ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14301, 22 February 1910, Page 8

ON THE LAND.

AGRICULTURAL LIME.

Lime for ' agricultural' purposes 'is : usually applied sas quicklime, sometimes as ground limestone, and some fertilisers contain such an appreciable proportion of' lime that their value is thereby enhanced. - •

Quicklime, known also as burnt . lime, lump lino, or shell lime, is the most energetic form of lime. It is especially suitable for application to heavy, stiff clay land, opening the soil up, making it easier to cultivate, and warmer. For light soil ground (limestone -is better. : The application ,-of quicklimo to sour, mossy meadows and pastures is also attended with very good results, although for ordinary grass lands it is not so suitable as milder forms of lime.

Quicklime should be bought with a guarantor of at least 85 per cent, of quicklime, and not moro than 4 per cent, of magnesia. ~

Ground Limestone: This milder form of lime is well adapted for supplying lime to light and sandy soils, and to ordinary grass lnjids. In some experiments conducted in Lancashire on, the " Liming of MeadowLand," reported upon, in Farmers' Bulletin No. 8, issued by tho Agricultural Department of the Lancaster County Council, ground limestone proved the most effective form of lime for meadow land. Ground limestone should contain at least 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime. ~

Gas lime is a form of lime which can be applied with good results to heavy soils or to , land especially , subject to wiroworm, slugs, etc., upon which its poisonous character is effective; but it must be put on the soil sonic time before the crop is sown. It contains lime equal to about 40 per cent, of carbonate of: lime, and not worth buying unless it can be obtained chcap from a local gas works.

Lime ashes, consist of sweepings and refuse at lime kilns. They consist of a mixture of quicklime and carbonate of lime, and sometiqjes hits of limestone. The quality is so variable and doubtful that lime ashes are not worth buying tinloss very cheap. Marl is a soil composed of clay or sand and carbonate of lime. Clay marl, is useful for dressing sandy soil and sandy marl for stiff soils to improve the physical condition,. Marl to he useful should contain not less than 20 per cent, carbonate of lime.

• Gypsum is sulphate of .lime in a powdery condition. Tt plays a far less active role in the.soil than lime, as it is not in a form to supply plant food direct to the plant, but converts dormant soil potash to an available condition. ' Its application to clovers, peas, beans, and other leguminous plants on stiff clav soil.produces very good results, but on light land it is practically of no use. As regards commercial fertilisers containing lirne, - basic-slag will occur to everyone. Nearly half its weight is lime, so that when a dressing of 6cwt-' to Bcwt of basic-slag is applied, it supplies a substantial quantity of lime in a very fine state of division.

Organic manures, such as Peruvian guano, bone meal, and farmyard manure, contain sufficient lime to maintain a normal supply in the soil.

• Nitrate of lime and calcium cyanamido (Notrolim) - also ; have sufficient' lime in their composition to keop the soil from being impoverished in : this constituent.i* . j - _ ~ . SYMPTOMS OF CRIB-BITING. • * •' ' - There are several kinds of crib-biting to be distinguished. (I)The commonest form is that of crib-setting, in which the incisor teeth, and sometimes those only of the upper jaw, or those of < ; the lower jaw 7 or even of both/ are placed upon the edge or bottom of the monger.' But this does not form the only . support; , the bars of the hay-raok, halter, halter-chain, straps, carriage-pole, even the •, animal's own foro-leg, knee,; or hoof, are all used fo rest the jaw upon. Guntlier saw foals use their mothers' hockjoints for ■ crib-biting. In rarer cases the chin or the ' top > part of the throat is laidj on the manger'- instead of . the teeth. (2) Crib-biters seize with their , incisor-teeth any object, such as the edge of the manger, a nail, etc. The essential phenomena then" in. crib-setters or-crib-biters arc that the animals press against the point of support, open their mouths as for eating, bend back their necks, stretching ; tightly the muscles on the anterior edge of the neck, so that they stand out in knobs, and then emit one or two belching sounds. ' Thereupon they let go the point of support, and tho act is ended. (3) The so-called air-snappers or wind-suckers perform the action freely without resting the head on anything. They stand ; back from the crib, bend * tho head down,upon the breast, make certain peculiar movements with the lips as in taking food, jerk thg head-'and nock quickly upwards, and snap air in with the mouth, when a loud tone is, heard. Sometimes we see repeated snapping of air with an ever deeper sinking and forward movement of the head (like a swimming dog making several vain attempts to'secure a floating stick). ,

The earliest signs arc generally playful movements of the lips and tongue, and especially an increasing desire to lick and ; to swallow saliva. Crib-biting is occasionally only done at certain times, and again with extraordinary frequency, . and by some animals at eve/y hour or oven minute, indeed every four' or five seconds. But various animals show great, difference. Some only do it in - their stalls, or when they believe themselves -unobserved, others during every unoccupied moment/ others again only just before feeding, some immediately after, while some do it only while eating or chewing, or when swallowing their food very rapidly. The most serious cases are those of cribbiters which practice the vice until they aro quite blown out with air. During sickness, or while living under very unusual conditions, the practice, is generally discontinued.

. The disadvantages of crib-biting are first, that, much fodder is wasted, and that consumed is but poorly made use of, and. secondly that neighbours are, disturbed and may bo contaminated by evil example. True signs of; illness are very often absent. In other cases crib-biting is the cause of chronic disorders of digestion and nutrition, of tympanitic inflation) of stomach and bowels, and of colic; on these grounds the habit has an essential pathological connection with digestion and its entire apparatus. " As further consequences of crib-biting there has been observed (by Hell. Hartenstein, Roder, and others) in animals which had brought the vice to a certain point of perfection an invariably hypertrophy of the sterno-maxil-laris muscles, and of the omohyoid muscles, caused by over-exercise. V

• - BREEDING LAWS. V Since Mendel's law of heredity was rediscovered a few years ago, the Washington Bureau of Agriculture has been carrying out experiments, several of which are detailed in an article by W. A. De Puy, which is published in a recent number of Hoard's Dairyman. Under the direction of Dr. E. C. Schroeder, Mr. Do Puy says, rats were selected as objects for t.he first experiments. Two plainly marked- members of the rat family were used, the one being of solid colour and the other white with a black head. Of the first, generation resulting from this cross every member was solidly gray, like the dominant strain of the parents. This was as Mendel said it would bo. ; Two members of the generation wore crossed, not necessarily brothers and sisters, us other lines had been started simultaneously. In this case the . two gray rats of the first generation produced part gray and part, hooded. The hooded rat that had failed to make itself felt in the fmt generation showed itself in 25 per cent, of the second. These hooded rats bred hooded'in the following generations. A portion of the grays, 25 per cent., bred all grays, and a remaining portion, still having the unset characteristics, repeated the proportions of the second generation. . The number of families of rats in which the experiment was followed out was increased from year to year, and the figures kept to the minutest detail. It is still going on, but the cxperi;

merits, have boon drawn oyt to such length as to have no doubt as to the findings. They all go to prove that Mendel's law, is correct. This docs not, mean that'the proportions of these qualities are absolute and unvarying; but they are in this proportion on an average.' Neither does it mean, that all the qualities will remain independent, for in many cases the offspring will be a compromise between the two parents. It has been shown that a . black Minorca chicken crossed with a white Leghorn will produce all white the first, generation. The second generation, however, will be 25 per cent, black as the original Minorca, despite the fact that both parents are pure white in colour. Frizzled chickens crossed • with those . which - are . plain . feathered will produce - all • frizzled in the . first generation, and 25 per cent, plain in the second. This general law," Mr.De Puy says, "is intended as a guide for the farmer, the stock-raiser and 1 the father of a family. From it he may forecast the future and ■ prevent the recurrence of the; undesirable. Upon it he can build an ideal in breeding and intelligently work towards that ideal. With it in mind we can understand what has always been known as freaks of nature and attribute them to the elements that actually cause them. It has more of interest and importance in it, if intelligently used, than have many of the discoveries "that have set the world agog; for the life of to-morrow springs from that of to-day, and an intelligent reckoning would do much towards the improvement of plant and animal life, even unto that of the all-dominant creature, man himself."

TESTS FOR LIME. . , To following is a simple test for lime in soil:—Take a few shovelfuls of soil from different 'parts of the field or orchard, and dry, pulverise,*, and mix them thoroughly together. Take a few ounces of this soil, powder and - reduce to ashes on an iron shovel over the fire. Put the ashes when cool into a glass tumbler, and mix them with as much water as it will take to cover them. Stir this with , a glass rod or wooden stock, but .not with anything metallic. To this.paste; add an ounce of hydrochloric acid -which-can be obtained from any chemist —and well stir the mixture. If a: brisk effervescence takes placo: it . may be taken for granted that the soil contains a fair percentage of lyne, but if little or no effervescence takes place, the soil contains little or no lime.

• Another practical test is recommended by the United States Department of AgriculFarmers' Bulletin,' No. 77. It depends on the ready response made by beets of all kinds' to liming. " Lay out two plots of land, each about 12ft by 30ft, manure each of . tho plots with equal amounts of a fertiliser containing potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen, and apply lime to one of the plots at the rate of 2i tons per acrp (401b to tho plot would be equivalent to i such quantity). A comparison of the growth and yields on the two plots will furnish a safe means of judging whether tho soil will 'respond' profitably to applications of lime."j A third method of forming a judgment as to whether a soil is deficient in lime is to observe tho species of plants that flourish on it—plants in this respect are " soil indicators." Tho majority of plants require lime, but there are a few that are intolerant of lime and will not flourish on soils rich in this constituent. Among such " lime-, intolerant plants may be mentioned sorrel, foxglove, corn marigold, bracken, ' bog and peat mosses, coltsfoot, horsetail grass, and when any of these plants is seen to flourish on waste places next to the fields it may ho regarded as a sure sign that the land is poor in lime. ' : " ■.<; ~ ■ : - V: .. ■ . BREVITIES. Rules for butter-making learned from a book tare a good thing, but by no means the wholo thing. Experience and close observation aro essential to success.

<•' Molasses, used at the rate of lib per day, dissolved in boiling water and poured over the chaff, will be found to assist the milk supply and help to keep the cow healthy.

A cow which is not of a milking: family will not yield a profit on any quantity of food, and the best, milk-maker of them all will not give a flow of milk if not. sufficiently fed.

" Any dairy waste is good pig food, and on this and a handful of corn occasionally, where ho has a good run in pasture, the pig will soon come into shape for fattening. ' , ' .

The dairy farmer should keep a close account of the value of every line of product so that He may know where he is working at a profit, and where he is running on a losing line. ' ■

Milk produced in almost any district will make good cheese,' provided always that the food given to the cows is sound and. in good condition, and that the supply of water for drinking and cleansing purposes'is pure.

In a recent test two cows were milked for 10 months. On© gave 12,2271b of milk, which yielded 5421b of fat. The other gave 54351b of milk and 2111b of fat,, which shows the value of a system of testing and also the value of tho cows.'. ' t

Fat is the most .variable constituent of, the milk of different cows, and is present in the smallest quantity; but it is the most valuable, as only from it can butter be. obtained. In milk, as it comes from the cow, there is 87.50 per cent, of water, a fact of which retailers should make a note when vending the fluid as a beverage. . •