Practical – – Agriculture.

Lake County Press, Issue 2390, 24 August 1911, Page 2

Practical - - Agriculture.

ORICINAL ARTICLES. (By F.S.C.) Specially written for this column. All Rights Reserved. TENDING THE YOUNG PICS. Young litters of pigs mav be guarded from the danger of crushing by them other, by having a fender made; of a scantling or rail fastened, say, eight inches from the wall and the -.inie distance from the iloor. The pigs quickly learn the protection afforded by this device when the sow lies down. Some breeders advocate a farrowing pen not large enough for the sow to turn round in, and with wall- open eight inches from the Iloor, ,-,o thai the pigs may run in and out. A pen of this sort may be made bv confining the sow at one end of her regular pen with boards so nailed th.it she will be unable to turn Hound. 'fhe condition of the weather will govern the length of time it will be necessary to keep a newly-farrowed sow in close quarters, but she should not be denied access to the; air. Pigs should not be allowed out in a cold rain, or where they will receive the shock of coid winds. Where they can do so without danger they should be out in the sun within 24 hours after birth, and after that the best practice is to let them run in and out at will. Neither the sow nor very young pigs should be permitted to run in pasture early in the morning if the grass is tall and wet with rain, or heavy dew. for the fust week of a pig's life, die mother's milk is its drink as well as food, and therefore in caring for suckling sows it should be the aim to so feed them that milk of only medium richness will be furnished instead of a limited supply of that which is extremely rich, the latter being less healthful and more liable to cause thumps, scours, ami unsatisI'aetoiy growth. It is only a law of nature that pigs should make more economical gains through the milk of the clam than in any other way, and it i- also true that the sow will furnish nourishment feu- her young at less cost tor the raw material than any other animal on the farm. A sow's milk is rich in solid matter, which amounts to 17 to ::o per cent. On a comparative basis of iooo lb. live weigh: a cow giving three gallons of milk a day will give in the milk lib. of fa. and -771b. of proicin daily, while a sow's milk will yield i.20 lb. of fat and i.ilb of protein a dav on an average. In coinposition sow's milk in comparison with cow's milk is very high in total fats as well as solids. TESTINC THE SOIL FOR LIME. Mere is a simple and very cheap test to determine whether lime is present in anv soil : fake a few shovelfuls ol soil from different parts of the field or oic hard, and dry, pulverise, and mix them thoroughly together, fake a few ounces of this powder and reduce to ashes on an iron shovel over a lire. Put these idies when cool into a glass tumbler, nid mix them with as much water as it will take to cover them. Stir this with a glass rod or wooden stick, but not with anything metallic. To this i.iste add ioz of hydrochloric acid, a hk hj is commonly sold as muriatic h'id. or spirits of salts, the mixture icing stirred all the time. If a fairly irisk elfervesceiicc takes place it may )•' taken for granted that the soil ontains little or no lime. If there is ioi lime enough in the soil, it must ie acid, therefore needs liming. I'his is far better, and probably more lositivc than the litmus test, which miounts to little enough sometimes n tie- laboratory when conditions are ar more positive than they are when •amplcs ol' held soil are involved. BASIC £LAG AND POTASH. 'flu- combination of basic slag and lotash salts is productive of wouderully good results on some soils, especially on sandy and chalk soils, ~mh .ue naturally deiicient in poash. In such a case potash manires must be used with the basiclag. Lastly, the visible effects of asic slag are always smaller on mil newly laid down, simply because here is not the accumulation of nifogenous material from past crops •Inch characterises old grass land. he lime m the basic slag renders onic ot this reserve material available >r the herbage, the increased supply I nitrogen being apparent in the I'ul■r green the glass assumes. It should not be supposed, however, iat in anv of these cases the basiclag is not profitable. because its iompt elfect is less evident; phosliaiic manures never have the elfect ASTI-". two les 1.3b pon the growth am! colour of the top which nitrogenous manures have, ' that ihev can only be properly nlged by the weight and quality of ie crop at harvest times. SOIL SICKNESS. As diown bv the Rothainstcd cxriments, it is possible lo grow ceals veai b\ vear over a long period. "I if tie crops are nourished by the ■ plication m fertilisers the yield reams as abundant as ever. But with cerne and clovers it is quite otherse. Alter a few siio essive crops e plant sickens, and no matter what lilisers are applied the crop fails, - seil having become what is known "sick." What is the cause of the ,u fen-nee of the action of the plants the -.oil: According to a note ■'■ •sontcd to I'Academie des Sciences, >ll : reason is to be found in the fact M! it the- Lcguminosae plants excrete ol certain amount of tonic matter, i'~ ieh accumulates in the soil and poi- in is it for the plant. I fence the ■' ossitv lor waiting' before resowing ' •' • same field with lucerne, and of to ijccting the field to tillage in order ' dr

to thoroughly expose the soil to the influence of air and sunshine.