NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Although the dry season through which we have been passing may claim Crops Grown to have had many redeemto Keplace ing features, the most recent Snedes. o have had many redeemthe swede crop by blight, will be a hard nut to crack for many dairymen and flock-owners. Dependence is placed on the swede to carry the stock through late winter. The rain experienced at th<-. beginning of the week will help the yellow turnip 6, which were also being attacked and consumed by the fly, but most of the swedes are past redemption. Last year at this time many turnip crops were observed to be thin and patchy, and in those districts most affected by the drought were burned up altogether ; but this year the braird came away evenly and vigorously, and gave promise of an abundant supply of roots for cattle and sheep. The farmer can never make quite sure of any given return, and the turnip fly, or flea, ie sweeping the swede crop before it, and upsetting all his calculations. The problem how to provide the requisite winter food to replace the swede, therefore, forces itself upon his attention It should be noted that kohirabi is blighting as badly as the swede, and that mangolds, cabbage, and carrots seem to be the only crops making a persistent stand against the blight, wireworm, slugs, etc. And these crops should be more grown than they are. It is too late in the season to dream of making successional sowing^ which, with any certainty, would provide continuous folding from midwinter onwards. There are two considerations which cannot be lost sight of — first, chat if a braird is not obtained at once there may be a difficulty in getting much bulk even for early spring; and, secondly, there may possibly be no growth worth mentioning 1 during winter and until warm weather sets in. Even if the fodder is not required for ewes and lambs till later spring it would be better to sow at once and secure a braml covering the ground. That is one of th main points to attain without loss of time ; afterwards the progress of ihe crops will indicate whether it is necessary to feed it down of not, so as to secure the food at the time desired. The crops usually sown for folding may be fed down at any time during their growth and left to come away again. With a well-rooted plant of this nature anything can be done. There is generally a fairly strong growth to be counted upon till the end of May, and very little during June and July. Any crop required for folding in July or August will therefore have to be well forward before the end of May. Early sowing, which utilises the strong natural heat in the ground, very marked in a dry year like , the present, provided it gets a fair amount ' of moisture, will be found to be the most reliable. A good mixture for August fold- j :ng wouM be rye grain or oats 1 bushel, vetches 2 bushels, and rape 31b, drilled in with every tube of the machine and topdressed in showery weather with 2cwt or 3cwt of superphosphate broadcasted on the surface. Some upright standard like oats or rye is necessary to support the vetches. I Rapi. and vetches attain folding growth in [ 12 or 13 weeks in spring and summer, and if sown at. once would have 9 or 10 weeks' growth before the end of May. If given 1 a good start with an easily assimilated | stimulant like superphosphate this mixture ■ ougnt to be worth cutting in August. A I mixture of rye, grain, and Cape barley j might be sown at once to follow this, and ' carry the stock well into the spring. A good field of young grass which has not yet been grazed, or any fie'd with a good sprinkling of clover in it, might be shut up now and top-dressed either with farmyard manure, if that is available, or with 3cwt of superphosphate and 2cwt of kainit per acre, and it would yield a valuable bite after the rape mixture was finished about the beginning of September. Any farmer who is fortunate enough to have a large supply of good quality hay has a little excuse for neglecting these crops. Provided his oattle have as much sweet, well-saved hay as they will eat, and a wide range on heavy ground, where there is generally a little growth during winter, it is wonderful how well they will pull through and maintain their flow of milk, but everyone is not so fortunate, and timely provision made now will be much appreciated later on. A farmer whose farm consists of medium coil, ranging on the lower Lime oh levels from good back loam Stiff Clay. to stiff clay on the ridges, was heard recently to remark that " lime as a manure on his land had proved a failure." And I was invited to suggest anything that would profitably replace it. He had applied it to, the stiff ' cay ridges of his farm, •jpd was disappointed with the result. The very naturo i of this statement and question indicated a want of knowledge of the effect which could reasonably be expeoted from the applica- j tion of lime- to such land 1 . Repeated cul- , tivation with heavy implements and exposure to the frost of winter will in time break clown heavy, stiff clay land of this

ohiirartor, but in nearly all cases it is necessary to add other materials to effect permanent improvement to the land. The use of li/iie accomplishes this without heavy labour. There is nothing to equal it as an aid to the subdivision and reformation of contrary unkind soils. By loosening and disintegrating such soils throughout the depth of the furrow it enables the plant to utilise any manure applied to the 'and. But even rich manure applied to bricks of clay is absolutely useless for the plant, and cannot compensate for a condition of the soil which prevents the free distribution of the fine rootlets. Lime cannot have the same marked effect or. stiff clay land that it has on heavy alluvial flat, comprised largely of decomposed Maori head's and other vegetable matter, but if liberates the potash in the clay, and in that way acts as a feeder for the plant. On stiff clay land there is not the required amount of vegetable matter present to enable the lime to free sufficient nitrogen to make much difference in the supply of that important ingredient of plant food. And this indicates the best way ;n; n which improvement may be effected on ihesi lands. If a crop or two of clover were ploughed in and followed by lime and manure the beneficial action of the lime wouid be immediately apparent. Great benefit would accrue by this coursp, and the effect would be as marked as in the case of heavy alluvial land. The action of iinic in creating a desirable sanitary environment for the roots, oL which I wroto last week, ennnot be overlooked. There is evidencp that applications of lime are becoming necessary to many fields in the Otago district, and one ton per acre might be put on witb advantage one© in each rotation. There is a continual loss of lime from the sur'ace soil. It has a Tendency to sink in the soil, and it is therefore best to apply small doses frequently. Beyond its action in breaking up the soil it only acts as a stimulant, and by itself does not add to the fertility of the soil, but enables the soil to vicld up its stored-up riches. For that very reason it must therefore be used In conjunction with manures, or it will impoveris"l - the soil. The suggestion is therefore made in the first place to supply the required vegetable matter lacking in the soil by ploughing m clover crops. Then if lime is needed it should be applied in modera r e quantity, and it and the winter's frost should do their work. This should be followed up by providing in addition the manure suitable to the green crop grown. Where cows are kept an abundant supply of straw should be available all winter, and aa much farmyard manure made ag possible, and carted out to the stiffer soil in clue course. There is nothing like" it to keep the air circulating through stiff soil, and the texture is improved 1 by the increased prooortion of vegetable matter. But only a little can be done in this way annually, ! and more wholesale methods have to be adopted and green manuring is an efficient and less costly substitute. j The farmers' struggle againet weeds is a continuous one, and neglect Fifhting at the right season entails •gainst TTeeds. double labour without tha satisfaction of making a, clenn job. In a comparatively dry season growth is not so heavy as usual, but the seeds have matured all right, and the earlier the start made to battle with them the less there will be to do. The stubble work has already been mentioned, and is mo 6 important, because the weeds growing ir. the ciop have had an opportunity to shed their seed. The enormous increase which follows seeding will be understood after examining the following list. The numbers .quoted indicate what seeds of a singe healthy plant of each kind are capable of producing in one season: — Groundsel, 65C0 ; cl arlock, 4-000 ; sow thistle, 13,000 ; shepherd's purse, 4500; common dock, 13,000; and dandelion, 2040. I have been looking for the Canadian thistle, but have failed tj find it. Fortunately the facilities for cleaning up the stubbles are spread over a considerable time. The following rules, excractec 1 from the Mark Lane Express, are worth following, and if every farmer in any particular district faithfully complied with them for even one season there would ! be less to do the following one: — I (1) By a thorough cultivation of the soil before the crop seed is put in a mass of weeds cen be destroyed. j (2) Select for sowing seed free from weede. Seeds intended for sowing should be examined fo> purity and freedom from weeds. (3) Land holding too much water should be drained. I (4) Plenty of phosphate of lime and potash supplied to the cultivated crops enable them to suppress weeds. j (5) All weeds growing on roadsides, ditobee, and uncultivated places should be carefully destroyed before they seed. | (6) The sweepings from barns and other places which may have weed seeds among the jitter should not be fed, and should not be put on the manure heap without the terminating power of the seeds being fir3t destroyed. _ > And a number of other less important ones, annona; them the following: — "Whe'i arable land is infested with weeds it is necessar/ to fallow it so that it may h(thoroughly cultivated and cleaned." There

is -\ erv little of our land which may nob grow a crop of some kind and be cleaned at the same time.

The bulk of the harvest is now secured, and in the earlier districts HarTest most of it is already threshed Home. out, while in the south there is plenty of grain still tp cut. This event some years ago wa6 invariably heralded by a succession of balls and soc-al meetings, at which the lemonade was frequently reinforced with something more actively stimulating than raspberry, and at which the lads and lapses danced all night and got homo in time for milking in the morning Such meetings nowadays are le«e frequent, more honoured in the breach than in the observance, but harvest festivals are stiil heifi in our churches, and seasonable thanks given for mercies yet to be received. Surely it is time enough to hold thanks by giving services after our 'lands have y'eldea us their fruits of increase and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and plenty. There is a certain amount of incogruifcy in these pre-arranged services, which come off before the crops are safely garnered in, and which never may arrive at " that happy day of gladness." Perhaps it is considered that " while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest, and cold and hea*-, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." But it is a little like the rule-of-thumb housekeeper who lightr her fires from one particular date to another, without any consideration whatever to the state of the atmosphere. No doubt it is a good thing to give thanks for constantly recurring mercies, but are "farmers quite sincere in the matter? Is it not the case that thankfulness should mean sacrifice of some sort — the free giving in return for the sustenance derived from the fruits o c the earth? The annual dividend of our ministers does not look like it. They are condemned to genteel poverty and inconvenience for want of enough money to live on, when every item the farmer handles a." present sells at a high figure, and the minister has to give a high price r or all the necessary food and produce. Let the farmer who is joining in the harvest thanksgiving, after he has received a good cheque for his wool and hie grain and his stock, sit down quietly and consider the point. It is not my function to publish injudicious comparisons between the gifts of ore body of men and another. No one likes to see the amount he is justified <n giving brazoned out before the public in print. Such comparisons rather tend to dry up the strings of charity than otherwise ; biit surely the labourer is worthy of his hire . j Thece is absolutely no agricultural imple- . ment, not even a sledge nor ! Motoring a traction engine, nor any and Country narrow-tyred conveyance of Road*. any kind, which injures the j country roads so nruch as ' the motor car. This is especially noticeable in dry seasons like the last. In waggon days the outcropping stones were ground dowr to flour, and the surface was so smooth that the portion under the wheels could havp been danced upon, but since the advent of the motor locwe stone? have been sucked up to su<h an extent that a trap cannot be driven for more than a mile or two before the horse gets his feet full of them. The position from the farmer's point of view is this : He has to pay for the upkeep of thwe roads, and the motor has increased that outlay materially and' made thr road less serviceable. He is also taxea for using the road and taking a decent load over it. The motorist escapes any contribution. He is periodically scared out of several years' growth : the motorist parses alone: in many cases placidly unconcerned. The public certainly have rights, but farmers also have rights, and how i theso conflicting elements may be joined j together in peace with fairness to all ie the ( question -which will soon have to engage the tttentior. of the variouo county councils. j The battle for the pre-eminence of the variI ous breeds of cattle still The Battle «f wages fiercely at the annual j the Bre«d«. Smithfield show. During the ' early years of last century the Herefords carried everything before t'em. securing between the years 1779 ani ' 1851 no less than £450 more in prize-money than the shorthoi-n. After that date for many years shorthorns were very much in tiie ascendant, but for the last 30 years they have ha<! formidable opponents in the Aberdeen Angus breed. This season at the last c-how held in the middle of December, this , breed came out remarkably well in the I carcase competition. And although the shorthorns have maintained the lead in the • championship events, they were closely ' pressed, and had a great struggle with the | Polled Angus exhibits sent forward. The j Mark Lane Express has the following on ; the championships: — "There was but one topic of conversation in connection with the i Smi*hfiekl show this week, and that was ' the extraordinary championship decision. The allocation of the champion prizes in i the catrl< section was carried out by Mr j Clement Stephen'-on, Newcastle-on-Tyne. and Mr Hutchinaon Catterick, Yorkshire. Taking the special prizes as they fell to be decided by the judges, there came firat the £25 cup" for the best yearling steer. This honour fell to his Majesty's white shorthorn, I with Mr Hudson's Aberdeen Angus steer . reecrve. Then followed the £50 cup for the j best ox, and the judges again favoured the 1

shorthorns, the ticket going to Sir Oswald Mosley's two-year-old steer. The next move Ava& to find a reserve for the steer championship, and in order to do this Mr PeteJ Dunn's shorthorn steer Gentleman John was brought before the judges, who almos* at once preferred him" to Sir Oswald Mosiey's steer, and they would Have liked to have revised their decision, which had been arrived at before seeing Mr Dunn's animal. The stewards, however, intervened, and pointed out that as the award had once been given it could not be withdrawn by th« judges. The £50 cup for the best heifer was won by Lord Rosebery's two-year-old Abcrdecii-Angus heifer Eloquent of Dalmeny 11, while Air Lean's two-year-old "horthorr heifer was reserve. Then cape the rather unusual ending. The champion pliitc of lOOgs forms the blue ribbon of the meeting, and the judges, confident in their judgment, entirely discarded the class alloj cations, and gave the honour to Mr Peter Dunn's second prize two-year-old shorthorn. fcteei\ The course was an unusual one, and gave ri?e to great comment, but the judges were commended for their independent action, which placed a« champion of th^ show an animal which was very popular roun<' the ring, and their decision was undoubtedly the correct one. A reserve cham* pion wa» found in Lord Rosebery's Aber-deen-Argus heifer, this being the second s year his Lordship has occupied the position. He, however, had the King's Challenge Cup for the best animal bred by exhibitor, Mf L-ean's shorthorn heifer being reserve." The following clipping will show the succes* attained by the Aberdeen. Abtrdean- \ngus Cattle in the carcase iagns Cattle, competition at Smithfield r "The resultsi of the carcase competition at ihe Smithfield Show were announced yesterday, the animals hh-vin© been slaughtered earlier in the week. Generally speaking, the awards are again a' great triumph for Scottish stock, Mr J. D., Flecher.- of Roeehaugh, being champion in. both the cattle and Bheep sections. Thefirst of the cattle classes was for steers, nofc. exceeding two years old. Mr Fletcher was,first and got the cup with an Aberdeen-. Angus by Prizer out of Lady Ida of Muirhead. This bullock showed a beautiful body of beef, the marling being very distinct and clear. The Duchess of Newcastle, Clumber, was second With a smaller animal of the same breed, by Priam of Wyrley, while the "University College of Bangor wa* third with a Welsh. A Devon, owned bf Mr Sparrow, Wroth of Coombe, Devon, was fourth. There was an e\en larger entry in the aged s^cr class. Mr Young, OadboH, was first here with a cross Aberdeen-Angus shorthorn, which showed nicely marled flesh. Mr Robert Hughes from Wales was second with a Welsh bullock. Mr J. D. Fletcher had third with a shorthorn Dexter cross, and Mr L. Phillip3, Winchfield, Hants, fourth with an Aberdeen-Angus shorthorn. In the hoifer class Mr C. J. Lucas, of Horsham. was first and got the reserve for the cup with a Sussex, but quite ac popular a winner would have been Mr J. S. C'ark's Abordeen-Angus Princess Fortune, from Dundas Castle, this be-ng a

splendid body of beef ? and with very little I waete. The third prize in the class went to the president, Mr Hornsby, for a black Galloway-Angus heitfer, and Sir "Walter Gilbey with an Angus-shorthorn was fourth." The Lave Stock Journal publishes reports -received from various butchers as to the state of ths fat., animals" purchased by them which were exhibited at Smithfield. The particulars given are worth notice by j local breeders.

■^Palmereton," after paying a compliment to my notes, writes to ask ! Salt aid how much salt could be ' Orabi. - sown per acre on spring grass, that is grass sown in the spring with oats, without endangering the young clover plants. He thinks eat would help to retain the moisture" that fell. He desires to know^if it would be of lasting benefit. He intends to sow a small » lot of mangolds, but the ground is infested by grubs, and he wishes to know if he could cow as muoh salt as would kill both the grass and grubs, then plough the land and bow the seed without fear of spoiling the ' crop. 1 don't think the grubs would attack I the mangolds readily. No amount of salt that you can put on will kill the present live grub) Half a toil per acre applied to the grass which it was intended to break up would kill out all the tiny eggs, and help to reduce the pest. Such an amount would do the braird that would be got later on after working the ground no harm, ; but I would not like to put co much en the ' young grass. About 2cwt of salt and lewt of nitrate of soda would help the grass to resist the grub. . I would recommend folding the cattle thick on it, and feed them there until they have trampled the grub out. This is specially effective in winter time, when turnips are carted out to the £eld, and the cattle can tramp it black. Very few grubs will be left. AGRICOLA.

f nS & n "» erg fit - B IT : B^ : : > If 8 I (B g t i m o 3 s 0* ! p10 CO ta 00 CO o {3 00 to >-• on ►okJ Ofq r * *"• g. £ OD (9 s i I l XS la. •T—l Averace daily 22- ' gain. | Placed in class. CO s B I »-i £ 3 I {»•— Dressed cars' case. s i A S S £ Percentage of d rested car case to gross wfight. o £ 3 -* s^l W I s I 2 I Ss? I s-S 1 H 00 9 t5 s O si 5 3s