ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 12

ON THE LAND.

■'.'•"' »' v "'" v " ' u PRACTICAL COW VALUES. " Notioxq is clearer than that the successful breeder of the future will be a ; book-keeper and.' a,. statistician." This ',' itaiemwt was made some time ago by ■ E. Davenport, Dean of the Illinois Col« lege of Agriculture. Of course, he did , not mean the breeder may c*r- % on his work by" noting-simply the records of his cows, but rather the successful breeder will koep records of bis cows and use them in directing his breeding operations. There is the well recognised dairy form, a form that is adapted to dairy work. While a person may determine from the conformation whether the animal is of dairy or beef breeding, yet there is no one who can determine from appearance how much work » cow can do by looking at her. Intelligent people give expression by their manner*, speech, and behaviour of a certain amount of their attainments. Bit the worth of a person must be measured by what ha can do and not by appearance. Ho must work, and hi* work most be meisurod. So with the cow she canst work, and her efficiency mast be measured by the scale and the Babcock test. We have many cows capable of producing more than 500 pounds of fat in a year and some that have produced 1000 pounds. We have tried to see something in the 1000-pound cow that the 500-pound cow did not have, but so far we have observed nothing to help us judge the exact productive capacity of the cow. We can see nothing to help us distinguish the 300pound cow and the 500 or the 1000-pound cow. A noted breeder and judge of dairy cattle was asked a year or two ago to place a herd of 50 cows in position as to their ability to produce fat. He arranged them according to his ideas of tbeir abilities. The Rale and the test were used to prove his judgment. When the records were completed a cow which lie had placed well toward the bottom of the herd made a world's record, and became the champion of tie breed to which she belongs. This and many other instance; may be cited to show that the futura breeder will be a book-keeper and a statistician. FEEDING DAIRY COWS. In a recent bulletin of the International Institute of Agriculture an account of an interesting feeding experiment is recorded. The object- of the experiment was to ascertain by comparison the influence of moist and dry feeding on the quantity, fat content, and bacteria of the milk. Twentyone cows of equal milk yield were selected, and earthnut cake (wet and dry) and manfolds {sliced and whole) were led. The aily ration, which was the same. for all animals, consisted of 891b of mangolds, 6.61b chaff, 111b lucerne hay, $.31b maize gluten; 3.31b earthnut cake, and 3.31b wheat bran. The feeds were weighed daily, separately for each .group, and at the "same time. Immediately after each milking, which was also done at the same time, the milk and fat yield of each cow were determined, and seven times during the whole experiment a sample of milk was taken in the morning and evening under aseptic conditions from each group, and examined' as' to its' bacteria content. The cows averaged 1100!"* ; n weight, and were all kept- in the same stable. The result was that the performance of the three groups of cows did not differ sensibly from each other in milk yield and fat "content during the/ whole experiment. In tie bacterial eontent no striking difference, was observed in the milk of the three groups. It seemed, however, that jn*t'ißfc feeds were somewhat more favour.jibla to the development of the milk-flow ] than the dry feeds. -It was concludedras | the result of the experiment, that, with the exception of a slightly higher milk yield from tie groups fed on whole mangolds, feeding wet or dry had mat to no influence on the quantity of tie milk and

ft on its fat or bacterial content. n '. ———' —■■ '" "■■ '* GERMAN LAND VALUES. A German writer dealing with the • value of land says "fa Berlin, when it 0 was desired to .'■lay-out Sewage farms on £ agricultural. land worth £30 to £40 per j. acre, the authorities: had ?o pay at the s rate, of £900 to £1000 an tore, and that i'.i figure 'MM adopted all over Berlin as the It Title* for' Agricultural .land desired for If building purpoacsi The resu't of that 0 vast expansion hag been. disastrous on the y housing jcos4itsousjr and in onwoomed K tenements the light came only ftom one I. side. As a'rifle tests were higher,.accomif medation smaller, and light and eh in a the home at a greater ftremiam for vorki- ing people. Rousing schemes in Germany ie had failed to bosses arid gardens « at thi economic rent which" people could 1, afford to pay. because, the local authority V had been unable topurchsw beforehand, j It was necessary'for the. lo>*l authorities ie to have access to the land (ft something t, like its twisting value." - a ■- \ ■■ \ N 1 ~, AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. p The Pastoral Review says:-"The f- official figures iff 16s" Commonwealth 1 a statistician show that the>r*a under ctop e last year Was 13,038,049 aa-es, and unless ono carefully examines them, one would ; get the idea that this greit area was devoted to intense culture, or to agricui- ,{ tore in all its branches. But an analysis Of _ tho figures slwwa that the bulk, of Augr tralia's agriculture is wheat-growing pure a and simple. Out of the. area above-men-f tioaed, no less than 7,339,651 acre* were I under wheat, and out of tho balance no . less than 3,217,641 acres were under !>&}', : which it is safe to sav was principally i wheaten hav, so that at least 10,000,000 * acres must hive been under wheat, tear- , ing about 3,000,000 acres to embrace all the ottfer branches of agriculture. ' Now, in heavy rainfall countries like , Great Britain, the production of root . crops enters very largely into farming 1 operations. In the Old Country the root j crops are required for tho stall-feeding . stock are subjected' to, and in New 2eas land they are fed off in tho paddocks, , The production of root crops, excluding ', onions and potatoes, does not exceed 3000 [ acres in the whole of Australia, and, what , is more significant, statistics show that . the production of root crops is a declining . branch of farming in the Commonwealth. t Taking the figures in another way, 56.89 , per cent, of the cultivated land of £vt- , tralia is under wheat, and 24.67 per cent. j under hay, which would be mainly , wheaten hay. Tho average yield per acre, 1 taken over's period of 10 seasons, works ! j out as follows :—Wheat, 11.37 bushels; x rye, 12.63 bushels; oats. 20.75 bushels; 1 maize, 27.75 bushels; »nd barley, 19.41 r bushels. Hay averages out at 1.27 ton r per acre. The export of agricultural prot ducts, exclusive of dairying, amounted to j £8 860,190 in 1912, as compared with 5 £12,070,216 the previous year. Farmyard a and dairy produce give an additional , £3,526,858, as compared with £4,871,600 f the previous year. , ( In order to convey an idea of tie tela--9 tive valr.es of tho agricultural and pasr toral industries to v nstralia, it may be f stated that agriculture an« dairying comj bined exported to the value of i £12,387,048, while the value of pastoral product* is placed at £37,213,402. Review ing Australian' agriculture from statistics, it looks as if very little pro* I grass is being made in regard to general f agriculture, that is, agriculture in all its t branches. Wnbat-growing is, as it were, » a pioneering phase of agriculture. It fol- , lows grazing, and it yet remains to "be - seen whether the climatic conditions of the > major portion of the wheat areas of AnsI tralia will enable a mixed form of agri» l culture to succeed wheat-growing as a solo ) industry. The subject is worth reflecting f upon, because successive wheat crops, ) even . with proper fallowing, are a big > .drain upon the natural fertility of the ( ; .soil. The sweet natural pasture? were i ploughed up for the first wheat crops, » apd the industry has ever since been sns- ■>. gained,by the virgin richness of the. soil. > Is this inexhaustible! , The wheat fanner > xetuinS little or nothing to the soil. What \ artificial .fertiliser he uses only conduces *»'■'"'. >■.:•'■■• ~,_j Ti". : 'i .;,i'.. .\ .-■■''■ • '•' .:'':.-:-l-' r -/>-' ■■:■■ : ,v./.;,' . ' ?

: : towards .increasing tie vigour of tb« urig plants, and enables them to draw Wo from the soil than they otherwise would. This sort of thing goes on year • after war, until the best constituents.of the soU aro rwtod off the farm. Some svstem must be evolved which will enable .. humus and other necessary ingredients to ' be returned to the soil. Adequate stock- • tag with sheep would' do this, but can IS such a *ystem bo permanently. establtshea ? without resorting to the cultivation of 1- foddei crops, especially root crops?. The d statistics above quoted do not hold out s much encouragement. s —————— r PASTURE AND HAY. a When a field is laid up for hay certain 0 strong-growing grasses pet an advantage; i when a field is grazed other grasses of a 8 lower-spreading habit arc more suited to the conditions." It is therefore desirable ' to keep one field for hay every year and 7 another for grazing, ruber than altern- > siely to graze and hay the same field, in i which case particuh.. grasses are first encouraged and then Tr-preiscd. The practical application to be part-'cc- '. lark noted in this 'connection it that once 1 a nlan is formed and a sr.«'.Mn of fertilisa- • tion favourable to jnme partn-nlar type of • vegetation is adopts »> » '***' to persi*t . in thai system rather Uj.-.h to shift abaet . and fir*: enw.ra;;* arid then i*pr«*T-«r*i , thus u'lt.natelv nullify to a large >i'.*nt ; the gor-d *!?«■! that might have been » ; ccred (join the it -.1:53:v.:j. : 'The hearing of im-.m fact? n the clo;« .of fertilising materia ais apparent. 1/ i crass is required {or pasture or for hay. 1 or a clean grass sod iur any other parpose, then the fertilisation should consist ' mainly of nitrogenous and phosphatic ma--1 ierials, with greater or l*is amounts of - potash, according as the iand is sandy and I relatively poor in that eksent, or a heavy clay and" relatively rich, Lime should be used only with moderation unless a mix- ' ture of clovers is ucsired, as an excess I is favourable to the development of • legumes , If a legume or a mixture rich in legumes . is desired then the grasses can be held in ' chock by limiting the supply of nitrogen, and tho development of legumes may be : forced by application of lime, phosphates, > and potash, particularly the latter, as > legumes are heavy consumers of that ele- > nu-nt. . An occasional application of five hundred i pounds to the acre of a mixture of equal • parts of bone meal and kainit or basic slag j and kainit, supplemented by spring appli- > cations of nitrate of soda at the rate of one . hundred pounds to the acre, is suitable fcr timothy for hay or for blue grass or mixed grasses' for pasture. The samo application of phosphate and potash, without the nitrogen, is suitable for lucerne, which is practically the only .egtrme that occupies the , land long enough at one seeding to require top-dressing. In Scotland a few rears ago a mixture ( of one thousand pounds of baaic slag and . eight hundred pounds of kainit- to the acn;- , was applied to- half of a pasturo field, and enough sheep were turned on to each ball" [to keep it closely cropped down. Tho , carrying capacity of the three acres of forI tilised land, was four sheep greater than that of the untreated land, and the mat- \ ton production was 327 pounds greater. I All the evidonce indicates that such an application of fertiliser will last for from '. five to ten years at least, so there cer- | tainly is a good prospect of a satisfactory ' profit from the treatment. NITROGEN AND PROTEIN. ; One of the essential primary elements in , all plant and animal life is nitrof'-ii. . Four-fifths of the air we breath is nitrogen, i but neither the plant nor the animal can : use this pure nitrogen. That is, the or- > dinary plants that we can cultivate on the • farm for crops cannot use this free nitrogen. ! Certain kinds of extremely rainnte plant life called bacteria can use the free • nitrogen of the air. These bacteria live en ) the roots of certain kinds of plants, such as < clover alfalfa, peas, beans, or the le- • gnminaous plants as they are called. These ' arc the only plants on which the kind of i bacteria are known to grow that csn utilise i this great ocean of free nitrogen of the t air. As all farm crops must have nitrogen - this fact just told shows tho immense im- > portance of the legumes in our agricul--1 ture.

When nitrogen is combined with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen, the elements that makes, fat, we* get an entirely different substance, and the clovers, alfalfa, peas bean?, and other leguminuous plants to which tho bacteria attach- themselves produce more of these nitrogen compounds or substances than do other plants which must I depend upon the nitrogen that is available in the soil, but do not have- it stored i in their roots in tho nodules formed by the | bacteria, Lsguminuous plants are found' in the wild natural sod wherever plant life is found and these wild legumes haw , stored tho soil with nitrogen compounds and in that way supply tho needs of all other plants growing in their locality. Animals like plants must have nitrogen. It is necessary for the growth of 'can meat, hair, skin, and various body -.issues and, for the formation of milk. Animj's cannot use ths free nitrogen they bre\ ne but must get it already prepared from plants, or as in the case of flesh eating animals, from other animals. These substances of which nitrogen is a part can thus be utilised by tho auimal and are called by the general term of pntcin. It has been found by experiment that an animal such as a dairy cow, for . instance, needs a certain.amount of protein if sho is to do her best. The casein of the milk is a protein. The white of an egg is protein. If tho cow does not consume protein she has no protein to form the casein in the milk. Sugar and starches and fat are carbohydrates and they contain no nitrogen. Thus, when a cow is fed on com fodder, timothy hay, and corn meal she does not give much" milk, for these feeds are short in nitrogen compounds or protein. A cow under theso conditions will get fat, for tho carbo, hydrates,' the sugar, and starch form fat, and fat forms energy and heat in the body. AUSTRALIAN POPULATION. Returns for over half a century show that the population of tho Australian capital cities has incased out of all ratio to tho expansion of population on tho land. Adelaide contains 46 per cent, of the South Australian people. Melbourne 44 per cent, of Victoria, Sydney 39 per cent, of New South Wales, Perth 37.9 per cent, of Western Australia, Brisbane 23.1 per cent, of Queausknd, and Hobart I 21.8 per cent, of Tasmania. When it is considered that in Victoria there are such big towns as Geeloug, Bstllarat, and Bendig ; in New South Wales, Bathurst and Newcastle j in Queensland, Rockhampton and others i in Tasmania, Launceston, and SO un, it will be the more fully realised wHat an overwhelming percentage of Australian population is resident in urban centres, and what an! infinitesimal percentage live on the land proportionately with it« huge area. THE NEW DEVON. The new type of Devon is a big, Insty, beef-producing animal, full of flesh and capable of growing to good weight. This rapid chffugo which has been brought about in the form of tho breed has been dictated bv the pressure of circumstances. The Shorthorn was proving such a veritable rival to the old typo of Devon that for commercial purposes it ha* superseded it largely, and the step which was taken by Somerset breeders, in the first place, has rehabilitated the Devon in districts where it was losing ite hold. There is evidence t!iat breeders %r« quite alive to tho necessity of settling down to a type; but they should not make the mistake of endeavouring to make the breed too big, otherwise they may fly to faults they wot not Of. . ADVANTAGE OF DRAINAGE. The advantage of drainage is not limited to carrying away the excess of water. It prevents the accumulation of stagnant water in the soil and deepens tho soil for the work of roots, thus assisting to Sfevent evil effect* during periods of rought. Tito soil is also rendered much warmer, while the penetration of the air brings oxygen to tho vegetable and mineral matter in the soil, hastening chemical reaction. When a field is tile-drained it can be ploughed in a week or ten days earlier than the wet places, which enables the crop to get*a better start in the first stages of growth.