818 
Supplement to the " Tr./piai Agriculturist." 
[May I, 1899. 
reach 10, 11 and 12 lbs, in wsight, while the ducks 
turn the scale at 6, 7 and 7h lbs. Growing 
quickly and maturing early they are fit to kill as 
early as eight weeks old. The females are des- 
cribed as good sitters producing laige broods, 
nevertheleis they are great scavengers and re- 
quire plenty of food — being particularly partial 
to meat. They will go the length of eating up 
each others' young to satisfy their appetite. Tlie 
drakes are much given to fighting, and as a result 
become very rugged after a time. Muscovies a'-e 
not great layers, but will keep it up off and on all 
the year though if allowed to hatch their own 
youngs Five eggs often go to weigh a pound. It 
is thought that tiiey cannot be improved upon for 
table use by crossing with other breeds, and are 
better kept to themselves and bred as naturally as 
possible. If not killed young for the table the 
flesh has an unpleasant musky flavour. 
A correspondent writing to The Dairy makes 
out that there are certain unknown virtues in 
Castor-oil, which go to make it a most useful 
agent in the improvement of the milking capacity 
of the herd. He describes how ne brought a 
Jersey cow milking in only three teats, and these 
were covered with warts. The fourth teat was 
quite dry, and about half the size of tlie others, 
and that quarter of the udder shrunk to Itss than 
half its proper size. He goes on to .say : "In two 
months I had milk coming from the blind teat, 
and every wart gone ; in twelve months 1 had her 
udder as perfectly shaped as was ever seen. Breed 
had not been able to resist bad treatment in this 
case, but responded to good feeding and good 
handing in a most surprising manner. Tlie prac- 
tical lesson from this is, don"t cast a well-made 
milker because she has gone wrong through bad 
treatment. Try good feeding, and rub castor oil 
into the udder after every milking. 2\o one can 
imagine the effect of castor oil on the mammary 
glands unless they have tried it. Once having 
made your good milker, remember she is a 
machine that requires constant and most careful 
looking after, just like any other machine thai has 
to be kept running at high pressure. Having got 
your machine in the best of order, turning out a 
good reliable article, don't sell it to anyone that 
is not willing to pay according to quality." 
At the Cape they have a bill for checking the 
spread of insect pests and j)lant diseases, and for 
preventing the introduction of the same from 
abroad by means of imported fruit, plants, &c. 
Some time ago we heard of a proposal to enforce 
quarantine measures in the case of plants im- 
ported into the Island and for fumigating all such 
before allowing them to pass into the interior, 
but there has been no practical issue so far. 
The report of the Government Eutomalogist of 
the Cape of Good Hope for 1897 contains the 
terms of the bill referred to above and the regula- 
tions based thereon, as well as an illustrated 
description of the treatment of infected and im- 
ported vegetable produce. 
It was stated some time ago that Australian 
leather was rejected by the military authorities of 
Great Britain as not being sufficiently tanned to 
meet the requirements of the borne GoTernmenti 
and that the English-made leather throughout 
showed a marked fiuperiority over the colonial 
article. There is no doubt that pome inferior 
Australian leather is from time to time placed on 
the Engli-rli m irket*, but it is hardly fair to judge 
all the colonial leather with this tlie standard. 
It is evident ih;it the superiority in quality is in 
a great measure due to tlie process uf tanning, the 
oak-funned lii lee and skins, for in*tauce, being 
considered far l>ett€r adapted for purposes of trade 
than that cured and preserved by means of wattle 
bark. Witliiu a fairly recent date it has been the 
privilege of a Queensland firm of leather manu- 
facturers to ojien up a new departure in the art of 
tanning, which for effectiveness and durability i« 
said to be one of the most valuable patents in the 
trade. The patent is the prope:ty of Messrs. 
Dyball & Co., Limited, Toowong, near Bri^baue, 
and is known as the gum process, the eucalyptus 
gum having proved an excellent tanning medium, 
and completes the work of tanning in about half 
the time ordinarily required. Thn leather samples 
are of excellent quality, and work up well, while 
the sole leather, for hardness and solidity, is 
considered bj* many expert boot and shoe manu- 
facturers throughout the colonies as equal to 
anything that could be possibly procured from the 
old country. The proce-s seems particularly 
adapted to the tanning of fur skins, the texture 
of the leather being very clooe, and the fur show- 
ing no tendency to full out. Mr. Dyball is pre- 
paring an exhibit for the Greater Britain Exhibi- 
tion, and is also getting up samples of buff and 
piano leather, which, we are informed, is a new 
departure for the colonies. Operaiioiis at present 
are not on an extensive scale, but development in 
this direction is only a question of lirae. This 
process has been patented in all tiie colonies, the 
registered office of the company is at Adelaide- 
street, Brisbane, and the Secretary, Mr. J. Steven- 
son, will be pleased to answer any inquiriea. 
In referring to the different methods of pre- 
serving eggs we made mention of water-glass as 
among tlie best preservative media. Wliitthis 
aubstance is is not generally known. Water-glass 
is silicate of soda. It is easily dissolved in water 
and is used for a great many purposes. For 
egg preservation, boil 10 gallou-s of water to 
kill all germs. A^'hen the water is cold, add to it 
a gallon of soda silicate or water-glass and pour 
over the eggs until they are immersed in the 
fluid. The cost of the silicate of ."oda is 10s. per 
cwt. in Europe, and 9d. per lb. for small quanti- 
ties here. 
Quite lately we were referred to bj' a gentle- 
man who was full of the idea of starting trawling 
operations, on the rnost modern Hues, in Ceylon. 
We find from a most interesting publication we 
have received — the annual report of the Mavine 
Biologist at the Cape, which covers 148 pages — 
that the fishing industry has there been placed on 
an organized basis, and that the trawling experi- 
ments which have been initiated bv the Govern- 
rcent have given most encouraging results. Now 
tha*^ attention is lieiug directed to Inland fisheries, 
it is opportune that the subject of Mavine fisheries 
should be also taken in hand. 
