AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 9173, 5 August 1890, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL JOTTINGS

(Canterbury Timet.) Two things should ba indelibly stamped on-farmers’ memories—first, that in all parts of the country we generally have a drought which shortens pastures, in summer time, creating a great liability to overstock our farms; and, secondly, it is prudent and always profitable to have an ample reserve crop of green stuff, sufficient for . every emergency, to supplement the pastures when needed, or to be preserved for winter use. Moreover, this precaution will put a stop to the greatest waste and folly in agriculture, the feeding off and stamping out of young and tender grass. For when the; drought shortens and pinches stock, the temptation is great to give the animals the supposed benefit of fresh feed from recent seeding. It is by no means intended to feed it close, or continue the feeding more than a short time; but the drought intensifies, the old pastures go from bad to worse—not yet quite ready to take the stock out they bite closer and closer till the young plants are scarcely visible. Deprived of their organs of growth at the critical time, when they need to be in best possible condition to withstand the dry weather, the promising grass or clover retires from the unequal contest—a palpable failure—or continues in such crippled condition that little or no profit is realised from the land occupied. When it is remembered that the early tender growth of this young grass affords little sustenance, and, consequently, is of small value, but if protected, fostered and turned to best account is the most remunerative of all crops—the prop and support of agriculture—it will be conceded that maiming or exterminating it to obtain a little flashy feed is the most unprofitable exchange in the whole realm of trade. A horse should never be so thirsty as to drink more than a bucketful of water. As there are various sizes of buckets or pails it is better to be more accurate. Let us say, then, twelve quarts. If a horse when driven before a buggy or waggon is within two miles of home or of the next stopping place for the night, let him drink even if he seems quite warmj he will be ready to take his feed of corn very soon after he is stripped of hia harness. But'if a warm or overheated horse is allowed to stand in a stream and drink all the water he wants, very likely he will be foundered, and be too stiff to place one foot before the other. Cattle seem to exercise more sense, or rather their-, iastiaets are more..jpo(letate.

A drove of steers or cows when hot will rush into a stream and stand in the water, but very little will they drink until perfectly cooled off. Sheep, it is often said, need no water. This is a mistake. Sheep always do better in a pasture through which a running stream is meandering, and they also drink more water than we think they do. It is possible that of all live stock sheep need the least water, but that does not imply that they would not drink more if they could get it. Pigs also need plenty of water easy, of access; there is no danger of their drinking too much. In 1887 an ingenious Frenchman proposed to deliver milk from a central <tep66 in pipes to large hotels, retauranta, hospitals, and other great milk-consuming establishments. Experiments were actually tried in the . before-mentioned year with a view to carrying out the system on a large scale. The process appeared very simple, and the convenience of being able to draw milk from a tap as one draw* water bad considerable attraction to many speculative individuals. The delicate and perishable nature of milk, however, the possibility of and the admission of air into the easily corruptible product, and other uncalculated conditions, led to the abandonment of the scheme. In America where “pipe lines” deliver oil from petroleum districts to the coast, it has recently been suggested to deliver milk from the country into large towns by. means of water tubes, and it is said a ■ Company will soon be formed to supply; New York in this manner. The milk will, bo forwarded in cylindrical tin cans, surrounded and propelled by water through the tube. It is claimed that the cans can be driven at the rate of a hundred milea an hour, and at a great saving as compared with the high railway rates. How! milk cans shot through tubes at such a rate as a hundred miles an hour can ba delivered at the terminus without damage or danger, we have not yet been informed. Ic has always been a debatable point whether it is possible to breed a flock of black sheep. All sheep breeders are aware that by a freak of nature a few black' lambs are found in their flocks every year, although the sires and dams of been pure white as far back as their pedigrees can be traced. The lamb's■ come black, and no satisfactory explanation can be offered as to why they are so. Following up the breeding, however, it is found that the theory of like producing like does not' hold good where black sheep are concerned. The progeny from a black sire and dam will, in about seven cases out of ten, throw back to the previous generations., Mr John Fulton, of Rangiors, is now experimenting in this direction, and the' second year's results should be available in a few weeks. A well-known American authority. Professor Blount, who has made a careful and exhaustive study of the position of agrioul-. ture in his own country, expresses the opinion that the worst of the depression is past, that we are at the beginning of better times, and that while no one thing will make the farmer prosperous,' rearing and feeding on the farm more good animals, making and applying mbre manure to the land, having larger gardens and orchards, housing farm machinery and animals, using more economical fencing and' getting rid of outside fences, securing good roads and the Government ownership of railroads, looking more at the ability and honesty of candidates and less at their partisan complexion, reducing the salaries of officials and increasing the salaries of school teachers, reading and thinking more and meeting oftener in farmers* Clubs, being more active and confident, less prejudiced and bitter m politics, studying the markets closely, and a, few other things will bring to the farmers a fuller flood of prosperity and happier, better life than ever known before. The wasteful practice of burning straw to get rid of it does not prevail to the extent it did some years ago, bud should cease altogether, and this product be utilised for all it is worth. As its feeding value is about three-quarters of that of hay, it would be almost as reasonable to bum the latter. A few years ago m the Old Country rather green corn fodder was packed in alternate layers with straw. The fodder, kept well, and imparted a portion of its aroma to the straw, and stock ate-the latter with as much avidity as the former.; Similar recent experiments, in preserving green alfalfa (lucerne) were abundantly, successful, and cattle relished both equally well. As haying occurs before harvesting and thresh ing.it is suggested that those who have been in the habit of burning t.Tiaiy straw stack it nicely, and the following year use it in preserving green hay of any kind. Green clover thus put up would be preserved in its entirety, instead of losing much of its nutriment by being cured in a burning sou, for unless great care is observed it is permitted to become so dry that the best part (the leaves) shells off,' and is wasted.' This dry silage system would utilise every particle of nutriment in both straw and clover. A late report by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture says manure* should not be lavishly used with the expectation that every additional pound applied will correspondingly increase the crop; that doubling them will double the yield as often as that process is repeated. There is abundant experimental proof that in any given soil the amount of. any fertiliser cannot be profitably pushed beyond: a certain point. After this is passed this increase of yield will not pay for the additional cost of application. And very soon even the limit of production, so far as the fertiliser is concerned, is reached. Neither land nor cattle can be profitably stuffed. The process of improving the soil, like the process of fattening, is comparatively . gradual and requires time. Poor soils demand other things besides commercial fertilisers to bring them into good condition and make them productive. Vegetable matter (humus) is needed to improve their physical properties to enable them to retain moisture and resist drought. The best practice of the day holds that only the amount of manure actually required by the crop to be grown should be applied; that any surplus is liable to be lost or to pass into insoluble combination* in the soil, and that it is not all recovered in subsequent crops. Such surplus is regarded as idle capital. Yet the argument is not against a liberal supply for the orgp in hand, but only against excessive manuring. The margin of profit in the application of manures is narrower than is generally supposed, and too'many of bur farmers are disposed to use them recklessly and to expect too much from- them. The following observations made by one of the United States officials in a repprtto his Government will bear repetition : .itt this country:—The frequent and extreme fluctuations of price occasioned by the operation of irresponsible speculators i* the bane of the producer, whose best interests will ever be served by the maintenance of a firm and reliable mar kets To the allegation, not infrequently made, that if at times prices are thus unduly.. depressed there are also times when they ara unduly raised, there is a simple reply. As already asserted, not only are fluctuation and uncertainty the bane of the producer, but the speculative combination# which result in unduly raising or depressing prices are caret ully raise them when the goods are no lenger in the producer’s hands, and to depress them when they are. TJnquestionably legislation is needed to remedy this evil, and it should be based on the principle that the evil i* not a necessary one, requiring regulation, but an utterly inexcusable one to be cured by eradication.