MANAWATU FARMS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 144, 14 March 1921, Page 6

MANAWATU FARMS

STOCK VALUES STILL LOW THE GORGE LIME DEPOSIT From Our Own Correenondent Palmerston North, March 11. A fair amount of moisture has fallen during the past week, and, if anything, feed prospects are even 'better than they were last week. Matters in connection with the values of stock, however, show no improvement, and as there is practically no outlet for fat sheep and cattle now that the buyers for export are holdinc back, farmers are not viewing the future with any confidence. Naturally this has reflected on the market for stores, and graziers are, not buying except where they can get stock at their own prices. Unfortunately many farmers are not in a position to hold for various reasons, and have to sacrifice their animals in many cases at less than half what they paid for them last year. Growing of Linseed. Although it ie stated that some twenty or thirty yews ago linseed was grown on a fairly large scale in this district, this has not been the case for some time. It is therefore pleasing to note that a returned soldier who drew one of the five-acre sections on the Buick Estate has put in a couple of acre-, which have come away well, and which bids fair to give a good yield. Thin should give a much better return than even butter-fat, and it will have tho added advantage of improving the land for further use. I am told that there are several other crops of linseed in the Kairanga district, and that they also are doing well. A fair amount of autumn ploughing is being done, and in spite of the drought earlier in the season the land is turning up well, and only requires thorough working to put it in good heart. Some very fine crops of turnips are noticeable in various parts of the district, and one or two farmers have been experimenting with thousand-headed kale, which has proved such a prolific sheep feed in the South Island. The results are such as to justify a repetition of the crop next year, and it is to be hoped that its use will become more general. With the approach of the lifting ot the commandeer on butter, dairymen are expressing considerable anxiety as to the future of the market. As the Bulk of the butter made from this on- until the dose of the present season will probably be required for local consumption, it is not likely that prices will fall below a payable value. Working ths Lime Deposit. The question of forming a farmers’ company for working the limestone deposit in the Manawatu Gorge', which has been brought before the Farmers’ Union time after time for the past few t years, seems likely to come to finality at last.,, The matter was originally in the hands bf the Palmerston North Branch of tho union, but it has now been taken up by the Manawatu Snb-Provincial Executive. Plans and specifications for the necessary plant have been prepared, and now the question of forming a farmers’ company on co-operative lines has been left in the hands of a special committee to evolve a scheme for raising the ncceeoary funds. The whole of the West Coast, from, Wanganui down to Paekakariki, is interested in the proposal, and farmers, it is contended, would be studying their own interests by seeing that the money necessary is forthcoming to supply them with the lime which is so essential to the welfare of their farms. For some years after the bush was cleared the potash from the burnt timber was sufficient to keep the land in heart without any adventitious aid, but many , of the farms are now practically worked out. For years the farmers have been engaged in taking the nutriment out of the soil, and only in isolated cases has anything been put back. This did not matter so much in the days when the holdings were used' more particularly for grazing, as practically .everything was returned to the soil in this shape of manure, but with the advent of dairying on small holdings, the very life of the soil has been sent to the factories in the shape of butterfat, and the land has been impoverished. In spite of this fact, farmers generally do not appear to realise the fact that unless they apply lime they cannot expect to keep their land in the heart necessary for carrying a dairy Iferd of sufficient numbers to make a success of the venture. A general run through the Manawatu district gives tvidence that quite a. number of farms are deteriorating for the want of lime, and its absence is responsible for the-jlirty state into which many of the "arms have fallen, for it is a well-known fact that where the land is impoverished weeds will thrive to the detriment of the better grasses. With the cutting up of many of the larger estates into small dairy farms, many of which have been purchased at high prices, it is impossible tor success to. be assured without more intensive cultivation is adopted, and the first essential for ffiiat is. lime, as may bo gathered from the following remarks made by that well-known authority on lime, Mr Primrose O’Connell, in an article in tho "Agricultural Journal,” when in charge of the Ruaknra Estate. Ho wrote: ‘‘All experiments prove that, although lime may not be accepted as a direct plant food, yet, where it is not present in tho soil in sufficient quantity, other manures are to a great extent applied in vain. Hence it may be accepted as one of the main essentials in successful manuring.' Mr. O’Connell gave an instance of the efficacy of lime ns a top-dressing at Ruakura. He said: “The experiments at th* station seem to prove that, particularly on the raw and apparently more sterile parts- of the farm, an application of lime, together with draining, is all that is required to bring such soil into a profitable state of cultivation, and that manures applied previously’ to the application of lime were to a considerable extent wasted. A paddock of the foregoing description was sown with clovers and a little timothy eighteen months previously, and manured with scwt. of basic slag to the acre. As an experiment a strip right across the .field was further dressed with one ton of carbonate of lime to the acre. The result was most pronounced. Where the dressing consisted of slag only sorrel predominated, but where lime was added there was a very fine stand of clover, which could be readily picked out from a distance.” I could quote a number of other authorities in the same strain, but I think that the above should convince any farmer of the advantage to ho derived from a dressing of lime.. The Government has made arrangements by which the farmers can have the control of the v ery fine deposit in the Mana watu Gorge, wTiftffi will be handed over to a purely fanners’.company, on condition that no profit is to be made, the farmers constituting the company to get the product at cost price, whilst those who are not prejiared to come into tho scheme must naturally expect to pay more for their lime. As the deposit is in a most convenient position for supplying the greater portion of the West Coast, as well as the lower portion of Hawke’s Bav and right alongside a railway siding’i(' is in the interests of the farmers them’rive.’ to see that this valuable asset is not allowed to lie idle any longer while th«ir land is crying out for lime. Practically every farmer is interested in the matter, and they would be merely working in their own individual interests in providing the necessary financial backin'' to start the works, as they Will be sure of an immediate return for their outlay by the improved carrying eapacity of the land.