ON THE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20372, 28 September 1929, Page 18

ON THE LAND.

OXYGENATION OF SOUS. EFFECTS OF SULPHUR. 0! the ten elements necessary for plant growth three are obtained exclusively from the air—carbon, hydrogen and oxygeh. Another element, nitrogen, comes partly from the soil. Tho remaining six, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, calcium, iron and magnesium, should all como from tho eoil.

/ When it i 3 stated that oxygen is derived exclusively from tho air this refers to tho oxygon of the plant. Apart from ♦his, oxygen is vory necessary in tho soil to give life to nitrifying and other beneficial soil bacteria.

With field and garden crops this is allowed by tho open working of tho soil and a corresponding rosponse in growth is attained according to tho depth of the soil, which can bet and is. worked to permit oxygenation. Thin soils and those of clay formation are most difficult to pulverise and maintain in that state

Where one of the essential plant food elements of the soil can bo utilised for purposes and" at the same time be there to meet plant requirements, such element will son-o a double purpose Calcium will do this, but should nol bo relied upon for moro than occasional use, a3 it is also a soil depleter us well as a soil completer, in so far as it liberates elements in a free state for dis eipation into tho air equally as it niake3 euch available for plants. , Sulphur as an element for this pur pose has been to 6 long disregarded, not ,only from its presence in the soil being 'essential to plant growth' and balance to give full value to other elements, but from its oxygenating value. Unlike cal cium, it does not dissipato other elements, but makes them available in a form suit Able for plant absorption, and at tho same time provides the 1 per cent, sulphur found in albuminous substances of plants and animals. Sulphur, when compounded with metals, is in a sulphide form, but when more completely oxidised becomes tho sulphate form. When appliod to the soil oxidisation takes pkee, which has a value little recognised until recently, but is now accepted as of prime importance, particularly on pasture land, whore tho free oxygenation of tho soil cannot be readily obtained by cultural methods. ' FORCING RHUBARB. 7 'OBTAINING EARLY CROP. Where only the summer kind of rhubarb is grown, one may obtain an early crop by forcing a number of plants. In the ordinary course of events the summer crowns would not be starting into growth ''for a whilo vet, and development at first is slow, so that it will be quito a while heforo one cou'.d hope to obtain a crop. By forcing, the plants are stimulated into growth by artificial means, and* ) the shoots are caused to elongato rapidly, eo that the produce is ready in a very much shorter time. As is usual with any produce, grown in an unnatural manner, the; quality is not of tho- highest, but ibis is-, a less important matter. / If one has a bed of the winter rhubarb as well, it will not bo necessary to forc« any of the summer crowns, however, as the winter varieties will maintain tho supply .until the summer plants corne into bearing. A newly-planted bed should not be forced as it will weaken any crowns [which are not properly established The method is to cover the crowns with fomething that will cause tho shoots to draw. A small barrel or box. about 18in ; high, is suitablo, and one of these may ' be placed over each plant that it is desired to force. For the ordinary houso-

.hold two or thrie plants should supply the requirements.' If necessary, a sack may he thrown, over the box to effectively the light, an important factor in 'the. forcing. To provide the plants with the'food required for development a tea- . spoonful of nitrate of soda may be scattered around each and watered in. The ft plants should bo obsorved at intervals, and when they have made sufficient growth the boxes should bo removed to allow the produce to ripen off and colour up before being used. • MILKING - YOUNG COWS. [INFLUENCE ON FUTURE YIELD ' j ( J'i / " r:~ _• ~ >' * Results. of numerous milking experiments prove that milk as taken from a cow is not of average composition—that Is to say, that the first drawn milk is abnormally poor in fat content, while the quality of the milk gradually improves as the process of milking continaes, the last drawn milk being richest

in butter-fat, containing a much higher percentage than a sample of normal milk, says the Live Stock Journal. Whereas the first drawn pint •of milk may have t as low a fat percentage as 1.2 or 1.5, the last pint withdrawn frcm tho cow may contain as much as 6 per cent, or 7 per cent, of fat/ - ' Tho strippings are richest of all, and may prove on analyuis to have. 10 per cent, of fat. Hence, unless the strippings up to th« last drop are included in the milk, the latter will contain less butter-fat than it should do if the milking operations were satisfactorily carried out. To the farmer who produces butter this means a decreased butter yield, but this point is also of great importance to milk sellers. I Aparli from the reduction in the yield and tho quality of the milk by incompletely milking cows, this slovenly practice in the case of heifers and young cows,, whose milk secretion has as yet not reached its maximum limit, involves a deterioration of their milk-yielding qualities, or. at any rate prevents a full development of the latter in succeeding lactation periods. ' Although tho milk yielding capacity ia primarily an inherited quality, yet to some extent it depends on other factors, ©no of which is the stimulation of tho udder by means of the milking process, The greater the stimulation is tho more beneficially will the development of the milk organs be influenced. So, through and complete milking of heifers and young cows is especially to be desired as tending to improve their milk-yielding qualities'; while if the milking process is carried out in a careless and perfunctory manner, tho opposite effect results, in that | St deteriorates the milk-yielding qualities 1 ,to a certain extent. With ar view of developing the milking qualities and to increase the milk yield I in future lactation periods, it is further desirable to prolong the first few lac- , tation periods of a young cow as much as possible—within reasonable limits, of coarse—and not to allow her to dry off to-) soon, as_ this ha 3 an adverso effect on tho quantity: of tho future milk yields in succeeding lactation periods.