THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 19

THE FARM.

THE HARVEST IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. (From the S.A. Register.) It is already well known that the last harvest was one of the worst that South Australia has ever experienced, but few, we believe have realised how very bad it was. The early rains fell sparingly, and the latter rains were denied altogether. The consequence was that the seed on tens of thousands of acres did not sprout at all, while hundreds of farmers had the mortification of seeing their crops shrivel away under the influence of prolonged dry weather. Hero and there locusts completed the ruin which tha absence of moisture had already carried to an advanced point, and in some other places rabbits were a seriously disturbing!inliuence, but to drought—continuous, irremediable, withering drought —is almost exclusively due tha disasters of the season. And what these disasters mean may be inferred from the fact that more than 400,000 acres of land sown with wheat were left altogether unroaped ; that nearly 80,000 acres more over which the stripper was passed realised leas than a bushel an acre; and that some 225,000 acres more did not yield more than two bushels an acre. Figures like these throw some light upon the seed-wheat question that is now agitating the publio mind. It is childish to talk of £25,000 as sufficient to meet all claims. A large proportion of the holders of those 700,000 aores which have produced from nothing up to two bushsls Erobably require help, but even the 27 memora of the Assembly who have constituted themselves financial advisers of the Government would hardly ‘ recommend ’ such a large order as this. In some of the counties the harvest proved a total failure. This was conspicuously the case in Granville, where tho yield from some eighty or ninety thousand acres under crop fallß below 25,000 bushels. Not one-half of the area sown was reaped, and the average from that is not mnch over half-a-bushel. For Blaohford the return was almost equally disappointing, but the acreage under crop was considerably less. For Newcastle the yield was under two bushels upon the area reaped, or less than a bushel and a half per acre, while between 30 and 40 per cent, of tho crops were deemed not to be worth gathering. Kimberley was almost equally unfortunate, and Herbert could only muster aD average of about a bushel an acre for the two or three thousand acres that were considered worth reaping. Most of the country which we have thus far specialised is outside of Goyder’s line of rainfall, and it is a noteworthy faat that such portions of counties Burra and Eyre as are beyond this boundary have fared miserably indeed, Coming southward, the figures improve materially. Dalhousie, which occupies a middle position between the areas of what are regarded as rainless and rainy oountry, had some tens of thousands of acres not worth reaping, but netted over two bushels and a third an acre on that which was harvested. Victoria oan boast of more than three bushels, the western portions of Burra and Eyre of between four and five bushels, Stanley of four bushels, Daly of 3'62 bushels, Ferguson of 3'85 bushels, Light of more than six and a half bushels, Gawler of over five bushels, Adelaide—stretching as it jdoes over a wide expanse of hill and plain oountry—of about six and one-third bushels. In the western districts the settlers as a rule have had a bad time of it. At Franklin Harbour tho average did not exceed one and a half bushels, along the west epast from three to four bushels ryere reaped, while iu county Flinders at the toe of the Peninsula the yield is represented as being rather over three and a half bushels. The hill Oountry generally baa given high yields enough to excite envy in the breasts of those who years

ago abandoned the neighbourhood of Adelaide to try their fortunes in the arid uorth, tempted to thei- ruin by the prospect of getting land cheap and making sure of plenty of it. It is the south-eastern district proper, however, which easily heads the record in the matter of yield. Twenty, thirty, forty bushels an acre have been no uncommon return, and the average of some of the principal wheat areas falls very little below 20 bushels. This result is ohiefly due, no doubt, to the superior rainfall, but it is also in part attributable to improved methods of cultivation. One thing which the experience of last season has established is that attention to fallowing, to manuring, and other sensible processes of tillage brings a rich reward. It is questionable whether the addition of any reagent othsr than water would have made much difference to the droughtBtricken areas of the fsr north, but in all other parts even a partial resort to scientific modes of farming would have been productive of tho best results.

It only remains for us to state the general conclusions at which we have arrived from a careful examination of the returns which have been published. In the first place, it would appear that tho quantity of land placed under crop exceeded that for the previous year, which it will be remembered was a fairly productive one. We have reason to believe that the area sown was rather more than 2,000,000 acres. Unfortunately, as we have already said, more than a fifth of this, or something over 400,000 acres, was not considered worth reaping, so that the area reaped is reduced to 1,605,000 aores. The total yield we estimate at 6,187,000 bushels, or an average of 3 8-10 bushels per acre. Taking into account the uureaped as well as the reaped area, and placing • the whole at 2,000,000 acres, the average is reduced below 3 1-10 bushels. This is a miserable return for the labour and capital bestowed on the wheat-growiug industry, and must bring home with irresistible force to many of those engaged in it, as well as to the public at large, the conviction that farming settlement in the dry districts had been carried too far afield. Tho produce from the available land within the districts where a reasonable supply of raiu can ordinarily be depended upon should, if only cultivation is oarried on upon proper principles, on the average give a far larger return than is now realised from double the area. This year we have only some 6,187,000 bushels to deal with. Uf this quantity at least 3,500,000 will be required for food and for seed, so that 2,657,000 bushels represents the whole of our exportable surplus. This means that during 18S9 we shall* only have, in addition to whatever stocks remained over at the beginning of the year, some 72,000 tons of breadstuffs to, send away. There is a marvellous difference between this total and that of 1888, but at least prices are higher, and farmers will probably not get more than £500,000 for what they have to dispose of. This is a small sum to add to the value of our exports, but it is useless crying over spilt milk. We have to bear our adversities with the best grace we can summon to our aid, and happily we are much less of a one industry people now than we were a few years ago. A failure of the wht at' harvest, such as that we have just experienced, is a great calamity, but it does not involve national ruin. The community suffers deeply in sympathy with the farmer i as a body, and especially in this instance with those farmers who have been reduced to desperate straits, but there are other industries which can be confidently relied upon to keep our heads above water. THE CARE OF STOCKIt is a waste of feed of any kind to give it to stock upon the ground, and especiailly any kind of grain. There is always more or less loss that with good management could very readily have been avoided, and that would in a very short time pay for the expense of providing suitable places for feeding. Even the hogs ought to have a tight floor upon which their corn can be fed rather than upon the ground. Rough feed given to cattle, sheep, or horses, if fed on the ground, is certain to have more or less of it trampled down and left. Tight floors, upon which the grain fed to hogs can be thrown and feeding, troughs, or boxes, to feed grain to other kinds of stock, with racks, or mangers, for all kinds of rough feed, will prevent such loss. If all the stock is kept upon the farm that the feed raised will keep in good thrifty condition, it will pay to feed so as to avoid waste as much as possible. And where a considerable number of stock is kept it will make a difference iu the amount of feed well worth saving.—Prairie Farmer, PREVENTING FIRE-FANG IN [MANUREIt has often been urged as one of the objections to having cattle-courts entirely covered, that it is difficult, without the assistance of dew and rain, to get sufficient moisture into the litter to prevent the dung from beooming hot, and dry, and damaged, from what is commonly known as ‘fire-fang.’ In reference to this, Mr H. Howman, Balloughton, Coleshill, in a paper read before the Midland Farmers’ Club, says : —* I have met the difficulty by not allowing one bit of straw to be plaoed in the yards for litter without first being put through the littercutter and cut into about six inches in length ; and this, I am convinced, is an absolute necessity for the proper working of manure. After two years’ experience of the plan, against the cost of cutting up the str a V which is done by hand, I gain thes;a advantages—the yards are littered mo,re, evenly and regularly, and not s<s. much straw ia used ; while in emptying the yards, a great saving of labour is gained, because the manure is forked out so much more easily, and it is ready to be carted on t» the laud direct from the yards, and all the wasteful and laborious oarting it into a heap to bn rotted and wasted by the rain 13 saved,’ STORING GRAINS. Brewers’ grains are extensively used as food for cows. They are usually very much oheaper in summer than iu winter, sometimes even as muoh as two-thirds less than

===== = ’ == [in the height of winter. A a would be expeoted therefore, means have been found 'of storing grains. This is done successfully by burying them in pits in ensilage fashion. Great pits from 6 to 10 feet are dug in the dry ground, and 5000 or 6000 bushels of grains are trodden in. When the surface is reached the grains are well heaped up in the middle, beaten down, cased with chaff or road scrapings, and then well covered with a thick coat of soil, so as to resemble a large mangold hole. Sometimes these pits are lined with bricks, and more frequently a proper vault, either above or under the ground, is made. An old barn with brick partitions run across it; makes a capital receptacle for storing grains. Some farmers use salt in packing the fresh grains, and are very particular in the covering that is applied to the surface ; but it appears that if ordinary care is taken to exclude the air, grains may be kept in the roughest manner and be perfectly sweet and good at the end of six or even nine months. The grains pit is often sunk in the end or in a corner of the cowhouse.. At any rate, it should be close at hand for ease of feeding. A pit lined with concrete is very suitable, and even where only a few weeks’ supply ia kept at a time, it is found convenient to have such a pit. PlGSfeeding bran and potatoes. Professor Stewart, iu answering c query in the Country Gentleman, states that bran is deficient as a single food for hogs, but makes an excellent element in a combined fattening ration. Its proportion of carbohydrates is not large enough for tho fattening period, but is well adapted to growing young pigs in muscle aud boDe and frame. If bran were to be fed alone, it would be better mixed with hot water, and remain for about twenty-four hours—not long enough to become sour—and it should not be too wet. Souring always wastes some of the digestible elements of the food, and although the balance is slightly more digestible than before souring, yet tho loss is too much to be compensated for by the gain in digestibility. Bran mixed with boiled potatoes would make a very good ration for fattening. Let the potatoes be boiled and then mashed while hot, mixing in the bran ; use about 10 lbs of bran with 1 bushel of potatoes. There is about 151bs of dry matter in a bushel of potatoes, and this dry matter in the potatoes has a large proportion of starch or carbohy. drates, and when this is mixed with the bran, the fattening element in the combination is about equal to corn meal. If a little of the water in which the potatoes were boiled is left, when mashed and mixed with the bran, the consistency of the mixture will be about right. Hogs should fatten rapidly upon this mixture. COOKED FOOD FOR HORSES* The feeding of horses is a very important, matter to every owner of those usefnl animals and every one who knows and appreciates their real value as beasts of burden will take pleasure in having his horses well fed, and kept in good condit ion for the heavy and trying work they have to accomplish. Wefdo not mean by feeding well that grain or any other nutritious and expensive food is to he lavished upon them, for what beyond acertain amount is given will not only be wasted, but is liable to injure the animals. The re suits of too much corn are well known to most farmers, and while it is desirable to have the animals fresh and able to work, these dangers should be carefully avoided. It is said that without plenty of corn, horses will not keep up in condition, even although they get as much straw or hay as they can eat. This, no doubt, is so far true, as the animals are likely to tire of dry fodder continually forced upon them. As a change, then, from the ordina y everyday dry food, the system of cooking part ia a wise policy for farmers to adopfe. By boiling or steaming part of their food, tha horses oan be made to eat more straw or hay, as the change in ‘serving’ gives it the freshness of a new * dish.’ For horses at hard work, raw bruised grain is generally considered preferable to boiled or steamed grain, but a night feed once or twice oe even three times a week of boiled or steamed grain or bran iss found to b.e a useful and agreeable change. By giving this small allowance the animals cau with safety consume a greater quantity of rich food than they could in its dry state. When the work is light the cooking of food is undoubtedly an economical process, as ai small allowance of cooked grain will render a large quantity of chaffed fodder palatableIt is also a safe and profitable preparation! ; in the case of mouldy hay or damaged grainIn faot, damaged or inferior grain—of which we fear there will be abundance this yearshould in all cases be cooked. Grain that is to be cooked or steamed for horses should, not be bruised, but steeped in warm water. A little salt is relished by the horses, and. the cooked food should be used before it be-v gins to ferment. For horses, old or young, whose teeth, and digestive systems are weak or defective, oooked food is highly advantageous,. A mash consisting of boiled oa t s or beans, mixed with bran, and Reasoned with salt, and sometimes an ounce. o ac h of sulphur and nitre added, is relished. This mash is given one night and ravj potatoes or Swedes another, or the potatoes or Swedes may be boiled with either of the grains, a mixture of which the animals are exceedingly fond. The ingredients should he well mixed and well smoked, and should not exceed milk warmth. The advantage of cooking food for horses is that it forma an agreeable change to the animals, which encourages them to consume U greater quantity of the cheaper foods. Yet it is not advisable to give too much soft food, as it will make the liorso soft aud flabby, bub, if given at intervals, as stated above, it will have no bad effect in this way, but, on the contrary, cooking will be found a beneficial operation.—Farming World.