FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 64, 10 April 1909, Page 6

FARM AND DAIRY.

THE BUTTER . MARKET. MEETING IN STRATFORD. Under tin, auwpices of the National Dairy Association a. meeting of dairy factory representatives was held in the Borough Council Chambers, Stratford, on Monday, the principal business being to consider the 'position of the butter market audi the bent course to adopt with referewo to autumn .supplies. The president of the association. Mr. J. W. Foreman, drew special attention to the necessity for the exercise of the utmost care. He said in spite of tho increase in cheeseinaking the butterproduction in Taranaki was equally as great as_ last year. Most of the contractu with buyers and agents expired on the 31st March, and' advices from London were that the market was very depressed. The. question was how far they could look to local markets to help them out with the autumn make. Considerable discussion ensued, and it was eventually decided to recommend factories to ship Home the liulk of their April butter and not to sell for storage in New' Zealand. ° Tho represcntativep of Messrs. .1 Nathan and Co. and ,T. and J. Lonsdale being present, were asked to state their views on the question, but they, however. confined themselves to expressing the opinion that the present slump anil the unsatisfactory position our butter had occupied during the whole season was due to the increase of moisture, which acted both in keeping off the buyers tfor blending and l in making the butter less acceptable to the retailer on account of its impaired keeping qualities.—Exchange. THE DANISH FARMER. THE SECRET OF fitCCESS. The Danish farmer is evidently an ideal man. Here is what the "Irish Homestead'' says of him:—"The small larmor in Denmark is undoubtedly a hard-working, thrifty individual, 'but. he manages to pay h'is way, to lead a self-respecting life, ami to enjoy some of the comforts and refinements of modern civilisation, whilst the man of forty acres and upwards enjoys a standard of living which is practically unknown amongst the same class in Ireland. The standard of living, on the whole, is much higher ill. Denmark than in Ireland, the wealth .being spread over a much larger proportion of the population. It is pleasing to note that tlifl tendency to migrate to towns, which has caused so mucin alarm at Home as well as in other countries, docs not prevail to any extent in Denmark. and this is generally attributed to the fact that the farmer contrives to retain a fair share of the fruits of his labor, and that the system of education, n> well as the co-operative organisation, lias made the social life of the people more agreeable and attractive. Some of the elements thai counted for success may here he set down. The Danes were a nrost intelligent family, both by Tcason of native gift and education. Denmark was well ahead of the rest of the world in enacliok' compufeory attendance in common schools. Accordingly, tho soil was prepared for Bishop Grundtvig's idea of assembling young men and young women, the sons and daughters of fanners, during certain summer and winter months, to receive in the residenti.il high schools a physical, moral, and religious training —this at a stage of life when young persons in other countries of more complex industrial structure are engaged in wage-earning. Not the i

j least cf the blessings of the6c high schools was tlio liabiit of mutual trust formed in their atmosphere. Tlicy nrnde it possible for the banks of Denmark to grant on personal security—that is, the security of character—the loans without which the peasant farmers could not have erected co-operative factories. Further, the tenure of land in Dtumark had long bad a bias towards peasant proprietorship. Away back in tile eighteenth century the process of subdivision of estates had begun. The calamity of 1804, followed by the disappearance of profit from eom-gLi Ing acei'ntua'ted this process. There is in Denmark, a total of six and a-quarter million acres divided into nearly a quarter of a million holdings, and about 90 per cent, of the occupiers are proprietors." THE FARMER'S YEAE. BEGINNING THE NEW SEASON. April may usually be counted the beginning of the farmer's year. In arable farming this is the period when the harvest ol the past season meets the seedtime of the next; when accounts may be balanced up, and book-keeping begun on farms where (hat aid to goou nusincss has hitherto been neglected. It is recognised by all the best farming authorities that an adequate book record of operations is very desirable. Tiic Ms-.teni of book-keeping must not be elaborate ; the more simple it is the more ellectively does.it serve the purpose for which it is intended. lis purpose is to let the farmer know his financial position at any time, and to let him know <u which ol his operations, if any, there are leakages.

At this time a considerable amount of grass seed-sowing will be done where it is not already completed. In places where frosts come early, earlier sowing is desirable. After Ue rains that nave fallen there will be no ground, that can j be considered too hard for ploughing. The pity is that soil is ever considered; too dry for this work, for the crops on l land ploughed dry arc always-better than those grown after the land has been worked wet. The working down ot land after ploughing is usually not desirable till the seed is to be sown, as the tine soil is soon beaten into a smooth airtight surface by rains. Deep ploughing, even for a shallow-rooting plant like grass, is labour that is well repaid. On nearly ail soils it is safe to recommend lime followed by superphosphate as the best manuring. This is particularly the case where there is clover in the second mixture, which the farmer needs to encourage. In the case of old pti&ui/es there is often nothing better tnan the samp succession of lime followed by superphosphate. Even if there be no clover to be stimulated, the grasses themselves will benefit, for it is very rare to r»nd a soil in New Zealand that will not profit from applications of a phosphatic manure, and the lime on most soils is a necessary preliminary to fix the phosphoric acid of the super. Loss of phosphoric acid, by the action of heavy rains, alter it has once penetrated the soil is not to be feared. There may, however, be loss by flooding on steep land by heavy rain /mmediately after application, as would be the case with any manure. Top-dres-sings with insoluble manures, such as bone-dust, guano, basic slag, etc., are often advised, but they are essentially manures that need to be plougned or harrowed into the soil, as they remain where they are placed. If they are topdressed on the surface of an otd pasture they remain on the surface, and very little good is received by the more valuable deeper roots, It is in this way more largely that superphosphate is so superior in its effects as a top-dressing. Nitrogen is a less necessary manure on land that occasio7ialiy carries a leguminous crop, for that crop gets it (through the aid of its root nodules) from the atmosphere. And potash is rarely needed by any New Zealand soils. On the whole, if a farmer desires to spend all his money on one form of manure, it will be best spent on phosphates. On the dairy farms a great difference in the carryhig capacity of the pastures would in all probability be noticed next spring if 30s per acre were spent on top-dressing now with lime followed by superphosphate BREVITIES. Field beans, not largely grown in New Zealand, may be sown this month. They are held in high esteem by Scotch farmers, and the straw is ranked far before the straw of oats, wheat, barley, or rye as fodder, and is held equal to good hay. The Scotch horse bean (3 bushels per acre), the smaller English tick bean (2 J / t bushels), and tfteJ&uasian or winter-field bean, whicb is tiro most frost-resistant, are three varieties recommended. For forage crops, vetches, oats, Cape barley, and rye give good results. A mixture of oats and rape (and a little mustard as a corrective) sown now would give forage for sheep and lambs next September and October. Where rams are put in with the ewes this month the lambs would be due in September, and the crop as suggested would then be ready for them.—Dominion. Sorghum is one of the largest yielding crops and one of the most palatable to all farm stock. Ccntleness and good treatment are essential to the well-being of the dairy cow as proper feed. A cow that is kept in a state of fear and apprehension is in no condition to do her natural best work in the way of producing high-grade milk. Cows and dogs are not natural eompan ions, either.