Notes and Gleanings.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 424, 30 November 1889, Page 6

Notes and Gleanings.

Bake Fallowing.— Upon this subject an exchange makes the following true observations, although they apply more particularly to a very hob climate : —Bare fallow is a fallacy. It is true that a bare fallow often cleans the Held ; ifc is true that a field often — nay, generally — gives a good crop aftor a baie fallow. A coal lire generally flaioaup after Stirling with a poker, but the coal burns out; the sooner ; and the soil wears out the quicker. Tho way bare fallow acts is something like this :— The soil contains a certain quantity of organic matter (say vegetable fibre, roots, etc.). This is exposed to the ticrco heat of the sun, which slowly consumes it, converting ib into carbon, carbonic acid, etc. Carbonic acid is volatile, and can be dissipated by heat or carried down by water. It is easily taken up by plants, so th >b whilst a largo portion of the transfotmed vegetable and other organic matter is dissipated, the remainder is taken up by the succeeding crop, which oi course is luxuriant, bub th.c ■foil is much poorer. If a crop of peas, clover, bares, vetches*, lucerne, or even beans, were laised instead of fallowing the soil would be in much better condition. The bhade afforded by the crop prevents carbonization — indeed, ib is almost certain that the shade adds to the store ot fixed carbon in the soil. At any rate the land is no poorer for having raised an intermediate crop, and this will partly pay for some fertilizer. The certainty is that the succeeding crop of cereals after leguminous crop is always good.

Americas Fakmeks >ot Prosperous. — A well-known Illinois farmer, writing in the Albany Cultivator^ remarks that A'neri2at. farmers aro nob as prosperous as they should be, as> a rule, and that many are growing poorer. While not alarmed about their indebtedness, he admits that, when it is seen that si>c Boston syndicates hold farm moitgages to the amount of 50,000,000 dollars, it is useless to pretend that the farmers are as prosperous as they ought to be. The remedy for the depiession he believes to be the more extended growth of fruit and vegetables, especially for the cultivator's own use. The farmer who produces all the fruit and vegetables that his family could advantageously consume is, he says, an exception to the general run of farmers. His contention is that the .household expenses jright bo greatly reduced if every farmhouse were provided with nearly all the provisions required by its inmates from their own fields and gardens.

Cultivated Land ix India. — The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth tables of the new Indian Statistical Abstract contain some information of special interest at the present moment in regard to the area of British India actually under cultivation, the area at present uncultivated which might be cultivated, and the proportions of the diflerenfc crops. The total acreage of India, according to the Survey Department is 480,667,094 acres. DeducD 116,615,483 acies, the area of the feudatory and tributary States, and of other districts for which agricultutal returns are not obtainable, and with which the figure? do not deal, and we get 364,051,611 acres as the area of Brifcifc.li India for agricultural purposes. Of this less than half, or 152,834,640 acres, is actually under cultivation, including 32,725,391 acres, of current fallows. Ot the 166,492,458 acres which is uncultivated, rather more than half is fit for cultivation, and the remainder is not available for that purpose, so that an area of eighty millions of acres in British India still awaits the husbandman. The aiea under forests, which is not included under either cultivable or uncultivable land, is 40,185,729 acres. The distribution of crops was as folio W3 : — Eice, 23,114,662; wheat, 19.883,040 ; other food grains, including pulse, 71,439,218 : tea, 226,412 (almost wholly in Assam) ; cotton, 9,852,654 ; oil seeds, 7,678,382 ; indigo, 1,034,889. It thus appeals that there is practically unlimited scope, so far as area is concerned, for the increased cultivation in India of crops which are mainly intended for export, such as wheat, cotton indigo, tea, coffee, &c.

Bio Tkek YaiinS).— 'UieGippsland (Vic toria) Tnnzs says : — "Whatever difference of opinion there may be on the subject o the gianb trees of Gippsland with respec to height, there i= no doubt that the pro vince can show some o r enormous gii bh Mr Noble Johnson T.mner, of Mostrrove, Carrajunjr, during a con"ei&ation which we had with him, stated that he would be glad to hho.v any person, interested in the matter, a tree on his son'a selection at Callignee, about 40 miles from Sale, which at thiee feet abovo ground measures in circumference no less than 120 feet 6 inches, being over 40 foet in diameter. About 70 feet from the mound it blanches into two, and, a=«may be imagined, presents a very imposing appearance. Another on the same ground, which is now, dead and without bark, measures 119 feet in circumference. On Mr Tanner's property there stand? a tree which has been hollowed out by lire, and in the opening of which eight hoises at once can easily be placed ; and yet another giant of the forest, also standing, can be shown, which has also been burned out inside,' and the opening .is 27 feet. The specimens above mentioned are what are called in the locality ' mountain ash. 1 " Our contemporary, the Colonies and Indict, we may remark, prints the above paragraph under the significant heading "Snake Yarns 'Oft.'"

English Hoy C/lol j _ of ISoU— Although, according to all account. 1 ;, the hop crop of 1889 promises much better quality than for some years past, there is no doubt, says an English paper, that the acreage under cultivation is gradually falling off. According to statistics publiohed by the Agricultural Department, Kent is again far and away the largest grower, but here the number of .acres has been reduced from 40,037 in 1887 to 35,487 in the present year. The next largest falling-off is in Sussex, where only 7,282 acres are under cultivation, as against 8,729 in 1887. In only three instance* has there been an increase in the culture, and these are only very small. Cambridge returns 25 acres, in contrast with nil in 1887 ; Hereford, 6,850 acres, against 6,471 ; and Worcester 2,939 acres, to compare with 2,128 acres in 1887. Essex two years ago cultivated one acre, and now cultivates none ; while Huntingdon in 1887 grew hops on three acres, and now grows none. It will be seen from these figures that there is an almost general reduction in the tracts of land under hops, and from this it may pretty safely be surmised that it is found more piofitable to utilise the ground in some other way. In Messrs W. H. and H. Lo May's annual report ib is stated tbafc, "from a most careful personal survey of the plantations, and fiom the returns kindly sent us by most of the hop growers, we are justified in estimating this growth at an average of 8 cwfc per acre, or equal £230,000 old duty. It is too early yet to say much about prices, but in our opinion remunerative prices will be ob'ainable ior all except those that are mouldy and diseased. These we fctrongly adviso growexs not to pick."