GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1321, 16 December 1880, Page 3

GLEANINGS.

A good heavy horn on a bull is indicative of substance and constitution ; besides, it indicates masculine or positive character. Unless the soil be obdurate clay, whose mechauical condition would be improved by exposure to the atmosphere, it is not expedient to allow it to lie bare. Buckwheat is very little grown in this part of the world, but it is a crop that might be found both profitable and useful by many of our farmers. The ground may as well be carrying a crop of peas, clover, or rape, or of pasture of which clover is a component part, as be lying altogether unused. * table Fowl ia not fit for food after the first year and a half of its life has passed, and a hen is worth nothing for eggs after the third year; but on the farms the majority of the fowls are "old hens" or wasty old roosters, fit neither for use nor ornament. It is a waste of good food to let them run so long, and it is a waste of corn to feed them to so great an age. Buckwheat has the reputation of being able to subdue the hardest and toughest I kind of soil, overrun with weeds and unfit for cultivation. On this account it is ' often raised for a year or two on wild land before it is attempted to grow anything else upon it. But this redeeming quality is offset by its very exhaustive properties. It exhausts the soU greatly, and crops that are to follow it should I therefore be liberally manured. I In stacking hay it ought be kept abovs the floor of the stockyard or haggard, and the hay should be kept covered as much af possible whilst the stack is building, and afterwards protected with a thatch os roof. A little salt (one or two hundredweight to the whole stack, according to requirements as to size) may be sprinkled in the hay to keep it, and to make the animals healthy and fat. Much trouble can often be saved by marking tools with their owner's name. Coat over the blade with a thin layer of wax by warming the steel and rubbing on the wax until it flows. Wfcen hard, mark your name through the wax and apply aqua fortis (nitric acid) ; after a few moments wash off the aoid with water, melt the wax and wipe it off with a soft rag. The letters will be found etched into the steel. Mr K. 0. Taylor, of Pukekohi, Auckland, has recently imported some Langshan fowls. The birds come early to maturity, are very tame and social in their habits, not addicted to flying over fences, as other fowls are, easily fed, and excellent layers. After weighing a number of eggs he has found that on an average eight turned the scale at a pound. His birds generally lay three days running, mias one day, and so on. Some young pullets, about eight months of age, which have been laying for some time, he found weighed 6lbs 14oz. Altogether he considers the Langshans the beat variety of fowls yet introduced into the Colony. The correspondent of the Mark Lane Express in Wyoming Territory, U.S.A., says that from what he has observed, the Hereford cattle are most useful for stockbreeders' purposes in the "Western States, and that when they are better known they will be preferred on the cattle ranches to the shorthorn. As a beef-maker on grass the Hereford, it is stated, is superior te the shorthorn, aud aa the calves run with their aams, the Heref rd is found to be better adapted for the situation.

Frinco Bismarck is unwell, and unable to attend to his duties. The disposition of the Congressional library, the contents of which have grown enormously, is the subject of series consideration at Washington. It is estimated that within 30 years a building will be required as large as the Capitol itself to hold the books. On the sth of August a collision occurred on the New York elevated railroad, and an empty train was precipitated into the street below. No one was in juredj ured although several persons had just passad over the spot on which it fell. The wildest excitement prevailed. A sum of £400 has been subscribed by the rowing public of England towards the £1,000 required for the proposed race on the Thames between Hanlan and Laycock, to take place in six weeks' time. Hanlan has consented to wait until Thursday for the balance of the money. The Sportsman is securing subscriptions, and contributions are expected from Australia. If Laycock wins, the money will be returned to the donors. Dk W. H. Gtkego, of New York, has produced with camphor a dyeing substance of great value. The only color he has obtained up to the present is yellow in all its shades, but he hopes to be able to produce scarlet or carmine. The principal feature of this dye, besides its novelty, is its great brilliancy and solidity. The boiling for several hours of a tissue with this color in a strong soapy water has no other effect than the changing of the shade a little.