THE FARMER.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 166, 23 July 1896, Page 3

THE FARMER.

«. THB BRITISH CATTLE TRADE. The determination of the Government I to make permanent the present restricI tions on the importation of foreign cattle, . is to cause a rush into breeding. At present the demand for calves for rearing purposes is much in excess of the supply, " j and well-bred newly dropped calves are ■ selling readily at 50s to 60s per head, while calves which have been well milked for six or eight weeks are selliug up to £5 k per head. The inevitable result of this ; rush into breeding will be that, by another year, store stock will be plentiful euough and cheap enough in comparison with the ' price of fat stock.- -' N. B. Agriculturist.' SEED POTATOES CUT OR UNCUT. The practice of cutting potatoes in- ■ tended for seeding purposes is, writes the 1 ' Field,' gradually losing favor with the principal growers. Many still adhere to the method in the belief that it is a highly economical one ; but the fact is well worth noting at the present moment, that it is chiefly those careful farmers who have tested the relative merits of whole and cut tubers side by side who are abandoning the cutting process. The whole seed of medium size, and, of course, scrupulously sound, is found to give a result which more than compensates for the extra quantity required for planting purposes. Tbe young stems grow more vigorously and cventy, and at later stages it is found the crop cultivated from the uncut seed is more successful in resisting disease. a chemist on manure for wheat. From experiments and results it is evident there is no single manure that is sufficient to the requirements of wheat or any other crop.and thai the beet results are obtained from a judicious combination of different fertilisers. This will be better understood if we take a glance at the different fertilising ingredients removed by an average crop of wheat. In the straw and grain from one acre from 301 bto 401 bof potash is removed, nearly double that amount of nitrogen, and only about 201 bof phosphoric acid. Of this fertilising matter the proportion, found respectively in the grain and the straw, differs in the case of different fertilisers. Phosphoric acid and nitrogen are found most abundantly in the grain, while the potash is nearly all found in tho straw. As the straw is often left on the land, or finds its way back there, this will explain why potash is not so ofton required as a manure for wheat as either nitrogen or phosphoric acid. The importance of these three fertilisers, therefore, for wheat is summoned up by Dr Aikman in tho following order : — First, nitrogen ; second, phosphoric aoid ; and third, potash. AN AMERICAN NOTION. After five years' experience (says J. M. Drew, in the ' Montreal Weekly Witness ') I can say that the tread power is, all things considered, the most economical power for general farm use. Two horses in a tread-power will do as much work as four on a sweep-power, and will require no driver. Tho speed is governed by an automatic brake, which gives as regular and steady a power as that from a steam engine. For steady work on a treadpower the horses should bo shod all round with short dull calks. For light work, or when horses are not kept on the power long at a time, there is no need of shoes at all. While a two-horse treadpower will answer for ordinary work, it will often be found convenient to have moro power, and I would advise anyone contemplating buying a power to get a three-liorss machine ; then when doing heavy grinding or cutting dry corn stalks, or doing other heavy work, the third horse can be put in. After a horse becomes accustomed to working in a treadpower it is no harder than any other kind ■ f farm work. THE LAND HUNGER ABATING. As showing that the " land hunger," of which so much was heard iv the Scottish midlands during the last two years, has greatly abated under tho extreme depression of the present season, n significant item of news is reported from Forfarshire. On a well-known estate in that country some of the farms are held on an indefinite lease, with a two years' notice to quit on either side. More' than a year ago, when the " land hunger " was at its height, aud eager competitors for farms were freely offering rents which were far from being warranted by the price of produce, the proprietor gave the stipulated two years' notice to a couple of his tenants. Since that notice was given, however, the position and prospects of agriculture have changed greatly, and the consequence is that, on account of the proprietor having given that notice of his intention to terminate their current leases, these two tenants have been able to negotiate fresh leases of the same farms at reduced rents. FROZEN MEAT The Royal Society, as in former years, have been conducting a series of experiments in the feeding of bullocks ; and, in order to arrive at a correct knowledge of the results, it was necessary that all the eight bullocks experimented on should be slaughtered at one and the same time, so as to ascertain accurately what increase of dead weight each animal had gained in a given time. In, former years the Society had experienced no difficulty whatever in getting a London butcher to buy and slaughter at one time as many as eight or even sixteen bullocks. But this yoar Dr Voelcker, the Society's chemical adviser, who had charge of the experiments, reported that it was now impossible to get any London butcher to buy and slaughter more than one or two bullocks at one timo, as even the leading west end butohers, who, acoording to their own professions, kept nothing but the best home-fed meat, were getting most of their supplies of homo meat from foreign sources 1 If the facts be as stated by Dr Voelcker — and there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of his statements on this pomt — it is clear enough that this form of fraud is much more prevalent in Modern Babylon than it is in Modern Athens or any other of the large towns in Scotland, for it would be very easy in Edinburgh to get a butcher who would buy and slaughter at one time as many as eight prime home-fed bullocks. — ' N" B. Agriculturist.'