THE AORICULfURAL JOURNAL 



Gleaningsm 



Mr. Edward Topsell, who wrote on hors.s, 

 among other animals, in the year 1(507, telh us 

 " concerning the drink of horses ; brackish and 

 troubled water, such as run softly, as in grea^i 

 ponds, is fittest for horses, because tbat water, 

 being hot and thick, nourisheth better, but 

 the swift water is colder and therefore more 

 unwholesome." To encourige a horss to drink, 

 it was recommended to wash his mouth inside 

 with salt and wine, " and that will make him 

 drink more liberally." Drinking much and 

 " the horse thrusting his head in deep into the 

 troubled water is an infallible sign of his good- 

 ness." 



In buying their pigs in the country markets, 

 English bacon curers, or rather their representa- 

 tives, always give the preference to animals with 

 good coats of hair, and invariably take occasion 

 of the non-possession by a pig of such covering 

 to belittle the value of the animals in the eyes 

 of their owners. The reason for this is that bacon 

 curers have found out that pigs with plenty of 

 hair usually give a better quality of meat than 

 those devoid of a good coat. Meat obtained 

 from such pigs has the lean and the fat well 

 mixed, and, as a rule, the fat is also of a firmer 

 quality than that of the fatter and less hairy 

 types of pigs to be met with in many parts 

 of the country. 



It is not generally known that two crops of 

 cabbages can be obtained from one plant, and 

 perhaps if it were known there are few besides 

 small growers who would practise the art. When 

 a good cabbage has been produced, cut it off 

 without disturbiog the roots ; split the stump 

 down nearly to the ground and continue to cul- 

 tivate the soil as usual, After a short time 

 several buds will form, all but one of which on 

 each piece of stump should be removed. The 

 solitary bud will develop a fine head, which can 

 be cooked. If all the buds are leit after the 

 first cutting, seeds will be produced, and these 

 will ba as good as if raised from the first head, 

 provided they are not crossed with pollen from 

 inferior plants. 



It is estimated that the value of poultry and 

 eggs produced in the United States reaches the 

 sum of £80,000,000 annually. Among the agri- 

 cultural industries poultry is about fourth in 

 position, only maize, wheat, and dairj ing rank- 

 in; above it The great live sto(k purchasing 

 and meat-packing establishments have added 

 poultry-packing to their businesses, and are buy- 

 ing poultry and eggs on a large scale and open- 

 ing up new markets. The live poultry is bought 

 and sent to centrally-situated placas, where it is 

 dressed and held in cold storage for market, 

 being distributed in such quantities as not to 

 glut the market at any time. Tbi.s has greatly 

 stimulated the production of poultry and eggs, 

 and poult.'-y farms are increasing rapidly in 

 numbers. 



A v.iried career has been that of Anthony 

 Huxtable, the recdntly-retired huntsman of the 

 Devon and Somerset Staghounds. "Pursuing 

 many vocations," s a) s Mr. Ever ed in his inter- 

 esting book, Staghutiting on Exnioar, Anihony 

 became in turn farm-boy, milk-carrier in Barn- 

 staple, teamster, iron-miner, peat-cutter, and 

 drainer (in which capacity he cut many of the 

 f rest gutters that he has since ridder over), 

 quarryman, 'bus-driver, and billia-d marker, 

 showing an all-round aptitude." 



Referring to the condition of farm labourers 

 in England the " Agricultural Gazette " says : — 

 '' They stand out alone as the one agricu tural 

 class better oif at the end of the century than 

 they were at the beginning. Wages were never 

 so high as they are now, and tha necessaries and 

 luxuries of lite, taken altogether, were never as 

 cheap before the last decade as they have been 

 in that period. It may be added that employ- 

 ment was never before as regular as it is now. 

 Labourers may have received more money when 

 their wives and children worked on the land, and 

 they were paid supplementary wages out of ihe 

 poor rate under the old Poor Law ; but it is cer 

 tain that their standard of living is better now 

 than when they and their families were treated 

 as paupers." 



In the Camperdown d strict of Victoria three 

 dairy factories distributed to milk supplieis 

 during the year ending June 30th, UOl, the sum 

 of £157,000. The Camperdown factory pur- 

 chased 3,320,140 galls, of milk, tha Glenormiston 

 2 908.265 galls., and the Cobden 2,209 820 galls. 

 In addition to these three large factories there 

 are six smaller ones, so that the d stribution of 

 money from the daiiy factories alone must reach 

 considerably over £200,000 per annum. When 

 the returns from the by-pr( ducts, i.e , calves, pigs, 

 poultry, etc , and from milk or cream sent out of 

 the district are also taken into consideration, it 

 will be seen tbat the district in question is en- 

 joying a marked prosperity through the develop- 

 ment of the dairying inlustry. 



Arrangements have been made, says the 

 " Australafian," by Messrs. Vecht and Stokvis 

 with Mr. Cecil Rhodes for the establishment of 

 a bacon-curing factory in South Afrca. It is 

 understood that the supply of raw material is to 

 be obtained from Austrai'a, the meat being 

 partly cured h' re, then frozen, and shipped, and 

 finally prepared at the factory in South Africa, 

 and it is believed tbat when the trade is built up 

 a large qusaitity, probably 1,000 carcases per 

 week, could be taken, if the supply is obtainable. 

 Assuming that tht proje< t is succes-sful, it will 

 have an important effect on the pig-breeding in- 

 dustry. Jbitherto there have been periodical 

 deprtssions in the market for pork, as a legular 

 export trade has never been ettablished, but if 

 some such price as 3d. per lb. could be looked for 

 I hen the industry would be placed on a much 

 more stable basis. 



