ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13725, 15 April 1908, Page 3

ON THE LAND.

FERTILITY OS TI£B LAST). '; P«AGtic.*tfcr all ti'flifcki' soili. are rich tl ■ plant food i«k.»H'ot«, -.sad jtet ©.an? of thew ..!■ are barren, and most of them will act prodtu:« profitable cmjia without, the aid el manure or fertilise*. I'totemat Chester, of Delaware, <hb;.«s the point clearly is an able bulletin recently published: "5. "An arernjf© of th*? result* of *0 analysoi of the typical seals of tho United ' StkfiM showed per sere for the first eight inche* «*£ surface 26K ! of nitrogen, 43001b. o£, pitas' pborio acid, am! 13,4001b of pota*bl Tfae average yield of wheat in the United Stale-* is 1* bushel* pet acre- Such a crop will remove 301b of nitrogen, iillh of phtwphorto acid, and I*l b of potash. Now, if all the potential nitrogen, pliosphorio acid, and pct-a-sh could be rendered available, there i* preaeut ia such an average soil, in the first eight inches, enough nitrogen to last !XJ years, enough phosphoric acid for $00 year,, and enough potash for 1000 year*. Thi* is* what is meant; by potential sod fertility, and yet *uch a toil possessing this sarno high potential fertility may, under certain renditions, bo so actually barren of results to Ilia fanner a« to lead him to believe «f absolutely devoid of plan: food." la a word, potential fertility represent* plant food which in ro sightly locked tip that it is not available for present needs, and becomes available only through she process of decay and disintegration, which is too slow to meet the retpdremtsita of Qua commercial farmer. H'.oekbridge realised the situation, but instead of asking tho soil how much of the potential fertility could bo depended upon tor each crop (a quceation which will never bo satisfactorily &aswervd), he went to the crop and asked it bow much it was necessary to supply for an average yield iu a. normal season over and above the natural yield of. the laud. In all cases ho found it to bo » very small quantity. For the corn crop not over 300 lb of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid as neivssary, which *!«• crop would return 50-fold (at least five tons in stalk and grand —so litl to product* so much—and yet if this little quantity of KOOlb was not supplied the crop would he a failure. It was this little essential balance of available plant food winch stood between suceos) and failure that concerned ProfesKM! Stockbridge, a* it concern* every fanaw to-day. Although it was small, bo did «os deem it wt»« to depend upon tho potential fertility of tho soil to supply it, or oven 'any. considerable part of it. tor tho commercial farmer it, was too risky and uncertain. To ensure a crop, as far as one was able, wait a cardinal principle with him; not to do it win in his eyes almost a crime. But bo felt that all these thing* would right themselves a* we came to know more about farm, crops and their environment. He said, in effect:

in » sense the fanner is a manufacturer and this soil i» his machine, into which ho puts plant food, and out of which,, by tho aid of nature and his own effort*, tut takes his product at harvest time. If the (toil machine is a good one, so much the bettor. If it has a balance of crop-produc-ing power to its credit, let us preserve thai balance for an emergency. Let us not draw: on it for present needs. Ho had no patience with tlio so-called single-element doctrine, which depends for its success on tlio potential fertility—no patience with the farmer who wan trying to find out for himself if ho could leave out any ono of the three leading elements of. plant nutrition (nitrogen, potash, and pho*« phario acid), or bow little-of each,ho could get along with. That wan a proper subject for the scientific worker to investigate, but until wo knew more about it the practical farmer, who had Ins living to make and bills to pay, should not tinker with it. .To Stoekbridge it meant, in the end. improvident farming. At best, the farmer bat! to take groat chances, especially with tlta weather—the largest factor in crop-raising, over which ho had no control; but he should take no chancoa with the things which no could control. Among these were the amount and kind of manure which he applied to his crops. Thus, if he hoped, for iv stated crop he should at least fortius* intelligently for that crop. For the man who was dependent on his crops, any other course, was unwise. Moreover, any other course would leave the soil machine ma. poorer condition than he found it. Broadly speaking, to encourage him to take out more than he put back was not only bad. economy, but bad morals, and should be discouraged. As in stock feeding we chiefly concern ourselves with the study of Hie animal and its needs, so in plant feeding wn must make an intelligent study of the needs of the living crop. As we know how to feed tho co-.v, for milk or beef. so we must know how jo feed the plant for leaf or feed. Not ot>«y must we know the amount of plant, food to bo supplied, based on crop requirement*, but the form and association of the dittei'«jn» elements must bo considered; and >n »»■« study of this problem we must also wn. tinuo to study the soil, it«, potential fertility, its physical and chemical character istics and- particularly the lower orders oE life which it contains, the bacteria and other unseen forces. In short, we must continue our study of all the sources and forces of fertility, to the end that we may, know. what each contributed to> tho upholding, not necessarily of the soil, but of *!«* «™» life above the soil. Thus did Btockbridgp teach and practise.

HINTS ON SOWING SEEDS. »■ It may 6>im> a very easy matter to sot* seeds-just scatter them on the ground,' rake them in, or cover with a httte find soil, and "there you are, acme would say. And yet if a successful result is to w>,*te tamed there are a number of minor point* to bo observed, the neglect of any one at which may load to failure. ( In the case of sowing seeds in the ope» ground, the first great rule to be r«*aem. bered is not to sow until the soil attain* » fairly friable and suitable condition; this is of considerably greater importance than adhering tco closely to any fixed date or time, especially where a toil of a heavy, adhesive, or damp nature prevails. It; is better to wait a week, a fortnight, or even a month beyond the usual or regulation! time than to commit seeds of anything lik-J a delicate or tender nature to a wet, cold, and sticky soil; beans, pea», and * fe.v others are more robust than many others, but even in getting iheee into the ground some amount of judgment'and care 13 necessary. Something may bo done by working such soils frequently and well, and also by the plentiful addition of road scrapings, river sand, burnt earth, old potting soil, and the. like, but in constantly wet weather this will not go very far. Another plan in to provide a store of fine, ; light, sandy soil in a shed or other dry place, and" when the time comes, if the soil is not in proper condition, take outi largo drills, fill them with the material referred to, and BOW tho seed in this. The next point for consideration is: Do not sow the" seeds too thickly. & few strong, short-jointed, and bushy plant*! are infinitely better than, a quantity of drawn, weakly seedlings, and tho rum of half, if not two-thirds, of the annuals soma if. undoubtedly overcrowding. If the plant* come up at; all thickly, thin them out severely as scon as they can bo well got ibol.d of. Instead of standing from half 4an Inch to an inch apart, .is they are usually '-mm, most annuals should stand at from 4in to 6in apart, ,and in (some, instances m immAs as a foot. Perennials and biennials to fig grown on should be sown moderately thick, as a rule, and tho little plants bo pricked off singly as .soon as thoy can bo handled, or when 2i:a to Sin high, as a rule. Tim applies also to plants raised under glass— sow thinly, and prick the tiny seedling* i or? as soon as they have formed one or two leaves beyond the cotyledons, or seed leaves, TRAINING THE COLT. Mr. F. S. Peer, in writing upon the train* ing of the colt, in a book which he has recently published, says:—"Anything you can do towards the education of the colt, through the dam, the better. Tins dam should be turned out as soon as possible after conception, and treated and fed in a way to relax her muscles; yet nothing better can happen to toe unborn colt than to have its dam occasionally used in schooling green hunters, say, once a week or so. The best and most natural hunters I mar raised came from mares that had this identical training. The best driving horse I ever bred came from a mare that was occasionally ' driven while earning her foal. While carrying the next colt by the same horse the mare was never in harness, and the difference in the two colts as theft grow up was so pronounced as to call my attention particularly to this subject. The Sr&t colt was a decided improvement on either sire or dam as to harness or road work, while the second one was barelv up to and certainly not beyond them. The third colt by the same horse was a better roadster, hut .smaller than either the first or second, : and I attributed this to my overdoing the master in my desire to educate the third colt. The mark's muscles were not relaxed enough to give the colt proper room for development, and it never attained the rise. I believe it vreuid othorwwe have reached