What “Sundowner” Hears

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 208, 17 August 1927, Page 7

What “Sundowner” Hears

The first step towards the production of a maximum crop is the complete exposure of the soil for the longest possible time. Good results cannot be expected where the field is ploughed and cultivated one day and sown the next. The plough must be used some considerable time before the sowing of the seed.

Stocking always requires a great deal of judgment, and it is most im-. portant in the early spring when grass is just beginning to come away. Grasshoppers and earwigs - join in the protest against the use of poison gas and sprays in civilized warfare.

The annual loss through the destruction caused by insects is estimated by entomoligists at Washington as something over ££400,000,000, or the wasted labour of two hundred million men.

• » » The great advantage of ensilage over hay is the fact that ensiling can be done when the weather conditions are unfavourable for haymaking; thus the grass can be mown at the most suitable period of growth.

* » « Pneumonia has been very virulent among dogs in the Dominion during the past year, and has caused the death of many valuable sheep and cattle dogs. Cases have been reported lately in Hawke’s Bay. Distemper is the primary disease, pneumonia being the secondary.

In the Soviet Union of Russia there are 120,000,000 coarse wool sheep distributed in small flocks among peasants. There are 400,000 million fine-wool sheep. As there are 31,000,000 acres on which sheep could be raised, Russian agents have been sent to the United States to buy stud stock, of fine wool sheep for crossing them on native coarse wool sheep to improve the quality of the wool.

Low-lying moist and rich soils are likely only to be deficient in phosphates, while nitrates and potash will probably be lacking in lighter, higher situated and more exposed lands. Rapid growing and dark green foliage growth denotes the presence of abundant nitrogen; and very succulent leaves indicate a need for phosphates, and probably for lime. Nitrogen may be applied freely on crops required for their foliage, like cabbage, rotation grasses, etc., but only early in the season and sparingly on crops having a natural tendency to late maturity, for ntirogen, if it promote rapid growth, also delays maturity. On the other hand, when plants under normal conditions make only meagre growth and achieve early maturity, sufficient phosphoric acid is present, but natrates and, possibly, potash are wanted. The necessity for potash may be said to generally vary with the foliage development.