FARMING NOTES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 58, 19 July 1915, Page 4

FARMING NOTES.

Lucerne Law. Some Expert Advice. The greatest of all bocks on lucerne growing is called "The Book of Alfalfa," written by E. D. Cuburn, secretary of the Kansas Board of Agriculture, particularly fpr sheep breeders in a country where reliance is not placed in natural pasture alone. In his book Mr Coburn says The seed must be [ure. If doubtful, consult the nearest experimental farm. The soil must have lime, if not, lime must be added. The land must be well drained, either naturally or artificially. The land must be feitile to a depth of at least 9in. Beyond that depth the tap-root, in its search- fur moisture, will look after itself. Don't sow on newly plouhged land. Don't allow weeds or grass to grow over 6ia high without cutting. Don't cut when wet with rain or dew. Don't albw lucerne to stand. If turning yellow, cut. Doa't sow old seed. Don't sow less than 201b per acie one half each way. Don't sow twenty live acres at Hist. Sow fiv?., Dui't grezt it. Djn't put rotten manure anywhere but ia your lucerne field. Don t let water stand on it. Don't let it go if the stand is thin, but disc in more seed. Djn't be afraid that you will kill it by ciscinp. Don't wait for it tj stoc.l. It never dots. Don't try to cut for hay until the lucerne holds the field. Don't coff on land not well under-draioed. Don't leave the land rough. Use a roller or a plank float, to level or smuDth it. Don't give up trying to grow lucerne. Cutting is an invigorant. Cut the first crop just when it is ready to bhoin. This is the lan of alialfa: It mußt be cut down, it takes courage to cut baby lucerne, but it must be cut to save it. lhe critical time is the first tix weeks of its lift l . Save tie leaves. They are worth four tim s as much in feeding value as the stems. Lucerne is the child of the sunj Shade kills i'. It is not a good tighter in its youth against adversaries of any kind. Grazing with stock is an expensive and extravagant method of gathering a crop from high-priced lard. A man with machinery can harvest mure economically tban a cow, a steer, a horse, or a sbeep. No animal should be turned in to graze until the second ur third year of the life of the plant. One acre of !uc:rne cut is equal to five acrta pastured.

Living and Dead Soils.

"Soils without bacteria are dead soils, and as such unfit to support proftiable crops," said Dr J. G. Lipman, director of the New Jersey Experimental Station and ProfdSßor ot Bacteriology and Soil Fertility. Every farmer, in his opinion, should know something of the fcod that bacteria must have, and of the conditions required for the proper utilisation of this food. To the average man it is evi lent that a heap of fr?sh manure will in time beome darker in colour, and will uhrirk io size; that manure added to the land "rots " and disappears; that the bodies of buried animals, or crops of chver, vetch or rye, ploughed into the soil, vanishes in time and become an indistinguishable part of tbe soil itself.. Yet it is not as evident to him that the disappearance of these substances is the result of vital .activities. He tails to realise that tbe universal process of decay may be stopped by preventing the growth of bacteria, as is actually done in canning factories. To the average man it is not evident that the process of fermentation is never suspended io tbe soil except when the latter is frozen. He often fail* to realise that abundant, but no exceesive, moisture, a favourable temperature, and a pleniful supply of air stimulate tbe activities of soil bacteria. Neither do< s fce realise that a soil may contain a relatively large amount of partly decomposed vegetable aud animal matter, humus, and yet may fail to offer enough food for the vigorous growth of useful bacteria Let it be remembered in this connection that soils are formed (lowly out of the weathered rock, that they become gradually richer in available plant food and richer in vegetable matter and bacteria. The day comes at list when thase virgin soils make the acquaintance of the farmer and his implements of tillage. And as the furrows are turned, as the soil is mellowed, and as tbe air and water and eunshine are mads io mingle with it, the bacteria are Btirred to feverish activity. They have food a plenty, and they attack vigorously the plant and animal materials that bad been accumulating, perhaps throughout many centuries, as prairie cod and forest mould.

GROWS LESS PRODUCTIVE. But after a time the lean yeais come, and the farmer wonders why his land is growing leas and leas productive. The soil that wai once dark in colour, and mellow to the touch, as if instinct with life, has become lighter in colour and lifeless to the touch. Why this change? And what of the bacteria that were eo generously fed in the newly-establisbedjfields? An answer to these queries may be found in the History of every agricultural country. It is the story of the young soils m their decline. It is the story of vegetable matter decay* ing rapidly at first and then more and more slowly, until the residues finally become so inert, so resistant to decay, that the bacteria fail to secure enough food, and come upon a period of starvation. For, after all, it is not so much the quantity of humus in the soil, but the quality of it, that regulates the growth and activity of bacteria. It is surprising what enormous quantities of plant fooJ ure present in so many so-called "iun-down" or "worn-out" soils. Yet, noUithatar-idng the abundance of plant food, the crops do not vwld profitable returns. There is not enough fermentation in these soils, the perfect bacterial machinery is lacking, and the acids and other chemical products of fermentation are not abunddant enough to provide for the rapid, breaking down et the rock particle?, and the formation of available phosphoric acid and potash. But these "worn out" soils receive more or less regular applications of fresh manure, or green clover, cow peasjor vetch, and the bacteria will again find enough digestible food in them, and the abundant harvests will come back slowly but surely. In this wise many of the abandoned farms in the east have rtturnea to their eld prospeiity, just as tha soils of Europe, aft r a period of decline, have reached a stage of intensive cultivation.