FRAM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 3495, 17 November 1894, Page 3

FRAM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD NOTES.

What Tii by Think of the Soupildowns in America.-Why Southdowns are preferred in tlio United States of America is said by the American Sourhdowns Breeders' Association to be-" Becau»o they are go kardy ; because they are the earliest to mature; because they market more meat to the acre than any other live stock; because it costs less to produce their meat thau in the case of any other domestic anhml; beoauso they produce the best meat, their mutton is best graded with fat and lean, and is the juiciest and best flavoured; because mutton is worth more than wool; because they are certain in impressing their good qualities upon other breeds; because they are the most beautiful; and becauss they are the best sheep in the country." Remedy fob the Oabbigb Cater-riLLAr,-A mixture of 10 lb. soot, 8 lb, nitrate of soda, and 1 lb. ammonia, sprinkled oa the cabbages whilst the dew is on them is about the best remedy known for the caterpillar which riddles the leaves of cabbages. The mixture acts directly upon the larva), but more by stimulating' growth ahd enabling the plant to beat its enemy. A healthy vigorous tree or plant can always fight the battle with fungus parasites and insect pests better than one which is weak, ill-natured and sickly, but even the strongest tree or plant will fall a prey to its enemies if nothing come* to destroy the attacking forces. Cultivators mii3t aid their plants by good cultivation and the application of stimulants. If no natural enemy of the fundus or insect attack should . appear, the cultivator should use artificial means, such as lime, soot, hellebore, Paris green, emulsion, sulphur, or other proper medium. Rape.-This is a splendid fodder for sheep, pigs, and dry cattle, but not for dairy cows wheo in milk. It is dangerous to turn animals upon rape, sorghum, maize, or any rank luxuriant vegetation when they are very hungry, as they are very likely then to become bloated. Rape enriches the soil in some respects, and cleanses • it, but to make sure of a good crop the land should be deeply and well prepared, and heavily manured. Sometimes a wheat-sick field will yield a splendid crop of rape without any manuring, and the land will afterwards give a good wheat crop again. On well-prepared ground 1 lb of seed will serve to drill an acre of land, but if the soil is dry a little more seed may be needed. If sown broadcast abort 3 lb 'Will be required, and if intended to be ploughed under as a green manure 5 lb will be needed. White Dwarf Essex rape is the best for fodder purposes, but if grown for seed the common rape will be the best.-Adelaide Observer, Poult&y Breeding for the English Mabkkt.—An intere*tinjr pamphlet of poultry breeding for the English markets has been prepared by the Victorian Agricultural department, and can be obtained on application to the secretary, Mr D.Martin. It is pointed out (says the Australasian) that satisfactory proof has been obtained from the recent shipments of dressed poultry to London that poultry breeding and rearing here can be made a very profitable undertaking with very little expense or labour. When poultry was almost unsaleable here, that dressed and sent to>Eugland realised Sd.a pair I for cticlcehs'and llOid forMuckUiThcte is, it is stated, an unlimited market in England for our poultry, and the industry is one that has a great future .before it, the Victorian climate being exceptionally favourable for the breeding and raising of poultry. The pamphlet is issued with the view of encouraging a large export trade in this article, and of instructing those who intend embarking in the industry, as it is essential that the birds intended for export should be of the best quality, so that the trade may be rapidly developed and b >,corae permanently established. The manner in* which poultry should be housed and accommodated, the' stock' to breed irom, and the methods of hatching, rearing, and fattening are given. Plates fihowing the difference between the various breeds of fowls and ducks are attached to the pamphlet. Pepsin Manufacture.-Pepsin is a ferment, being the agent by which a portion of the food which is taken into the stomach is dissolved and fitted for assimilation. It is obtained from the lining or mucous membrane of the stomachs of various animils-that from the .-tomach of the hog being generally preferred. The method' of preparation is as follows; The fresh stomachs are de« prived of their fat and divested of their outer coating, cut open, gently washed with cold water, and macerated for several days in a piokle, This pickla is composed of water 30 parts and hydrochloric acid one part, and requires frequeut stirring. The liquid is next strained and filtered clear through coarse paper, or allowed to stand / 24 hours, and then poured off. Common suet, is then added and thoroughly mixed with' the liquid. The/ pepsin rises to the top, and after stoiiding is skimmed off. After this it is drained in a strainer, t*>en submitted to strong pressure to force out all that is possible of the ealine solution. Next it is carefully dried.in warm air without other heat. The resultant constitutes the crude pepsin, which is used for making purified pepsin, &c. " Purified pepsin " is prepared by the crude pepsin before drying in water acidulated with hydrochloric acid, then adding just sufficient sal l- , to separate it from its solution. It is next washed gently with cold water and drained, pressed and dried rapidly on glass with gentle heat. - " Tho National Provisioner," New York and Chicago. At the Shambles.—A controversy has arisen in the Dundee Adveriiser on tho relative merits of the Jewish method of slaughtering cattle and the method

employed by English butchers, Dr Dembo, of the Russian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has instituted an inquiry, and conies to the conclusion that the Jewish method is the more humane. He siys, from his experiments and observations, thar ihe iniiiiuil loses consciousness in from three to five seconds by the Jewish method, owing to ihe draining of blood from the brain. Tne involuntary struggling thiit follows tiilces place when the animal is in an unconscious state, so that the struggling is not to be considered as an evidence of pain. The learned doctor contends that a cur, made with a sharp knife is almost painless, especially in the neck, where there arc few sensory nerves cut. He visited some of the slaughterhouses, and there he saw that by thb method of stunning the animal some four or five blows ware yiven before it lost consciousness. Another advautage claimed for the Jewish system is that 72 par cent, of blood is drawn from the animal, leaving only 28 per cc-nt. in the bloodvessels. When death is produced by stunning only 28 per cent, is drawn off, tho balance remaining in the bloodvessels. As a consequence, killed under the Jewish system will remain fresh longer than that from stunned animals. Dr Denbo concludes by saying that if the word "ideal" could be employed in connection with the killing of any animal, it would be applicable to the Jewish method of slaughter,

Oleomargarine.—On the subject of oleomargarine Professor G. C. Caldwell, of Cornell University, U.S.A. says:— " The number 14, which we may call the Reichert number, after the name of the chemist who discovered the method, ranges for genuine butter from 10 upwards for two and one-half grammes of butter fat, or 20 upwards for five grant mes of fat. The highest number for oleo oil, lard, or tallow is less than one, and for cottonseed oil and cocoanut o'l seven. By these means there is not the slightest difficulty in distinguishing pure butter from pure oleo oil, or the other prepara tions of a similar character; nor is it difficult to distinguish butter adulterated with perhaps 50 per cent, of oleo oil and upwards, but the results are not sufficiently positive for adulteration with lower amounts, Furthermore, since some animal oils that can be procured in quantity have been found to contain so large a proportion of these glycerides yielding volatile fatty acids that, by the addition of them to oleo oil, the Keichert number can be brought up to that for genuine butter with little diffculty, our dependence ou either of these two methods for detecting the adulteration may yet be made very insecure. For instance, porpoise jaw oil has been found to yield a fatty acid mixture by saponification, ana so on, of which the Reichert number ranges from 46 to 66; it needs only that this oil shall be so refined as to deprive it of its fishy taste and odour in order that it may be u«ed to put chemists entirely off the scent in the use of their analytical methods for the detection of adulteration -;With oleomargarine. > A multitude of simple tests have been proposed from time to time, and of such a very simple character that anyone can make them with the simplest of appliance-; but they have; little value, being usually quite and no conviction could ever be based on any one of them or on all of them combined." Farm Gardens.-A contributor to the Otago Witness; writes as follows --It is thought by some to be a true saying that a good/ farmer is a good gardener, and vi«e versa, and that if one sees a nice, wellkept garden the farm is sure to be in keeping with it. Ido not think, however, that any rule is true in this respect, for the reason,that gardeniug seems to be a matter of individual taste, and therefore though a man may take great interest in bis farm and be considered a good farmer by his friends and neighbour, his flower beds and kitchen garden may be of little account, I am inclined to think that good irardeners, like musicians and poets, are boni, not mads, and this is especially triie'of the flower gardener, for unless the farmer or some one of his family is fond of flowers for their own sake they will receive but little attention, if in evidence at all. I. know for a fact that to many a good farmer the garden is a Dugbear, because he' hates to be bothered with it himself, and grudges the expense of hired labour for it. Those who do not care for devoting odd times and leisure hours to tho garden patch are secretly envious of others who spare no pains in that direction, and profess to have a lordly contempt for digging, hoeing, aud raking. I am aware from persoual experience that digging is very uninteresting work, and not at all a pleasant employment for a farmer's leisure time, or what would be leisure time if he had i o garden, to attend to, A taste for gardening necessitates a fondness for hard work to keep it up, and what with weeding, sowing, aud slug-huntiog a farmer has never a minute to himself when off farm woik. Then the wor.st of it is that the spring, when there' is so much to do in the fields, is the time when the garden requires most attention, and it is no wonder if the farmer and hi* sons say, when urg.-d to do up the garden, " What does it matter about the warden? It doesn't hrinir in money. Let's got the crops in fih-r. There's so much workstaring us in the face that we don't know which job to tackle first." And so unless a hired boy can be employed who is handy with the spade the garden goes to the wall unlit it is too late to do any mood with it\ Nevertheless every farmer by hook or by crook should endeavour to grow vegetables! for his family, seeing how good and wholesome they are, and how pleasant a change from the not too varied diet of humble colonial homes,