FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2124, 5 July 1907, Page 4

FARMERS’ COLUMN.

Tli© experionco of tlio ‘VVaimato •Plains dairy farmer who forsook tho Plains for the Ekotahfina district, on account of the difforonce m the price of land, is not likely to bring about an oxodus of dairy fnrm--ers from this district (says the Mania Witness). The othor day owing to the shortness of feed, ho had to sell his herd of dairy cattle, which he had cullod for three years, and tho average jirico tlioy fetched was only £2 2s per head. It is not always the first cost of land that governs its vnluo. A mechanical dovico for labor-sav-ing in poultry feeding lias been invented by two residents of Potone, It is in the form of a large hopper callable of holding,say, a month’s suplily of grain; from tlio bottom of the hopper is a shoot, at tho end of which is a dovico similar to tho valvo of a powder flask, by moans of which an exact supply of grain call bo measured and discharged. Tlio grain oil being roleased, falls on n circular disc which distributes it ovor tho scratching shod. The foedor can bo operated by a cord in tho carotakor’s office many yards away, and thus an immense saving can bo mado in the laborious wojk of feeding the fowls. It is held that tho invention will revolutionise the industry, and make it possible for a man to run a much larger flock of birds than formely. ‘‘Positively the worst season for years for keeping up the condition of stoc'k on flat country,” waß the opinion exjiressed by a leading farmer to a “Wairarapa Daily Times’; reporter last. week. “The weather lias been most trying for sheep, and stud stock must suffer severely. For practically throe months sheep havo hardly known what it is to have a dry fleece.

Under such conditions it is conceivable that deterioration must ensue. There is great activity in the horse market at Dunedin for Sydney, and heavy draught geldings tor Melbourne are much m demand. Jhe . Maheno took a shipment, and space is reserved for 2o in the Minimum. The Moeraki tool? a shipment recent-

5 In tlio high-grade Jersey herd of Mr H Exlev, a progressive farmer in the Tiawera district, there is a cow, Primrose, which during the past season has given over oOOlb of butterfat and over OOOlb for the past two season. As tho factory Mr. Exloy supplies, the Riverdale Oheeso Factory. will pay out this reason Is ljd for butter-fat, this fine cow will return her owner over £2B. Primrose is not only a great performer ill but-ter-fat production, but she is noted ill the show ring. And hero a groat lesson is taught in regard to judging of purebred dairy stock (says the “New Zealand Times.”) Primrose has been champion at Hawora because she was dehorned, though she defeated everv cow in her class on breed and dairy points. The absurdity of this is shown when it is remembered that if judged on points the horns should count half a point, while tho udder —in which Primrose is remarkably strong —counts 34 out of a total of 1000. It is a striking instance of fancy points being put before utility joints, and of the need of the introduction of a system of judging on points. “I know the Mackenzie Country well,” said Air. Lundon, of Timaru lately, and as a fruit country there is nothing to beat it. About the old shepherds’ huts, that were deserted twenty years ago, there is a mass of bloom of fruit trees mixed together, and you never saw finer fruit than what* is growing wild up there. It is noted as a singular fact that in gardens in and around Invercargill (says the Southland Daily News) narcissi are not only through tho soil, but some are in bloom. The untimeb appearance of the popular spring flower is attributed to the extremely fine summer and autumn experienced in Southland. The ground has never become sodden, nor has thore been any continued cold weather to retard growth till tho due season.

TO IMPROVE PASTURE LANDS.

On Juno 19th, Mr. F. AV. B. Greville, of Wellington, read a paper at the Palmerston Dairy Conference, on “What can be done to Improve Pasture Lands that at present cannot be ploughed.” Mr. Greville said his attention had been called to this subject several years ago by the statement of an authority to the effect that 10 per cent, of the pastures of New Zealand were wasted because the land gre v wee . 1 ' instead of useful grasses. AlO per' cent, leakage in any ether pursuit but farming should spell bankruptcy in a vety short time, but it must be borne in mind that this leakage iepresented not 10 per cent. •. i (1m profit!!, but 10 per cent, of the turnover. He knew of no business in the c.mmercial world that could stand such an enormous loss as th ,v indicat' d. That the graziers, an 1 the snirbcr farmers particularly nad I ecu ali'o to carry on while 10 per cent, of the gross earning powers of their land was going to waste was perhaps partly attributable to the fact that avery large area of the pastures of the North Island, at any rate, had been abnormally manured by tho potash resulting from the bush fires. But this potash, as the years go on was becoming practically exhausted, and the carrying capacity of tho land was year by year, becoming less. Within a radius of 25 miles of Palmerston thore were thousands of acres of the best darying land in the colony which would not carry within 20 per cent, of the amount of stock that they carried their first year or two in grass. These lands, for the most part, were heavy clay lands, and it was on land of this class where the heaviest losses occured. The first thing to be done to improve land of this class was to drain it. Mr. Greville drew upon Mr. J. G. Black’s lectures on agricultural chemistry , for some succeeding remarks containing comments and advice on the subject of the treatment of land. In the concluding portion of tho paper, reference was made to the importance of the use of lime in improving pastures. Concluding, Mr. Greville said the importance of the subject had tempted him to write the paper. He did not claim to be an expert, and he doubted if he could stand a severe cross-examina-tion oh the subject. In a short, discussion which followed the reading of the paper, Mr. Kirk, the Government Biologist, expressed the opinion that Mr. Greville had brought forward a question that deserved the earnest attention of evryone interested in the agriculture of the colony. Mr. Greville was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for the information accorded by him.

A STALLION LAAV. A Bill has been intr&duecd in the Pennsylvania Legislature known as a stallion law, which (says the “Live St9ck Journal”) provides among other tilings: That stallions afflicted with hereditary, contagious or transmissible unsoundness or disoasc may be refused licence by the State Live Stock Sanitary Board, and when a licence is so refused the stallion shall not bo used for public service for profit or gain in the State. Licence can only be refused under this section when it is certified to the Board by the State veterinarian that the stallion in question is afflicted with hereditary, contagious or transmissible unsoundness or disease of such naturo that the abnormal condition is accompanied by such a defect of conformation as to render it probable that the progeny of the said stallion will bo especially liable to said unsoundness or disease. Blemishes or deformities due to accident do not count. This Bill further provide* for a license and fee, and the posting of the license by the owner in a public place. The following States have stallion laws of various kinds:—lllinois, lowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Arerinont and AA’isconsim.The last-named lias the most advanced legislation on the siibject, and its plan, is to b© followed in other States. Several others are considering legislation on similar lines. A good stallion law, that will work injustice to none and still enable the patron to determine whether the stallion is a pure-bred or a grade, should be enacted everywhere. In Kentucky under present law the owner must pay a. license fee equal to the fee at. which he stands bis stallion. The highest license fee so far recorded was 1500 dollars, paid b" Mr. August Belmont for Itoc'k Sand, the importd English Derby winner. The second largest fee was 1000 dollars, issued to Mr. J. B. Haggin for AVntercress.

MANURES APPLIED TO GRASS LAND. The manures applied to grass lapd (writes Dr. Sibson) should be of a mild, slow-acting description, and all ammoniacal manures should be applied only iu small doses and evenly distributed, since anything like an overdose of ammonia tends to develop a coarse, inferior sort of herbage. This may be noticed in the tufts of coarse grass that always spring up when the droppings of- the larger -animals are allowed to lie in masses on the pasture -where thej are deposited. For the same reason, strong guano unless much diluted with admixture with other substances, cannot be advantageously applied to rrrass land, as it is apt to excite an excessive development of rank graßS,