DEMONSTRATION FARMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 10

DEMONSTRATION FARMS.

RESULTS AT STRATFORD.

That demonstration farms arc of considerable value as an instructive medium to dairy farmers, who arc becoming each year more anxiou3 to learn all they possibly can about farming with a view of. increasing their output is shown by the, increasing number that meet at tho Strat-1 ford Demonstration Farm from all parts; of the district, and the keen intelligent! interest that is taken in . the running of | the farm and its experiments. This was shown at the annual meeting last Saturday, ■ when the chairman of committee, Mr. J. ] W. Deem, fields supervisor, and manager of the Moumahaki Experimental Farm, presided over a good attendance. The report showed that satisfactory results had been obtained and improvements to the farm continued to be made. An ad-! ditional ten acre 3 was being stumped and cleared for next season's root crops, j Crops had been fairly good, but continu- r ous wet weather and lack of sunshine had • militated against their success. Both; farm and stock had considerably improved, i Butter-fat production had waned, a little, j due chiefly to the failure of the swede crop through dry rot. Top dressing experiments' nad been continued and the results had been tabulated. Speaking to the report, the chairman ! said that it had rained steadily for six ! months, in fact, the autumn had been exceptionally trying. Their fat production had fallen 8001b. for the yearj The average for the herd - had been 2801b! or j 101b. less than last year. Tho herd had. wintered well, and 35 were now in profit. A slight profit had been made, in the year's milking. . During the discussion Mr. Deem said that association herd testing was an absolute farce for purposes of recording exact returns on which purchasers could depend, but it was absolutely dependable to detect robber cows,. Mr. W. H. Hewitt asked if it was true that a cow would test higher in warm weather than in cold. * Mr. Deem said there might be something in the remark, as in warm weather a cow did not require so much food to keep up her bodily warmth. Mr. Hewitt asked if any experiments had been conducted in the relative production from a poor cow well fed, and a food cow only fairly well fed. He had nown allegedly poor cows which when properly fed, had produced 5001b. of butter-fat. . Many cows had been.sold as culls, which were really high producers under favourable conditions. In reply to further questions { Mr. Deem said that hundreds of experiments had been carried out with various kinds of manures. If the climate was dry, he recommended only one manure, superphosphate. »As far as Taranaki was concerned slag appeared to give the best results. In their experiments with Nauru phosphates very little return had' been noticed for a considerable time; an acid condition was required _in the soil ,to break down the phosphoric acid. . An experiment at Te Kuiti had shown superphosphate to give the best returns but the test -would depend altogether on climatic and soil conditions. Slag was not very successful for potatoes as the lima content was injurious to the tubers. He recommended superphosphate with a little bonedust and sulphate of ammonia. For older country the addition of potash was advisable. A quick acting manure such as i superphosphate was preferable for swedes so as to bring the roots to maturity quicker. Many >of the stomach | troubles noticed in the autumn were due to feeding immature swedes.