Farm and Garden.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 158, 24 May 1909, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

Secret of the Soil

Soil, separated into its constituents, consists of some twelve or thirteen chemical substances, existing in various compounds of which the most important are seven: nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, lime, ferric oxide, magnesai and sulphuric acid. Roughly and vaguely speaking, while many of the chemical processes which go on in the soil are stlil entirely obscure, of three or four of these there is such an abundance that no imaginable process of crop growing could exhaust them. Three, or perhaps four— nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and limemight conceivably be removed by plant growth to an extent harmful to the stoil, and might need to be replaced. Of these, lime may be necessary to assist the presence of nitrogen, but is very little required as a direct manure to the plant itself. Potash, again, need be added in comparatively few cases.

But nitrogen and phosphoric acid are abundantly and perpetually wanted. One of them, nitrogen, has been the subject of some extraordinarily interesting discoveries. Two German chemists, Hellriegel and Willfrath, first established in 1886 that on the roots of certain leguminous plants, vetches, beans, lupins and so on, there grow little nodules, which are the result of the growth of microbes within them. The microbes extract nitrogen from the air in the soil round them, and, as it were, build it up into the substance of the root of the leguminous plant which is their "host." That discover}* was the beginning of a series, of which we can only guess the possibilities. To it has already been added the discovery that seeds can be dressed by cultures of particuar microbes which feed, and help the plant to feed,on nitrogen, and so help it to a vigorous growth, and to vigorous growths in other plants that are to follow it in the soil. The almost certain deduction seems to be that all plants have particular microbes which, in feeding themselves, help the plant to feed. If that is so, the science of manuring a soil will resolve itself first, into perfect tilth, so that every particle of the soil can be surrounded with its coat of water containing soluble food; and second, into the provision of the right kind of microbe in the neighbourhood of the plant that needs it. Of the four substances known to be absolutely necessary to plant life, and also liable to exhaustion, we still have no better means to supply phosphoric acid than in the form of manure. But is it to be supposed that science has yet made all her dis-

coverios? The secret of life to the soil is not to be dragged from her in thirty years, possibly hot in three thousand. Our posterity, perhaps, will decide that we were little further on the road to discovery than was Varro. Ringing Ike Bull. It is best to ring a bull before he gets too old, as it is difficult to hold an old bull for the operation. If the nose ringing is done at about the age of one year, he can be held with a hal ter and the work easily done. Do not cut a round piece out of the nasal septum or burn a hole through it, as that would probably injure th#» sense of feelingin the nose, besides being cruel. Use a common trocar and canula for punching the hole, and holding it in shape for the ring. It is difficult to insert the ring after punching the hole without the use of the canula, as the boles through the cartilage and the skin in the nose arc not opposte. A copper ring, hinged in the centre, with a screw to hold it together after insertion is commonly used. It makes little difference what time of the year is selected, except that any operation is better performed in cool weather,when there is no danger of irritation of flies. Noee-ringing a bull has no effect whatever upon his disposition, its sole purpose being to furnish means for handling bim with ease and safety.

Chemical Changes in Ensilage.

Several theories have been advanced by scientists to account for the changes that take place in the silo, and to explain why ensilage keeps so long. The only point definitely settled, and, so far, as the stockowncr is concerned, it ia the moat important, is that these chemical changes are accompanied by a material loss of organic matter. The extent of the loss varies with the manner in which the ensilage is made. With properly made ensilage the loss will not be great; in an ill made stack or pit, the greater part of the contents may be ruined. It ia still an open question whether the alterations which the mass of green stuff undergoes is due to the activity of certain ferments or whether the changes are due to respiratory processes, which continue so long as the plant cells live. Recent investigations point to the probability that the latter explantaion is the correct one. Scientists are still engaged worrying out the problem, in the face of great difficutlies, and, incidentally, their researches furnish interesting and helpful information to the ailoiat, It baa been shown that the loss of organic matter, under practical conditions,dor-

ing the conservation of maize, is never less than 16 per cent, and, on this account, opposition to the practice of silaging has been raised by advocates of dry feeding. But the advantage of securing a milk-producing feed overweighed this objection, apart altogether from the fact that when stock are fed with hay there is always more or less waste from the trampling and soiling of the stuff. Any controversy is speedily closed by men who have tried both methods, and they are the only persons whose opinions are worth having. No man who has successfully made ensilage ever thinks of feeding hay while he has a stock of the preserved green fodder on hand, and no man has been unsuccessful in making ensilage when he cuts the crop at the right time and has properly compacted the pit. These are the two principal causes of failure which experience will soon remedy. The loss of organic matter h largely proportionate to the amount of air admitted to the mass, so that close packing or tramping down is essential.