Practical – – Agriculture.

Lake County Press, Issue 2460, 9 January 1913, Page 2

Practical - - Agriculture.

ORtCINAL ARTICLES (By F.S.C.)

Specially written lor this column. All Rights Reserved. EFFECTS OF SUPERPHOSPHATE.

When superphosphate is added to the soil, being soluble in water, it is soon clisdoived and thoroughly mixed with the soil particles. It may be asked why, ii smiibie in water, the phosphoric acid is not washed away by rain and thus lost. The reason is that very soon alter application to the soil it revci is to a condition no longer soluble in water. II is precipitated and hx;d In lite soil beyond the risk of loss, the result being that the phosphate is in a state of division infinitely liner than pouid be obtained by mechanical grinding, and is most intimately mixed with the soil particles, it is this intimate mixture and fine state of division that make superphosphate superior in action to even the most finely ground raw phosphate. As Mr. A' 1 man says, "For these reasons it will be easily seen thatthe rate of action of superphosphate is everywhere distributed through the soil, the plant loots are furnished with a continuous supply throughout their growth, and micro-organisms, which require for their development a supply of tlrs necessary plant food are propagated. A regularity in the plant's growth is thus secured which is of gjeat importance. SMALL ECONOMIES. There are many little things about a farm which might be turned into money, but winch are often neglected.. The most prominent is, perhaps, old implements and machinery, which are sometimes allowed to cumber up the shed for the hens to roost on, or allowed to rust ami rot outside. If these are very bad they might be broken -up for firewood and old iron, while, if.passable, they might be sent to a sale somewhere and sold. There are aways purchasers of old implements, such as a small farmers who can make shift with such, or slovenly men who are satisfied to work away with anything so long as it can be tied together with a piece of wire. Such old implements are taking up useful idied room and might he well converted info money. Then, again, there are sundry articles, such as bags, which have a salable value. Empty bottles, jars, etc., are often returnable and cash refunded : horsehair, old iron, or metai of any description have always some market value in most districts, though noc so much as in the olden days. All these things gathered up and soid somewhere or somehow vender the farmstead much tidier and more orderly, while leaving more room for other things, and at the same time bring iu a few pounds of ready money.

A SUBSTITUTE FOR ENSILAGE.

This is a method of stacking up green fresh-cut stuff of any kind with intermediate layers of dry straw. It is found that if the layers of green stuff not too thick—-say six inches boforw compression—it docs not heat or grow mouldy while at the same time it gives much of its taste and flavour to the intermediate layers of straw. Oat straw is the best for the purpose, but even wheat and barley strawwould do where the mixture was subsequently chaffed. A green succulent crop is the best for the purpose; clover, tares, etc., are better tfiau grass, but any crop of that kind will do. The drawback is the weight of the stuff that has to be carted; it should not be wet but allowed to lie till wilted before carrying though even then it is heavy for its hulk. A stack of straw must be ready in position heforehand alongside the site of the proposed stack, so that the dry straw mav be easily passed over as required. Anothe method of obtaining the same result would be to chaff up the stuff straight away and fill up the mixture into a barn : it would require a larger proportion of straw for this method, however, to prevent overheating, but the whole could be well salted as filled in. In whichever way it is done a quantity of superior stuff for chaffing will be'made, although the extra cost of labour will be a drawback.

CET TO KNOW. Look around just about where y»u live and see if there is any man doing better with rows than you are with your herd. If [here be one, it is your Ilutv to find out (ho secret if his mocess and the. methods under which he iq making profit while you are. perhaps, only just making Hearing expenses. Ivrst vim hive to be sure there is no improvement in yonr methods which ran bo effected, so far as your knowledge and experience goes ■ you keep your cows as well housed, fed, cleaned, milked, and generally looked after as he does his; yet he is getting there and you are not. You have to get. to know that man and ask him where you nr" wrong. He knows,; and if you are the right sort Olid he i<= the right serf, and the chances are von both are. he will fell you. Don't lean en the fence end scowl at ln'm when he is taking his profits to tho factory. Don't talk about some people having all the luck. Just chum in with him and take a few lessons. Fie knows where yon are wrong, and it you want to know will tell you. PLANT DISEASES. From tho time that the seed of a plant is placed in the soil its struggle for existence begins. Numerous hostile agencies are, lurking around. always on the alert, ready to seize the: first opportunity to fasten on to nin part of the system of the plant that exhibits a weak spot If the plan! is

delicate from hereditary causes or from want of proper nourishment or moisture, it will succumb unless helped to combat successfully its insidious foe. Some plants aro more liable to attacks than others, and among those most subject may be classed tho potato and the turnip. The best preventitive against disease is to see that good seed is put into the ground, and that the plants aro supplied with a sufficiency of the different constituent of plant food. One-sided manuring produces a decided tendency to disease.

SOIL CONDITIONS FOR CLOVEh

Clover can only flourish when tho soil conditions arc suitable. The soil must bo fairly deep, open, free working, and above all things well drained. It is no use trying U< grow clover if the soil is sour, ft is suggested that tri!> following experiments s rre to test in a practical way whether acidity is present in the land. Select in the field two adjoining plots, to one 'of them apply a good dre: sing of quicklime, and harrow it w<dl i't. Thou give plots a dressing of manure and plant beetroot. If the soil is sour, the roots will grow much better in the limed plot.

It is estimated there are 430,000.000 cattle in the wholo Hvilised world In France the pe-t of tho locuvt i -(; being made value of by bring ground "nto fertilisers.

5 Expected there will lie more foreign . woolbuyers in Australia next year i than ever before. Dairy Shothorns of the old . typo have never been defeated in bu f . tor tests in England. Keep the sties clean. The mor fresh air and sunlight the pigs get th<~ , better they will do. r Tn six years the flocks of one State i have increased to the number of just . about a million sheep. Th-> commonest cause of pleurisy in p. a pig «s a chill, especially if the ani- ! mal has been overheated Ir earing a ford bear always in mind that it is muscle and bone you want, and not flesh and fat. Tf milk from cows suffering from tuberculosis is fed to pigs they will certainly contract the disease. a iiii « —wn—— mamm ■ — rtm^mt