AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18814, 15 September 1924, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

'A satisfactory crop of lucerne is one lhat will give the equivalent of three tons of hay per acre. f

The average weight of wool cut per eheep in Australia, from 1918 to 1922, inclusive, works out at 6.801b.

"Where all kinds of root crops are unsatisfactory—then ensilage and hay will have to be the main winter feed.

The dairy herdsman should work toward getting the maximum butterfat production as soon as possible after calving.

Mangolds should lie the main root crop—where they can bo grown; swedes where mangolds give a poor crop; and carrots where neither of these is successful.

Superphosphates are noS washed from the soil by heavy winter rains as is generally supposed. This is quite conclusively proved by ''x-ecent exhaustive tests made in Scotland.

" A single colony of 200 bumble bees may be sufficient under right conditions to polienate the flowers of an acre clover field," cays Professor J. J. Davis, of Purdue University in his article on " The Relation of the Honey Bee to Agriculture" in a recent issue of the American Bee Journal. He says the honey bee is at least as active as the bumble bee in its visits to flowers and endorses the statement that it is more valuable to American agriculture in its work of cross-pol-lenisation than as a honey producer.

Nitrogenous manures have a great use, for nitrates promote growth, darken the green of leaves, and make them larger and more vigorous. So where healthy and luxuriant growth is required a judicious application of nitrates must be given, and the best, manner in which to apply these is in the form of either nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. The latter is caustic in its action, so care must be taken not to bring it into contact with any part of the plant. If these "artificials" are intelligently nsed for one season no lover of plants would be too lazy or careless another- season to obtain and use them with care and discrimination.

Fowls, naturally, are highly active, and their health depends upon their continu- - ing so under the arllficial conditions generally enforcd upon thern, especially during the winter season. If they cannot get out to secure their exercise in the natural way it must he otherwise provided. Indigestion, diarrhoea, " cholera," liver ftrouhles, and diseases of the egg organs, ah a great many instances traceable directly to 'the lack of exercise and (in the case of disorders of the eeg organs) to •weakness in the abdominal muscles directly resulting therefrom.

A company has been formed at Fribourg, says a Geneva telegram, to produce in large quantities an entirely new kind of condensed milk, which is prepared in solid blocks. It is claimed that in this new form the milk preserves absolutely intact all the qualities of fresh milk, and will remain entirely unaffected by keeping, nor do the blocks require any special form of packing. The inventor is personally directing the production of the milk at a factory at Epagney where nearly two thousand gallons "of fresh inilk aro being treated daily.

Manures easily soluble, such as superphosphates, sulphate of potash, nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, should not be applied until the trees are growing, because they are liable to be dissolved and washed away by heavy rains before the roots get a chance to make use of them. It is also a good plan to give a dressing of those manures at intervals of a ononth or so, as there is less chance of them getting washed away, and the effect on the trees is spread over a longer time. •!■.'