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KAPUNDA.
[From our own Correspondent.]
February 25.
We have had a slight full of rain which will do
some good to the feed, and enable the formers to com-<*>
mence ploughing. But many of them seem down-<*>
hearted on account of the low price of wheat, which
certainly is not remunerative to those who form on a
small scale. Fortunately, in tins neighbourhood the
?mill farmer can find ample employment from teed
time till harvest in carting firewood to tie mine and j
amritmg works. Several of the wealthier ftnners,
having found wheat-growing alone to be not the
thing, have purchased flocks of sheep, numbering I
from two to six hundred, to run upon s portion of
their forms.
A fatal disease has broken out in the poultry yards
by which several persons have lost their entire stock.
Mr. Fotheringham, of the Spring Brewery, I am in
formed, has lost close npori three hundred head. The
fowls, when taken with, the complaint, present ?
atnpul appearance, with the comb and wattles of a
Hnrkish hue, and mope about until they Hi', which j
b generally in about two hours. Perhaps some of i
your readers who might have had fowls similarly;
attested, and have discovered a remedy, will publish i
it for general information.
A match is to come off shortly between the Light!
and Cricket Cubs, but the time is not definitely
arranged. The Light Club are continually prac
tising, and there is no doubt that the Gswler men
will find them " foemen worthy of their eteeL"
' The Hamilton Races commence to-morrow, and
from the list of nags in training for the event there is
every reason to suppose die afikir will be a decided
?access.
Thb BBVKEAGB JPHTBa.—It may appear at fin'
eight that the Jurors appointed to report on "Food
Substances" and " Beverages" would hare rather a
pleasant task than otherwise. Wxtb respect to the
former, we may answer in the affirmative; for it is at
once agreeable and entertaining to test by practical
experience at a social dinner partj whether kangaroo
tail soap, bisons' humps, I?brador salmon, and an
tudleii rarirty of praaerred meata and froits, an
succulent and good. Bat the J'aron on beverages
bad ? very different task. Within a small room off
the eastern annexe, day after day, for many weeks,
sat some half-doom gentlemen for several hours daily,
surrounded by dozens upon dozens of bottles of
all conceivable shapes that ever bottles have been
blown into, and filled with liquors as varied and
strange as the names they bear. On the ground, be
fore each gentleman, was a bucket, and on the table
plates of dry bread and small bottles of vinegar.
These gentlemen were the tasters, who were required,
or at all events expected, to taste the samples of
wines, spirits, and liqueun exhibited by various
parties. So numerous, however, were these samples
that, although the Jurors were of course careful
not to paw bo suddenly from one detcription
of wine to another, nor from broodies or nuns
to delicate liqueurs, their organs of taste soon be
came perplexed, and it was only by cleaning the
delicate and sensitive papUliaj of the tongue by
washing out the mouth with vinegar and eating
small pieces of dry bread, that the organs were re
stored to their normal sensitiveness. Norwasthisthe
only inconvenience felt by those patriotic gentlemen.
For although they were of course careful to follow
the advice given to visitors to the London Dock wine
cellars provided with a tasting order—namely,
"taste, but do not follow"—the fames of the wines
and spirits had a very unpleasant effect, giving gene
tally bad headaches, aawj in some cases even
. severe indisposition. Having been privileged to
enter this wine-tasting sanctum, we can vouch
for the pains that were taken by the Jurors
to give a righteous judgment on the beverages
submitted to them. And when we state that some
Santnc and Berlin Bpirit merchants exhibited nearly
one hundred and fifty varieties of spirits and liqueurs,
it wiO be easily understood that judgment on these
puzzling varieties was not so easily given. Bor were
(he wines less tKl?nilt to come to a decision upon;
for, as is well known, the slightest difference in soil
occasions so remarkable a difference in the quality of
the grapes, that although the vines may be within a
Jew yards of each other, the respective fruits hare all
the peculiarities of a distinct species, and thus pro
dnoe different wines.— u LUenotionol Exhibition,"
Frotm'i Magcuine.
A Steel Mebckabt Ship.—Messrs. Jones, Qaig
gen, & Co., of this town, have just contracted to
build of steel, for a Liverpool House, a vessel of
1,200 tons. This will be the first merchant vessel
built of that material. The plates will be manufac
tured at the Mersey Steel and Ironworks. We
believe the experiment* on. Messrs. Jones's angular
target are about to be resumed at Shoeburyness, when
the Whitworth gun will be employed to test its
stability. The target will be the some weight per
foot as the Northumberland target> which was so
putOated by the WMtirorth sh*!!.—#wrj*oj Mbio?-
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