FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10716, 21 October 1912, Page 7

FARMING NOTES

(By "Man on the Land.") Smuts in wheat, !)r Hilgendori explains, are or two kinds, the. loosefluify sort, ami the ball bir.ut, wiiich has an offensive odour. Seed wheat pickled proven rod the disease appearing, but there had been a good deal of the ball smut last season, and it was stated by one of (hope, present at a mooting of tljo Kaiapoi Farmers" Union that- he thought somo were not taking the trouble to bluestone their wheat. Tho fact that a good streak of grain was always seen in a field from which an old gorse hedge had been dug up was explained by l)r Hilgendorf, at the Kaiapoi Fanners' Union, to bo caused by the nitrogen brought to the soil by the gorse. The fence had made the soil rich in nitrogen, and it would ho noticeable for somo time in t.ie growing of cropn. ft wax one of the instances which appealed to farmers to s'tudy ;tho sicientifk-. sido of fanning and the chemistry of the soils.

By the aid of selection of the best seed from wheat crops, Br Hilgenclorf liopes the yield of the- Canterbury wheat-fields will be, in the course of a few years, supplied with grain giving forth larger yields. This means that the profits of the arable farmer will he increased. When the cost for cultivation, labour and interest on capital is considered, £6 an aero is required to plant an acre of wheat, and at 3s -Id a 'bushel it takes almost thirty-five bushels of the crop to pay for seed, planting and harvesting. In his recent address to farmers at New Plymouth, Lord Islington re-i ferred to the high price of land in the district, and said that the high values were due to the excellent prices that were being obtained f'-r dairy products. It would he a very seriovs thing fo-r farmers who had paid big sums for their lands f values of commodities were to drop, and therefore they should always do their utmost to produce an article of a high standard', and quality. His Excellency uttenxl a warning to the short service farmer, saying, "Don't move in and out of your farms too often. -When you have got a good farm, stick to it."