FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 174, 27 August 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN IRELAND. Tiie recent issue of the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Ireland, is, as usual, a publication of considerable interest. It alt'ords evid'MCi of the activity of the agricultural authorities in the distressful island in supplying guidance to the tillers of the soil, not only theoretical, but lit'.? information of a practical and uset'-il character. In this respect Ireland, l ar from being the distressful isle, is Ui- spoilt child if the j United Kingd'v.u >inu the English Board of Agriculture must sigh, though sigh ill vain in the piesent condition of strained natioiuu finances, for equal facilities. The Irish Department is endowed with Sulkicnt funds to carry out its proper work in an efficient manner, while the English Board is cramped and restrict M In ts energies by the want of the sinews' o' war. Among oth?r instructive articles, the journal miler review contains a report on the results of :.ha field experiments, conducted in /rMi-l during 1008, under the auspices of the Department. They were oarriod out at numerous centres and hcluded m trivial ir.i Is on meadow hay, potatoes, Miangel*, oats, turnips, and wheat, as ve'l ;>.s experiments in barley cultiv-i'jvi to t s't the most suitable variety to g^'s. Experiments li ive been conducted for a series of eight years in different counties with the object va testing the best dressing for meadow lands. Full details are given, and the result is summarised with the following remark: —In each year tlie heaviest and the greatest profit Has been obtained from the plot receiving the complete manurial dressing,. and farmers may, therefore, he recommended to apply to their meadow land the following mixture per statute acre:—lewt nitrate of soda, 2cwt of ! superphosphate, 2cwt of kainit. This is , equivalent to a dressing of scwt; of a | complete fertiliser guaranteed to con- , tain 3 per cent, nitrogen (equals 3'/ a per cent, ammonia), 10 per cent, soluble phosphate, 5 per cent, potasli. On one plot 10 toils' of farmyard manire was applied. This yield was good, but,*calculating the cost of the manure at 4s per ton, .resulted in a loss each year. The use of nitrate of soda afone is | not to he recommended, unless umW exceptional circumstances, i A separate trial was made to test the relative effect of the kainit applied in November against its' spring application. The result showed practically no advantage from the earlier application for meadow land. The experiments were carried out at 40 centres in 1007 and 23 centres in PUIS, under the direct supervision of the county agricultural instructor. In the details the character of the soil and the variety of potato grown at each centre are given, yet, when drawing conclusions, it, will, says the report, be safer to be guided in the main "by the average results, and according to these the best results luave been obtained from a dressing of 15 tons of farmyard manure, supplemented by lewt. sulphate of I ammonia. 4ewt superphosphate, lewt | muriate of potash, which is equal to 1 an application of (k',wt of a complete fertiliser, containing per ewt. of i ammonin, 17 per cent, soluble phosphite, ! 8 per cent, potash. To tost the expediency of applying i larger dressings of farmyard manuie, one plot at each centre was dressed with 20 tons and tested against another lint at each centre with 15 tons. The I vield w.i.s practically the same, demon* Crating airiiiii that applications of excessive quantities do not afford a proportionate advantage. The (jiK'-tion of the best form o'* potash was also tested on a series of plot*, sulphate of potash being tried against muriate of potash. The most profitable results were produced by the muriate, the average estimated pi\>!it per acre bcinif given as .C!) when muriate was used with ammonia and phosphale. against C 8 Ss when sulphate of potasli was employed.

| Kainit Is not considered suitable for potato cultivation, as its action on the ■inality of the tubers is unfavourable. "There are in Xew Zealand ft lot of worthless cows which cost their owners a lot of money, and yield very little n return," said Mr. Cuddie in the course of an address at Carterton. "There are other cows yielding a profit, though insufficient, annd farmers will Oave to look to the good caws to Improve their herds."

Speaking of the sale of the Eldersli- ! draughts a North Island mm, who wiupresent, says the most striking featur was that the prominent ClydesdaU breeders "who were present from the Taicri and the immediate district, men who had always been advocating the showy light draught horse, were the keenest bidders for the old-fashioned heavy type of Clydesdale—a horse of quality but substance.