NOTES ON MURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2809, 15 January 1908, Page 7

NOTES ON MURAL TOPICS.

r Voluminous data has been recorded of the • relative values of the diffe- , , Supplying rent leguminous plants t ! Nitroge>. ploughed under for manure. . i The list includes common [ red clover, crimson clover, lucerne, hairy , vetch, peas, soja beans, and horse beans. s The~ evidence shows that from 751b to 150 ib » of nitrogen per acre can be added to the . coil by green manuring. These crops assi5 milate nitrogen from the atmosphere, and » leave the soil richer than before" they are , grown on account of the nitrogenous cha- . racter of the residue of their roots in the ground. It .is therefore important to ' perfect their growth and make the crop t more vigorous, so that they may be able u _to collect more nitrogen for the succeeding i"* crops. This aspect of the matter- does ! not enter into our practice so much as it : should. Some of the cutest farmers we have gow red clover in the early spring 1 on every grain crop they can harrow. Thus a large amount of. valuable food is secured at little cost, and the ground is enriched when it is- ploughed under. There is no surer way- of keeping the land supplied with nitrates than to sow down to a closer crop once in the rotation, cutting hay for two years ofE it, with subsequent grazing eaoh year, and then ploughing- it undei*. This is the best possible preparation for a crop of wheat. With clean cultivation throughout the course -no amount of free ■ cropping and free selling of straw would affect the fertility of land which got a heavy manuring of farmyard manure for the turnips, and 1 a portion of the land •was always kept under clover, which was treated as sbove, and eventually ploughed in. Even for the turnip crop a supply of nitrogen in the ground is essential. This can easily be proved by growing the turnips on the same ground with supemhosphate of lime for several years in succession, and removing the produce. The yield will soon show r a marked decrease, and this shows that although phosnhates are the chief requirement, a supply of nitrogen is also neces- | sary. Our older settled lands are now far removed from the virgin state. Succpss'ul , work on them means intense cultivation and liberal manuring. Farmyard manure applied to the- green crora every year will keep the ground well supplied with, hunms. More liberal supplies of- -phosphoric acid and potash will have to be made for the use o£ sll crops. The fertilising elements in them ars not liable to drain out, and any surplus, if not used by one crop, is picked up by the next. But the supply of nitroeen, which is a long way the dearest element of olantr food, and most difficult to get, will have to be kept up by the growth of clover or lesruminous N plants of some kind. _ We cpnnot afford about £20 per ton for nitrate of soda. Deep and thorough ( cultivation, so that these manures may- get intimately mixed through the soil, must ] be depended on to do the rest. The bene- ; fife ooTifered by green manuring are not ! confined to nitrogen supplying. Large quantities of hurmis. with all its desirable , Functions, are added* to the soil and in- . 'crease its cronninsr capability. Until we ' get calcium nitrate manufactured locally at ■ £4- per ton. this system is the cheapest j means available of increasing and maintain- | ing fertility in the soil. j The great importance of crowing- the ■ heaviest possible crops of ( HVarr clover and other leguminous ' Closer Crops, crons oatmot be too stroneriy i . advocated. The chief i j chemist (Mr Frank T. Shutt) of the Cana- < dian experimental stations showed from 1 I actual analysis that one* year's ' growth of i , clover, alfalfa (lucerne), and -peas all left i j between tops and roots considerably over i 1301b of nitrogen, all of which would be '. taken from 1 the atmosphere. "In this mat- 1 ter." Mr Shutt said, "I have been in the j habit of telling our farmer* that in the t growth of red clover which takes place i after the harvesting of the cereal crops, , and before the season closes (in Eastern i Canada wg advocate sowing 1 eight or ten i pounds of red clover seed with -all classes * of cereals), tHexe should ,>> in. the neigh.- J

bourhood of 1001b nitrogen per acre — tha is. provided growth has not been retardec by a period of drought. The ploughTnj under of this crop either in the late autumi or the following spring, according to th< nature of the next crop to be planted is now a- system widely adopted with excel lent x - esults." My way of an experimen he sowed down a patch of very poor lant with red clover, and top-dressed it witl 4001b of superphosphate and 2001b of muri ate cf potash per acre. " Phosphoric acic and potash are the "dominant manures" t< be applied in the case of red clover. Dur ing each succeeding season the resultan crop was cut twice and left to decay ii the ground. Every two years the gr.oun; was ploughed to a depth of four inches and resown with clover. After five year* of this treatment the nitrogen contained in the ground increased from 5331b pei acre lo 84-llb per acre The result woulc have been much the same had the clovei been grazed by sheep, except for the sma r proportion removed in their bodies. Mi Shutt's suggestion is to grow leguminout crops whenever and wherever that is pos 1 sible, and his message applies with equa' force to New Zealand as it did to Canada. It is difficult to ca y why it 'should be co, but the crossbred coarse sots Selecting with a Oaptain Cook snoul Brood Sows, and large, overlapping ears can be more depended upon to . raise a full litter of young pigs tnan the purebred animal. No doubt the roughei life and strong constitution account to some extent for this.^ The pampered and confined life of the better bred animsJ is not conducive to prolificnees, but much can be done by judicious "selection. It is time enough to judge a young purebred sow — that is, if she is a- presentable animal characteristic, of her breed — after ehe has had her first litter. If she has nourished an average litter well by all means keep her for breeding. If not— if- the litter has been small. and weakly, then fatten her off right away. The qualities which guide the future selection are prclificness and nu.-siiij capacity. It is desirable to select sows for breeding free from snappishness and irritability. One ia never safe from the attack of a badly tempered, treacherous boar, and the product of irritable parents will generally be bad doers. The/ points which indicate good milking qualities in the sow are very similar to those of the cow, mare, or ewe. Sound teats, the motherly appearance, light neck and shoulders. A sow with 14 teats, commencing well forward and evenly placed on the udder, is almost certain to prove a good milker. They should not be over fattened for breeding. A run on grass and kept in good store condition with just enough grain to keep them in good heart — i.e., strong and. active — is what is wanted. Some of the desirable points arc fineness, of bone, especially beneath knee and hock, fine skin, largeness but compactness ~of body, well-sprung, deep ribs, full hindquarters, hardiness of constitution, and a tendency to fatten early. There will be far less " offal " for the butcher in a purebred than in a mongrel, and more substance in the useful parts of the carcase. Care should therefore be taken to secure well-bred animals, and mate them, with, purebred boars. An important experiment in spraying potatoes is reported in the last An Impotent issue received of the FarExperiment, mers' Gazette. This was conducted by Professor Barnes, of Dublin, who is an ardent botanist and investigator, and who wished to test the theory usually held that it is absolutely necessary to epray the potato leaf on both surfaces jn order to secure immunity from blight attack. The action of the copper has never bean definitely determined, but, it is generally considered that when the disease spore puts forth its delicate primary thread and this comes in contact with the coating of spray on the leaf, it is practically poisoned and straightway perishes. Hence the necessity for getting at both surfaces of the leaf with the protecting spray. The professor's experiment tends to throw considerable doubt upon this explanation. "He selected three potato plants early .in the year before any appearance of disease was seen; on one of these he carefully sponged the spraying 1 mixture of copper sulphate and washing eod'a on the upper surface only of the leaves; on another both surfaces were as carefully treated, and on the third the under surface alone was dressed. Between these other potato plants were left unsprayed to act as controls. They grew in the usual way all summer, and at the end of the season . . there was no difference observable in -the foliage on the three sprayed plants ; all were equa'ly green and almost unattacked by disease, while on the unsprayed plants the leaves svere -withered, decayed, and blighted. From this experiment it may therefore be concluded that it is not necessary to epray the leaves on both sides, seeing that the presence of the "copper mixture on either surface ensures immunity quite as well as when it is sprayed on both surfaces. . rhe conclusion arrived at in -the meantime, therefore, i 3 that if -the copper solution readies the leaves anywhere it confers immunity on the potato, and this immunity " may be conferred by some toxic. action by the copper sulphate on the potato plant rather than on the fungus, enabling it to withstand the attacks of' the I&tter and safely 'reach, maturity.'/ This is -rank ae'resy aeoordii^t, Ja jmx local experts. If -

.t the copper 6pray acts simply as a "brandy d and soda" on the potato crops, why do the g sprayed plants take so much longer to n mature' And why were there so many c failures experienced in spraying two years I, ago? There is room for experiment here, i- and the opportunity presents itself when t spraying at the present time. I1I 1 "Young 1 Farmer" writes asking' for my ;" advice in the following ■• A Question strain : — "My farm is in the a of Culture. Wakatipu district, which is '" a dry place and suitable * for barley growing. Last season J I sowed 30 acres in barley, but * owing to the dry season it was hardly worth 3 cutting. Immediately; it was stacked I | ploughed the ground and left exposed to * frost all winter, and then just ploughed the l ' ground again. There was a lot of second * growing barley I ploughed under. !j Do you think this would make manure? 1 Would^-it be advisable to sow an autumn r crop of barley in the ground again. I may a say that all grain crops, do best by autumn I or winter sowing up here."— You have not : given me the past history of your field or sufficient data to advise you satisfactorily. I must assume that your ground was taken > up out of lea last year, that it was in 1 good heart then, and that your expectation t of a crop would have been realised- in an 5 ordinary season. If that is so, the strength 1 must be in the ground still, and you can 1 sow again- with confidence, trusting to get f more favourable conditions of. growth. » Being such o. shallow-rooted crop, a liberal I and easily obtainable supply of phosphatio 3 food must be present within range of the 1 roots- This ensures early- ripening and 1 the harvesting of a good malting sample. " If there is any doubt, about the- ability. ■ of your ground to- grow d. full crop it I would be wiser to top dress it. Keep it 1 clean till autumn, and then top-dress when sowing the barley. For this purpose sowt' 1 of basic slag and 3cwt of kainit per acre, 1 mixed as used, and broadcasted after the 1 grain drill and harrowed in, would not be too heavy a dressing. The elag x becomes slowly available, and would help the barley ■ throughout its growth, and would" be the. : best preparation you could make for clover to follow. If there was any chance of a crop of rape and vetches mixed" comin? away at once, it might be" fed off if forced, a little before June. But you will havea- good idea whether you are likely to get a braird in a dry season like this" or not. AGRICOLA.