FARM AND FIELD

Lake County Press, Issue 2791, 26 June 1919, Page 7

FARM AND FIELD

(By F. 0.8.)

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

ROTATION AND BACTERIA. That a change of crop, as in a rotation, is of advantage may be regarded as an agricultural truism, and the reason is considered to be that crop requirements for plant food are not the same, so that whereas one crop may mako the greatest demand on the nitrogen in the soil, the succeeding crop will require more phosphate and potash. Thus, a cereal crop will take most nitrogen, while the root crop calls for more phosphate, and there is, of course, the further advantage that the cultivation of the land for the root crop helps to clear the land of weeds. Now, however, it is claimed that the change of crop stimulates bacterial life, and from this point of view the system of different rotations will have to be considered more carefully. A series of experiments have been made, and are being continued in America to throw light on the problem, and, meantime the following conclusions have been arrived at:—(1) The rotation of crops caused the development of greater numbers of organisms in the sou and of greater ammonifying, nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing power of the soil, than continuous cropping either to corn or to clover. (2) Greater numbers of organisms, and greater ammonifying, nitrifying, and nitrogen-fixing powers, were found in a soil under a throe-year rotation of corn, oats, and clover, than in a soil under a two-year rotation with clover, cowpeas, or oats turned under as green manure. (3) The use of green manure in a two-year rotation did not always increase the number of bacteria or the ammonifying, nitrifying, or nitrogen-fixing power of the soil, and it is suggested that the explanation may be sought in the moisture factor or it may be found in the introduction of such large amounts of organic matter. (4) There was an indication that the crop present on the soil was of more importance from the bacterial standpoint than the previous cropping of the soil (5) The ammonification of dried blood and of cottonseed meal did not always run parallel. (6) The nitrification of dried blood and of ammoniun sulphate proceeded almost parallel.

THE SUN AND THE SOIL. A wet soil is a cold soil. It weak ens seeds and sickens plants. lm. way to warm a soil is to drain it. A drain 3ft. deep never made a soil too dry. The force of capillarity is always present to keep a film of water round the soil drains. This force fixes the limit up to which drainage is necessary and beyond which it is impossible. ' In a drained soil the heat of the sun is directed to the soil, and not to the unnecessary water it may contain. The sun is thus given a chance to make its work count. Starting at 32 degrees, tho sun has to raise the soil temperature as nearly to the optimum as possible. The moment soils thaw out in spring each cubicfoot of saturated clay weighs about 1001b.—701b. of soil and 301b. of water at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Fifteen pounds of water to a cubic foot is plenty. It takes just as much heat to evaporate a pound of water as it does to warm a pound of soil. For every unit of heat required to warm the 251b. of peat one degree, 10 units are required to warm the 501b. of water one decree. Only one sunbeam in 11 is used to wram the soil. The

d other 10 spend themselves on the wail ter. Do you wonder why a wet soil warms up slowly. Does not a teakettle boil more quickly when it is only half-full of water? But somebody says, "Let tho water evaporate." This is a desperate remedy. Evapolation requires energy. It is the heat , applied at the bottom of a tea-kettle that makes the steam shoot out at the top. It. takes just as much heat to evaporate a pound of water slowly as g it does to drive it off rapidly as steam, t The cheapest energy available to the a soil is tho sunbeam. The sunbeams 0 that are required to evaporate a single • pound-about ono pint—of water at • 32 degrees would raise the tempera- • turo of about 381b. of water or 1901b. e of soil—nearly three cubic feet—from 8 32 to G2 degrees. You cannot afford to let the water evaporate at this tre- ' mendous expense. It is better to let v gravity draw off {he excess water without expending any sunbeams at all. Let the sunbeams be consumed in warming only the soil and the ne- ' cessary water. The rain drops falling in the early spring are usually warmer ' than the soil. If tho soil is satura- . ted with water these raindrops run ( off the land as they would run [ off a duck's back, carrying their heat , with them. The raindrops enter a , drained soil, and their heat enters with them. This helps tho sunbeams to warm tho soil. Another thing: warm air circulates in a drained soil. It acts like a hot-air furnace. Warm air enters the soil and leaves some of its heat there. A warm soil allows the soil bacteria to work—fixing nitrogen, decomposing vcgetablo matter, and producing soluble food. There is neither heat nor air enough in a wot soil to let the decomposing bacteria work. Seeds germinate rapidly in a warm soil. Moreover, you can get on a well-drained soil earlier in the spring with a seeder or planter than you can get on a wet soil. The rows of corn show green between lines of drain tiles before you can. plant on tho undrained land at all. Some weeds thrivo at low temperatures. Corn and cultivated crops generally dn not. Weeds get the start of the corn , during a cold spring. The warm soils prevent frosts in the late spring and ' early fall. A warm soil has a hreath of warm air air es- ■■ capiny from it at night. This pro--1 tects the tender plants in the absence of the sunbeams. The next morning the sunbeams warm the soil again, thus making the soil a reservoir of ' heat for use on a cold night. But you must give the sunbeams a chance.

BREEDiNC BRONZE TURKEYS. Bronze Turkeys usually give best results, and are raised extensively. They generally grow the largest size in the shortest time, mature early, and are more hardy and domesticated in their habits than other breeds. But, to be profitable, turkeys require much care and attention when young, and they should be kept from other fowls. Young turkeys lay more eggs, and generally hatch' more of them, than older, hens, but the gobblers should be two years old and of entirely different blood. To have thrifty young poults the male bird should be changed every year, always using a thoroughbred. When the hens begin to lay keep them confined in boxes, having a separate box for each hen; also have the hens marked with different coloured strings, nr some other device, so that they may be known, and always have the same hen in the same box. After a week's time each ben will have become accustomed to her particular box, and will go there each day to lay. In that way there is no loss of eggs. Collect the eggs each evening, and keep them side by side in flat boxes in a cool place, as it is important that they do not become chilled. About forty degrees of temperature is right. It is also quite important that they be turned three times a week. Eggs kept in that way will batch even if five weeks old, and in that time a large number can be secured, and perhaps there may be three or four turkey hens wanting to sit. If one should get broody before the rest, let her sit awhile, even a week, until there are others with the same notion. Always set as many eggs at one time as possible. If there are more eggs on hand than the turkeys can cover, the remaining eggs may be placed under chicken hens. One should strivo to have the flock all hatched at one time, as it lessens the trouble in feeding. Of course, there will still be some hens laying. In that case the eggs may be saved until a large number is obtained, and then they can be used as previously. The nest boxes should be kept fastened, except for about an hour in the afternoon, when the hen should be allowed off for food. Sjm inkle sulphur in the nest and on the lieu every week.

Johnson Junior—"He said I was an addlepated jackass. What do you advise mo to do about it?" Jackson, Senior—'See a good vetorinary surgeon."

"I think," said the cmpnatlc girl, "that the way in which she treats her husband is positively awful." "Well," replied Willie Widdles, "to say the least it's awfully positive."

Sporting Gentleman (to lady)—' Are you a judge of horse flesh, Mtb. Fluttorby?" Mrs. Flutterby—"l can't say that' I am. I haven't tasted any since wo were in Paris, over twenty years ago."

Little Dot—"l wish I was a boy." Little Dick—"Why?" Little Dot"Cause a girl always feels so wicked when she does anything wrong,- an a boy don't. Boys just goes right on ;.n' has a good time."

Friend of the family (after hearing of the engagement)—"so you're losing another daughter, Mr. Weloff?" Mr. Weloff—-"Well, I'm l.ot sure- I don t know how it will turn out, but it rather strikes me-, from what I hear about the young man, that I'm taking on another son." "Bobby," inquired his father, "did vou wash your face before the music teacher came?" "Yes, dad." "And your hands?" "Yes dad, 'and your ears?" Well, dad," said Bobby judiciously, "I washed the one that would bo"next to her." Two wretched-looking tramps were brought up before a Justice of the Peace Addressing the worse-Jooking one the Justice said:—"Where do you live'?" "Nowhere." "And where do vou live?" said the Justice, addressnig the other. "I've got the room above him." A cigar presented by the Kaiser to Lord Lonsdale has been sold at Henley in aid of the local Red Cross Hospital, and has become the property of I a butcher at the price of £l4 10s. It 1 might suitably be inscribed, "From a brother butcher."