ON THE LAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9222, 26 May 1910, Page 7

ON THE LAND.

MANURING FOR MILK.

It is well known that the grazing of dairy stock is exhausting to pastures. It is bound to be so when the milk is sold right off the farm, so that there is no chance of any of its oonstituente being returned to the land through the stock. The obvious remedy is to maintain the fertility of the land by the use of manures. What an important influence this may have is 6hown by some very interesting experiments carried out by the Midland Agricultural and Dairy College, England. These experiments were started only in April last, and arc to be continued, but an -interim report has been issued. In a field of poor clay pasture two plots, each four acres in area, were fenced off. One of these was left unmanured, but the other received 4cwt per acre of superphosphate and l£cwt of sulphate of potash. Seven weeks later two cows were turned into each plot, care being taken to have these cows equal in most respects. This last point, however, did not really matter, as it was a test of plot against plot, not cows against cows. After each milking the yield of each cow was weighed and sampled for testing. At the end of a fortnight tho cows were changed over, so that the lot that firet occupied the manured plot now occupied the untreated plot, and vice versa. This moving took place fortnightly throughout the season of five months, the yield always being credited to the plot from which it was produced. Each lot of cowe thus occupied each plot five times. The object of this frequent change was to eliminate the influence of the individuality of the cows, and mako ' sure that it was a test merely of plot against plot. This it effectually did; but it had one disadvantage. It is well known that a, cow may be made to lose in yield much more readily than she can be made to gain. In spite of this drawback the results are striking enough. Each lot of cows never failed to drop considerably in yield when turned into the unmanured plot, and until quite the end of the 6eason they always increased in yield when on the dressed plot, though, as already mentioned, this increase did not balance the drop. Taking an average, the fortnightly loss on the unmanured plot was 2091b of milk, whilst the fortnightly gain on the dreesed plot was 23 1-3 lb. At the end of the period of five months the manured plot had to its credit 3489|1b more milk than the other, or an increased yield of 84 gallons were produced at a cost of 29s (the.cost of the manures). Valuing the milk at 6d per gallon, therefore, the profit per acre was 13s, or £1 7s if tho milk be valued at 8d per gallon. Putting it in another way, 84 gallons of milk, costing 295, works out at 4 l-7d per gallon. The experiment will be continued until the effect of the manures is exhausted.

ENSILAGE AND DAIRYING.

In the dairy business, as in all others where products are marketable goods, it is found that, when prices are high, production is low. Economists will tell us this is merely the natural consequence of the operation of the law of supply and demand. But what the dairyman wants to know is how he may have a good supply of milk in the season when the supply is generally short. Scientific dairymen contend the supply should be kept up during the whole of the milking period, and they go so far as. to say that by scientific methods of feeding it can be. Practical experiment has demonstrated that, where there is good ensilage, the flow of milk can be maintained, and cows fed on it keep up the yield through tho driest months. The silo must be an attachment of the dairy farm, and the making of ensilage is one of tho lines of the business to which it will pay the farmer, even if he has not a cow on the place, to give considerable attention.

MANURING LUCERNE. Lucerne requires a soil rich in mineral fertilising ingredients, i.e., lime, phosphoric acid, and potash, and it is the custom to apply basic dag and potash salts in large dressings. Different opinions arc, however, held as to whether

it is more advantageous to apply the ] artificials required in one large dressing ,-' or to apply same in smaller dressings . every year. The agriculturist Kleoberger has tried to solve this question "hy* an experiment in which he tested at the sumo time basic slag versus kainit. The experiments lasted for six years, and I showed the following results :— I 1. That on loamy soil basic slag lias ■ yielded larger crops of lucerne than superphosphate. -2. That it is more advantageous to apply 3201b of basic slag annually than to' apply 9601b basic slag every third year. 3. That muriate of potash seems to havo a better effect than kainit. Klecberger attributed the superiority of basic slag over superphosphates to the lime contained in the former manure, whereas the application of superphosphates renders the soil poorer in alkaline lime.

PLANTING HINTS. If a tree is planted in soil which has had only a few inches of the surface overturned and the subsoil, especially if an impervious clay, left untouched, it will bo found that the tree, even if it lives, will bo stunted and the crops of fruit it bears will be exceedingly unsatisfactory. On the other hand, if the suhso-'I had been worked to a good depth perhaps tho roots would have hteii enabled to strike deeply into the soil, with the result that the tree would be encouraged to grow to proper size and to yield large crops of fruit., Of course, there arc some soils which will never make satisfactory orchards, but even with good lands the subsoil requires ■ a proper working. When the soil is properly treated the roots soon strike deeply and thus the tree will not be subjected to sudden changes of temperature, which would be the case if many of the roots remained near the surface in consequence of beirig unable to force their way to a good depth. After the land intended for the orchard is ploughed to a depth of 6in or 8m the best plan is to follow this up with a subsoil plough. The latter implement shoulc be made to follow in the furrow made by the first plough and disturb the hard subsoil. : Of course, subsoil ploughing is hard work, and will require a strong team of good horses. The best known method is what is called by some bastard trenching by means of fork or spade, both the surface and subsoils being turned over, but eacli being kept in its original place— tho subsoil underneath and the surface soil on top. Where large areas have to be dealt with this process would be too km,,' and costly, and the use of the subsoil plough is the best substitute. If a person is unable to procure a subsoil plough he can make an old plough vvuh tho mouldboard removed take its pliico. Thi- days of digging holes and scratching up an inch or two of the surface soil between the trees are past. Many people who planted trees in this way years ago found that the . ro ° ts failed to penetrate the hard subsoil beyond tho sides of the holes satisfactorily, or that water collected in the holes m which the young trees were planted and rotted the roots. The treatment of the whole area reserved for an orchard to a similar depth throughout is the plan now adopted by men who engage in fruit-growing on a commercial basis.

THE NEW NITROGEN MANURES. Mr A. U. Hall, director of the Rotharnstcad experimental station, formed by the la£e Sir John Lawes. reports trials ot trie two manures derived from atmospheric nitrogen upon the barley crop, against nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia. His o-eneral conclusion is that on land well "supplied with lime th© results are very closely in accordance with units ot nitrogen, but- that on soils deficient in lime the case might be different. Pre : eumbaly he means that the new manures would 'bo preferable where hmo is deficient.

THE CALIFORNIAN THISTLE. Recently at the Harper Adam Agricultural College a systematic attempt by way of experiments has been made to solve the difficulty of destroying the Californian thistle. The report from this College contains a good deal of information, but which does not directly apply to the subject of thistle destruction; but the experiments diirectly bearing on the subject of this note, over a period of two years, are of interest. A number of plots were used for purposes of the trial, and numbered as follows:—Plot 1: Thistles cut three tjmes in a season and dressed with 4cwt of common salt after each cutting (midsummer months). Plot Iβ: Thistles cut three times in a season; not salted. Plot 2: Thistles cut once in season, and dressed with 4cwt of salt at time of cutting. Plot 2b: Thistles cut once in season; not salted. Plot 3: Not cut, but headed with stick to prevent seeding, and dressed with 4cwt of salt at same time. Plot 3b : Not cut, but headed. Plot 4: Cut once and sprayed with sulphate of copper. Plot 4b: Uncut, but headed with stick, and sprayed with sulphate and coppe,!-. The results of the treatment <xtending over the two seasons were very marked, and are given as follows:—1: That the early cutting had a very beneficial effect, and not only reduced the number of plants, lut also so weakened the remaining ones as almost to have cleared the plots. 2: That even a single cutting is beneficial. 3: That spraying with sulphate of copper appears to have little effect. 4: That the application of salt has good effect in checking the growth if applied during the spring,.