FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8631, 29 July 1891, Page 3

FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND

- [BY OUR ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL CORRES.;'Vf /:'.'!( .•■**'■ PONDENT.] ' *£'-iW-\ ~i'• '■-. London, May 29. ■; THE END OF SPRING. The last month of spring is now nearly at an end, and it has'proved one of the coldest on record, the first half having been cold and dry, and the second cold and wet. Badly as the country needed rain, the crops do not look any the better for the abundant downpour of the last fortnight, but rather the worse, a good deal of the corn having turned yellow because of the coldness of the soil. Growth has been ■ extremely slow for the time of year, and June will find vegetation no more forward than it usually is at the end of April. Moreover, there has been a good deal of ■ loss of plant in the' cereals, wireworms and other destructive grubs having had a very long innings, while the crops were kept by cold weather from growing away from them. The outlook, therefore, is much less favourable than ib was a month ago, and unless Juno proves a hob and forcing month, prospects will bo very serious. Wheat, instead of shooting up into ear, as it should be how, is only nine inches to a foot high, and barley and oats are still, as a rule, lying close to ; the ground. Several sharp frosts have occurred recently, and one of them turned the tops of potatoes black, and caused great destruction among the fruit plantations. Haymaking in ordinary seasons has been begun before the present date; but to-day the clovers are only half grown, instead of being in blossom, and grass is very short. A week or two of'web weather would produce a wonderful transformation in the appearance of all crops { but if we are to have a continuance of cold and web weather, a meagre harvest will be inevitable. At the best, harvest musb be very late. As for live h stock, they are now sufficiently supplied with green food, though ib is nob nearly, as : abundant as ib should be ab this time of year, and there is not much goodness in it. ,THE COURSE OF THE WHEAT TRADE. Nearly all over Europe the weather during May has been as unseasonable as it has been in this country, and harvest prospects are worse than ever. Under <these circumstances,. there has been a partial recovery in the price of wheat, after the recent decline; bub up to the present date the top price of 48s a quarter, recorded in the middle of April, has not again been reached. Speculation in America has done a great deal to cause fluctuations in value, and to disturb calculations based upon crop prospects and expected, supplies up to harvest; but unless a great improvement in tho weather here and on the Continent of Europe speedily sets in, a further advance in prices is to be expected, whatever the rampant " bears" of New York and Chicago may do to prevent ib. THE COMING «'*ROYAL" SHOW. From the number of entries, it is clear thab the show of the Royal Agricultural Society, to be held at Doncaster a few weeks hence, will be of exceptional magnitude. , The total entries of live stock of all kinds are 2240, as compared with 1769 at Plymouth, 1875 ab Nottingham, and 1833 at Newcastle. Ab Windsor, two years ago, they came up to the quite extraordinary number of 4014 ; but this was nob an ordinary show, and it is remarkable that the total for Doncaster should be nearly 400 in excess of that of any previous provincial meeting, notwithstanding tho limitation to three of entries in any one class by the same exhibitor. The entries comprise 717 horses, 669 cattle, 649 pens of sheep, 205 of pigs, and 789 of poultry. Other entries are 55 of cheese, 189 of butter, and 36 of various kinds of farm produce. The botal amounb of space allotted for implements and machines is 12,743 feet sure. POTASH FOR BARLEY. Professor Wagner, of Darmstadt, says that the unsuitability for brewing of barley forced with such' stimulating manure as nitrate of soda, of which brewers complain, is duo to an insufficient supply of mineral manures, and of potash, .in,, particular. " Hitherto," he remarks, " it has nob been known fchab potash-phosphate fertilisation 'is so very important to barley, and tfhat barley can be forced to produce a large yield of grain, containing a small proportion of protein, and hence well adapted for brewing purposes, by liberal manuring with potash and phosphoric acid." Perhaps this accounts for the fact that fine malting samples of barley are commonly produced on heavy loams, where potash is abundant, in spite of the use of liberal dressings of nitrate of soda. MORE ABOUT THE POTATO DISEASE EXPERIMENTS. A fresh: pamphlet on this subject has just bean issued by the Board of Agriculture, giving the results of experiments carried out in 1890 in France, Belgium, and other countries. The remedy used was the mixture of sulphate of copper (common blue vitriol) and quioklime referred to in my last letter, the proportions generally being two parts of the former to one part of the latter. The quantities applied per acre varied a good deal, and it is clear that further experiments are needed to deter mine the most efficient quantity, periods of application, and number of dressings. In most cases the results were very satisfactory, especially when the dressing was applied as a preventive. Those who desire to carry out experiments this year may syringe their crops, as soon as the slightest sipns of disease appear, with a mixture of 441b of sulphate of copper, 221b of quicklime, and 220 gallons of water per acre. Probably if a line syringing machine be used, this quantity will suffice for two dressings, with an interval of a fortnight between the two. It is to be hoped that the experiments in several parts of England which the Royal Agricultural Society will conduct during the present season for the Board of Agriculture, will throw further light upon the subject, which is one of great importance.