662 



TBB AGniCVLfVBAL JOVttNAL. 



Gieaningsm 



Pirate Chief a son of Buccaneer, had his 

 career spoiled by a curious accident. His lad 

 left him in his box on a single rack-chain while 

 he -went to fetch something, and omitted to put 

 up the stirrup irons. The horse turned to bite 

 at a fly or something, and got the side of the 

 near iron fixed between his teeth, and, struggling 

 to get free, broke the rack chain, reared up, fell 

 over, and ricked his back. He never fully re- 

 covered from the effects of the fall. 



Denmark, the great butter-making country of 

 the world, bought last year 35,000,000 pounds of 

 oleo oil from the United States. Last year 

 England bought nearly £8,000,000 worth of 

 butter from Denmark, but the frugal Dane 

 spreads oleo on his own bread. Oleo costs him 

 15 cents, a pound, while England pays 40 cents, 

 a pound for his best butter. It will be seen that 

 the Dane does not pay butter prices for his oleo. 



Treacle, like all sugary compounds, is very 

 fattening, and the expt^rience of many feer'ers 

 (says the " Agricultural World ") confirms the 

 opinion that, when used with discretion, it is 

 capable of being very advantageously employed 

 in the fattening of farm stock. It is, of course, 

 best adapted for use when the animals are being 

 house-fed, and the most effective plan of giving 

 it is to dilate it witb hot water, and pour it over 

 the chaffed fodder which the animals are receiv- 

 ing. In the use of treacle— as, indee d, in the use 

 of all foods— moderation must be exercised 

 at the commencement, and only a small quantity 

 given. A pound per head per day is quite 

 enough for a beginning, but when vhe systems 

 of the animals become accustomed to it— for, as 

 is well known, it is very laxative in its effects— 

 as much as 31b. per day may be given with ad- 

 vantage to full-sized cattle. 



Mr. N. W. Stirling, the secretary of the Pas- 

 torahsts' Association of Souih Australia and 

 West Darling, who is now seiving as remount 

 oflBcer, with the rank of lieutenant, in De Lisle's 

 South Australians, in the Wynberg district of 

 South Africa, writes as follows :— " I have never 

 seen such a big area of good grazing country 

 anj where before. I put tie bulk of it at the 

 worst at two acres to a sheep. Down this end 

 the homesteads are very good indeed— good, sub- 

 stantial housfs, good gardens, good dams, and 

 first-class fences There is a lot of twaddle 

 talked about the Boeis being behind the times, 

 for in many cases they are far ahead of us. All 

 the improvements they have made are really 

 first-class. The cattle a'e small but aood sorts, 

 I should say scmething more like Devons than 

 anj thing else we have. They are very even for 

 size and colour (red or black). The sheep are 

 mean, but it must be considered no ferious at- 

 tempt has ever been made to improve them. 

 Horses, so so. Of course, one difficulty is how 

 soon a man will be able to settle on the land. 

 I should say not for tw© years, at any rate." 



The London market for frozen mutton has 

 further advanced. Australian mutton is id 

 dearer, at 3id., a price that compares with 2d. to 

 2Jd. at the beginning of June, when thelmarket 

 was at its worst. River Plate mutton has ad- 

 vanced 5-16d., and is now quoted at 3id. 



The English wheat crop is estimated at 

 54,250,0t;0 bushels, or more than the produc- 

 tion of the Australian Commonwealth and New 

 Zealand combined. Yet we are given to regard 

 the English agriculturist as much behind the 

 times. He gets an average yield of 28 to 34 

 bushels per acre. We are pleased with 12 

 bushels. — " Pastoralists' Review." 



The virtues of that old-fashioned and easily- 

 procured drink, buttermilk, have not been half 

 sung these days. Physicians say that its lactic 

 acid is even more healthful than the citric dcid 

 of oranges and hmons. It is credited, too, by 

 those who should know, as being of value to a 

 rheuD-atic patient. It has been found to be both 

 nourishing and fattening, as well as remarkably 

 easy of assimilation. If liked at all, it is un- 

 doubtedly a bttter drink in summer than n any 

 of the carbonated, artificially-flavoured drinks 

 that|are coLSumed in almost unlimited quanti- 

 ties. 



A Chicago harvester company has secured a 

 track of 54,000 acres of Jhardwood timber, from 

 which it will attempt to raise the timber used in 

 the manufacture of its implements It is the 

 first instance or an Americain manufacturing 

 concern to employ modern forest methods in 

 raising timber for its own use. A p an is being 

 perfected for the intelligent and economical 

 working of this track, which will include the re- 

 movirg of lets valuable species. The merchant- 

 able timber will also be cut without injury to 

 the growth of the fsrest. The track consist* 

 chiefly of oak, ash, and hickory, which are the 

 woods chiefly used in the manufacture of agri- 

 cultural implements. 



Thus Mr. Roosevelt, now President of the 

 United States, described his favourite shooting 

 pony in " Hunting Trips of a Ranchman " : 

 " Stoutly built and strong, able to carry a good- 

 sized buck behind his rider for miles, without 

 minding it in the least ; be is very enduring and 

 very hardy, not only picking up a living, but 

 even growing fat when left to shift for himself 

 under very hard conditions ; he is perfectly 

 surefooted, and as fast as any horse on the 

 river. Though both wilHng and spirited, he is 

 very gentle, and will stay grazing in one spot, 

 when left, and will permit himself to be caught 

 without difficulty. Add to these virtues the 

 fact that he will let any dead beast or thing be 

 packed on him, and will allow a man to shoot 

 offhis back or right by him without moving, 

 and it is evident he is nearly perfect as hunting 

 horseflesh can be." 



