AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 14

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

Latest cable advices state the Indian wheat crop is turning out excellently. A portion of the tool-house should be set apart for paints. It is necessary to have some spot where mixing can be done and brushes stored. It is particularly important that milk eens be thoroughly dried and kept dry until used again. In addition, they must bo protected from contaminations with dust, other dirt, and flies. When mustard is sown for early autumn feed it must bo eaten off before the frosts begin. As a green manure mustard is valued, as it conserves nitrates in the soil. Lime has the following uses: — It corrected auiuiby. 2. It affected the soil texture beneficially by (a) opening up stiff clay soil, and (b) by binding the loose sandy soil. 3. It rendered unavailable plant food available, especially phosphate. 4. It assisted bacterial action. j Grass-tree gum, before the war, found its way in large quantities from New South Wales to Germany for use in the manu-, facture of picric acid. Latterly in Sydney there has been a noticeable revival of the demand for the gum, and although the identity of the new purchasers is not disclosed, it is believed that the present supplies of gum are being taken by German " There are two ways of getting a herd together; to buy the animals, which requires no small" amount of capital, and is difficult; or, probably the best way, to breed them. It may be advisable to buy some good foundation stock, and at various times pick up a god animal when possible. The most successful herds have been bred and reared by their owners." There may still be some dairymen who have an erroneous impression as to the time occupied in weighing a cow's milk and noting it down. It will be found in practice that the time occupied in pouring th 0 milk into the pail, noting the weight shown, and jotting down the figure on the pad kept close at hand, is* infinitesimal compared with the sterling advantages obtained. 75 Molasses made from sugar-cane makes a very good feed for dairy cows when fed in limited quantities. It has about the same feeding value as maize, and adds a great deal to the palak.bility of a ration. It can be fed either mixed with the grain or diluted i| warm water, and sprinkled over the dry fodder. About 21b of molasses per I day is the amount that is usually included in a ration for a 10001b cow. , The practice of cultivating lucerne after the first season for the purpose of eradicating grass and weecls is rapidly increasing in favour in the United , States. In the opinion of a number of growers the proper implement to use is some style of spring -or [;. Ispike-tooth harrow. { The spring-tooth harrow . : does not seem to injure the young sprouts above the surface of the soil, and for the thorough eradication of weeds, ;it is preferable to any other' implement. ' |; The Government of the United States of America has recently adopted new regulations which require ; that horses ■ ex- : ported; from : the United Kingdom, ;to America must be t accompanied inter alia :bv an official export certificate to ; the effect .that, as far as it has been possible to ascertain,' no .case of ■; doiirine,-, gland ; ers, farcy, : epizootic ' lymphangitis, :j or mange has occurred in the locality or localities where; the horses have been located within the preceding, twelve months. .-■... ; ~ As an . instance of what the dairyman ] may be losing by not paying sufficient attention to ' detail, it • mays be mentioned that one settler in this district ; recently discovered that -he was losing £4 every ' weeK, owing- to his separator skimming too slowly. Acting on advice to speed up the machine, he was gratified at being able to . reduce the debit item {to only a fesw 1 shillings. , -.-, ■'".-.'', , ,'. ' ■ ■ '.-, ; The International Institute of Agriculture -estimates a decrease in the wheat yield of Europe, "not including France, Germany; and '..'-, the ; Serbo-Croat-Slovene State, whose figures are not vet available, of 13 per cent, below 1921. North Africa's decrease is 32 per cent., while India, Canada and the United States show an increase of 17 per cent., thus compensating for the European :■ and North African deficiency. It appears probable the yield for' the whole northern hemisphere will be at least equal to that of 1921. The British Friesian cow Bladen Early has now completed her 2000-gallon yield, her production figure to daite being 2025 gallons in 314 days. She is still yielding about 5 gallons daily. Messrs. and T. Neame's cow Macknade Freda has given 2022 gallons in 320 days. Messrs. Neame possess, three of four 10-gallons-a-day cows. Mr. John Bromet's noted show cow, Illington Rhoda B, hefe just completed a 2000-gallon yield, her figures being 2004 gallons in 362 days. Sho is the third cow in Mr. John Bromet's Golf herd to achieve this production. \ ■ A detailed account has been kept of the cost of feeding the herd of Ayrshire cattle on the Government Experimental Farm at Kybolile, South Australia. During the year ended 30th September. 1922,, the value of food consumed by each cow, was £9 lis. This was made up as follows:—llcwt. hay chaff, at £3 ton, £1 15s 7id: 2 tons 16cwt. ensilage, at 15s ton, £2 2s; 10.8 .bushels bran, at £8 12s ton, 16s 8d ; 24 bushels of oats (crushed), at 3s bushel, £3 12s; 15.4cwt. green feed, at 10s ton, 7s B£d; 4 acres pasture, at 4s acre rent, 16s. The average cash return secured for the' same period was £19 3s 7d a cow. Thus it will be seen that, over and' above the cost of feeding, each animal returned £10 2s 7d during the year. "In 1892." says "The Wool Record," " Duncan Fox and Co., in combination with the firm of Braun and Blanchard. of Punta Arenas, took up a twenty years' concession from the Chilean Government of 2£ million acres in Tierra del Fuego, undertaking to develop it as a sheep farming, property. A joint stock company called 'La Sociedad Esplotadora de Tierra del . Fuego' was established and started operations by acquiring 5000 sheep by purchase largely in the Faulkland Islands. , After a severe struggle for a few years the company began to shape prosperously, and has ever since been a highly profitable concern:" It has made tremendous expansion, and at the present time is probably the largest individual sheepowner in the world, holding by lease or by freehold - tenure nearly 8,000,000 acres and flocks comprising about 2.000.000 sheep. Sir Arthur Goldfinch was director of this company for many years, and was president from 1911 to" 1914.