Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 25 March 1933, Page 8

Farming Column

LIME AND ITS USES

VALUABLE MANURE FOR LAND.'

•Lime, differs 'from most other manures —it may almost be said from all—in' this respect, that it is advantageous in agriculture as a mechanical aghnt as well as a chemical one. It not only supplies food to the plants directly and indirectly by its influence upon ' the other of the soil, but . it' is-of great advantage in rendering ph,>' isoils more op e n and light, and in- mailing gandy, porous soils more compact and firm.

ilt is well known that hot lime had a great affinity for water. It will gradually absorb the moisture from the atmosphere, swell greatly in bulk, and fall to a fine powder. ■

When hot iiin e is ploughed into the land and allowed to burst there, it' will exert a powerful disintegration efl'ejt upon 'the soil. Its 'Operation' will be something .like the action of frost, which we know thorougfi'y opens and lightens'the soil, with this difference, the particles of lime becoming mixed'with th e soil, prevent it from becoming trampled into l-u close and hard a state as it would otherwise be. i • 1

When, therefore, lime is applied with a view principally of ilightening, the -land’, it is essential that it‘be applied

as hot as possible. In fact, it should b e ploughed in as it is cart e j from the kiln.

None of it should be overnight exposed to the dews, otherwise you may expect it to be a powder in the morning, and its utility for' the purpose you desired greatly injured-. When lime is used on light soils with th e object of increasing the tenacity and solidity of such sobs, it is better that it should bo in the istate of hydrate, that is, be completely burst or fallen by its union with water before it i<s ploughed in. But water should be thrown on it as soon as possible, or if if; is' - allowed to .fall from the absorption of the' moisture it should b e put into, iurge heaps and well covered, and not ~ lie spread upon the .surface of the field several days before it is ploughed ..in,’ otherwise it gradually combines witri the carbonic acid of tlie atmosphere and becomes mild. ,J.

In this state ,it is the sam e tig. chalk, and will not answer the purpose for which it intended...,.

REASON FOR USING LIME HOT, The reason is that hot lime unites chemically with sand, and form's , a silicatg of lime, and by this- means' the sandy particles are cemented together to a certain extent; but if the lim e he mild, o,r if chalk be, used, unless it be applied ,jn,. ypry great ..quantity, there is r.o consistency produced, the particles of chalk will not adher e to the sand nor to each other, and the land is as friable and open as before.

To .obtain, therefore, the best .mechanical benefits from lime, it ought to be applied *hot, upslacked, to strong land; and slacked, but still hot, to light soils. The most important use ,of lime in agriculture is its chemical effects. It. .destroys many injurious substances that from time to time are generated in the soil. During ; the progress of vegetation, there are , constantly being formed various vegetable acids that are more or less injurious to vegetation.

Lime, when brought in .contact with .these injurious matters, to use a common phrase, kills them, tiias rs, ... chemically, combines with them, ano renders them harmless. .It does so much more quickly when used hot-, but will ultimately effect the game purpose when mild, though much mor, e slowly. There is a peculiar property which lime, .in common with other alkalies,, possesses; it is That of, inducing .while, decomposing vegetable matter, the nitrogen of the atmosphere to. unite wfih the oxygen, that ig liberated by the decomposition, and forms nitric acid. Plants take up lime and assimilate it to their structure in considerable quantity, varying from Blb.'per acre for an ordinary crop of wheat to 2261 b for a crop of potatoes, lb is therefore important that there should always be a supply m the .soil.

INCREASED PRODUCTION.

AND THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Now that those engaged in the dairying industry are involved in a desperate struggle for existence, there should be a frank recognition of actualities. If plans are able to be propounded for saving the industry from a debacle, . such plans must be based on a clear understanding of issues. Will greater production save the

industry? Will the, development of new markets save the industry? Will better selling methods save the industry ? Will the balancing of Government budgets save the industry ? We mention those factors because the industry is being advised by well-inten-tioned people and by its own leaders that, it must increase production, develop more markets, and control its selling in Great Britain; whilst politicians, the press, and financiers advise that all will be well if Australian Governments balance their, budgets. Increased production cannot help the dairying industry,., because it will have a corollary,in,reduced prices, wlple costs of ‘ production will remain stationary or increase. 1 The buying power of the New Zealand | and 1 the consumer abroad is decreasing,-

and extra production will not bring a larger aggregate return to the dairying iudusfry commensurate :v\ ifcli costs. .At the end of last month .the Australian Government’s Department of Commerce issued this statement “For the past two years, Australia’s export of butter to England has do.ubled, whilst New Zealand has also iincreased her shipments tremendously. It‘was .this veryrheavy increase in importations of butter.into England, and iiot the question of quality, which was the primary reason of the low prices prevailing for Australian and New Zealand butter in London.”

With better selling {methods -it is hoped to compete with Danish butter in Great Britain. The Danes, however, in selling fresh butter in the English market in competition with our frozen butter, have an advantage which cannot be overcome. Even the Ottawa Conference deliberations failed to assist Aus-. tralian and New Zealand butter on the English market, and there can be,hilt little, benefit to dairymen, .as the result: of any alteration in selling methods. The balancing of Government budgets will have the effect of ..stabilising the pound, and thus exchange with Great Britain will be at.par. At presenr export prices, without an exchange advantage, the price our dairymen would receive for their butter would be fid or fid per lb—and we have no guarantee that export prices have reached bottom. Then?

Towards the end -of last year Mr Davidson, general manager of the Bank of New South Wales, said:— “Farmers have, cut costs inside tbr-'r fences to the bone, but ouside costs, such as interest, transport, disthbution and taxation, have been inflated by extravagant wages and working hours established in boom times. Primary producers are in the grin of forces which are strangling vital exporting industries of tin's country. ~.. The exhortation to the rural producers is, whilst improving their qwn, methods, 10 insist unitedly and with all their weight

upon relief from ,'the costs which Par- ; (laments have imposed and which Parliaments must remove.” ■

WASHING DAIFY UTENSILS.

PROBLEM OF BOILING WATER.

The questi.cp of an effective boilring water supply ph the dairy farm has been rendered more difficult of late •years , 0 n highly improved properties by reason, of the shortage of wood. Older dairying . countries have had the same problem to face and have adopted modern water heaters —electric (where cheap power has been available) and other means, We have hardly reached that stage, observes a departmental‘pamphlet, but consideration might be given on certain farms to the installation of bricked-in ,coppers (where not .already, done) as an economical means of heating \vater and for cleansing dairy utensils. The ordinary chip heater is a convenient method of using up-cobs, waste-paper etc., but care must be exercised to see that the water is heated sufficiently. To effectively treat the utensils the water must he close to boilingpoint. Warm water is of very little value, and water which has) been heated som® distance from the dairy and left to stand at. the wash-up bench for five or ten minutes after being removed front the fire quickly cools off to well below boiling point. ,Th most effective method is to place the separator parts and the smaller dairy utensils, after properly washing, in the vessel used for heating the water (be ,it a copper, kerosene tin, or whatever is used) while still on the fire, making sure that the water comes to the boil. After five minutes, .remove utensils and hang up or stand in a clean atmosphere. They will dry thoroughly in a few minutes without .recourse t 0 rags, and will he in perfect condition for the next milking. Set-in coppers are very useful, for this purpose and are not only economical as to the wood supply, but are effective in wet weather.

It is safe to say that the small percentage qf inferior cream now delivered to factories would be almost eliminated, if. the above methods of treating dairy utensils w'ere carried out and attention given to. a few other details. By far the greater portion of this small amount of inferior cream is brought about by the utensils .not being properly cared for. It is, .of course, necessary to treat the utensils as outlined twice daily, i.e., after each milking.

CANADA’S CO-OPERATIVES

The Canadian Government information Bureau states that there were 1132 co-opertaive associations in the Dominion ,at the end of 1931, with a total membership of 753,420. These associations include productive, ■ marketing, .credit and snvings, community lialj and miscellaneous societies. Amqng the most important of the co-operative asociations are those, in Western Canada, formed to market wheat and other farm products.