ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14146, 23 August 1909, Page 8

ON THE LAND.

BACTERIAL KNOWLEDGE. The plain, practical farmer, writes tho official Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, may hurriedly pass over any mention of the word " bacteria" as being too highly scientific to have any immediate bearing upon his work; but, nevertheless, bacteria plays a very important part in his vocation. There arc a number of bacteria that live in the soil, and form little- nodules on the roots of peas, beans, vetches, clover, and lucerne, which draw upon the nitrogen of th© air and store it'in tho roots and stems of the plants. ~ PRUNING THE PEACH. The peach requires different pruning from any other troo (says the Mildura Cultivator). It never bears twice on the same wood, therefore a supply of new wood must be maintained. A shoot which has borno fruit may continue to grow, and the new growth may fruit the next, season, if left; but long thin shoots are objectionable, as tho fruit sways too much. The best peaches are obtained from new growth that comes straight "from tho branch. Therefore the pruner must prune not only for tho coming crop of fruit, but for a crop of new shoots for next season's bearing. The fruitgrower has always to be looking ahead- The production of a succession of new shoots depends primarily on the vigour of the tree, and this must be maintained by proper cultivation ; but judicious pruning is indispensable as well. The amount of fruiting wood left on tho tree must bo regulated by the size and vigour of the tree; in most cases seven-eighths of it is cut off, otherwise an enormous crop of small fruit may bo obtained one year and nono to sneak of for a couple of years after. Wo want now shoots to break out, and this is not likely to occur if too many growing points are left on tho tree. Tho rod and spur system of pruning peaches is not a bad one where there is a plenty of strong shoots to operate on. When a troo contains nothing but a weak spray-like growth, it is better to cut back severelyeven to remove a large limb or two so as to got some strong shoots to break out. When a peach tree appears to have run right out, it is often possible, by cutting the main limbs back to stumps, to get a new head altogether. In good ground peach trees will sometimes stand heading back twice; but with the thorough system of pruning above referred to there is never much wood in tho tree, and tho heading back may be deferred for a very long time.

I CHURNING RULES. Probably one of tho most experienced authorities on the whole question is Professor E. H. Fnrrington, of the Wisconsin Agricultural College, whoso general rules, which aro the result of a good deal of experimental research, are herewith appended: — " 1. When cows are fresh, or when they aro receiving succulent feed, sudh as grass, roots, or silage, and when the weather is warm, the temperature or 'heat' of the cream for churning may bo lower than when cows have been milking for a long time, when on dry feed, or when the weather is cold. 2. When the cream is thin (has too much skim-milk in it) the churning room cold, or the churn more than half full, tho cream must bo warmer in order to obtain butter within a reasonable time. 3. When the cream is obstinate and the butter will not come, tho cause is probably somo abnormal fermentation in tho cream. The remedy is to pasteurise the cream. Keep tho cream sweet until sufficient is collected for a churning; then heat it to a temperature of about 160 degrees Fa.hr., allow it to stand for 20 minutes, then cool to" about 70 degrees Fahr., and add some good-flavoured sour skim-milk or bxittermilk and keep in a moderately warm place until ripe, or sour. In a factory, of course, where special machinery and ripeners in the form of pasteuriser, cooler vat, and culture aro used, the butter-maker seldom has any trouble churning. It is on tho farm where this difficulty most occurs. The theory of churning may bo summarised by Haying that it consists in bringing together the countless fat globules in cream by means of agitation in tiho form of concussion while they (the fat globules) aro at a suitablo temperature."

THE DAIRY BULL. The bull at tho head of tho herd should not only bo a purebred, but should be a good purebred. Tho time has gone by for paying high prices for animals simply because they are registereda herd book- The dairyman of to-day sICTd have a bull -whose immediate ancestors arc, or have been, heavy producers. His dam, and his granddam on his sire's side, must, bo able to produco milk, or butter-fat, or both, in largo quantities. If these two ancestors are firstclass in every way, the question of pedigree is largely settled. It is folly to go back five or six generations to find a good animal, or even a famous animal, in a pedigree, and to pass over four or five generations of non-producers. It is the immediate ancestor** that counts. The dairyman who wants a good bull is safe, as far as pedigree is concerned, in selecting ono whose dam and two grand-dams have been fine producers, and whose sire is a good individual of dairy type. The bull chosen should be a good individual as well as have a good pedigree. It is not wise to use a poor animal simply because his ancestors have been good, for he will be one of the ancestors of the succeeding generations. The bull should bo vigorous, as shown by a bright eye, a wide-awake, active disposition, a full crest, broad chest, fine silky hair, and soft hide. Ho should have a large deep body, with well sprung ribs, indicating feeding capacity. He should not be coarse and beefy. The hind quarters should not be peaked, but should bo comparatively light. The thighs should not be overloaded with fat, and he should be -well cut up in the twist. Ho should have a fine straight-away walking gait, not cross-legged. This bull should bo used on the best cows that can be selected from those available. They need not be pure breds. In fact, many men will get better results to stick to grades. It does not require as much skill to keep good grades as it does to breed good purebreds. Tho purebred bull will lie prepotent, over tho grade cows, and tho calves will be more than halfblood in natural characteristics. The strong blood of the purebred bull impresses tho offspring much more than, does the weaTier blood of the grade, so that the bull becomes more than half the grade herd. On the other hand, in breeding purebreds together, great judgment is required to get, the two currents of strong blood to mix well, oherwise tho results may be, and often are, disastrous- The two do not nick" well, and the offspring is poorer than either parents. Tho blood of tho good bull may be more strongly impressed upon the grades by closer inbreeding than is advisable when raising purebreds. A strong bull bred to grade cows gets strong heifers, and ho may be bred again to his own with a strong likelihood of getting good results. This method gives 75 per cent, of the blood of tho sire in the heifers of the second generation.

PIG FEEDING. Mr. W. Smith, the pig export, attached to tho Victoria Department of Agriculture, in the course of a recent lecture on pig raising, said that little pigs liked milk, but it was* not necessary to keep cows for that reason. He knew a man at Thorpdale who made- £10 an aero out of pigs; he had no cows, but fed his pigs on peas only. Although grain must be crushed (because, if whole, the pig bolts it without mastication), peas must, bo fed whole and dry for the very same reason. Wet or crushed peas would be bolted, but whole and dry ones must be chewed. If fed on the stalk they were better, as it took the pig a little longer to eat them, and all tho time ho was" chewing. A trough of good, clean cold water must be kept in tho sty all the time. This was very important. Some people thought that a pig should have nothing but slops; but dry peas and plenty of clean

water would be much bettor. Oats could bo fed dry, as tho husk prevented bolting, and mad© tho -nig chew more. Oats were sometimes good, but th© bacon factories would buy pea-fed pork in preference to any other. Maize-fed pork would not keep well, it soon got rusty. Therefore it was not suitable for export; before the ship reached tho heads, tho bacon would bo yellow; but pea-pork could be sent to tfte ends of the earth. FIELD EXPERIMENTS IN IRELAND. Tho recent issue of the Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Ireland, is, as usual, a publication of considerable interest. It, affords evidence of th© activity of the agricultural authorities in the distressful island in supplying guidance to th© tillers of tho soil, not only theoretical, but information of a practical and useful character. In this respect Ireland, far "from being the distressful isle, is th© spoilt child of the United Kingdom, and the English Board of Agriculture must sigh, though sigh in vain in th© present condition of strained national finances, for equal facilities. The Irish Department is endowed with sufficient funds to carry out its proper work in an efficient manner, while the English Board is cramped and restricted in its energies by the want of the sinews of war. Among other instructive articles, the journal under review contains a report on the results of th© field experiments conducted in Ireland during 1908, under the auspices at tho Department. » They were carried out at numerous centres and included manurial trials on meadow hay, poVtoes, mangels, oats, turnips, and wheat, as well as experiments in barley cultivation to test the most suitable variety to grow. Experiments have been conducted for a series of eight years in different counties with the object of testing the best dressing for meadow lands. Full details are given, and the result is summarised with the following remark:—ln each year the heaviest I yields and the greatest profit have been obtained from the plot receiving the complete manurial dressing, and farmers may, therefore, he recommended to apply to their meadow land the following mixture per statute acre:lewt nitrate of soda, 2cwt of superphosphate, 2c\vt kainit. This is equivalent to a dressing of scwt of a complete fertiliser guaranteed to contain 3 per cent, nitrogen (equals 3£ per cent, ammonia), 10 per cent, soluble phosphate, 5 per cent, potash. On ono plot 10 tons of farmyard manure was applied. The yield was good, but, calculating the cost of tho manure at 4s per ton, resulted in a loss each year. Tho use of nitrate of soda alone is not to bo recommended, unless under exceptional circumstances. A separate trial was made to test the relative effect of the kainit applied in November against its spring application. The result showed practically no advantage from the earlier application for meadow land. The experiments wore carried out at 49 centres in 1907 and 23 centres in 1908, under tho direct supervision of the county agricultural instructor. In the details the character of the soil and th© variety of potato grown at each centre are given, yet, when drawing conclusions, it will, says the report, be safer to be guided in the main by the avcrago results, and according to these the best results have been obtained from a dressing of 15 tons of farmvard manure, supplemented by lewt sulphate of ammonia, 4cwt superphosphate, lewfc muriate of potash, which is equal to an application of 6cwt of a complete fertiliser, containing 6Jr per cent, of ammonia, 17 per cent, soluble phosphate, 8 r>er cent, potash. To test the expediency of applying larger dressings of farmyard manure, one plot at each centre was dressed with 20 tons and tested against another plot at each centre with 15 tons. The yield was practically tho same, demonstrating again that applications of excessive quantities do not afford a proportionate advantage. The question of the best form of potash was also tested on a series of plots, sulphate of potash being tried against muriate of potash. The most, profitable results were produced by the muriate, the average estimated profit per acre being given as £9 when muriate was used with tho ammonia and phosphate, against £8 8s when sulphate of potash was employed. Kainit is not considered suitable for potato cultivation, as its action on the quality of the tubers is unfavourable.

POULTRY BREVITIES. Do not bo in a hurry to give tho chicks tho first,food; from 36 to 48 hours will bo soon enough. Goslings should not rango in wot grass nor swim until they are well feathered out. They should also bo provided with ample shado to which to retire on hot days. Tho temptation to put 150 eggs in an incubator intondod to contain no more than 125 is an error a good many beginners fall into, and it always results in dissatisfaction. No one can tell another person how to run his incubator as well as the man who mado it. Follow the maker's directions to the letter, especially in regard to temperature. One of tho biggest mistakes a person can make in the poultry business is to try to overdo the thing. Too many try to do twice as much with poultry as could bo expected from any other business. Tho brooder should bo mado as clean as the incubator, and in tlhe same way. It should be largo enough so tho chick may at all times, after it gets used to it, have its choice of temperature, from very warm to not over 80 degrees.