THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 516, 9 November 1912, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

SUPERPHOSPHATE AND BASIC SLAGi. It has puzzled many a farmer to account for the contradictory behaviour of these two phosphaic manures. A simple explanation may aßsist them to understand why superphosphate shows to advantage in well-drained sweet land while absic slag has generally the advantage in land inclined to be sour. Superphosphate is an acid manure and increases the acidity of the soil. In an alkalin soil in a dry climate it should give better results than basic slag, as when applied to the soil it is water-soluble, and thus becomes completely disseminated through the ground. Basic slag, on thß other band, as an alkaiine manure. When applied to a sour or acid soil the acids in the soil assist, in all probability, to dissolve the phosphates in the slae, while the lime has doubtless the effect of neutralising the sourness of the soil and thus rendering it a better medium for the growth of plants. —Journal of the Department of Agriculture.

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. A preliminary statement of the agricultural returns for England and Waels collected in June last, has just been issued by the Board of Agriculture. So far as live stock is concerned, under every heading there is a decrease, horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs. The greatest decline is in sheep one year old ar.d over, the difference being equal to 12.3 per cent. On all classes of sheep, the shortage compared with 1911 is 1,277.066 head, or quite 6i per csnt. In cattle the biggest drop is shown in cows and heifers (in-calf, but not in milk) which is 26,469 head, or 5 per cent, below the total of 1911. There is also a falling off in the number of cattle "under one year," of 39,151, equal to over 3 per cent. The gross decrease in cattle of all classses 72,339, or 1.2 per cent. With regard to swine it is disappointing (but not altogether unaccountable) to find that there is a decrease in the number of "sows kept for breeding" of 41,514, or fully 11 per cent, less than a year ago. In "other pigs" the deficiency is 113.167, equal to 5 per cent., the total shortage being 154,681, or very nearly 6 per cent, below the numbers returned in 1911. The agricultural outlook probably never was so gloomy as it is at present, between cold, sunless days, floods, spoiled hay, sprouting corn, and unwholesome pastures, not to mention the serious check given to cattle feeding by the restrictions on Irish stock on account of foot and mouth disease.

THE WOOL AMERICA WANTS. S. B. Hollings, writing in the Pastoralists Review of October on the subject of "The Class of Wool America Wants," says: "I have always maintained very strongly that the Weakness of the present American duties on raw material lies in the fact that they prevent the importation of such useful lines as first and second combing, necks, broken pieces, and bellies. I have every reason for saying that thi3 fact is realised to-day by those responsible for the drawing up of a tariff. I am not now discussing the meritß or demerits of the present duties on imported wool; that is a matter the responsibility of which undoubtedly rests upon the shoulders of the Americans themselves, but I do say with all the earnestness and sincerity at my command that the system is wrong when it will only allow the very cream of Australian wools to be imported into the United States. What does it mean? What has it mean to American manufacturers in the past? In the first place it has compelled wool users to confine their attention to the very superior wools grown mostly in Western Victoria, and the lightest conditioned New Zealand crossbreds. I am well aware that the American buyers have been able to secure some wools grown in the other States, but 8 per cent, of their purchases have been secured from Victoria and New Zealand. Of course, when American importers have to pay s|d per lb. on greasy fleece wools, it will be seen that they could not afford to pay this for dirty, heavy shrinkage wools, hence the competition has been such that these light shrinkage wools have always been singled out and commanded American competition. I do not say that at times fictitious prices have prevailed, nothing of the sort; all the same it has made buyers appear as if they were following a somewhat selfish policy, when in reality they have been compelled to purchase these wool and neglect other equally good raw material, simply because it was a little heavier in condition. This opens out the question as to whether these light shrinkage wools produce better yarns and pieces than those which are a little heavier in condition, but equally fine and well grown. The supremacy of Great Britain as a manufacturing country and the prominent place which France and Germany ocI cupy in the textile world is due far more to the able manner in which European spinners and manufactruers can manipulate the second and third rate wools than the use they make of the superoir lines from Western Victoria. Of course, the latter wools are very highly appreciated; they are extensively bought because they make tip-top fabrics, but they must be regarded more or less as a speciality, it being the rank and file wools of Australia which have become and will always remain the backbone of the textile industry of all Europe. Hence I say that while the American tariff on wool favours exclusively these light-conditioned parcels, manufacturers across the Atlantic who could use the second and third class wools which I have previously named, have been more or less placed at a disadvantage in not being able to avail themselves of the splendid and useful lines which have been at the disposal of the spinners and manufacturers of Great Britain and the Continent.