The National tribune., 1883-02-01
TIE LANrANA IN ArsTRALIA.
NOTES AND EXTRACTS.

extent of country valucless until ii has been
rooted up and burnt.
NOTES AND EXTRACTS.
4 Digest of Information COLLECTED From Various
Sources.
Where soils are not naturally deep it is good
/ practice to subsoil them. Especially IS this the
! case where drought prevails in summer. Th;
roots or plants 20 deeply down in such soils
aId can thus sustain the plants through very
/ dry seasons The Gaudriion has n long tap root
/ which thus enables it to live when other les
favored plants die. During recent summers
drought thc plant, 4 nuisance OH lawns, has AT
no time during the months of absence of rain
shown the least indication of dying out 1t ac
c0a!NoGatca itself TO the conditions. and, crowd
ing down into the turf spread out its broad
leaves to shelter its roofs, and waited i'll green
ness and serenity for better weather" EX-
animation of these plants, At 4 time when thg
ground for distance of three feet below the
surface was entirely without moisture. disclosed
the interesting fact that directly around the
roo. and under the crouchiu% leaves there was
always moisture in the hottest hours of the
day. The leaves served rs mulch. preventing
evaporation, and the roots had pushed down to
Il point far deeper than any grass roots could
20. Loose ground below invites roots to pene-
trate it, aud this is when the moisture is to be
II
FEEDING SHEEP.
In England the system of the early f:lttaning
oE their improved breeds OF sheep is gaining
ground The earlier the process of fattening
commences and the sooner il is over the greater
the economy in the consumption of food, al
though II max have to be 81 4 Tlcncr and more
expensive character. A very large number OF
sheep which formerly would have been kept
until two years Old, are now sold fat at twelve
aud fourteen months old at similar weights.
The price of mutton of the best quality i'll Eng
land suffers less than any other agricultural
commodity from foreign competition. The
feeding of grain or oil-cabc in the summer, cut
ting the roots for young fatting sheep and Civ
ing larger proportion of dry food with tur-
rins or other watery food, are all modern inn
provements in the British system Of feeding
sheep.
CUREYING COWS.
1t is claimed by the advocates of COW curry
ing that ii cieanses the hide of superfluOus hair,
keeps it active and healthtul and void OF that
peculiar odOr so commonly found in milk and
sometimes III butter; that it promotes the Sc
erection and disposition of the putrid particles
of the animal system when would otherwis,
be absorbed h. the secretory glands and be car
ried of iii the milk and leaves the latter not
only purer but much better and gives promis,
TO the butter-makcr Of higher color and a
purer favor TO the butter from the churn, hence
Il higher price i'll the marker.
wINTERING BEEG
A dry pit is very well adapted for wintering
bees, even though it be not wholly secure from
frost; the temperature will be much milder
and more uniform than in the open air or
cellar; the bees will be more secure from any
disturbance and will be protected from the
piercing cold winds, which cause more injury
than the greatest degree of cold where the air
is calm.
SUGAR BETS.
4 member of the Elmira Farmers Club says
I" can raise more pounds of sugar bcets to the
acre than of mangels; STIMULATING that the
ground must be very good, as mine is, and | do
not find any difficulty in gathering them. Be
sides, sugar bcets viii stand drouth much better
than any variety of mangels have ever seen"
THE DAT CROP.
This crop in its uses is so allied with corn
that the low yield and high price of maize last
season had its effect upon the price of oats, and
the increase Of value stimulated in turn the
extension of area, so that per cent. was added
TO the breadth On the lst Of June the condi
ton of the crop was higher than in any pre-
vious year since 1868. The only cereal crop
that did not meet with disaster last year was
exceedingly thrifty at the commencement Of
the present season, promising another large
NiCihs III JblS bIIC pIpilIISC hti0 oIili SOOu VI
more than an average crop. There were some
reports Of the army worm aphis, and small in
sects at the roots popularity described as " mid
gets in Maryland and Virginia. The army
worm WAS injurious III West Virginia, and in
Missouri the chinch bug appeared III some force.
The average Of general condition kept up to
100 until harvest, 4. G., the average result,
though varying in different States, equalled in
the aggregate a full yield for all. This has
happened but once in thirteen years-in 1877
when the average yield per acre was BIG bush
els, and the average value only 29.2 cents per
bushel the lowest price Tor thirteen years with
the exception of 1875, when another crop Of
larger area and nearly as great a yield per acre,
and a large surplus from 1877, the price fell to
24G cents in December.
The average yield from 1871 to 1881, inclus-
i've, was Z1.6 per acre, about a bushel more than
the average yield Of corn for the same period.
The average price on the 1st Of December has
averaged 3G1 cents for the same term of years.
From 1879 to 1879 the annual average was below
this figure on account Of good yields and increase
of area. In 1850 enlarged demand brought the
average to 80 cents, and in 1881 the scarcity Of
corn advanced il to asa cents. With q large
corn crop there would have been no advance.
The yield per acre of the present crop is above
an average OF a series Of years and the product,
with increased area, is the largest ever har-
vested in this country. The preliminary es-
innate Of production in 1882 is 40, 656, 69i
bushels.-From Report Of Commissioner Of Agri-
culture for 1852