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Lake County Press, Issue 2459, 2 January 1913, Page 2

-«■»- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ■—■ mi ucrease iu yield and in the develop- | nent of clovers and trefoils soon fo - lows. In any case a good dressing cf lira© is a very necessary thing for nearly all grass land as the decaying organic matter which accumulates in the surface soil generates vegetable acidn, and these require to be neutralised anil the* soil sweetened if full returns aie desired. The farmer who rears a pure-bred calf every year is doing the State a substantial service. Concentrated fertilisers furnish ti.e best of the plant foods, and they Bhonld be freely used. When stubbie is ploughed in, the dead vegetable matter breaks down the humus, the factor making for soil fortuity. Where crop rotation is practised, as it should be on all cultivations, one of the legumes should be grown in turn There is nothing in the whole of the curriculum of the farm which returns

proportionate profits as does the sheep. When stubble is burnt off it is pract'cally lost from a manurial point cf view All that is given the ground is the ash. It is unwise to let the stock have the run of the fruit orchard. 'Blowing" often follows the eating o' to? much fallen fruit. Eventually some wise Minist° v r Education will have a good deal alout agriculture in the books used in the state schools. There is no animal which uses s:> mnch coarse food of low value on tha farm as the sheep, and none which calls for so little attendant labour. Another high authority is to the for? with the assertion that the soil needs change and constant feeding, "and on-3 crop should never be followed by another of the same sort." For the first planting of lucerne a good seed bed is desirable, and the legume does better if planted on n slope where there is drainage of the ground, as the roots do not thrive ir water soaked country. Lime is not a manure, and then 1 should be no mistake as to its purpose which is to sweeten the soil and justify certain of the shortages. Too much of it is calculated to injure the micro organisms,, and will be harmful rather than helpful. Not known that seaweed possesses considerable fertilising value, and foi somo of the garden crops is especially useful. It is loaded with salt, anr w*hen animals and marine growths art in it carries a substantial percentage of phosphates.