AGRICULTURAL NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 1501, 21 August 1880, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL NOTES

The Coming American Harvest.

As the season advances, it becomes evident (says the New York correspondent of the Adelaide Observer) that we shall have another great wheat crop this year, probably equalling the yield of last year, when 450,000,000 bushels were harvested. The expectation to which I alluded in my_ last letter, that we should have a hundred million bushels left on our hands which we could neither eat nor sell, is somewhat modified by the latest reports from England, which speak of very grave anxiety on account of the severe drought, particularly in the Southern Counties ; moreover, the plant is said to be everywhere thin on the ground, and rather backward. This does not assure the failure of the British wheat crop, but it tempers the confidence of last month with a degree of uncertainty. We have possibly exported 150,000,000 bushels of our last year's crop, and have still 25,000,000 on hand. The rates of transportation have been very mnch reduced within the past five years, and this removes the most important obstacle to our successful competition with British wheatgrowers. Previous to 1870, 24 cents per bushel was thought to be the lowest; living rate at

which wheat could be transported from Chi. oago to New York. This tariff has been cat down to suoh an extent that during the last season a good de<vl of wheat was carried from Chicago to Liverpool for 17 cents per bushel. It has alwaysbeen understood in England that the average yield per acre in this country was only 11 bushels ; and, as Mr James Caird says, it was felt that with a yield of 28 bushels to the acre from his home soil the English farmer had a " safe margin." The estimate of 11 bushels to the acre, however, included such States as South Carolina and Georgia, where practically no wheat is grown, as the yield is not above five bushels to the acre. But it has been shown by official figures that in the great fertile wheat belt in the West and North-West the yield is nearly as great from the naked unprepared soil of the prairie aa from the English farmer's highly fertilised acres. Forty counties in England show an average yield of 29 910 th bushels per acre ; the Bame number of counties in Illinois give an average of 25 1 5th, in Michigan 20J, and in Minnesota 19. The surplus yield in the English counties is more thaD eaten up by the cost of manure. The Management of Sheep from a Callfornian point of view. In a recent number of the San Francisco Bulletin an agricultural writer says:— "lf there is any one thing whioh long experience of sheep-breeders has fully settled, it is that the successful wool-grower must weed out his flocks, fattening up and selling off each sheep which shears an inferior fleece. This can only be done by a system of tags, record books, and marks so arranged that track is kept of each sheep. One large fleece, sheared from the crack sheep in a flock, and duly heralded with many exclamation points, is worth much lobb as a proof of good breeding than is the general average of the flock. Of course, it is interesting to know what a 200 dollar buck can be made to shear, under the best advantages and at great expense. But it is of more importance to know what certain crosses, with ordinary fair treatment, will shear. The wool which brings the highest price is that whioh has been well grown and well handled. Mixed wool, and that which shows an unsoundnesa of staple, is objectionable. The latter defect is caused by overstocking the range, and not providing sufficient range the essential amount of yolk is not produced. If, for instance, sheep are put on a poor range after shearing, the new wool will lack strength and elasticity. If they are turned on the stubble fields in autumn and obtain better feed, the later growth of wool is better. But it will be found that the wool is streaky and breaks' at every weak spot, rendering it much less valuable; Sheep must be fed well if they are to produce a good, strong staple, just as cows must have good fare to yield rich milk, or as chickens need rich diet to encourage egg production. A man whose long experience has taught him how to produce uniformity in his wool, may bale it and Bell it at an advanced price as soon as bis system is known. In the paoking tags are to be rejected, the wool graded and packed with all possible neatness. But the shearing itself needs a word of comment. Avoid what are called double cuts. This divides the staple, and lessens its value considerably. It is caused by carelessness and ignorance on the part of the shearer, and a man who is guilty of the habit should be discharged." Experiments with Potash on Potatoes in Germany. The question of manure is an important one to farmers just now, and one also likely to become of primary consideration in future operations on the farm, The difficulty, bowever, arises as to the kind to use— real or artificial ; and if the latter, what steps must be taken in applying it with due regard to its entire influence on all kinds of crops. Some experiments with potash on potatoes have lately been made, the result being declared in a paper read by Dr Wildt at the meeting of the Posen Agricultural Society. The object in view was to determine what is the fittest; form and most convenient season in and at [ which to employ potash as manure. The . experiments, which were carried out on a number of contiguous estates, and which were conducted on a uniform plan, afforded the interesting proof that the prejudicial effect of potaßh salts upon the starch contents of pota1 toes, which has frequently been observed in earlier researches, is diminished in intensity in proportion to the interval that elapses between 1 the manuring and the Betting of the seed , potatoes. At Wierzonka, where the potash : manure was applied at the time of setting, the loss of starch in the crop, as compared with 1 the average quantity in uninanured potatoes, was 432 per cent. ; at Kiekrz, where there ! was an interval of ten days between manuring and setting, it was 416 per cent. ; in Zlotnik, ' where the interval was fifteen days, the loss was 377 per cent. ; in Baranowo, with an in- ' terval of thirty days, it was 2 85 per cent.; , and in Sedan, with an interval of sixty-eight days, it was 0*93 per cent. only. The action of ', the different salts of potash was also exhibited in an interesting manner. Where the potatoes 1 were planted very soon after the ground was manured, the sulphate of potash acted most 1 beneficially; next to this the chlorate, and ! next to the chlorate, kainit. The difference in ' action becomes more marked as the interval j between manuring and sowing is more pro1 longed. Thus at Sedan, where it was of aixty1 eight days' duration, the proportions were absolutely reversed. Then there was an excess ■ in the yield of starch per morgen of the crop 1 over that in unmanured potatoes to the extent ■ of 99'81b in the case of the sulphate of potash, , 104 '31b in that of the chlorate, and 125 31b where kainit was employed. The practical I teachings of the experiment are therefore I briefly to the effect; that it is advisable to apply , the potash salts as long as possible before set- [ ting the potatoes, and that cheap, impure i preparations (such as the kainit of the Stasa- ) furt factories) are no way inferior to the more I expensive pure salts in their |beneficial influ- . ence. — Land and Water. A Destructive Grub. A new pest is devastating the crops of Great Britain this year called the Tipula grub. It is earth-coloured, about three-quarters of an inch long, and fleßhy, being little thicker than a i crow quill, and destitute of feet. These grubs are very destructive in the field and garden, \ consuming the roots of every green thing. r They commence their depredations in spring, \ continuing all summer until they change into [ the pupa state, from which they emerge in j autumn in the form of the insect familiarly , known as " daddy-longlegs." The eggs— little black glossy bodies— are deposited on the t ground in autumn, and remain exposed during r the winter. r Value of Straw. fc In nearly every season the straw on many , up-country farms is, during threshing time, ) drawn in email heaps away from the machine, ; and when the cattle have trod it about for a i month or two, and the land is required for the ' next season's crop, a fire-stick is put to it, and i in an hour or two only a few ashes remain. i It is perhaps because we have such a compara- : tively mild climate, and Btockownera have an i idea that neither shelter nor extra care is at all • necessary for live stock during winter months, ■ that straw is so little valued away from a 1 market, and looked upon as so much rubbish ; ; but this is an error, and the sooner the true

value of Btraw is known the better. It has often been noticed that the stock of suoh wasteful farmers are generally in a worse condition at the end of winter than are those belonging to farmers who properly appreciate warmth, comfort, and dry food for their animals during the long winter nights. Those oareless farmers have abundance of: grass, probably, at time of threshing ; but in five seasons out of six they run short before the winter is over, and as often they have to regret their neglect in not saving their lost straw. Certainly, straw is not bo much wasted as it used to be, for many of our best farmers have discovered its value, and not a few stack and thatch it directly after harvest. Straw, if stacked as soon as threshed, and before it gets wet, is as valuable, when chaffed, as ordinary hay— better in fact, than a groat deal of hay which is forwarded to the Melbourne market. The economical and right use of both hay and straw is one of the best evidences of an advanced style of farm management. To obtain the full value of straw, it ought not only to ba chaffed, but steamed, and eaten with roots, etc. Many are already doing this, and Ido not think the day is far distant when all our grains and fodders will be economised and utilised much more than they have hitherto been; One hundred parts of hay give sixtythree parts of feeding value ; while straw, on an average of three varieties— wheat, oats, and barley— yields forty parts : a comparison showing that straw possesses, in reality, a much higher value than has been conceded to it.— Abraham Lincolne.