Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 190, 13 September 1909, Page 3

Farm and Garden

NEW FERTILITY!: i'!:"-. KijS. A German patent ha? i < i granted for a process of making i\rtiiisers by the combination of lime with materials containing silica and alumnia. Either natural materials, clay, loom, marl, artificial materials, household refuse, rubbish, soft coal ashes, etc., kiln-dried if necessary, are mixed with slaked or unslaked limeand, in some cases, treated with superheated steam. Compounds of potash, phosphorus, and nitrogen are also added, according to the character of the other materials and the kind of fertiliser desired. The advantage claimed for the process is the cheap productoin of certain compound silicates which greatly increase the fertility of the soil FEEDING CALVES. One invaluable role in feeding all artificial foods to young animals is not to start feeding until the calf is a fortnight old, and then begin very gradually, so as to accustom the digestive ; organs to the new substance. Some of the special calf meals can be fed to a calf three days old if prepared as directed. As a general rule, however, nothing is lo«t by postponing the use of the meal for the longer period. For the first week new milk. The next week half new and half skim, and then the meal, cr whatever substance is being used. Another butter fat substitute for the skim milk which has a great deal to commend it is molasses. For unsatisfactory results generally the feeding method adopted and not the treacle most be blamed. Too much is nearly alwagys given. Molasses is not only a concentrated food, but a medicine as well. As such it must therefore be used in carefully measured quantities, working up from a little to an allowance sufficient for the calf's proper nourishment. It U necessary to have a measuring cup and the treacle should be mixed with water in a kerosene tin until it is of the consistency of tbin cream. Not more than a half cupful of this should go to a four gallon bucket of skim milk, and this can be increased gradually up to two cupsful of whatever the calf can take without purging. Nothing is more easily fed than molasses, since it mixed so readily and thoroughly with the milk. It is moreover, cheap. A reliable man says: "We never reared better calves than with molasses and it only cost us lid per head. It is, of course, dangerous stuff to put into the hands of the average rou3eabout or small boy. An over dose will kill a very young calf." In bringing up the feeding value of separator milk to the point where it becomes a wlioles »me food to calves*, the great thing to remember is that it is only necessary to make equal to hand skimmed milk; it does not require to be made equal to whole milk. Fir-it class calves can be reaped on skim milk, and skim milk contains only from half to three quarters of 1 per cent, of fat. This means that if a half per cent, of pure fat is put into separator milk it is made equal to skim milk, for even separator milk contains a little fat. SOIL LIFE. It h not generally realised that the soil teems with life, and yet it is a fact that a grain of fertile soil contains about 50,000 bacteria. Most of these soil bacteria live on organic matter; it is their activity that sets up the processes of decay in which the complex substances of manures and of dead plants and animals are converted into <rach simple bodies is ammonia and carbon dioxide. In addition to the ordinary decay causing germs there are three other kinds of bacteria which bring about changes of the utmost importance in agriculture: I—Nitrification; 2—dentrtftcation; 4—nitrogen fixation. By the action of the nitrifying bacteria organic sbustances are broken up and their nitrogen converted into nitric acid, which combines with metals in the soil to form nitrates. This transformation is effected by a series of changes, each step being the work of a special organism. In rich, uncultivated soil, the supply of plant food is practically inexhaustible, for each year the soil becomes richer as the plants which have crown tn it die and decay. The nu Unifying bacteria can only do their work when supplied with plenty of oxygen, suitable food, sufficient moisture, warmth, and some base such as lime to combine with the nitric acid. They are injured by strong light, while their work proceeds very slowly in soils which are too dry, too wet, or at all acid or "sour," Dentrification is a process by which certain bacteria undo the useful work done by the nitrifying and nitrogen fixing kinds. The dentrifying bacteria feed upon the nitrates and set tree the nitrogen gas, which escapes into the air. They can only carry on their destructive work in the absence of oxygen and in soils which are wet, hence their growth can usually be prevented and that of the nitrifying bacteria encouraged by thorough tillage and good drainage. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria —the third class mentioned above —are able to make nitric acid from the free nitro" gen of soil air. It has been known for many centuries that crops of clover, beans, lupins, an other leguminous plants actually enrich, instead of impoverishing the soil in which they are grown. The fact is mentioned in the "Georgics," but the reason wa3 only discovered recently.