Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 380, 20 August 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

ORIGINAL ARTICLES. ROTATION OP CI. OPS AND COMMERCIAL FERTILISERS. iWEMOTATION of crops improves land jltffS inasmuch aa deep feeding of aEBS plants alternates with surface feeding, thus distributing the demands of the plant? for food more generally through the soil. Daep ploughing is generally a benefit the second yeas. as the subsoil brings up fresh plant food not hitherto available, which after weathering is rendered soluble, and ia readily absorbed by growing plants. Lining clay and sour soils is very essential, not only because air slaked lime prevents clay lands 11 om baking, bat also renders soluble the different ingredients in the soil, and adds greatly to the fertility of all soils, excepting those of limestone formation. Analysis of fertile soils shows only a small percentage of lime, nevertheless it is, so to cay, the key to the fertility of growing crops. Without lime the food of plants is not rendered soluble nor pro-, perly assimilated, although the ingredients may be there in the soil. Plants do n>t absorb food indiscriminately, but they have the power of selection, suited to their different requirements. The most fertile lands are those having a limestone formation naturally, or where a due proportion of lime has been ad led to the soil. Thorough tillage is always desirable, as it aerates the soil and breaks it up into fine particies, so that the roots of growing crops can get at the food already there. It also conserves moisture. These methods of rotation of crops and deep tillage, while very desirable, merely enable the plant to make use of the food already in the ground, which may be deficient in some essential ingredient. All products derived from the soil must take something out of it, and if this loss is not replaced with some added fertilising principle, then tho fertility of the soil must be reduced. Yet there are soma farmers who hesitate about buying fertilisers for their land because they do not appreciate the fact that plants require food. Letting lands lie fallow enables nature in a manner to recoup itself. But the progressive farmer cannot afford to let his lands lie idle. Farm manures are reckoned as the most desirable; then the clover crop follows as the next most common restorative- The value of clover and plants of a similar nature arises from its nitrogenous qualities and its deep feeding roots, which bring mineral ingredients from the subsoil to the surface soil. Nitrogen in the different forma offered for sale is an expensive plant food to buy. Nevertheless the result of experiments continued for some time show that where phosphate and potash were applied at a certain cost per acre, and nitrogen derived from clover, the set profit derived from the succeeding crops whs only about half as much as that derived by using commercial fertilisers. And the tendency in these times is to turn over money quickly as often aa possible, and for this reason the agriculturist uses a plant food which will act quickly, and which will give him a profit on the first crops, with a residual profit on the following crops. Commercial fertilisers of reliable quality are, on the average, profitable investments for farmers. COWPEA HIT AS A PEED. It is said that the feeding value of wellcured cowpea hay is similar in character and about equal in value to clover hay. Curing of cowpea hay requires especial care to avoid the falling off of the leaves, which occurs if the vines are over-ripe when cut, <»r if in curing they are too long exposed to sunshine. Some people cut the vines just after the dew is off, and turn the vines several hours before sunset, and put in wind rows or cocks towards the next day. The mixture of German inillet with pea vines aids in retaining the leaves, which may be sown together in the proportion of one bushel of cowpeaa and one peck of millet seed to an acre of ground. As emphasing the importance of retaining the leaves by careful curing, the following facts ware brought out in some tests that were made with some varieties: The leaves averaged 30 per cent of the weight of. the thoroughly dry hay. The leaves contained 22 per cant of protein, against 9 and 12 per cent in the coarse snl fiae stems respectively, and 7 per cent fat, or about four times the percentage found in the st9ms. In starchy material the leaves and sterna were practically equal, containing about 32 per cent nitrogen. Cowpea hay resembles wheat bran in composition, and in part can be substituted for it.