FARM & DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1916, Page 10

FARM & DAIRY.

NEWS AND NOTES. Clover exhausts the moisture of the soil in the highest degree. Thus in dry years a crop sown after clover wi'l! find the conditions of the soil unfavorable, ami will develop slowly.

The weight of the Shorthorn bullock which was sold at the Burnio Show, Tasmania, 011 October I, for £l2O, and resold at Launceston Show for £207. was 29811b. He was eight years old, and was bred and fattened by the Van Dieracn's Land Company, Tasmania.

It is estimated that the crops of the Canadian West will exceed 530} million bushels, to which 'total the wheat yield will contribute 222,184,071 bushels, and oats 253.392,375 bushels. The tmther has been favorable. The surplus available for export will amount to 180 million bushels.

When making most kinds of pressed cheese a fairly acid milk may be successfully dealt with by using little or no starter. In the manufacture of Weiisleydale cheese from mixed milk starter is not employed except in cold weather, and only a small percentage is added to the milk when one meal's milk is employed.

The manure of the fowl possesses high value. It is usually 100 strong to ho used, alone, and the most is made of it when mixed with a quantity of sand. The analysis discloses 19.2 per cen't. of organic matter, 1,75 per cent, of ammonia, 4.3 per cent, of phosphates, 1.1 of potash salts, S.l per cent, of chalk, and about CO per cent, of water.

"When Josh got home from his education," said Farmer Corntossel, "hp started right in instruetin' me about agriculture. So I didn't lose no time, to try him out." "What did you do,?" "Sent him out to round up a swarm of bees." "Was the experiment successful?" "Some, It didn't hurt the bees none, an' kep' .Tosh, from gettin, in the way fur 'most two weeks."

Regular dressings of potasli and phosphate will soon destroy any moss, will discourage the growth of coarse grass, and will encourage the development of the clovers, sometimes to such a degree that the true grasses suffer, and when such effect is observed, it becomes desirable, in order >to keep up the proper balance of grasses and clover, to apply some nitrogen.

The chief use of fertilisers is to supply plant food. It is good fanning to make the most natural resources of the soil and of the manures produced on the farm, and to depend upon artificial fertilisers only to furnish what more is needed. It is not good economy to pay high prices for materials which the soil may itself yield, but it is good economy to supply the lacking ones in the cheapest way.

Despite the demands of the war, the number of live stock in Canada is being well maintained. Returns to June 30 show that there were on that datfl 2,990,090 horses in the Dominion, an increase of more than 48,000 over the figures for the same date last year. Milch cows numbered 2.600,840, and other cattle 3,390,155, the total number of cattle being 0,060.000. There were 2,033,662 sheep and 3,111,900 swine.

The live stock returnn issued by the British Board of Agriculture show that the number of horses in England and wales has fallen by 112,000, or a matter of 8 per cent. The decrease is, of course, explained by the huge numbers of horses that have been taken for the army and other war purposes. According to tlie returns collected on Juno i last there were then in Kngland and Wales 7 29,080 horses used for agricultural purposes, including brood mares. Those figures show a loss of 60,200.

The importance in India of the home production in the soil of nitrogen is manifest when it is considered that the enormous area of cultivated soil in India is never likely to receive any addition of nitrogoneous manurcß, but is yet the only source of nourishment of millions of cultivators. The importance, of leguminous crops in this connection is emphasised as a means of deriving supplies of nitrogen from the air, and it is fortunate, that the natural nitrogen-col-lecting process goes on in an intensive form under the tropical heat of 'the country.

A horse famine in the United States is predicted by western breeders if the iuiropean war continues another year, fn Western Nebraska and in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado are hundreds of ranches where horses have been raised for years. Although they are hardy and of fairly average height and weight, they lack the breeding of the general purpose farm animals and the draught horses. A year ago ttiev brought loss, on the. average, than £2O. It was this source of supply tint the horse-buyers for the European belligerents firs'ti reached. The demand speedily sent the price up to £25 for cavalry and £3O for'"gunners." To-day they are bringing £3f> and £4O each, and there isn't enough to supply the demand.

Of all countries in the world, India is probably more vitally dependent on agriculture than any other. A serious shortage of production over wide arena brings millions of people to a deficiency of food bordering on famine, while a good harvest ensures comfort and prosperity. Under such circumstances it is natural that the Government of India employs energetic means to afford guidance to the millions of small cultivators, and have also undertaken gigantic irrigation works with the object of minimising as far as possible the effect of long .droughts, the worst danger to which agriculture .in lidia is exposed. The ! Agricultural Department also run several important experimental farms, and [issue small paniphleis and leaflets setting forth the results obtained.

SULPHUR AS MANURE. Experiments made in Germany and France, as well as by tlie Wisconsin Experiment Station, have, says a writer in the Country Gentleman, known that sulphur has a certain fertiliser value. liou-langc-r and Dujardin, of France, made <ests with sterilising soil, and proved that sulphur increased ihe activity of various soil organisms. Tim activity of (lie micro-organisms broke down nitrogenous substances in the soil, thereby rendering them more easily soluble ani more readily absorbed by plants. To get good results with sulphur it ia therefore important first to supply tlie land with organic nitrogenous material, such as clover, cow pea§, or any of the leguminous plants that are grown as green manures. With such substances I in the soil, sulphur is almost sure to «ive increase of crops.

I'OTASIi A.VIJ LIME. To get the best results from applications of potash salts it is essential that the soil should contain a sufficiency of phosphate of lime. Thus an eminent scientist in discussing the Rotliainsted experiments wrote:—"One frequently hears very conflicting remarks regarding the effects of basic slag or superphosphates when applied to pasture lands. On some lands the application of phosphatic manures is most beneficial, resulting in a largo increase of clovers among the herbage, and more especially of white clover, while on other land.? HDtle effect from only phosphatic manures >. observed." From the unique experiments conducted at the Botharnstcd Experimental Station on grass land, which were started by the late Sir John B. Lawes in the year 1850, it has been fully demonstrated that basic slag or superphosphate, is of no avail if the land is deficient in available potash. Consequently, applications of potash man- . lire, when given ia soluble and available foil's, have had considerable effect both on quai-iUy and quality of the produce obtained. gives the best resutts when applied in autumn or winter, except for mangolds, and other specially salt-loving plants, Sulphate of potash and muriate of potash may be applied in 'lhc autumn, winter, or spring, as may be most convenient. Potash salts should be delivered to the farmer in good condition, so that he can apply (.hem without having to first break them up. If applied in lumps to the soil their good ellwt is lost, and, indeed, they may do harm.

BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS TRANSMISSIBLE. In reply to a question if bovine tuberculosis is transmissible to human beings, and, if' so, how should milk be treated, tut authority says: Milk should be boiled before being given to children,, for living tubercle germs in law milk can transmit the disease. There is no doubt about the infection, since 'the British, American, and German authorities have reported that adult beings cai) bo infected with the bovine type. Drs, Park and Krumweide, of the New York City Health Department, estimate liliat at least 300 children die every year in New York from tuberculosis. Dr. Hess, of the same city, found that of 107 samples of raw milk obtained from as many different dealers, 111 per cent, of them could produce tuberculosis, since they contained living tubercle germs. Dr. Churchill, of Chicago, reports tha't the records of surgical tuberculosis for the year 1013 at the Children's Memorial Hospital showed that there were sixtyfour operations on bone and joint tuberculosis, the kind that most often has been found to come from bovine sources.

Dr. Brown, of Saranac Lake, considers that 8 per cent, of all casea ol tuberculosis are of bovine origin. The Chicago Health Department reporter! that for the year 1010 the total number of milk samples examined showed 8.1) per eoul. to contain tubercle bacilli. These were all in the raw milk samples, as the pasteurised milk showed no'.ie.