FARMERS' WINTER SCHOOL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 26 June 1926, Page 7

FARMERS' WINTER SCHOOL

INTEREST WELL MAINTAINED LECTURES AND DEMONSTRATIONS The farmers' winter school at Richmond continued yesterday, when the interest shown in the initial session was fully maintained. The subjects dealt with by the Government instructors were: "Wool," by Mr J. 0. Cook; "Lucerne Growing in the Nelson District," by Mr F. W. Greenwood; Horticultural Lecture, by Mr Thorp; "Pigs" by Air K. W. Gorringe; "Insects as related to Agriculture," by Mr D. Miller; and "Pastures Establishment in Nelson," by Mr Greenwood. MANURING AND~TOPDRESSING In bis lecture dealing with '"Manuring and Top Dressing," Mr Greenwood, agricultural instructor, remarked at the outset that the scope of the subject upon which he was going to speak was so wide that it precluded an exhaustive treatment in the short time at his disposal. He said he was well aware that with regard to many practices in connectioif with the use of fertilisers controversy existed and that the validity of many practices was still on trial. He went on to point out that the plant had two sources of food supply, (a) the air from which it obtained carbon di-oxide through the leaves, and nitrogen by the means of bacteria on the roots of the leguminous plants or through the medium of dissolved nitrogen washed into the soil with the rain; (b) from the soil. All farm crops required access to the ten elements of food, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, phosphates, potassium, calcium, sulphur, magnesium and iron. Six of these elements were commonly found in sufficient abundance in the soil to obviate the necessity of providing an artificial supply. The elements essential to plant growth but frequently lacking in the soil were calcium, from which lime is formed—a soil improver rather tiian a food; phosphorus, nitrogen, and potash. New Zealand soils generally speaKing are most deficient In phosphates and lime. Strong acids cannot be absorbed by the root hairs of the plant. It'is essential that the acids which exist naturally in the soil, viz., citric, humic, and nitric acid should be ueutralied in order to render them suitable to absorption by the plant roots. It is only when the nutritive matter in the soil is brought into a soluble state that it is of any use to plants. The speaker pointed out that a very intimate connection existed between manuring and cultivation. By the use of diagrams the speaker showed that the soil moisture existed in the form of a film around each particle, and that the more finely divided the soil was the greater was the surface exposed and able to absorb soluble plant food. The lecturer proceeded to combat the prevalent fallacy that manure was applied to the soil to replace something which had been removed. This statement was only partially true. To illustrate—suppose that an average soil contained .1 per cent, of nitrogen, .15 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and .4 per cent, of potash, working on this supposition the soil would contain 2450 lbs of nitrogen, 3675 lbs phosphoric acid, and 9800 lbs potash per acre to a depth of 9 inches, these are enormous supplies when compared with the plant requirement of these substances. And moreover it was commonly found that in spite of these onormous supplies of plant food in the soil one cwt of manure resulted in an increased yield. Swedes, for example, a crop feeding heavily on nitrogen, removed 150 lbs of nitrogen per acre, yet the crop could often be successfully fertilised by 3 cwt of superphosphates which contained no nitrogen. Although these crops drew heavily on nitrogen"lt appropriated only 150 lbs nitrogen, 30 lbs phosphoric acid, and 120 lbs of potash per acre, so that the soil contained enough of these two substances to grow several dozen crops without exhausting the supply of food. The point to which this argument lead was that a crop required certain food for its growth to be supplied quickly in a soluble suite within a limited period of time,. .Much of the plant food in the soil was unavailable through being insoluble or only slowly soluble in the soil watex.

Owing to both climatic and soil conditions the problems of liming and manuring in Nelson and Marlborough are distinct from those m other portions of New Zealand. So far as nitrogenous manures are concerned there were many poor soils in the dominion as well as wet cokl clay, which seemed to respond to the stimulus of nitrogenous fertilisers. The extremely sandy soils of various parts, the cold wet soils of Southland, and the Moutere clays fell within this category. Generally speaking, nowever, the application of artificial nitrogen in the form of fertilisers was too expensive <o be payable. Usually in New Zealand s;oils it was found that nitrogen requirements could be supjdied (a) by the means of growing legumiuous crops in a rotation or the securing of sufficient clover in our pastures, or (b) by green manuring or ploughing in of such crops is blue lupins. In epitc of tht> higft price charged by manure merchants for the nitrogen constituents of manures on the average it was very doubtful indeed wheher average pasture land in the dominion responded sufficiently to such manure to make its application payable. Where the supply of lime in the" soil was good the soil readily became inoculated with nitrogen-fixing bacteria deriving their nitrogen from the air so that nitrogenous manures in such soils were unnecessary. Probably one of the most controversial questions in the fertiliser world was that of liming. The speaker said he both understood and sympathised with the farmer who stood in doubt upon this question. Lime has the following general uses--(l) to counteract acidity in the soil; (2) to improve, soil texture (a) by opening up stiff clay soils, and (b) by binding loose siandy soils; (3) lime assisted bacteria action in the soil by counteracting acid condition and so allowing bacteria, to work ; (4) it increased the palatibility of pasture as well as its nutritive value; (5) it released other plant foods from the soil, bringing them into a more soluble state, e.g., potash. There were, some very outstanding features with regard to liming. In considering the question the farmer had to remember that it was" a long-time investment, as it was only generally applied only about once every four or five years. Its cost should, therefore, be considered occoivimgly. In some parts of the district the cost of lime on the lind was as much from £2 to -£2 5s per acre, where cartage was heavy. Experiments through a period of years bv the Agricultural Department had tended to show that the application of lime by itself on pasture land was unpayable. The recent lucerne experiments, however, conducted in tne Hillersden district had shown that even with lime •ostiiiK between L'2 and £2 5s per ton, R'i Far a lucerne was concerned its application was highly payable. The speaker continued that lie felt qualified

in saying that the farmer, where not situated actually on limestone or papa soils, should always lime the lucerne, and even the last-named soils, through surface leaching sometimes required it. There were two forms of lime in general use, quick lime and crushed carbonated lime. Of these quick lime was the more soluble, it being possible to use about two-thirds of the quantity as effectively as more crushed carbonate of lime. The solubility of carbonate of lime depended largely on the fineness of the grinding. Carbonate of lime should be applied in the autumn or the winter after ploughing operations had been completed, but it was inadvisable to work this 'lime deeply into the soil if plants were to derive benefit from it within the first 12 months. The soluble action of the rain in the winter was helpful in making it available to some extent to the spring sown crops. Quick lime should be sown about two months before the drilling of the crop. The speaker said that he knew quite well that argue" as they would about these different varieties of lime that most farmers ended up by using crushed limestone rather than quick-lime owing to the harsh eflect of the latter on the eyes during the process <t distributing. Generally speaking qutck-hme gave good results on swamps and stiff clay soils, or where quick results were required. The lecturer said ■ ie did not hesitate to advise the farmer when hmmg Jris pasture always' to use crushed limestone or for that matter quick lime in combination with superphosphates, as frequent and extended experiments had shown that it was' only in this way that the best results might be obtained. So far as quantities were concerned, he would advise the use on most soils of about a ton to 30 cwt per acre of crushed limestone or 15 to 18 cwt of quick-lime, together with 2 to 3 cwt of superphosphates of the first grade. Very recent investigations in Taranaki seem to show that quite good results were being obtained by the frequent application of much sma'ller quantities of lime, viz., mainly about 5 cwt applied annually with the manure. So far as potassic manures were concerned there could be no doubt as to the immense benefit derived from them by such quick-growing crops'as potatoes. Quite a good manure for potatoes was : (1) for early crops 3 cwt to 5 cwt superphosphate, 1 cwt sulphate of potash, ana halt cwt sulphate ot ammonia. Generally speaking potash ,was .useful " for leaf and stem development, and in a lesser degree seed development, while it was an extremely important iactor in wool production. So far as pastures was concerned, however, the Department was still in the position of having to say that they' possessed no definite proof that expensive potash fertiliser warranted the outlay. He considered that in such proprietary brands of manure where sulphate ot potash wasmixed with superphosphate the good results obtained were in most cases due to the superphosphates. Generally speaking throughout the Dominion it was only in the case of particular crop and in tne case of odd soils that potassic fertilisers had to be employed. The soil usually contained sufficient of this element or the practice of liming made the potash readily available. The most important consideration of all in farming practice in New Zealand at the present day was the use of phosphate. For the past six years, some highly instructive, successful and payable experiments had been conducted by the speaker. Slides illustrating remarkable differences obtained at various areas were shown. It had to be remembered by farmers that while liming and topdressing enormously stimulated the growth of good grasses and clovers it would not create them. In the 1922-23 season at Alfreclton, in the Northern Wairarapn, a paddock which had several years before been sown down in good English grasses had run out to brown top. This was top-dressed, wonderful results being secured. Nauru superphosphate used with lime gave 2£ times the results oDtained by no treatment, whilst superphosphate alone gave a 72 per cent, advantage. The results may be summarised and tabulated as follows: If we represent the average from the untreated plots by the number 100 then the lime plot would be represented by : 104, Nauru super, with lime 224, super alone 172, Nauru rock with lime 110, Nauru rock without lime 152, ephos with lime 100, ephos without lime Li 6. It may be noted (1) that lime alone was quite unpayable; (2) that on this told and wet soil, which analysis showed to have over a two-ton lime requirement Nauru rock phosphate used with lime gave only 16 per cent, advantage (a negligible difference), while ephos f.'ith lime gave no advantage whatever. Nauru rock 'without lime, also ephos without lime gave fair results. The best results, however, were obtained with superphosphate used with lime. The Martinborough trial with rape and grass also gave the best results with lime and super. Other manures such as ephos gave good results and even lime alone in the first season gave from 80 to 90 p.c. advantage, and in the second season 40 per cent, advantage. More recent trials m Marlborough at (spring I reek and Koromiko had given very decided results. At Spring creek the object had been through- liming and top dressing tu increase the duration of a red clover stand used for hay, seed and grazing as under average farming "conditions in the district. Jn the lbtQ-Zo trials tne results may be expressed on a percentage basis as follows: —It we represent the untreated plots by the number 100 then lime alone equals 110, super and lime together equals 246, aim super alone also equals Lime was applied at the rate (A '2 ions per acre in accordance with Die soil lime requirements, once within three seasons. Superphosphate was applied annually at the rate of 2ewt per acre. Where the lime alone had been use the clover was now either dead or dying, this did not prove that the soil did;.hot need lime, but it demonstrated the tact that phosphate was also necessary. In the second season from 1925 to 19i:6 the results were as follows: Untreated plots equal 100; super alone equals 271 'j lewt oi rix'k phosphate plus lewt super equals 271 ; rock phosphate alone equals 114; nitrate of soda and blood and bone both gave negative results. On another set cif plots on the same area in the same year results may be represented as follows: Untreated plots represent 100 .the average of the limed plots iuO, lAcwt. of super per acre 300, iscwt. super per acre 322; and 2cwt super added to the plot limed last season 356. These results must be considered as remarkably highly payable, and as discriminative as could be obtained anywhere in the Dominion. At Koromiko, on poor typical flat .Sounds country, the liming of a permanent pasture was carried out, and the results were as follows: 1924-5 season; represent the untreated plots by 100, then lime equals 111, super alone 113, blood and bone 113, super and iiine 131. In the 1925-6 season untreated pbts 100. lime plots 102, super alone 130, super and lime 149, blood and bone .117. It is noteworthy that lime alone did not pay. The bottom, however, obtained in the pasture, treated with superphosphate and lime, was very much better than the pint obtained with super alone. Blood and bone, although twice as expensive as superphosphate, has so far not been very satisfactory. ' Mr Greenwood then proceeded to deal with hill top-dressing, pointing out that

he had a good many experiments under way now, some on the good liill country which held English grasses for a great length of time, and some on the poor second-growth country. There was no doubt whatever as to what the actual results of these experiments would be Oii pasture Composition. The big probleftij however;, that remained, to be .solved, was Bob what would be the effect 6:i jrttftilt-e KirtlHJsitldh so inticH Hs to- what extent tlie top-dressing of hill _country would increase the carrying capacity, and as to whether the expenditure involved on say 2cwt. of manure say once iii three years would increase the carrying capacity sufficiently to make it pay. able. One' point on which Mr Greenwood was very definite was that the farmer should not use very quickly soluble manures such as super phosphate on the liills, seeing tliat ho top-dressed such country only at intervals. He advised rather ihe use of basic slag, basic super, or lewt. Nauru ground rock phosphate mixed With lewt. super. PIGS LECTURE BY MR, GORRINGE "Quite tlie best of a splendid series of lectures."—This was the unanimous verdict on Friday afternoon, at the conclusion of Mr Gorringe's address, which lasted for over 2*hours, and would have continued longer only [that i»fr G(nriih.ci had to leave to catch the •'Ailing'.oii Doat; Mr Gorringe,. in his introductory remarks stated that in the past Nelson had suffered from isolation, but he hoped that in the very near future Nelson would be exporting great numbers of first-class bacon pigs to supply the ■ enormous demand of the .English market.. When he visited. Nelson a few yearg ago,' he had'advised orchardists re utilising the waste apples for pig feed, anil he was pleased to learn that some of ,these men had met with a considerable measure 61 success. No fawn is complete without ,a pig, as he assisted every branch of farming, and formed a certain source of revenue. He had just laid out near Oamaru an 80 acre piggery for a draper who realised what a mbriey : riiakirig proposition a pig farm '.wai. ■ lii ( America they, had .. a., cprrt-belt almost double trie size of New (Zealand arid riiillioris of pigs were raised in this territory, ' but not a. single drop of "skirii-dick" did they receive. Denmark, a country about the size of Taranaki, "exported to Britain £22,000, : 00d •worth of bacon annually, this bein£ £2,000,000 more than the value of thtf dairy produce. New Zealand must endeavour to capture some of this trade, arid there was no reason why she should riot become one of the best bacon troduririg countries in the world. .The „ traaihg:cahcerhs in Great Britain freely acknowledged that New Zealand bacon pigs were the best in the world, and only recently ah order from two firm's for £200,000 of bacon pigs had had to be refused simply because we could not supply tKe quantity required. At pre : sent New Zealand stood at the top tif the tree for quality, arid he wasdetprmihecl to maintain that reputation. He hoged to.see 50,000 bacon pigs exported from Nelson in a few years. Owing to the short time at his disposal, ne could riot speak fully on thß subject, as this would take at least nine ' hours. Still it was necessary thai a riian go-Trig iii for pig raising'should know the details of the business. It had taken Hirh 35 years to reach his present position, and during that time he had received some very hard knocks, his losses often amounting to hundreds of Eounds. Still he had kept going, and is present knowledge had been gained by years of study. Very few dairymen were using the pig as he should be used. No cow Was the equal of a brood sow, the latter yielding from two to four times as irittch as the coW. The greatest enemy of the pig-farmer is para, site life. No less than 100,000 pigs died in. the Dominion last year, and parasites of various kinds were doubtless responsible for a large percentage of this appalling mortality. To losses Of this kind farmers should avoid buying pigs from sale-yards, as this procedure resulted in spreading parasites in all directions. Most of the mortality among pigs was due to 'insanitary conditions of the pig-stys, and enormous monetary loss resulted. In the North Island dairy farmers thought nothing of giving £2 or even £2 10s for weaner pigs, as it was absolutely necessary for them to buy weaners to dispose of their surplus skim milk. As the cost of raising a wearier was only from 7/. to 10/-, it could easily be seen that the man paying £2 or more for such ah animal was making a tremendous loss, and in addition to this he frequently stocked his piggery with parasites. In breeding pigs great carfe ihust be taken to look after the sows, and it paid handsomely to buy concentrates for them. If this was done the young pigs would be born heavier than would otherwise be. the case. He knew of one sow which returned her fortunate owner £327 in a single year, but this was a pedigree animal of exceptional merit. If farmers selected a sow frorii prolific strain, and treated her well she would be a source of great profit. Unfortunately too. many got a diet of of "skim dick" and farmrs quite forgot j that the sow had 44 teeth which she was anxious to use, and then they wondered why she chewed her trough. The sow should not be mated till she was 8 months old, then she would have her first litter at 12 months when nearly full grown. If mated younger the sow would become permanently stunted and a poor type of young pigs* would result. Mr Gorringe then went on to show the comparative profits of a sow kept under proper conditions, and of a dairy cow, the result being all in favour of the sow. Coming to sanitary conditions of the sty the pig was one of the cleanest animals, but like small boys . the pig must be taught cleanliness when young. Most pigstys were just a mass of parasites. .Many of these were visible only when viewed through a microscope, and few farmers were aware of their existence. Probably the most deadly parasites were worms, of which there were six types. The lungworm was the most prevalent of these. It is blood-red in colour, and about half an inch long. A pig infested with these coughs incessantly arid the worms arc coughed on to the ground. The" worms' life history was then interestingly traced. The egg's of these worms have excessively strong cases, even carbolic acid failing to dis° solve them, but the pig's stomach

juices dissolve them easily, and the worms find their way through the blood stream to their home in tlie pigs' lungs. Another variety known as "Round Worm' 'infects the stomach of the pigs. It sometimes reaches a length of 9 to 11 inches, and frequently causes death. Another common variety, the kidney worm; causes paralysis 'of the Hind quarters, while tho other varieties dro very minute and not »t well known. The organisms invisible, except, with the aid of a microscope, are to be found chiefly round dirty pig tubs. The hard curd inside these tubs i[ microscopically examined, would be found to be swarm'-, ing with living bacteria. The use of such tubs could not be too strongly condemned. The use of dirty trough's was also a cause of much infection, especially among small pigs, which gathered fragments of curd from ' these troughs, and so contracted endless diseases. Mr Gorringe stressed the point that he was the Only instructor in swine hsubandry in the Dominion, but still was determined to give all the assistance possible. He would very iriuich like to have visited farms fn the district, and in this way much more information could be given. Coming to the. pig-sty. Mr Gorringe showed small models of three different types of portable stys, showing how in each case the sun was admitted during the daytime. All stys should be built to allow free access of sunlight, while the floors and walls should not allow draught to enter. The pig has no fur and no thick hide to keep him warm, and so is very- susceptible to cold. To keep warm pigs lie very closely together. If in cold, draughty quarters, there is a constant struggle for inside places, and when pigs are heard squealing and fighting at night, it is a sure sigh)that they are suffering from cold. ' Pigs, too, are most Useful in renovating the soil, also in eradicating noxious weeds, such as blackberries and Californian thistle. Much good work in this respect had been done bv pigs on the West Coast.

Concerning feed, the,best of all forage crops was lucerne. This is very rich in proteins and carbohydrates, but owing to its bulk a little skim milk or corn is necessary, otherwise the pigs may become pot-bellied. On a lucerne and corn diet pigs, in America, were grown weighing 4001bs. when 12 months old. The outer layer of fat was pared off the carcases, and converted into valuable oils, while the pork was pickled and exported to Alaska, where fat bacon and beans is the staple diet. Rape, too, was also a splendid fodder crop far pigs, while peas when jUst coming into pod gave wonderful results, the pigs consuming the whole plants, including the roots. Of root crops, the best was undoubtedly artichokes, as the pigs did their own harvesting, and the saving of labour was considerable. Mangolds and turnips were also splendid pig food. Mr Gorringe exhibited a chart showing a model pig run of 1£ acres, divided ipto small paddocks growing forage for different seasons, and be urged his hearers to take 1£ acres and work on this plan. The results would be surprising. Water for drinking, shelter, and shade were necessary, the shade being secured by planting quick-growing trees such as wattles or tree lucerne. In selecting stock for breeding purpos. es, great care bad to be taken, otherwise our good name would be destroyed. The English public demanded a certain type of bacon arid care must be taken to supply tins. On the London market the Berkshire was considered only third grade owing to excessive fat. The ideal bacon pig was the Berkshire Tamworth cross, and these pigs were classed as first grade on the English market. The

large White-Berkshire and tho Middle , White-Tamworth were also suitable | crosses. For New Zealand trade the I quarter-bred Tamworth was the most suitable. For breeding purposes the Tamworth sow was the most suitable, being verv prolific, and less clumsy than the Berkshire or Middle White. i At the conclusion of his lecture numerous questions vyere asked and answered, ana ltd doubt Mr Gorringo's lecture will lead to great improvements in pig-management in the district. ' INSECTS AS RELATED TO I AGRICULTURE I (By Mr Miller) ' These, said Mr Miller, were divided into two classes—crop pests and live stock pests. Of plant-eating pests, Mr Millar dealt with Ihe grass-grub, army caterpillar, cut worm. diamond-back moth, aphis. The insects attacking livo stock were blow flies, sheep ticks, bottle flies, animal lice and (leas. In each ease the life hist pry was carefully traced, methods of control shown, aiid also the work of parasites. Mr Millar's address was listened to with great attention, while the lantern slides were most interesting. MORE INSTRUCTORS ASKED FOR At the conclusion of this lecture a motion was unanimously passed that the Agricultural Department be asked to appoint two additional instructors for Nelson and two for Marlborough, in order that morn detailed instruction may he given. This resolution is to he forwarded to the Department through the local branch of the Farmers' Union.

ENJOYABLE FUNCTION ' After this the lecturers were entertained at a dinner at Mr Eastgate's, and an enjoyable two hours were spent. Numerous toasts were honoured, and (he proceedings terminated about midnight with the singing of Auld Lang Sync. To-day the school closed with lectures on "Be'eg," by Mr E. H. Barry, and "Diseases in Cattle," by Mr 11. D. Le Souef.