FARM AND FIELD

Lake County Press, Issue 2789, 12 June 1919, Page 7

FARM AND FIELD

ORIGINAL ARTICLES (By F. 0.8.) ADVANTAGES OF LIMING. The advantages to be derived from the practice—nowadays too often neglected—of periodical applications of lime, have Ikhui described by no less an authority than Mr. Hall, of the Experimental Station, Victoria, to be as follows: 1. It improves the texture of the soil by coagulating the finest particles of the clay and rendering the land drier and more friable. Drainage goes on more readily, the land is warmer, and it is more readily worked to a good tilth. It is difficult to exaggerate the value of this action of lime on the heavier soils; it often means that it is possible to secure a seed bed when the unlimed land is still too wet to work, and the character of the root crop, particularly swedes, depends more on securing a good tilth than on manuring.

2. Tire insoluble reserves of nitrogenous and potassic material in the soil are brought into action and rendered available for the plant by the presence >f lime.

3. All tho leguminous crons usually cultivated on a farm flourish much hotter where there is a good supply of lime in the soil. Clover, in particular, is very intolerant of acid soil conditions, and is much more subject to clover sickness when lime is deficient. • In 1906 alsiko clover as Rotham- j stead was almost a complete failure on a plot where the carbonate of lime ' had been reduced to about 0.3 per; cent., though it was good on an ad- 1 joining plot with about 0.5 per cent. 1 4. it seems to bo established that the soil organism (Azotobacter), which fixes nitrogen without the aid of leguminous plants and is a great factor ; n the gam of fertility when land is Ini ! down to grass, cannot develop prope hj unless there is a good supply of cai bonate of lime.

5. Turnips are always liable to ‘ fin gor-and-toe” when lime is deficient it the soil. It cannot be doubted that the fertility of many of our fields to-day is due to the liming and chalking that was done by the farmers of the eighteenth and earlier centuries; they, indeed, made the soil, for it is through their labours that it remains in profitable cultivation at the present time. Owing to the very large amounts ol chalk and lime which were then applied, it has been possible for 1 - ter generations to live upon the capital thus accumulated and dispense v ith any expenditure of their own in that direction. But this spending process cannot continue indefinitely, for natural causes alone-—the percolating lainwater- —are steadily removing the lima in the surface soil; for example, tho Rothamated soil, which at the beginning of the nineteenth century must have contained something like a hundred tons of chalk per acre, has now less than fifty, and many other soils which started with a smaller initial stock are beginning to run dangerously short. All over the country there is evidence that much of the land, especially on tho heavier soils, is in need of liming, and though it would not bo wise to return to the old wasteful dressings of six to ten tons to the acre a much smaller quantity, half a ton or so per acre, could be profitably applied at 'east once in tho course of each rotation.

CROWING ASPARAGUS. There arc two methods by means of which asparagus may be grown either from seed or by purchasing roots. Where roots can be obtained from a reliable firm, thct is the quickest way to start a bed, and the earlier returns will more than repay for any excess of cost of the plants. The roots should not be more than two years old, for the best results. There is so little difference in the old stunted roots and the more vigorous two-year-old roots that it is possible for old roots to be passed off for young plants. But good two-year-old plants can be purchased from reliable firms with good results. If grown from seed, the seed should be sown in spring and not removed until two years old, and then transplanted into a permanent bed_. Asparagus beds have been known to exist in a profitable condition for more than twentyfive years. The selection of the ground is important. If early and rapid growth is desired, the soil should be a little sandy and not too low, and should receive "the direct rays of the sun as much as possible. The soil should be heavily dressed with wellrotted manure and before planting the ground should be ploughed or dug deeply and well pulverised. The the brine. In an investigation of the from two to six feet wide between the planting being done in the spring, the rows should be six inches deep and rows. The roots should be covered with six inches of soil. Asparagus should not be cut till the second year, and the season for cutting should not lie too prolonged, as it is injurious to the vitality of the roots. In the autumn when the tops have matured, they should be cut and burned, then a heavy dressing of well-rotted manure applied. There are other methods which give good results, but the method heroin described has given good results in quantity and quality, some very fane specimens of asparagus having been obtained. manorial rotation. A series of rotation experiments have been conducted recently in this State. The object was to test_ the effect of manuring. The rotation followed was swedes, barley, oats, hay. The land on which the trials were conducted was a sandy loam with clay underlying. According to details issued in the form of a bulletin it would appear that the highest return in credited to the use of 12 tons of dung an acre on the roots, and a dressing of artificial manure for hay. The mixture comprised 1001b nitrate of lime, 3cwt. superphosphate, 2Jcwt. basicslag, and 1001b muriate of potash. Next to it come the plot dressed with 12 tons dung on swedes, IJcwt. nitrate of lime on barley, half the above mixture for hay, and nitrate of lime for oats. A summary of the results show that the most profitable result has been obtained by the application for dung for swedes and artificial manures for hay. The dung was up plied in drills, before sowing tin swedes. The artificial manure for ha, 1 consisted of 1001b nitrate of lime ai ! acre applied in spring, and 3cwt super phposphate, 2cwt basic slag, and 101

Ib muriate of potash applied the previous autumn. Other deductions inlicate that dung is of considerable uore value than artificials for light toil. Dung alone produced a good *rop of swedes, but a combination of dung and artificials considerably increased the three crops following the swedes. When a potash manure is withhold from artificial manure the crops suffer greatly from the omission. For this reason, when artificial manure alone is used on light land, it is essential that a potash manure should be included. When full dressings of dung are applied the need of a potash manure is not nearly so urgent. Medium dressings of the different nitrogenous manures for oats have not been profitable. Basic slag has given more profitable results throughout the rotation than superphosphate, but the swede crop was somewhat larger from the latter manure. Dung applied to the land as soon after it is made as possible has given considerably better results than dung kept in a heap for some months, and also better results than dung anplied in a fresh condition from the field.