THE fi^OPiCAL AGRICULtt/RlST, 



[Sept. 2, 2886. 



AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 



EUROPE. 



(Special Letter.) 



Paeis, June 12th. — 



Scour iu calves has been rather general of late in 

 France and Belgium. An agriculturist writes, that 

 he rears 30 calves yearly, and never yet lost one 

 from diarrhtoa ; nor has any one who adopted his 

 remedy^ viz., when the first symptoms of the disease 

 set in, he makes the calf drink one or two quarts 

 of cold water after it has suckled ; if very young, 

 one quart will suffice. Continue this during eight days 

 till the diarrhcua has stopped. 



What is the value of the residue-roots and stubble, 

 left behind in the soil after the crop has been reaped ? 

 The materials taken from the air and the soil during 

 the development of the plant, are not all exported 

 with the harvest. There remain in the soil some 

 <iuantities, very variable in chemical richness and 

 amount, following the nature of the crop, and calculated 

 to enrich thi^ layer of arable earth. Phosphoric acid, 

 nitrogen, lime, magnesia and potash are the chief plant 

 -food ingredients left behind. Those crops whose 

 residue contains most mineral or nitrogenous subs- 

 tances, will proportionably be the most valuable. Tak- 

 ing some luzerne, red clover, sain-foin, rye, colza, 

 oats, wheat and barley, and carefully removing all 

 foreign substances from the roots and remnant stems, 

 an acre of luzerne, and red clover will leave of such 

 residue 4i tons ; rye and sainfoin, 2| tons ; wheat 26 cwt., 

 oats, 28 'cwt., and barley, 18 cwt. In mineral rich- 

 ness, clover, rye, oats and luzerne respectively, are 

 the best, and barley the worst; while in point of 

 nitrogen, the order isr clover, luzerne, sainfoin, rye, 

 colza, oats, wheat and barley. In both cases, clover 

 is at the top and barley at the bottom of the com- 

 parisons. Further ; clover and barley leave behind in 

 the soil, the following proportions iu pounds per acre, 

 of — lime, 257 and 38 ; magnesia 48 and 3 ; potash, 81 

 and 10 ; phosphoric acid, 74 and 12. 



Hence, the quantities of nitrogenous and mineral 

 matters thus left behind in the form of stubble and 

 roots, is not unimportant, and to be remembered when 

 manuring for succeeding crops. But it must not be 

 forgotten at the same time, these food ingredients 

 cannot be utilized, till the residue has been destroyed 

 and transformed, under the influence of the microbes 

 of the soil and chemical action. 



The late M. Bouley, head veterinary inspector, laid 

 down, that the shoeing of horses, was intimately 

 connected with the prosperity of a realm. He classed 

 the " farriers," among the useful arts. It is diflacult 

 in any case to conceive, how the " noble animal " 

 could be utilized in civilised countries, on paved or 

 macadamized roads, without an iron-protected hoof. 

 Over natural roads, hard or rugged though they may 

 be, the ordinary growth of the horny shield of the 

 hoof, is ample protection. Should the wear and tear 

 be excessive, why, the animal must be allowed, as 

 •with the Boers, to lie by till the born grows. A 

 footsore horse soon becomes lame, unless in the 

 absence of a farrier, rice straw boots be resorted to. 

 which was the custom in old Japan, Even the Arabs, 

 though their horses have but sandy tracts to patter 

 over, esteem a shod horse, of greater value than 

 one left to nature. In modern horse-shoeing, France 

 has much leeway to make up, and so it is not sur- 

 prising that a society is to be formed for promoting 

 improvements in farriery. This ought not to be, as 

 the Gauls shod their horses before they were con- 

 quered by the Romans, just as do their descendants 

 in modern France today. And it was William the 

 Conqueror who introduced farriery into Englatul, The 

 shoe is the fulcrum, the motive power of the horse. 

 The horny part of the foot grows all the same, whether 

 shod or free; but if the former, it has to be per- 

 iodically pared to keep it in shape, in harmony with 

 its plate armour. Hence, for working horses especially, 

 the necessity of periodically changing the shoes. 

 The hoof would become disproportionately long, and 

 the grip, the motive power, or sustained balance of 

 the horse, would be derauged. If it be essential not 



to wear away the hoof quicker than it grows, it is 

 also important to not permit it .so to develop, as to 

 waste the animal's power of draught. The hoof is 

 only the covering, the shell or case, over a very 

 sensitive organ. Too often the principle was to rasp 

 the hoof so as to make it fit the shoe. Nature was 

 compelled to be subservient to man's errors. All the 

 art of shoeing consists in m.aking it not a fetter, but 

 a buffer or shield, against extra wear, over artificial 

 surfaces. There are farriers who forget that the fore 

 foot, which is round, is of the same importance as 

 the hinder ones which are oval. French farriers ought 

 to pare less and trust more to the rasp-save for the 

 front .of the foot, than the knife, to secure equality 

 of level on both sides. Shoe.s ought not to be either 

 too heavy or too light ; neither too small nor too large. 

 There is also something to be effected in nails and 

 nailing on, and a greater readiness to try new models, 

 no matter whether they be shoes from America or 

 England. 



♦ ■ 



THE COL-IND EXHIBITION. 



Cyprus. — The exhibits from this i-ecent addition to 

 the British possessions are not numerous, but they 

 are nevertheless of very great interest, jmrticularly 

 from an antiquarian point of view. There are, how- 

 ever, comparatively few vegetable products, and these 

 include sections of the principle timber trees, and 

 collections of fruits and seeds, none of which call for 

 any remark except, perhaps, some fine pods of the 

 Carob bean, .St. John's Bread or Locust (Ceratonia 

 siliqua), and a sample of a coarse kind of molasses 

 or honey, extracted from them. These dark brown or 

 blackish beans are well known in most towns, and 

 are usually to be seen in small shops in poor neigh- 

 bourhoods, being sold to children who eat them for 

 the sake of the sugar they contain. About 30,000 

 tons of these beans are annually shipped from Cyprus, 

 the average price being about £'.i per ton. They are 

 principally used for making the patent cattle foods 

 now so much advertised. At one time Locust pods 

 had a reputation for clearing the voice, and were 

 used for that purpose by singers. 



An object of especial attention from Cyprus is the 

 native cart, such as has been in use for over 2,000 

 years, and is still used iu the island. Its construction 

 is of the roughest character, the wood being simply 

 hewn with an axe, and the whole init together with- 

 out the use of a nail. 



Queensland. — This court is contiguous to Canada, 

 and the first things that strike us on entering it 

 are two magnificent trunks of Australian Cediu- (Ced- 

 rela toona) ; one of these measures 20 feet 5 inches 

 in girth, and the other 18 feet 8 inches ; each trunk 

 is about 14 or 15 feet high, they are said to weigh 

 5 tons each and are the largest logs in the whole 

 exhibition; they are certainly most noble specimens. 

 A piece of each is cut out in front, and polished to 

 show the grain, which is even, of a beautiful deep 

 red colour, easily worked, and takes a good polish; 

 the wood is very generally used by cabinet-makers 

 in Queensland and New South Wales, as well as in 

 India and Burma, where the tree also grows. The 

 trunks iu question were grown on the Blackall Range 

 in the Moretou district. Woods are particularly well 

 shown in the Queensland court ; the collection is very 

 complete; they are all carefully selected and are well 

 cut, polished, and labelled, and amongst them are 

 some or more than usual interest, especially iiniongst 

 the Liliaceie, Palms, and Filices, such, for instance, 

 as Draciena anguslifolia, PtycLospermia Normanbyi 

 Tyicuala Muelleri, Dicksonia Youiigii, &c-. These, of 

 course, are more of scientific than commercial iuteie-t, 

 but there are a very largf number that should at- 

 tract the attention of the cabinet-maker. An excellent 

 descriptive catalogue ot these woods has been pre- 

 pared by Mr. F. N. Bailey, F. L. S. (Colonial Botanist), 

 which consists of eighty-six pages, and treats of 427 

 woods arranged under their natural orders and 

 genera. 



New South Wales — Though the collection 

 from tliia colony is very exteueive, and thuro aro 



