FARMING NOTES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3149, 25 December 1922, Page 2

FARMING NOTES.

AMERICA'S ARABLE AREA. The entire United! States, excluding foreign possessions, contains about 1,900,000,000 acres. ' Of this are- the Department of Agriculture estimates 60 per cent, to the tillable, li) pa- cent. valuable tor pasture and fruit, and 21 per cent, not available for any form of agriculture. According to the last census, there were 811.000.000 acres in crops. This is about 16 per cent, of the total land 1 area, or about 27 per cent, of the estimated potential tillable area. In other words, for every 100 acres that are now tiled, 375 acres may be tilled when the country is fully developed. Tins would indicate at first glance that farm crop productions can bo nearly quadrupled, but it must bo remembered that all of the undeveloped territory is not equally available nor 1 is it equally a svaluable as that now under cultivation. While this shows that the United States has hot yet anywhere near reached the limit of possible extension of agriculture, yet it is stilt incumbent on the farmer to make hie) present cultivated fields yield a much larger production if he is'really to succeed. lowa has the largest percentage of potentially tillable land (91 per cent.) of any State; it also has a greater percentage of both its total 1 area and tillable- area actually under cultivation. Illinois. Indiana, and Ohio follow closely after lowa, in these percentages. Of all the States. Nevada, Arizona. New Mexico, and Wyoming have the least percentage of potentially tillable land and the least percentage of such land actually under cultivation.

THE WORLD'S WHEAT YIELD

Ah exact estimate of European wheat production in 15)22 cannot be made until the figures from France, Germany, and the Serb-Croat-Slovene State become available. It is, however, certain that tliis year's wheat crop from all Europe (apart from Russia, whence no trustworthy data are yet to hand) is decidedly less than that of 192]. As regards those European States which have already furnished particulars, the Statistical Bureau of the International Institute of Agriculture estimates the decrease in yield, as compared with 1921, at 13 per cent. ft is also an-' nounced that the yield of breadstufl's (wheat, rye, and meteil) in Prussia shews a decline of 21.(i per cent, and that thrashing results in France indicate that the production of cereals is below that of 1921 and in some districts under the average. Poor results are manifest, also, in North Africa, where-Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunis have wheat crops amounting to 68 per cent, of last year's. The good returns of India, Canada and the United States have provided 42.8 million metric tons of wheat this season, or 17 per cent. over those of 1921. The European deficiency and that in North Africa is thus compensated ,and it appears probable that the wheat yield of the whole northern hemisphere will, at the very least, prove equal to that of last year.

AMERICAN STOCK LOSSES

Prairie dogs, ground squirrels, jack rabbits, rats, mice, and other rodents cause enormous annual losses of grass and crops in U.S.A. but systematic, organised, and co-operative effort by landowners and Government are reducing the extent of the depredations. During 1921, 18,331,561 acres of "agricultural and range land were treated for the first time with poisoned grain baits, and 4,402,662 acres were given a. second treatment to complete eradication work started in 1920 and in previous years. During 1920 and 1921, says the "Producer," State and private co-operators have expended in this way over €300.000. Last year over 100,000 farmers and stockmen joined in poisoning operations, in 1235 tons of poisoned grain were prepared and distributed under the direction of the bureau experts. Since the beginning of this systematically organised work in 1910, 77,827,789 acros of Federal, State, and private lauds have been treated and largely cleared of the rodent destroyers of crops and range grasses.

WHEAT RUST

According to a report of tjic Department of Agriculture, black stem rust destroyed 1 SO.0(H).000 bushels of wheat in the United States in 1916, and the years following heavy losses have been sustained by the wheat-growing States from this source. Congress has appropriated the sum of 350,000d01. for the eradication of the common barberry bush which serves as a host for the breeding of the fungus which produces black stem rust of wheat. Campaigns will be inaugurated this fall and next spring for the purpose of eradicating tlie common barberry bush, as it has been shown thai, the fungus which produces this rust in wheat can not be eradicated without destroying the barberry bush. Science is gradually unfolding valuable lessons to the farmers and the discovery that the common barberry bush is the host upon which black stem rust grows is of particular value to the wheat farmer. SKIMMINGS. Woodcrost Main, a I'Viesian cow owned by Mr l'\ H. I3utter(ield. a prominent breeder in South Australia, hits just completed a 365 days' test, will: an exceptionally fine record of 26,6441b milk, 986.211b fat. e.pial to 1188.21b of commercial (83 per cent.) butter. She calved three days after the completion <:!' the test and is now giving 1001b of milk per day on two milkiugs. Her sire is the well-known Woodcrost Pietje Pontine, and she is from Woslmere Dairymaid. Mr John Donald, of Westmere, of Wanganui. bred this great Aii English Red Poll cow. Gressenhall .Molly, has created a record in the matter of milk vields, for in 12 weeks (5 days she yielded 18,02 1,',1b of milk. with an average of I per cent, of but-ter-fat. Her 7-months-old bull calf was purchased bv Viscount Folkestone for .£IOOO tor his herd at Logford in Wiltshire. The llritish Kricsian cow. Ilrookside Colantba, is an eight-year-eld cow and' loo' had five, calves. Her present yield of 2615 gallons in 28] days followed a lactation in which she gave 2368 gallons of milk in 365 days. In her milking career she has given 90-15 gallons, which is more than 50 times her own weight. . A detailed account has been kept of the cost of feeding the herd of Ayrshire cattle on the Government Experimental barm at Kybybolite. South Australia: During the year ended 30th September. 1922, the value of food consumed by each cow was £9 lis. This was made iiji as follows: —11 ewt. 3& qr. bay chaff, at I' 3 ton. CI 15s 7Jd: 2 tons "10 cvvt. ensilage, at 15s ton. £2 2s; 10.8 busheils lira., at £8 12s (id ton, 16s Sd; 2-1 bushels of oats (crushed), at 3s bushel, £3 12s; 15.4 cwt green feed, at 10s 1 ton, 7s H'cl; 4 acres pasture, at 4s acre rent. His. The average cash return secured for the same period was £l9 3s 7d a cow. Thus it will be seen that, over and above the cost of •feeding, each animal returned .£lO 2s 7d during the year 1 in question.