clown in the usual way on a soft straw bed, and chloroform having been administered, I the legs are raised by means of pulleys, so I as to cause the horse to rest on his back. I A cushion is then placed beneath the neck, and the head is. extended in a slanting position, downward, the object being to cause the blood to flow oat ot the nostrils instead of into the windpipe and lungs. The throat is now directed upwards, and fully exposed to the operator. The instruments, thoroughly clean and disinfected, are contained in a basket under the charge of clinical clerks, who hand them to the surgeon one by one, as they are required. The hair is next removed, and an incision is made through the skin in the central line of the throat. Tnen the underlying muscles are cut through in the same course, and the upper pat t of the windpipe (larynx) is fully exposed. ; A little time is now devoted to taking up an 1 ligaturing or twisting the vessels, which have been cut through in order to staunch the bleeding. This having been accomplished, an incision is made through the larynx, and the parts within are brought into view. Now commences the operation of dissecting out the offending pieces of cartilage, whose paralysed muscles have permitted it to enroaoh on the aperture or passage through which the air enters the windpipe. This involves much nice dissection and careful manipulation, with a thorough knowledge of the anatomy of the parts. In about twelve or 15 minutes the operation is completed, and the animal is in due course allowed to rise. The wqund is allowed to heal of itself, and, in some eases, a tube is for a time inserted in the larynx.