S42 



Tins GENi:SEE FARMER. 



Afbioan Oats. — The Neic Jersey Farmer gives 

 an account of a new kind of oats recently grown 

 in Lawrence township, New Jersey, sown on the 

 28th of March, which was fully in seed and was 

 expected to be harvested on the 20th of June. 

 The seed came originally from Cape Town, South 

 Africa. It matures in eleven weeks, and will ad- 

 mit of two crops being grown in one year on the 

 same ground. The yield is bountiful, and the seed 

 took the first prize at the New Jersey State Fair 

 last year. 



Lambert and Orlkaji "Wheat. — In the Ohio 

 Farmer of July 16th is an account of two new 

 varieties of wheat grown within the last three 

 years in Muskingum county, Ohio. One, called 

 Lamlert wheat, is said to be " weevil proof," and 

 yields well. The other is known as Orlean wheat, 

 and ripens so early that it has never been injured 

 by rust or weevil. This kind is said to equal the 

 Blue-stem in produativeness, and has been a good 

 deal disseminated last year in Ohio, Virginia, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Maryland. 



The Rocky Mountain's. — Horace Greely says : 

 "The glorious Rocky Mountains are themselves 

 worth a visit. They are not a range merely, but a 

 chaos of mountains three hundred miles broad, 

 with their forks, their snowy peaks, their grassy 

 bill sides, their ravines, and their glorious forests. 

 Such clean sweet miles on miles of fragrant soft- 

 whispering pines you never imagined. The air is 

 gloriously pure, the hill sides dotted with springs, 

 the ravines musical with running streams that 

 never dry up." 



Australian Items. — We have received copies 

 of tlie Sydneij Alorninr; Herald to April 13th, 

 1859. An expedition has j ust returned from ex- 

 ploring the country to the W. N. W. of Lake Tor- 

 rens, and report the discovery of extensive tracts 

 of couotry in the interior, wel' adapted to pastoral 

 and grazing purposes. Several individuals are 

 about proceeding thither with large (locks of sheep 

 and cattle, to form the neucleus of a settlement. 



Capt. Cadeli, has just succeeded in navigating a 

 small steamer up the river Darling, a distance of 

 600 miles from its moutli, at the time of low water, 

 thus proving the possibility of opening up a means 

 of transporting the staj)les of tlie country — wool 

 and tallow — from the far interior to the seaboard 

 Tia. the Darling, Murrumbidgee, and Murray rivers, 

 at a tithe of the present expense. 



The spirited introduction of the Alpaca into Aus- 

 tralia by Mr. Ledger, after five years hard battling 

 •with the prejudices of the Peruvian government, 

 is but little appreciated by the colonists, no one 



having been found willing to purchase or take tb« 

 responsibility of breeding and raising them. 



The following are the latest quotations given of 

 the wholesale prices at Sydney: Wool, best grades, 

 42 to 50 cts. per lb. ; tallow, $225 to $250 per 

 ton ; Irish butter, 80 cts. per lb. ; cheese, 25 to 30 

 cts. per lb.; American lumber, $5 per 100 feet; 

 cocoa nut oil, $155 per ton; cured hides, $4 each; 

 wheat, $1.85 per bu.; Colonial flour, $95 per ton; 

 American flour, $10.50 per bbl. ; maize 95 eta. 

 per bu. 



DUCKS -THEER MANAGEMENT, &c. 



Every farmer should keep a few of these beauti- 

 ful and useful birds. Those who wish to rid their 

 gardens and orchards of many of the numerous 

 pests that infest them, in the shape of snails, slugs, 

 beetles, grubs, and caterpillars, have only to keep 

 a few ducks, and allow them free access to the 

 plants and beds. So long as an insect is to be 

 found, they wiU not touch the fruit or young 

 plants. 



The domestic duck is acknowledged to havo 

 originated from the common wild duck or Mallard 

 (Anas Boschus) of Europe. The wild and tame 

 ducks to this day will freely intermix and breed 

 with each other ; and by thus crossing the domes- 

 ticated bird with varieties of its wild cogener, have 

 originated the many different varieties we now see. 

 Occasionally, we have known all the ducks in a 

 neighborhood to resume their independence, and, 

 by some unknown concert among each other, sev- 

 eral flocks will rise on their wings at the migrating 

 season in autumn, and, under the leadership of 

 some old drake who has been to the w.irs, they 

 will all unite together and wing their way to the 

 southward, to spend the winter in a more genial 

 clime, amoug the swamps of Louisiana or Carolina. 

 Such was the case with ours in the fall of 1851, 

 when several hundreds joined together and made 

 tracks to the south, "nary one" of which has ye* 

 returned to give an account of his travels, probably 

 thinking that liberty in obscurity is better than 

 fame acquired at the sacrificial altar. Ducks never 

 feel themselves at home about the farm or garden, 

 unless they have free success to water in some way 

 or other; and that is the most certain way of pro- 

 viding against their sudden departure to parts urw- 

 kuown. 



There are many varieties now domesticated, and 

 we give cuts and descriptions of the most promi- 

 nent among them. 



The Mallard or common wild duck, is very 

 widely disseminated, both in Europe and Amnricft, 



