FARM & DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 10 (Supplement)

FARM & DAIRY.

TREE PLANTING BY FARMERS. STATE ASSISTANCE. As far as the means at its disposal will permit, the Government proposes to assist farmers in the growing of forest plantations and shelter-belts on the following lines: (1) Any owner of land wishing to avail himself of the co-operation of the Government in the planting and cultivation of a permanent forest plantation or shelter-belt shall apply to the Forestry Branch of the Lands and Survey Department, .stating the location of the land on which the proposed plantation is to be made.

(2) On receipt of the application, if necessary, an officer of the Department will visit the land, and, if lie be satisfied that it is suitable for tree-growth,, he will arrange the signing by the applicant of a form of agreement with the Department setting forth the conditions under which the Government-will be willing to assist in the work. While on the ground the forestry officer will confer with the applicant and arrange for the exact location of the proposed plantation or shelter-belt, advising him regarding the proper preparation of soil, the varieties of trees to be grown, the proper system of planting, and the care! of the plantations when formed. When necessary,' he will prepare a plan or sketch for the applicant ilustrating how I the trees are to be planted. The expenses of such inspection must be defrayed by the applicant. | (3) When tho plantation trees are being planted, an officer will, if necessary, visit the ground and see that the planting is proceeding on proper lines. ] (4) After the plantation has been made, the forestry officer may make periodical visits of inspection to see that the treeg are being properly attended to and protected, and that they are not being attacked by insects or tree-pests. (5) The Department, as far as the means at its disposal will permit, will furnish seed or young plants for planting the said forest plantation or shelter-belt at cost price. (0) Tho Department will not furnish trees to private persons for planting on town or village plots, or ornamental or* fruit trees for planting anywhere. Any tree 3 sent out by the Department must be wind-breaks, shelter-belts or forest plantations for the supply of timber for farm purposes, firewood, or purpose beneficial to the public. (7) After the trees or seeds supplied have become sufficiently developed,' the Department reserves the right to gather seed and take such cuttings from them as may be desired for State-forest operations. GENERAL. It will be seen that the above system is distinctly co-operative in character. The Department furnishes officers to give expert advice and enable the carrying out of the terms of the agreement; and, in addition, owners of the land are assisted by being supplied with young trees cuttings or seeds; on the other hand, the owner is required to set apart a small area of his property for treegrowth, and to do all the actual work of preparation and cultivation of the land so set apart, to plant the seeds, trees or cuttings, and to take the proper care of the young growth after planting, according to the directions of the eaid forest officer.

Although the Department desires to meet the wishes of the settlers as far as possible, it must be understood that owing to the difficulty sometimes experienced in obtaining seeds or other planting material the Government will not guarantee to furnish any specific quantity. Those desirous of obtain the assistance of the Government, as here outlined, should apply to the Department before September 1 two years previous to that in which it is wished to do the planting —i.e., applications for planting in the spring of 1918 should be made before September 1, 1916, and so on, so as to enable the Department to provide ahead for the supply of nursery stock by sowing seeds for the future. Applications not received by that time may have to remain over till the following year, unless tree plants of the required species happen to be available. A scheme somewhat on the above lines has been in operation for some thirteen years in Canada, and its general success has been very encouraging' to thosej actively engaged in carrying out the work. Numerous letters from the planters themselves testify to the satisfaction that the scheme has given them, Not only do they express satisfaction with the plantations from the point of view of general utility, but they assert that the improvement of the general appearance of their farms and the increase of comfort add materially to the value of the property. The presence of trees round a homestead makes all the difference between a "house" and a "home." It is practically impossible to have a really comfortable and attractive home without the shelter and adornment given by plantations of trees. The point which is perhaps most worthy of note is the fact that a belt of trees becomes of actual value even after three or four years, for even at that age they serve to break the chilling winter winds, and thus add to the well-being of the farm stock. There are, of course, local conditions of climate and soil to be "considered, and these must govern the methods employed and the varieties used for planting. Since 1901 the Canadian Tree-planting Division has distributed about sixteen million trees throughout the prairie provinces. From the nursery station at Indian Head the annual distribution in the future will run into three or four millian seedlings and cuttings. If the above outlined system has given such satisfaction to the farmer in Canada, there is no reason why it should not be equally successful in this country.

XEWS AND NOTES. The northern parts of Bothaland covered by the troops in the round-up was found thickly wooded, and the country is described as being a particularly fine stock country. The Washington Bureau of Agriculture j estimates the United States winter wheat crop at 659,000,000 bushels, and the spring crop at 345,000,000 bushels—a total of 1,004,000,000 bushels. Last year it was '891,017,000. Down breeds can clip very heavily on occasion, and shearling Shropshire rams may give as much as 1811) of wool, and 6heariing ewes up to 131b, although the whole flock average would probably be between 71b and 81b. The system of records has enabled the Friesland farmer to breed a cow which gives more milk than any other cow in the world. A cow seldom gives less than 700 gallons of milk per annum. The average is nearly &00, and a number xf record* tun up to 1000

The Guernsey can be used with very great advantage for crossing purposes, and as an ideal type of crossbred dairy cow. wherein the dual advantages of quantity and quality of the milk yield are successfully combined; that produced by crossing a good type of Shorthorn cow with a purebred Guernsey bull of accredited strain or family is indeed difficult to beat.

There has been a brisk enquiry recently for Ruakura-bread milking-strain yearling Shorthorn bulls. In the last half of August seven sales were made, and no young Shorthorn bulls available for service this season are now left. Eleven cows of the Ruakura Shorthorn herd which had registered under semiofficial test were entered recently m the Herd Book of the Waikato Dairy Shorthorn Association.

Silage in the silo should be removed in layers from the top at the rate of from 12in to 24in per day; at a lesser rate the air will penetrate and sour or mould the silage in the surface layers, slightly reducing its palatibility. In stack silage the weights can be removed from the end a few feet, and thrown back on the stack, and the silage cut in benches with a hay knife, sharp steel spade, or axe.

The principal feed for cattle in Fiji is Para grass, a crop that attains a greai height and resembles oats. The seed of the Para grass was originally imported from Brazil, from an indigenous habitat on the eastern arm of the Amazon, 73 miles from the sea. The Para now grows wild in various parts of Fiji, and birds have carried the seed to many "outlying islands.

The great success of millet, sorghum and maize in American dry farming is due in part at least to their remarkable efficiency in the use of water. The amount of water required for the production of a pound of dry matter of some strains of alfalfa is four times that required by millet, where the two crops are growing side by side. Different varieties of the same crop often exhibit wide differences in water requirement.

The dairy cow is an animated machine, by whose agency food is turned into milk. She should never be pinched for fodder, which should combine quality with quantity. A badly-fed cow cannot produce good milk. According to experts, the ration for a milking cow should contain five parts of heat-giving material to one part of nitrogenous or flesh-forming matter. Proper feeding is as necessary to her as suitable fuel is to run a specially constructed engine.

The great depth to which the roots of many of our cultivated plants extend has a very important bearing on the practicability of storing moisture in the soil. Burr has found that oats, spring wheat, barley and corn growing on the loose soils of eastern Nebraska use the water to a depth of 4ft or more, while winter wheat feeds to a depth of Gft or 7ft. Excavations made in winter wheat plots in "Utah showed the root system to extend to a depth of 7ft.

It is estimated that the maize crop In South Africa this season will be about 3,000,000 bags. This is 50 per cent, above the normal. The Government requirements are estimated at 00,000 bags per month, while the Union consumption probably will reach another million bags .per annum. Making a generous allowance, therefore, for the military requirements for the next twelve months, the country should be in a position to export 1,000,000 bags oversea.

It has long been known that a part of the soil moisture is held so tenaciously that it is not available for the growth of plants. 'Sachs, in 1859, appears to have been the first to recognise that the percentage of non-available moisture varies greatly with the type of soil. This is a matter of fundamental importance in the interpretation of soil moisture observations, for the water available for growth ranges from 1 per cent, or less in sand to 30 per cent, or more in heavier types of clay.

It is not always possible to place an animal on the scales, consequently one has to resort to other methods of determining the live weight. A fairly easy method is to take the average girth in, feet, and the length of the animal from a point just behind the shoulder to the root of the tail, also measured in feet; then by squaring the girth, and multiplying this number by the length in feet, a quarter of the result so obtained will then give the weight of the animul in imperial stones.