FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2745, 15 February 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

FARM, GARDEN, AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Sparrows in America.—"The day" is not ten years distant," says a scientist, "when the United States will be damaged more by its English sparrow than by all the weevils, cut worms, crows, blackbirds, rabbits, hawks, fleas, flies, moths, curculio, droughts or floods. He could not to-day be got rid of for i 5,060,000 dol. in cash."

_"Kkef Good Animals.—lt ia highly important to keep good animals on a farm. If a ton of roots or a truss of hay or a quantity of cake or corn is to be eaten, by all means let it be consumed by good animals, placed under good conditions. This country is the natural home of good live stock; and no more hopeful avenue for profits exists than that leading to the maintenance of good animals worth more than, mutton or boof price. Such a course is possible, although requiring capital; but wherover practicable, first-rate stock only should be kept. Guernsey Cattle for Japan.—The Albany Country Gentleman announces that a large exportation of Guernsey cattle has lately been consigned to the Sapporo Agricultural College, Sapporo, Japan, Mr Arthur Brigham, of Westboro, Mass., is now at the head of this institution, and tliis purchase of Guernseys is the tesult of his desire to introduce into tho country a breed of cattle noted for their butter producing qualities. The animals were selected with the greatest care, and include .'in' 'all J8 females and two males. They should make a good showing for the , ,. Guernsey, breed, and the Japanese Government. Demand for Sheep in America.— Well bred sheep ire having a "boom" in the United States at present. Mutton is taking the place of beef, amongst a large section of the community, and it-is worthy of note that a preference is being shown for. mutton from the best bred varieties of English sheep; A correspondent of the Breeders' Gazette says that in all his experience of handling sheep ho has never before seen as quick sale for store sheep of good quality as at present. Many parties are anxious to buy good grade mutton ewes at.good prices to use for breeding purposes, but eaniiot find them. Hi* own rams—Oxfords, Shropshires andSonthdOwns —hayesoM rapidly, and every breeder' makes the same report. .." *\*

A Bic: Land-holder,—The Duke of Sutherland is the largest land-owner in the" United Kingdom, he being tlie possessor of 1,000.000 acres of his native land. His , rent roll in round figures amounts to , £130,000 per annum.: In addition to the Sutherland property, he is a landowner in Staffordshire and Shropshire, the latter properties having come to the family mostly through marriage alliances. The present Duke takes a great interest in agricultural aflairs, aud! he has recently taken an active part in the management of his wide domains. Sheep farming is largely carried on on the ancestral estates of Sutherland, and innddition to the holdings of smaller size there are some 30 or 40 farms, carrying from S.OOO to 15,000 head of sheep. .

The American Croi\s.— The reports of the crops in America for October have been received. Maize is reported of as another good corn crop, about the same as that of 1887- Reports received after threshing had begun estimate the wheat crop at about 12*8 bushels per acre. A very considerable portion of it has received damage on stack or elsewhere by heavy rains, and is grading badly in weight and quality, reduciug its value. Oats are reported to average 27 - 2 bushels per acre, as against an average for 9 years of 26 "5 bushels. The acreage of this cereal is the largest ever grown. Potatoes have the worst record yet known, except in IS7S, 1881 and 1887. It is an ill'wind that blovvs nobody any good, and from the bad reports of the grain harvest throughout Europe, the countries likely to be benefitted by the European misfortune in this respect will be principally the United States, Canada and India. There will, at auy rate, be wheat enough this year to feed the world. Europe requires to import 16,500,000 quarters, and this quantity America alone can supply from her estimated surplus of over 17,000,0000 quarters. Asia can. contribute nearly 4,000,000 quarters, Africa about 800,000 quarters, and Australia about 175,000 quarters.

British Agriculture.—Since Queen Victoria ascended the throne British agriculture has boen completely revolutionised, aud its history may to a certain extent be said to be contained iu the journals of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. On perusing , them it will he. seen that the Society's first efforts were directed to the improvements of cattle, experiments, and reports on implements, breeding cattle under cover, on rotations of crops, and varieties of wheat for seed. As the tide of improvement flowed on, increased attention was paid to the use of artificial fertilisers, bone dust, truano, nitrate of soda, superphosphate of lime, which'previously were unknown to the ■agricultural world of. 50 years ago. The hard and fast rotations of the previous period were relaxed, bare fallows gave way, and catch crops were more largely availed of. Economy of laboursoon became a necessity, and agricultural engineering spranir into a reputation second to no manufacl-.urina: trade in the. land; the threshing machine and the portable engine, chaffeutters, cake crushers, clod crushers, and other machines for the preparation of foods received prominent notice in these earlier journals of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.

A New Machine for Clearing Bcsh Land.—A Sinta Rosa (California) inventor has devised n> macbino for clearing land that is attracting attention. With its use tt'imps and trues, which it would take an experienced and stalwart wood chopper half a day to romove from the soil, are dragged out by the roots, scarcely the smallest fibrous vestige being left ! in the ground, in two and three minutes, and apparently without the expenditure of great force. The ease with which the«G stubborn impediments to agricultural development are removed is due to the mechanical construction of the machine, which i« in the form of a cap* stan. Around the drum of the oapstan a heavy cable winds, the other end being attached by means of a heavy chain to the stump or tree. This, cable is 16 feet in length, and, by means of a patent block, any part of it can be hitched to the tree. The shaft which turns the drum is 15 feet in length, and is drawn with ease by one horse. Dividing the length of the shaft by half the diameter of the cjfW, 6. inches, it gives the multiplying power of the machine as 36. By moans of another block, the power of the machine is increased to 78 times that of the horse which turna the shaft. The machine works on a hillside as well as on level ground, and two acres of land may be cleared without changing its posifcjofl.

Australian Horses, fuk England.— Major-Qeneral Raypnhill has recently beep giving his opinion to an Australian resident in England upon the subject of horse breeding in Australia with a view to a market in England, especially for army purposes. The general (acoqrfjipg to a London contemporary} says' that Australian horses already in England have given, great satisfaction, and that qne of the best horses which he himself had in India was a " waler." With th.e object of working the trade, a cquipany eught to be formed both in England 'and in Australia. The first batch of horses would probably be a failure as a specula, | tioD, because they would have \o be sold by auction, but afterwards, when they had got a good name, they woulci realise large sums. Jn sending horses ijj Oy . ought to be c;irefu;liy sejeoted, and the time of the year considered. The breaking in establishment in Australia ou<*ht to be carefully looked after, and special attention given to the three breaking, the branding t'oe breedingof them. In o,r uear jjipjidon the company or individuals interested in the Australian horse trade ought to have a establishment whore the horaea oouH bo further managed, aijd, where fjhey might

get into good condition again. If attention is paid to these matters, ' Ravenhill assured his interloptitor tkathe believed a very large fortune could be made in tbe Australian horse trade—a fabuloiiß sum,, he said, could-be made regularly if the trade were wprked ou a big scale, and in the way he pointed out. A SiRAVV'-BINDING ' MACHINEi—The" most important topic of the week aays the Leader perhaps in the news from America that a reaping , machine has been invented which binds with straw. The State Grange of Illinois recently offered a pre-* mintn of £2080 to secure a practical machine, or reaper attachment, for binding grain with stniw instead of twiue. Forty inventor*, representing nearly every, State, also Canada and Scotland, competed. A working , model of full size whs finally accepted, but its owner declined to sell his interest for the sum named, " Having bad much larger offers for Mh device and its patent. A report insuc.d by the awarding , committee says :—" We have seen this machine bind grain, and it does the work much finer and better than can be done with straw bands by hand. It has an extra attachmnnr for short straw l or grain, that can be be pet in motion -by the foot ot the driver. This binder seems perfect in all its parts, more simple' and easier to operate than tbe twine binder. The knotter is not as delicate in,'construction, yet does not take up more room, and is not so heavy as the twiue tinder. ; We consider this a matter of tyreat'importance to all grain raising farmers,' for '■ they will not,: hereafter ■be ■ subj eofc! to the trusts ,andi. combines,;-of, , the twine men, , having' plenty of -binding .:material! right at, hand on the fafinVlThWpatentee is ! arranging l to bring : out hie machine in , February, 1890', and will enter the ; grain fields of the Southern States, thence, folio *••" ing the harvest north." . r ~ t ; . ~,,

Th b Growing Pkmanb job' - Lr/STua VVools.— Afteradvancing , ' by*'leaps and bounds durinjr the past , mbntTi-, wool and hair have now settled into a quiet, jog trot movement, which, hovvevev, still has an upward tendency. Alpaoa has. tnketv the lead all through. At the moment there is hardly a price for it, the quotations varying from 2a 4d per lb. to some uncertain figure above that. .When.itis remembered thac alpaca—probably within six months—stood at 10id; it will be seen that there may have "been some ■ large fortunes made during its upward 'progress Of course, says Sheep and Wool, the people who dared not buy the article at JOiJd now 'say it is cheap at 2s Sd. There 1 is a vast amount of latent wisdom in the wool trade. Mohair has followed suit, but not to the same extetit,, which is somewhat difficult to understand. If the improvement is soundly based upon a genuine revival of the lustre goods trade,, mohair should: have an equal chance with.alpaca. Lustre wools come nest in order, and have obtained a fair percentage of the advance. Lincoln hogs, which were sold in July at 10£ d., have been sold in November at 14d ; it is even rumoured that 14.|d has been made. Many holders of these wools ask considerably more than these prices, and as they are very careless about selling, the amount of business doing is small for the moment, . Other wools have sympathised in a less degree, the amount of advance being smaller in exact proportion ?s the wool is finer. The price of Downs, for instance., has varied very little since the stock cair.u fairly into fie buyer's possession. Although the dealers in English wool and in alpaca and mohair rely upon a change of fashion to support their market, which change might naturally be expected to tell against colonial wool, it is noteworthy that merino wools are very stiff.

Hereford,? as Beef Producers.—ln America the Herefords found a very staunch advocate in Mr T.-.L. Miller, who published a newspaper, the Breeders' Journal, solely for the purpose of urging their claims on American breeders as beef producers superior to any other breed of cattle. In this paper Mr Miller said some very rough things of the shorthorn. But in the meantime the Aberdeen.-Angus cattle began to claim the fancy of American breeders, and as they had achieved such a decided success in the fat stock market of Great Britain Mr Miller found it convenient, for a while at least, to leave them out of account in the advocacy of his fancy breed. Fiuding now, however, that the black polls have some powerful advocates in the States, men such as Watson (late of Keillor) and R. C. Auld (late of Tillyfour), Mr Miller has seen fit to change his tactics, and he has now taken up a fresh and much more tenable position than that which he first assumed—namely, that as a grazier, pure and simple, the Hereford is inferior to either the .Shorthorn or Aberdeen Angus. So far as Great Britain may be concerned, although there may be no direct evidence in favour of this contention, there is at least this to be said in favour of it, that whereas large numbers of Hereford cattle are annually turned over to the butcher direct from the parks, without any hand feeding, the Scotch farmers, as is well known, are adepts at feeding stock, ami all grass fed cattle from that country are topped up by stall feeding prior to being sent to the London markut. As to which breed of cattle are the thriftiest graziers, Australia is more competent to decide than either Great Britain or America, inasmuch as stall feeding is here unknown, except in the case of a few fancy animals.

The Canadian Milling Lndustrv. —The growth of the milling industry in Manitoba and the North-west has been somewhat remarkable. The first flour made there was ground iu hand mills about tha year 1815, A. band mill cod* listed of two flattened stones, 3 feet in diameter, and from 2to 3 inches thick. The upper stone worked on a spindle", fixed in the lower, which was slightly hollowed. The wheat was poured through a hole in the centre of the upper atone, to which a handle was attached" for turning it. As the requirements of the colonists increased, this primitive method of making flour was nb»n4onod for more improved methods, and the wind, water aud sfcesim mills came in their order. In IS7I- - there were some three or four small pat mills in the Red River Settlements in addition to the wind mills, but it wa» not until 1876, when two steam grist mills were erected in Winnipeg, that any eonsiderablo progress was made in the milling. In the meantime communica- ' tion had been opened with she United States by steamers on iho Red River, and a good portion ef the flour consumed in the settlanjopt was brought down the rive?from Minnosota by steamers aad flat boats. At this time wheat brought from 1 dol. to 1 dol. 75 c. per bushel, and it is said the price never went below SO c. up to the year 1881, brought from 2 dol. 50 c. to, •< del. per sack in the settlement, hi\t. eft wMeni points the price ranged from 8 do],'to 12 dol. per sack, untjl within five or six years ago. The millers oharged 20 cents, for grinding*, or' took every sixth bushel for tos instead of cash. Stones were nse<J fcv grinding purposes until 188% when tha roller was introduced by McMillan Brothers, The capacity, a* the roller process tnills at present in operation in Manitoba and the North-west is over 450Q barrels per day, The largest mill the list is that of the Keewatin Milling Company, which has a capacity of 1200 bnrrels per day. Thft ethers have a daily oapaoity of from 0,0 to, 3,50 barrels, The storage capacity hus crown frow less than 4000 bu-hels in. 18S3, to nearly 7,000,000 bushels at the present time.