ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18249, 16 November 1922, Page 12

ON THE LAND.

t., NOVEMBER. " flat and 22nd.—WeikatP A. * nd p - AB *P ci «" tion. Hamilton.—J. M- Baxter. necr«tarj. DECEMBER. Ist and 2nd.—Auckland Metropolitan A. and P. Association's Show.—A. D. Stanley, ■ecretaory. BRITISH AGBJ.CUJL.TURE. At a meeting of the British Association Sir John Russell said tha country produced 20 per cent, of the wheat and cheesn consumed, 30 per cent, of tha fruit, 40 per cent, of the butter, 60 per cent, of the meat and eggs, 70 to 80 per cent, of the barley and poultry, and 90 to 95 per cent, of the oats, potatoes, vegetables and milk. The British -public wanted its milk with unfailing regularity, but the British cow would not work in that way, wherefore, in order to ensure that winter demands should be met the fanner had to face a surplus supply in the summer months. It was somewhat the same in the case of potatoes. There ought to be some alternative outlet which would take an occasional surplus at a profit to the producer. In the case of milk, the outlet was provided by cheese and butter production, but in the case of potatoes the outlet had still to be found. The yield per aero of wheat, oats, potatoes, and swedes varied greatly even in the same country. It should not bo beyond the resources of science to analyse conditio so that those bestowed by nature in one district could be produced in another. A more intelligent and judicious uso should bo made of artificial fertilisers, and something could bo dono by the introduction of new varieties of crops. The old-fash-ioned general farmer was being supplanted by specialists, and already there were farms run by specialists with experts in charge of various departments. Ho did not-e take a gloomy view of the future. Young farmers were keen and alert, and showed great interest in the work of axperimenial stations and . cottage farms. Machinery was steadily introduced to increase the efficiency of the worker and to ensuro reasonable wages. Although the movement, and economic outlook was not bright the prospects for the future seemed good. Mr. Christopher Turner, said: Landowners and tenant farmers must wo.rk together. To reduce the costs of production they ought to encourage the production oflucerne. There was no crop which so effectively reduced the cost of produce. Some farmers regarded lucerne as a subsidiary crop. It was essentially , a main crop." At present only 50.000 acres of lucerne -were under cultivation in this country. There ought to be many more if farmers studied tneir own -interests. Why should not country estates be turned into limited liability* companies, not for the avoidance of taxation but, because they would then hav© the right to be taxed on a strictly business basis? Lord Bledisloe considered that inestimable advantage would secure from the. direction, and to some extent the control of agricultural organisation by the landowners of the country, assuming that they were equipped for the task and prepared themselves to undertake it. IJOW SAP KISES.

Sir Jagadis Bose. of Calcutta, is famous for his investigation* into the physiology of plant life. He is about to publish another work upon that sultfect, and has" given an indication of its in a newspaper contribution, wMcbii* already attracting much attention among tists. It is, of course, commonly known that trees or plants food material from dissoltedVaobstancea in the soil. They suck up the-water by the root, and the moisture is trunspired into the air by the leaves. The quffltitity of water thus rai«ed is much larger - most people are aware of. A big treej 1 for instance, '< wiU get - ridr of e*jj hundred | pounds a day. Tho energy required* for ' raising this weight of water is very great. How. the moisture is raised upwards has been a secret of nature for all time. Sir Jagadis Bose has now unravelled that mystery. It has long been disputed whether . tho sup is lifted by living cells, or by suctional force, developed by the physical evaporation of the leaves. As the result of many experiments in the professor's research institute at Calcutta, it h3S now been established that the rising of the sap is cue to the activity of living cells. In the (.-curse of those experiments the uso of ,'iVecially constructed instruments showed that under favourable circumstances, .sap will rise at the rate of one hundred feet per hour. Such a velocity of ascent was deemed to preclude the theory of capillary action or atmospheric pressure. By exploring every outside skin to the pith inside, while the plant was still functioning, Professor Bpse was able to discover that the pumping process was the work of a living organism. Professor Bose devised an electric probe, which he to a sensitive galvanometer. This instrument gave surprising results. It showed that the cells in the active layer of a tree work with a throbbing pulsation, , alternately expanding and contractins. ' absorbing water from below and expelling is upwards. The period of a sinale pulsation in the most effective experiments was estimated at 14 seconds. These cells are confined to the cortical sheath, which extends throughout the whole length of every tree. There is, also, a certain limited amount of water storage from what one may call reserve purposes, in the wood vessels of the tree. This storace is also supplied by ,the same pulsations, j Professor Bose's experiments establish the fact of a wonderful similarity in heartbeat records of enimals and plants. In the animal, there is an increasing heart beat under a rising temperature; the pulse beat of a plant is similarly increased under similar conditions. There is a converse effect under a low temperature. This explains the drooping of leaves under a frost. It is also shown that the plant, like the animal, contracts under a shock, for both plants and animals have a weliceyisPd nervous system. Drugs affect the animal, and plant alike. Professor Bose declares there is no characteristic action .n the highest animal that has not i counterpart in tho simpler life of the plant. AGRICULTURAL ITEMS. According to U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, it costs 66 cents to produce a bushel of wheat, the amount varying : from 81 cents in Kentucky to 50 cents j in Idaho. When purebred sires are used to improve farm live stock tho offspring is ! more saleable than that of non-purebred sires, and brings nearly 50 per cent, greater return. Pedigree tells us what crosses have been made and when; how much in-breeding has been practised, and it lays before our eyes the whole family history of any individual animal. There is one precaution which it is necessary to take before a three-year-old gets heavy with her first foal, and that is to see that she learns to work, otherwise she may grow up to be a non-worker, or very difficult to manage. This applies to light as well as h*»vy fillies. Although in-breeding is undoubtedly" an important factor in fixing any particular type or peculiarity, if it is continued it will lead to degeneration. Loss of size, loss of constitutional vigour and sterility are among the evils laid at Us door, and there is possibly much truth in the assettion. If the breeder is very well up in his freed he may be able to tell from the pediIlea from Whence come the various desirable and undesirable characteristic n, any particular horse, and he should be ablo o carry-bis knowledge further, and should -avoid crossing animals whose ped.grees Sh-Sn the name of an annual known to be responsible for undesirable traits. . . An .interesting exper **J r JJ 0 "' ing of cattle is reported from Ontario, in Tarada Some years ago a Mr. L. M. Boyd of that province, began a series o Sriments on'the crossing of a Hereford another breeds-with the fern a e buffalo And the bisom Of these crosses that with the Hereford has turned out most satisfcctoVy, and Hereford breeders in England are hoping for an .increased export trade to Canada.and the-United States.