What “Sundowner” Hears

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 10 December 1927, Page 12

What “Sundowner” Hears

Good gates are the obvious signs of a thorough-going and alert farmer. How are yours? Do they swing free? Are the catches easy, good, and tight! is the paint work ah right ?

Perhaps too much attention is being paid to-day to the turning out ol young farmers who are hali-educateu in botany, chemistry, etc. What we need is a greater number of practical couises oi training.

Now is the season for pieventing the waste of moisture that inis been supplied to the soil during the recent wet weather. This prevention, 01 course, is only possible on ploughable country, lor it is carried out b.i means of surface cultivation.

If the horse hoe is used amongst growing crops, this will prevent evaporation of moisture from tlie surface—a process whereby more moisture than is realised is drawn up from the soil.

Pipping should not be determined by any other consideration than that it should take place as soon attei shearing as possible. The dip should be cleaned out after the operation. Much of the alleged wool-staining due to the dip ping process is really caused by tin accumulation of dirt in the dip.

Many farmers rely upon the surface layer of soil in which to grow their crops. But the constant cultivation 01 some 5 or 0 inches merely tends to pack down the sub-soil into a hard mass which the roots cannot penetrate.

“I have never heard of any injury being done by heavy dressings of carbonate of lime,” says R. W. Roche in ‘‘The New Zealand Farmer,” referring to north country land.

The function of nitrogen’ is to force the growth of leaf and stem, while pnospnorous hastens maturity. In such crops as sugar beet, lack ol phosphorous is indicated by black spots that spread over the leaf, which dries up eventually.

Clovers are valuable in three ways: they protect the grass roots from the trying rays of the sun, they keep the soil fresh, and being rich in protein have great feeding value.

It i# not generally recognised that potash salts are an invaluable food for the turnip crops. This constituent is often overlooked in foodmixtures. Half a cwt. or more per acre should be sown with turnips.

Farmers should be careful not to allow oats or hay to be exposed too long during the period between cutting and stacking. More damage may be caused by leaving leu long, than by stacking too soon.

All animals throw back to their ancestors, winch shows the importance of using a good sire. Outstanding faults two or three generations back may crop out in the present generation. Where the breeding stork has for years been of outstanding quality end character, the likelihood of getting inferior progeny is great lv lessened