FARMING NOTES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 255, 11 December 1914, Page 4

FARMING NOTES.

SALT FOE MANGELS.

The report of the Harper Adams Agricultural College statos that earlier experiments proved the value of mangels. Many users of salt found, however, that a heavy dressing just boforo sowing damaged the seed. In 1913, therefore, a series of trials was made, salt being applied at different times before and after seeding and in different quantities per acre. The trials were carried out on a light, sand loam. All the plots were dressed with farmyard manure ploughed in, while 2 cwt dissolved bones, 1 cwt superphosphates, and .} cwt sulphate of ammonia per acre were applied at the time of sowing, and 1 cwt per acre nitrate of soda was given as a top dressing. The following table shows the rate and method of application of the salt and the results obtained Amount per acre and Yield method of application per acre. Tons Cwt. No salt 26 5

Salt, oewt, worked in before ridging 31 0 Salt, lOcwt, after splitting ridges and before 60win seed ... 32 5 Salt, scwt, after splitting ridges and before sowing seed 34 0 Salt, lOcwt, after sowing seed 36 0 Salt, scwt, after sowing seed .. ... .. 32 o Salt, 2U>cwt, after sowing seed, and subsequently as a topdressing 35 0

THE OBJECT OF PLOUGHING What is the object of the operation. It may be said to be fourfold

1. The loosening of the soil. 2. The stimulation of bacterial activity. The destruction of weeds 4. 'I lie burial of manure.

The first is essential in order to prepare a good seed bed and to enable the plant roots to penetrate more deeply so that they can get nourishment. A further advantage of ploughing is that it opens up the soil to the atmosphere, the oxygen of which changes the character of some injurious combinations and renders them available for food fertilising material of a slowly soluble character. Not less important is the improvement of the moisture conditions of the soil caused by the loosening of the soil by ploughing. A friable soil allows the water to percolate down, and on the other hand the fine soil is able to retain more moisturo, which otherwise drawn from the lower soil by capillary action would be lost by evapora- 1 tion.

Laud must not bo ploughed in a too wet condition, otherwise it cakes still more.

An important benefit of ploughing is the stimulation of bacterial life. This subject is now engaging more and more attention, and much remains to be cleared up, but it is certain that light, warmth, air and moderate moisture are all beneficial, and all these conditions are promoted by ploughing.

The safest single dry food for pigs for a few weeks, both before and after weaning also for sows suckling their young), is the class of wheat milling offal known commonly as " sharps." This should be of the very best quality. The more concentrate! meals barley, maize, peas, etc.), should only be introduced gradually, when the pigs are two or four months old, or stomach troubles may result. The best addition to the meals is skim milk, then separated milk, buttermilk and whey. These should be given at first in small quantities, and afterwards increased up to the amount desired.

.Thero is a continual drain on the stock of lime in the soil by the crops: thus the following crops, including grain and straw, carry off respectively : - Bshls. lb. Wheat 25 13 Barley 10 17 Oats 50 22 Tons Turnips 20 lis Potatoes ' s 40 Red Clever 2 77 Ryeg rass 2 30

The above quantities are not constant, and much of the lime may be returned to the land in the straw, the tops, and the manure ; but still the land cannot fail to suffer a certain annual loss of lime from the above cause.

A test was made at Cockle Park, ! Northumberland, of the relative profits to bo gained by grazing sheep alone, or grazing sheep and cattlo mixed. The experiment seems to havo ended conclusively in favour of mixed grazing. The liveweight gain of the sheep per acre was 1151b, and of cattle and sheep pei acre 2131b. The difference in money would be less marked, as mutton brings a higher price per pound than beef ; but still there was a substantial margin in favour of mixed grazing. The official report states that when pasturo is grazed with sheep only, rough and benty herbage is developed, owing to the sbeep grazing the finer grasses only, and these very closely The cattle, on the other hand, are more even mowers, and do not graze so closely. The replacing of half the number of sheep with the equivalent of cattle —one to five or six sheep — is thus more profitable than grazing sheep alone, as it helps the pastu*# and provides the sheep with more of their favourite food. The benefit to cattle is not so obvious, as the sheep deprive them of a proportion of the more nutritious grasses, which the sheep will eat off before they get j long enough for the cattle. Milking cows, therefore, will be better grazing alone, as far as the cows themselves are concerned.

Schemes have been submitted on various occasions by officers of the Board of Public Health with a view of purifying the milk supply. Experiments have been made in Marseilles for over a year with impure water by subjecting it to ultra-violet rays, and the treatment of milk by passing electric currents through it has been practised for several years in Liverpool. The ultra-violet rav system is said to be cheaper and more simple than the electrical system, and the chief health officer Dr. Robertson proposes to apply it to milk. An electrician has been asked to ascertain, on behalf of the Department, whether the material for the apparatus can be obtained here, but no decision has been arrived at as to where or when the experiments will be made. It is claimed that the purification of water is accomplished in a second or two, but some fear is expressed that milk, being opaque, may hinder the passage of the rays. The milk after treatment under the ultra-violet ray system, will be subjected to bacteriological examination, in order that the effect may be aseertai&ed.