Farm and Garden

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 210, 22 November 1909, Page 4

Farm and Garden

green manuring. Th>> syctcm of green manuring to furnish a supply of organic matter, and to collect nitrogen from the atmosphere, can be employed with decided advantage, but to get the best results from green manuring it is necessary to supplement it by the application of artificiaal fertilisers. An authority upon practical agricultural chemistry makes the following notes: —

(a) Application of Nitrogen.—The necessity for the addition of nitrogen i-t dependent on the success of the green crop and on the requirements of the following crop. For instance, if the green crop has grown well, potatoes and cereals on good or medium soil shoul j not require the help of any additional artifical nitrogen. Following a poor green crop it may be advisable to give either potatoes or cereals, especially oats, the benefit of a topdressing of lewt. nitrate of soda.

Mangels, following a green crop, will certainly require some quickacting nitrogen, and should have a dressing of 2to to 3cwt. nitrate of soda.

(b) Phosphate of Lime.—A small dressing of superphosphate is advisable to increase the effect of the greenmanuring. For roots and potatoes the soil should receive 1 to 2cwt. per acre. Cereals a little less —lewt. per acre should suffice.

(c) Potash.—The addition of this ingredient plays a very important part with green-manoring, especially in root growing. With cereals it is not so essential. The following example serves to show the necessity of applying artificial potash to roots and potatoes grown on green-manured land. In experiments the increase of crop produced by the application of potash with a green crop ploughed under was 6 tons of roots and 4 tons of potatoes. Thus it appears that roots and potatoes can only make full use of the stuff ploughed under when the crop has a dressing of potash as well. (d) Farmyard Manure. —It might be considered superfluous to apply farmyard manure with green manuring; such does not, however, appear to be the case, and in practice good results have been obtained by it. This may be due, not to the actual plant food in the farmyard manure, but to the great activity which it produces in the useful bacterial life, and this increased activity helps to the utility of the green manure. The dressing of farmyard manure should be quite moderate, as a big application would not be required and would be wasteful. SALT FOR STOCK."

Salt should be provided for all animals. Good rock salt is really all that is needed to give a ilck when the animals feel they need it. If tis put in a covered box it will last longer than if left exposed to the weather on the damp ground. For cows it is recommended to gvie 201b. coarse salt, 201b; boncmeal, or Thomas' phosphate, and j lb. J sulphate of iron, mixed together in a box and protected from the weather.

CARE OF CHICKENS. Grit must be supplied to growing chickens —in fact, they must never be allowed to be even a little short of it, and in providing it, let not charcoal be forgotten. It has a very great effect on depelopment. Its cost is nil, and only a minimum of trouble is needed in breaking it to the size of wheat grains, so that the cbicks may eat it. Of course, green food must not be omitted, and the water trough must be kept clean, and the water supply pure. Where milk is plentiful it is a capital help to the birds, and there will be no objection to it if it has recently curdled.

Above all, cleanliness must be attended to. The result of neglect is vermin and disease. The former is a potent factor in retarding the development of chicks, and the latter too frequently spells disaster. Again, overcrowding must be avoided, and also large flocks. The smaller the flocks the better early development may be ensured. Subdivision means more expenditure in fences and houses, and additional labour and attention, but this is fully justified by better results.

AGE FOR FATTENING. Birds on a free range are usually more forward for their age than birds hatched and reared in confined runs, so that, while from 1 to 12 weeks is the usual age at which a bird is ready to be fattened, size is, after all, the best guide. An important point to remember is that at a certain age, varying with each case, a bird is in a condition to reaturn a maximum amount of profit. Miss that time by a day and that day's food is on the wrong side of the ledger. It is important to know not only just when a bird is ready to be place in the fattening pens, but when in the fattening pens to be able to determine exactly when each bird in turn reaches its highset state of perfection, after which not one ounce ot food should be given it. It should be fasted for 24 to 36 hours, and then sold at once. Experience alone can enable one to decide when the crucial period arrives. The loss to a fattener on thousands of birds kept a few days beyond their time would be very great. There is, moreover, a double loss, for if kept beyond a certain time, not only is a bird consuming unnecessary food, which costs money, but in addition it actually loses weight. The cost of labour and the space it is occupying have also to be considered.

In poultry as well as in butter and milk, tbe farmer's wife can establish a reputation for having the best. Let her see to it that eggs over a week old are never marketed, and when she kills and markets birds let them be in prime condition —well fattened and carefully dressed and cleaned. It has been decided by the Agricultural Department to discontinue tbe stationing of stallions in various districts of the Dominion, in consequence of the difficulty of providing accommodation for them during the off season. The horses have been well patronised, and have left useful stock.

"There are forty million less sheep in the world now than there were ten years ago." says tbe- Hon. T. Mackenzie, "and eighty million more people have begun to use wool. If; when wool is up,you are offered a good price for it at the shed,take it. But if, when it is down, you are offered a low price, don't take that. Go on to the market."