On the Land.

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 940, 5 April 1930, Page 27

On the Land.

ertilisers and Profits

This Weeks Heavy Deliveries DURING the past four*days six vessels unloaded overseas fertilisers at the A lie kla lid wharves. For the most part it has gone into immediate consumption, the Railway Department effecting a clearance to all parts of the province with a minimum of delay.

When it is realised that this week’s arrivals constitute only a portion of the fertiliser commitments of the province some idea of the magnitude of the trade can be gained. Today, no progressive farmer in the province would consider his season’s programme complete without regular topdressing on his pastures. He now hooks a large part of his fertiliser requirements ahead and generally arranges for spread delivery so as to avoid storing on the farm, and to allow the utmost of economy in Handling. Imported fertilisers are genei-ally bought, ex the ship, and go direct to the farmer; the bulk of the business in locally-manufactured fertilisers is also sold on a free-on-rail-at-the-factory basis; under these terms the farmer avoids storage costs and minimises charges for handling. A few years ago the average farmer, even when he realised the value of fertilisers, counted his season’s requirements mostly in cwts; today, he counts in tons, which every year tend to move toward higher levels. In this week’s arrivals orders of up to 300 tons go direct to individual farmers; some of the bigger farmers of the Waikato and South Auckland, generally, now handle up to 800 tons of fertilisers annually; assessed at a low level of £4 10s a ton landed on the farm, this represents an expenditure of over £3,500. For any farmer to pay out this amount on any part of his farming programme should be a sure enough testimony to the value of fertilisers. There are certainly only a very few farmers in the province who can afford, or who could use economically, as much as SOO tons of fertilisers a year, but the fact remains that there is growing tendency each year to economise in other directions on the farm, rather than to allow orders for fertilisers to be cut down; experience in the past has shown that any tutting down of expenditure on manures is almost Inevitably reflected by a decrease in production. During the past two' mouths heavy deliveries of fertilisers have been made from the three Auckland works and, but for the dry weather and the heavy growth of grass carried over from the rains of earlier in the season, it is regarded as almost certain that deliveries this autumn would have constituted a fresh sales record for the province; it is a moot point, in fact, even now, whether, if the aggregate sales could be totalled

up, that the present season has not been a record one. Summed up, business in fertilisers over the past two months has indicated clearly that the Auckland farmer is continuing to pin his faith ill fertilisers as one of the best antidotes for lower prices for farm produce. Little short of a 100 per cent, increase in several branches of farming throughout the province over the past decade provide ample testimony to the contention that “Fertilisers” and “Profits” are synonomous terms in the farmers’ eyes.

A REMARKABLE COW

GAVE 33 TONS OF MILK ONLY SEVEN YEARS OLD The Jersey is one of the most remarkable breeds of dairy cattle in existence, and it has produced individual performers in milk and butter production that have won general admiration. Perhaps none surpassed in milk yield the cow, Postmistress, .belonging to Mr. Grosvenor Berry, Mount Bures, Colchester, which has recently died as a result of a. chill (writes “The Times,” London) This wonderful animal gave 73,853i1b of milk in four and threequarter years, or nearly 33 tons, a yearly average of 15,5481 b (1,555 gal- ■ Ions). Last year Postmistress reached 2,000 gallons in the year, the first of her breed to achieve this distinction and the event was fittingly celebrated by supporters of the breed. For a breed of the size of the Jersey, these records are extraordinarily , high, and indicate both the human i skill that has evolved animals of such • capacity, and the responsive qualities . of the. breed. The cow was only - seven years old, and fortunately she - has left in the Mount Bures herd sev- • eral daughters and sons to propagate the strain.

Agricultural tractor trials, open to machines manufactured in any part of the -world, will be held in England this year, under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society, in conjunction with the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Oxford.

CARE OF THE PIG AN ENGLISH VIEWPOINT “OPEN-AIR” METHODS Since the practice commonly known as “open-air” pigkeeping came so very j much into fashion a few years ago, j much has been said and written as I to the hardiness of pigs in general | and of certain breeds in particular | (says an English journal). This is j all very well so far as it goes—or, j rather, so long as it does not go too far. Admittedly the pig, in its origi- ! nal state, was a very hardy beast, but ! the days when it was permitted to roam the country and shift entirely j for itself in the matter of both food and shelter have long since gone by. j it can hardly be expected of an ani- j mal which has been subjected to long j years of domestication that it should be quite so liardy today as at the time when it was truly wild. There is nothing to be said against open-air pigkeeping so long as it is conducted on lines appropriate to the altered conditions that have been brought about by man in regard to the pig’s existence. On the contrary, there is much to be said in its favour, but owing to the exaggerated statements that have been made by certain people as to the pig’s hardiness (not to mention the photographs of baby pigs looking miserable in a foot of snow, that have been published from time to time), there is a disposition on the part of those who have not examined the matter too closely to .believe that a pig can stand anything; and that it really enjoys being subjecte dto every hardship. It may be granted that pigs can stand a great deal, and that wallowing in mud or snow up to their bellies, or sleeping out in really cold weather, will not necessarily kill them, but that is not quite the point. All creatures that come of a naturally hard stock can, at times, withstand conditions of the greatest hardship, but whether it is good for them or not is quite another mater. You cannot ignore the fact that the pig, being a warm-blooded animal, like the rest of us, is sensitive to cold, just as it is sensitive to heat, and that discomfort, one way o rthe other, is bound to be felt when things go to extremes. We wanfe our pigs to do something more than exist. We "want them to thrive, or they will not pay, and if they do not thrive or pay just because we’have silly and exaggerated notions as to their hardiness, what is the good or keeping them?

“No fruit at Home has got a better name than New Zealand apples,” remarked Mr. Frank Milner, rector of Waitaki High School, on his return from an extended trip abroad. / He had been told by both Canadian and Australian competitors that they could not compete against the New Zealand pack. Mr. Milner added that he found all New Zealand products selling very freely on the Home markets, and all had an equally good name.

BIG SHEARING TALLY Writing under the heading of “Shearing" Tallies” to the “Christchurch Press,” “Spectator” states: “I was visiting a farmer friend near Rolleston, and he invited me to .stay and see a great bit of shearing, so I stayed and took his time and tallies, and although I have seen a lot of shearing, it was the best I have ever seen. A. Taylor, of Timaru, a man well over 50, before breakfast, in 11 hours shore 65; after breakfast, S to 9.45, he shore 75, from 10.15 to 12, 75; from 1 p.m. to 2.20, 60; from 2.40 to 4 p.m., 60, doing the last 20 sheep in 20 minutes; total, 335 sheep, done in 7 hours 40 minutes. I’ll admit that the sheep were good, but shearing was perfect, hardly a cut or mark. It did not seem any trouble to him. He told me the best! week’s shearing he has done was 1,440.”

IRISH STOCK FIGURES In the Irish Free State there are now 4,136,847 head of cattle, or an increase of 12,332 on the past year. Milch cattle are fewer, but stores approaching three years have increased by 22,758 head. Sheep now number 3,375,437, or an increase of 112,241 head upon the | year. I,ambs have increased by ! 53.570. Pigs have declined by 237,575 on the year, numbering now 945,152. A British Empire Trade Exhibition is being organised in Buenos Ayres by the British Chamber of Commerce in Argentine, from February to April, 1931. It Is the. first of its kind to be held in South America and only articles manufactured in the British Empire are eligible for exhibition.