ON THE LAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9168, 17 March 1910, Page 3

ON THE LAND.

QUALITY OF OATS,

So much depends upon the quality of oats that a horse in hard work gets that it. is surprising to find so many owners purchasing inferior grain, bccause, as they say, they cannot afford the best. Such eoonomy is by far the most expensive in the long run, as it is obvious that oats which are nearly one-third husk cannot nourish the horse that consumes them to the same extent that a heavier grain will do. It may be said that no oats under 401b are of real service to the owners of horses in work, and oats which have sprouted, or which arc in a dirty state, or which ha"va been badly harvested, should be eschewed. Light beans or peas are also of little use for horses, and should be at least a vear old, and in good condition, not full of holes, as some will bo found, owing to insects having got at them and eaten tho kernels.

THE VALUE OF BEANS. Beans possess a feeding value second to no other farm crop, as may be seen from their analysis, which is:—Corn: Dry matter. 85.9 f albuminoids, 25.1; fat, 1.6; carbo-hydrate, 46.7; fibre, 9.4; ash, 3.5. Straw: 82.5, 9.9, 1.5. 31.8, 33.5, 5.8. Pod : 85.0, 10.6, 1.5, 30.3, 35.2, 7.4. They are an excellent concentrated fodder for horses, and tend to produce in the animals a good appearance. For working horses a small part of the ration can be replaced by beans with advantage. It is calculated that lib of beans can take the place of lAlb of Oats. For pigs, beans arc especially good either as meal or soaked. Tho flesh of pigs fattened with beans is deep red and of a fine flavour. Given to cows the animals soon gain in appearance, and the milk yield increases. Tho straw and the pods provide for sheep a tasty and comparatively rich raw fodder. As green fodder, beans are not suitable, partly on account of the toughness of the leaves, stalks, and other parte of the plant, and especially on account of the parasites sticking to thcni.

MANURE EFFECTS ON STOCK. One of the most practical papers read to the British Association was that byProfessor Somcrville on "The Relationship of Manuring to Meat Production." The following are extracts : — It has long been known that a large increase of herbage is secured from many classes of grass land through tho use of certain artificial manures, but in most cases the effects of the manures have been tested by simply weighing the increase secured. Sometimes the investigation has been carried further, and the herbage grown with and without manure has been separated into its constituent plants, and an attempt has been made to estimate tho improvement in quality by the increase of such plants as .sorrel and other weeds. Supplementary tc such a botanical separation the herbage has sometimes been submitted to chemical analysis, and an attempt has been made to gauge the feeding value by the percentage and absolute weight of proteids, fats, and carbohydrates, and by the digestibility of the fibre. All these methods convey useful information, but as the ultimate objcct, of producing herbage is to feed animals, and as no laboratory method can perfectly interpret the process in an animal's stomach, it occurred to me that useful information might be got by utilising the animals themselves to pass judgment on the results.

EXPERIMENTS ON GRASS LANDS,

My work has been chiefly confined to experiments on grass land, and on grass land they have been chiefly concerned with pasture as opposed to hay. In the United Kingdom there are some 34,000,000 acres under grass (apart from mountain grazings), and, of this, 24,000,000 acrps arc grazed and 10,000.000 are cut for hay. Clearly, therefore, the grazed area is of much more importance than that which is used for hay. To exclude stock from plots on a pasture, and to test the results of applying manures by weighing and analysing the herbage, must, lead to a fallacious conclusion, for the reason that the mere exclusion of the stock encourages one set of plants and represses another, and the experiment resolves itself into one not on pasture, but on hay.

RESULTS AT COCKLE PARK. In 1896 the county of Northumberland rented a farm (Cockle Park) of 400 acres, of which I was given the scientific direction. A clay field of uniform character, that had been under pasture of a poor type for many years, was divided by fences into ten plots of 3 l-120th acrcs cach. Three acres of each plot have been grazed by sheep each summer for the past thirteen years, the herbage of tho sub-plot of*l-20th acre being annually made into hay. Specially selected sheep have been used for grazing the plots, the animals being individually weighed at the beginning of each season, and monthly during the progress of each grazing season. The health of the sheep on the comparatively limited grazing area of three acres has been all that could be desired, and any individual idiosyncrasies have been eliminated by the number of sheep (usually six to twelve) that grazed each plot. Tho system of experiment ("manuring for mutton") and the results have attracted a large amount of attention, and, aided by tho Board of Agriculture, the experiments have been repeated, in part' or in whole, in several parts of England and Scotland. It is only necessary here to call attention to the lea'ding results, and chiefly to those obtained during_ the first nine years, the scheme being' primarily designed to cover that period.

MAINTAINING FERTILITY. While it has been demonstrated, to the satisfaction of experts, that soils do not wear out, in the sense that it is customary to use the term, and there is no general deterioration of the land, it is possible for the farmer to abuse his land, just as the fool can abuse his physical powers. From evidence which has been collected, it is shown that tho old soils of countries which have been under cultivation for 1000 years are yielding better now than ever, which must be accepted as proof that, so far from wearing out, these soils have been increasing in productivity within the period for which figures are available. The increase is entirely due to better methods of cultivation, more systematic rotation of crops, more care in the selection of seed, increase of live stock on the farms, and, in later years, to the introduction of commercial fertilisers. llow much is duo to each of these factors there is no way of determining.

THE INDIAN RUNNER. The Pacific Rural Press, speaking of this popular duck, says: "The full eggbasket, like the full dinner-pail, is synonymous with prosperity.- It follows that whatever helps fill it is worth tho consideration of the farmer; and here the Indian Runner duck may come in as a valuable assistant to the hen. This bird has been aptly termed tho Leghorn among ducks. When properly handled and well supplied with eggmaking rations a yearly average of from 180 to 240 eggs may bo obtained from a small flock of these ducics, and from 150 'to 200 eggs from a flock of 100. The eggs arc pure white in colour, large and well flavoured, and have a reputation for being especially good for fancy cake making. Though the flesh of these fowls is of fine quality and tho ducklings excel as broilers, for other purposes as a market fowl they cannot comparc with the White Pekin. Like all strictly egg breeds among birds, they are small and active and busy foragers, and, like the Leghorn ampng chickens, they are hardy and practically nonsitters. As the name implies, this breed of ducks is a native of India, and the birds run instead of waddling duck fashion; they further vary from tho duck family bv being dry-land birds. They are said to do better without water to paddle and swim in, though,

like all ducks, they must have an abundance of pure drinking water always before them, and of sufficient ( depth to immerse the head and wash out the nostrils. The standard weight of the Runner is 4£lb for the drake, and 41b for the duck. The colour and markings are tho same in both sexes; the former is light fawn or grey and white; the neck and head whitcneck and head white with cap and cheek markings of fawn or grey and tho lower half of the body white. The nock should bo long and thin, the longer and thinner the better; the breast round and full and the body long and narrow, carried erect and resembling the penguin in shape, and with the wings of medium length and carried close to the body. Tho bill should be extra long, strong, and of good width at the base; in colour yellow spotted with green in the duckling, and green with a black bean in the mature bird; the legs medium length, set well apart, with straight toes webbed, and both shanks and toes a deep yellow.

IN PRAISE OF GRADING. The statement contained in a cable from Sydney that butter factories' delegates considered that butter grading is a failure in Australia and New Zealand was laid before Mr J. R. Scott, secretary of the National Dairy Association. "I am very sorry for the butter industry in New South Wales," said Mr Scott, "if they are not going to adopt a proper grading system. As a matter of fact, there has never been a proper, grading system in operation in any part of Australia, excepting, possibly, in Queensland, and the advance in the quality of Queensland butter is most marked. It took all the prizes at the Royal Australian Show, thus showing that the quality has immensely improved under Government grading. Tho system, such as it is, may have been a failure in Australia, but it has been an unqualified success in New Zealand, as is instanced by the fact that our butter prices are always 4s above the Australian prices.

ADVANCING AGRICULTURE. An American authority -says the population of the world is increasing year after year by the million. The consumption of foods is proportionately increasing. Farmers must provide for this increased consumption by producing more food. It is not possible to materially increase the acreage of land, for land is limited. Of course, it is true that there are many places where the lafkl has not yet been cultivated, but such places are limited. Farmers must study to produce larger crops from the same fields, rather than to produce the same crops from more fields. There are many ways in which the productiveness of the soil may be increased. For instance, rotation of crops, improved methods of ploughing, cultivation, manuring, and the selection of good seeds, all tend to raise the productive capacity of the soil. It must be borne in mind, however, that in increasing the production of the soil we also increase the removal of soil fertility, i.e., if the amount of products from a certain field is doubled, the amount of soil fertility removed from that field is also doubled. It is therefore necessary to increase the restoration of soil fertility as the productive capacity of the soil is increased. If all the crops are sold from off the farm, the entire fertilising elements which were removed must be

brought back to the farm in some form and returned to the soil. Unless more fertilising elements than are removed by the crops are brought on to the farm, there will be no chance of increasing the real value of a farm. BREVITIES. Last year Argentina sent England 3,575,000cwt of beef. The real tost of value in a horse is strength, lively action, and endurance. Education adds to a horse's worth, provided the education is along the right lines. Good horkes deserve good harness, and their appearance is materially improved by it. A little care in watering or feeding while the horses are warm may avoid a serious loss now. In selecting dairy cattle one must take into consideration the demand in one's locality, whether for milk, butter, or cheese. Much of the low-grade fruit and the wind-fallen stuff could be fed to pigs and easily made profitable as good pork or bacon. In feeding, giving the cows about 201b of corn silage with 101b of lucerno hay to each animal will give satisfactory results. The farmer will make money by employing more horsepower and better implements. The best of both is not a bit too good for the man who can afford I the first cost. [ The experience of hundreds of breed- [ ers of purebred flocks demonstrates that | best results are sccurcd from the mating I of matured animals.

Farm animals should bo fed according to their needs. Their needs depend, of course, upon the product that they yield. Work horses are kept for supplying energy, and should bo supplied with feed that will furnish the required energy at the least possible cost, all things considered.