THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 896, 3 May 1889, Page 18

THE FARM.

OPERATIONS FOR MAYNORTHERN DISTRICTS. The month of May in North New Zea’and is sometimes fine, bub mere often the weather breaks before the end of the month, and. therefore farmers should be prepared for the setting in of the winter rains any day. As long as the weather holds up, all work requiring dry weather should bo pushed forward vigorously, such as ths breaking up of land, laying down to grass, the putting in of many autumn grown crops, etc. Clean out ditches and watercourses that they may readily carry off the winter floods, and repair and make water-tight outbuildings of all kinds. Wherever a gate vay occurs in lowlying ground, it is sura to be a slough of mud in the winter, unless properly formed and metalled now. Examiae stacks to see that the thatchingjs all right, and have the small water channels cut round them in good working order. Grass Sowing.— There is still time to sow grass this month in the warmer districts, but last month would have been better. For surface sown grass in a bush clearing after a burn May is a better time than earlier, for you must bo pretty sure of rain shortly after sowing under such conditions. To surface sow grass seed, and have to wait weeks for rain afterwards, is simply to waste your seed and labour. Where early frosts are common it is better to wait until spring than to sow grass now, except in special situations. Green Foragi —lf you have neglected sowing your oats for green feed next month they will still do, but Cape barley would now do better, and many prefer wheat as green stuff to either, and it certainly has the advantage of cutting several times and growing again. Tares and winter vetches (best with barley) al-O do for late sowing, and turnips for feeding off by sheep in spring are in plenty of time this month, but on no account put off any of those things later. Plant out cow cabbages. Wheat Sowing. —Where it is intended to sow winter wheat it may bo done thio mouth. We believe in the advisability of winter sowing where the conditions arc suitable, although in the North, whore the summer begins earlier, and ends later than in the South, the benefit of winter sowiug is not so marked. Therefore if your laud is not thoroughly well prepared wait for the sp-ing by all means. In cold and wet land you do cot gain anything by winter sowing. Many experienced fanners are in favour of the early part of July, but a gieat deal depends on circumstances—the local climate, the wet or dry nature of the land, and manner of sowing and subsequent treatment of the crop. If the district is warm, and the land to be used is dry and warm, and particularly volcanic—if you are going to sow broadcast or drill in close, then sow in Maj'and feed down twice with sheep when about four inches or a little more high. If you intend to drill in rows one foot apart, and horse hoe, spring is best, as the laud is seldom fit to work in winter. A little coal tar mixed with the seed is s&id to prevent the birds from eating ip To guard against smut use the bluestone dressing (sulphate of copper), in the manner recommended in the instructions for Southern districts printed below. In using the tar pour half a pint on the heap and work it through j it will soon smear every grain, and

it will not make it stick together unless you over do it. If the land be in good heart and thoroughly cultivated, a bushel to a bushel and a quarter is enough seed to sow with the drill, for in good well worked soil the wheat will tiller and produce many heads to a root. The poorer the soil and the less cultivation it has had the more seed yon will require. As compared with broadcast sowing, drilling, in wheat has the advantage of requiring le;s seed, because being put in and covered at a proper uniform depth, every seed, if it is good, will germinate. The wheat also comes up of a uniform thickness, and the i-e3nlt is a more uniform sample of grain. Salt is on many lands a most valuable manure for wheat. Wo should advise every .wheat grower to test the ,effeot of salt on his own land bv using it on a portion of the crop and carefully noting the results. An experienced farmer of the State of New York says be use-, five bushels of salt per acre on his wheat, and ho reckons ho gets an extra bushel of wheat for every bushel of salt. A correspondent of the American Farmer dr scribes as follows his method of applying salt to wheat lands. He mixes five bushels of salt with ten of air.slackedlli p , and. lets it stand three months, turning it three times during that period. He thou sows three bushels of the mixture per acre before the last harrowing. Salt, even a bushel to the aero, has a great effect on stiffening the straw, and thus helps to prevent the crop 3 being laid by storms of wind and rain. Late Ripening Crops.— Maize and late potatoes not yet harvested should be gathered and housed this month. Hedges and Ditches. —When the rams come, plant out thorns for making live fences. Live Stock. —Whatever you do guard against letting your live stock fall off in condition now. It will cost you in the end twice as much to underfeed them as to keep them in thriving condition to meet. the winter. Shelter on cold wet nights is a great help towards keeping them in flesh. Exposure destroys the beneficial effect of good feeding to a great extent. A large amount of the food consumed Is utilised in merely keeping up the animal heat instead of putting on flesh. Begin at once to supplement the failing pastures with roots and. hay. Take care of your working horses, especially, and never suppose a good stable is an extra vaqance. A chill may result in cramps or inflammation of the bowels or lungs, and the loss of a valuable aDimal be the result. Dairy cows w ill require increased feeding and care. Do not make up your mind that no butter worth speaking of can be made in the winter. Winter butter, if good, will always pay, became it is difficult to produce, and only the be3t farmers will have it. for sale. Let the cows lie dry and warm at night, and provide them with some good hay to eat while they are under shelter.. A supply of roots should be fed to them night and morning, and every effort made to keep up the flow of milk, as well as its quality. It will soon be the time to kill for baoon ;. keep tae pigs well up to the last with a little extra food. SOUTHERN DISTRICTS, The flue weather ib likely to break up at any time this month ; therefore, make the mo it of it while it lasts. Wheat sowing is one of the most important operations this month. Potatoes have, in mo.jt cases, been harvested by this time and cleared off the laud, and towards the end of the month some of the turnip land will be ready for sowing where the crop has been removed or consumed on the land. Whatever ground is intended to be sown with wheat should now receive the seed. Land ploughed and prepared last month will only reauire a double stroke of the harrows before being sown. The proper quantity of seed per acre depends upon the time cf sowing and the nature of the soil. Less seed per acre ii required for autumn sown wheat than for spring sown ; for drilled wheat than for that sown broadcast ; and for rich, than for poor soil. As compared with spring sown wheat that set at this time has time to tiller and make many stalks upon one root before the warm weather brings it into ear and stops the growth. The even depth at which the seed is buried by the use of the drill, aud the evenness with which the grain is distributed over the surface of the field makes less seed necessary than for the broadcast sowing. On poor land each grain of wheat will throw up fewer stalks, and therefore have fewer ears than on rich land ; therefore more seed is necessary to make up the difference. From one or two bushels of seed por acre, according to circumstances, is the quantity to use IE the drill is used, as it always ought to be if possible, a bushel and a quarter is quite enough to sow ou good land this season. If the land is rich even one bushel would be quite enough. Wheat should always be dressed with a bluestone (sulphate of copper) solution before being sown, in order to destroy the spores or germs of the fungus growth which produce « smut ’ and ‘ bunt ’ at harvest time. Care must bo takeo to use good bluestone, which has not been adulterated with sulphate of iron, which is useless as a protection against smut. Care must also be taken not to use the sulphate of copper solution too strong, for it has been proved that over a certain limit of strength the germinating power of the seed wheat is very much affected, and may be utterly destroyed. For each sack of wheat six ounces of bluestone should be dissolved in a gallon of water and thrown over the grain as It lie 3 oil the board iloor. The wheat should be stirred about and turned so that every grain may ba wetted. It will get dry aud be ready for sowing in an hour or two, and it should bo sown as soon as possible after it lias dried. If the land be somewhat moist at setting time it is an

advantage, but it must not be wet enough to become ‘ podged ’by the horses’ feet, Oue double turn of the harrows will be required after the drill. Unleis the land is well drained or naturally very dry, it will be needful to clean out water furrows after the barrowing, so as to drain the winter’s rain off quickly. Light lands should, after cultivation, be allowed to consolidate for two or three weeks before sowing. Winter beans may be sown this month at the rate of not more than two bushels per acre. Farmyard manure, and as much of it as vou can give, is appreciated, by this crop. The beans can be ploughed in with the manure, the manure being placed by the barrow in every second or third furrow of the plough ; the manure harrowed in, and then the ground ribbed over with shallosv furrows about IS inches apart. The seed is then sown in these furrows by the drillingmachine at a depth it could not place the seed if the shallow furrows had not beeu thus opened out. Beaus should follow wheat, or some other stubble crop. Barley may now be sown on warm land. On good mellow ground I bushels per acre is sufficient seed at this time of the year. Grass and clover may well be sown with autumn barley, which protects the young grass during the winter. Autumn sown barley is reckoned the best for malting purposes. Winter Tares or Vetches. —This is a crop nob sufficiently appicciated by colonial farmers. It requires rich ground, and if sheltered so muck the better. Manure and prepare the land as for beans. Drill in three bushels per acre in rows six inches apart. Sow a little winter rye or Cape barley among the tares. Tornits, Mangolds, and Carrots. —Harvest all of them which are not intend; d to bo consumed on the land where grown. Any root crops intended for storing should be carted off clay land while th*e weather is dry for the sake of the horses and the soil. Stubbles. —Finish ploughing such as are intended to be winter fallowed. A good authority recommends leaving the last or «cleave ’ furrow of the ridge unploughed, especially on clay soils, because wheu the plough is drawn by two liorse3 walking abreast the last furrow cannot be turned over unless the near side horse walks on the ploughed land, thus poaching it more or less. Another advantage of leaving the last furrow fast is, that besides leaving the land more level and in batter shape for sub equent cultivation, in the spring cross-ploughing the ploughs run much clearer from pa sing through these furrows. The winter frosts are capital cultivators, and now is the time by deep ploughing to put the laud in a favourable condition for being benefited by the action of frost and air. Carting out manure for top dressing fields should be done before the ground gets soft. Ditches and Fences. —Clean out nd repair ditches and watercourses and examine the outlets of drains to see that they are clear of all obstruction. Finish clipping and laying hedges, and plant new hedges where desirable- Run a wire along the centre of young thorn hedges planted last season, about 18 inches from the ground, and another 18 inch s higher, either now or when the hedge grows taller. The object is to let the hedge plants grow round the wires thus forming a very strong fence, and one very difficult to break through, especially if one of the wires is barbed.

Pastures. —Thoie paddocks shut up for a rest aftsr the summer heats can now be stocked with the breeding ewes with their rams. The paddocks in which catt'e have been running to fatten without sheep, should be stocked with sheep and store cattle to eat off the rough grass left from the summer growth. Brush-harrow paddocks to spread the oattle-droppingß, and destroy thistles, docks, and .other weeds.

Live Stock. —Care and attention is particularly required at this set ion to keep your live stock in health and condition. There are apt to be rapid changes of temperature, which affect animals, especially those running out. Horses are changing their coats, and for a time, are perfectly susceptible to colds and chills. There is still much hard work to be done by farm horses, and a full allowance of oats and chaff should be continued, and sliced carrots or Swedish turnips should be given daily. Dry cattle and young stock should have an allowance of hay or good oaten straw as the pastures fail, and cattle intended to ba stall fed should be placed iu their winter quarters and fed on cut turnips and other roots. Straw or hay chaff, or whatever other dry food is chosen, must also be given. Dairy cows will require a larger run to gather their pasture from, and care must bo taken to give them a change of grazing as often as possible. As the weather gets cold it will bo better to keep them in at night, providing them with a supply of green fodder such as cabbages, maize, lucerne, etc., etc.. Many of the cows that have calved some time will be going off in their milk rapidly now, aud the cheese season will be pretty well over. Whoever continues to make cheese this mouth should remember to warm a small quantity of the milk morning and evening to raise the whole to the proper temperature (about 9Sdeg. F.) for receiving the rennet. Sheep should be folded this month on the turnips and rape, where they may or may not receive a ration of oats, according to what they are being fed for ; and when they are on rape they should be given a portion of hay or other dry food daily. At the present low prices of oats we believe they could scarcely be more profitably utilised than by being fed to stick, such as sheep and pigs. Lambs should be fed on rape and turnips aud have access to shelter. In beginning to feed oats to lambs be careful not to give too much at first, say a quarter of a pint to begin with up to half a pint per lamb. Store pigs may b& fed in the yard or pig paddock on the inferior mangolds aud carrots, along with a little steamed bran and turnips as the weather gets colder. Fattening pigs will do well oa the small potatoes steamed, and a daily allowance each of from 51b to 71b of oats or other grain according to size cf animal. The sows may to fihe boar this month, which will bring the first litters iu September,

FARMING IN FOREIGN LANDSThc great need in Chillian agriculture is improved Yankeo machinery for h&rvcstiug the wheat crop before the rainy season ; but the natives are slow to appreciate tb.o value of such improvements and the opening for American manufacturers is not as invitiDgaa might be expected. A co-operative creamery in the United States is doing a bis; business if it utilizes the milk or cream of 20,000 cows. Little Denmark has over 200 such factories that each work up the milk of 5,000 to 6,000 cows. Tho whole-milk system, with separation of the cream by the certrifuge, is universally adopted. The cost of producing milk varies from 75 cents to §1 per 100 pounds; 5,000 pounds of milk in one year is much above the average yield per cow ; from 25 to 30 pounds of milk are required for a pound of butter and about 13 for one of cheese. Prizes for horse shooing were offered last year for tho first time by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and thb two men who came out first among 4.3 and 46 competitors,respectively, weremademembers of the Farriers’ Company, which is considered a great honour. This Gompany was established in 1356 —-upwards of five centuries ago —and tho farriers' craft is of still more ancient date. Mention is made of them in the camp of one of the Roman Caesars, and there iB a beautiful coin of Tarentum extant, struck 300 years before Christ, which represents a horse being shod. The Italian government supports nineteen practical schools of agriculture and six special schools. It pays about three-fifths of their running expenses, the remainder being provided by the provinces in which they are located, which also furnish the farm building and repairs, much after the plan of tho American agricultural college grant. All but two provinces have one of these institutions. About eight hundred studenfia attend anually, most of the graduates going into agricultural pursuits. Experimenting with different breeds, implements, etc, is a feature of these schools. The advanced examination in practical agriculture and allied subjects held by the Royal Agricultural Society each May, is a plan worthy of imitation. The regulations for the next examination, just issued, show that agriculture, book keeping, chemistry, land surveying, agricultural engineering, botany geology, and anatomy, are the principal subjects of examination. In addition to a certificate, prizes are offered to those who acquit themselves most creditably. The certificates are much sought after by agricr’tural college graduates and others in training for positions as farm managers or workers in agricultural science. England is one of the last of the great nations to establish a department or government board of agriculture. A bill for the purpose was read the first time just before .Parliament adjourned, and will come up at the present session. It transfers to tho proposed department about all the power j and duties relative to agricultural matters now given to the privy council, the land commissioners and others. Hitherto all that has been done by the government has been through various channels and upon no organized system, but the proposed bill groups all three duties under the one head. The board is to be composed of the president of the council, the principal secretaries of state, the first commissioner of the treasury, the chancellor of the exchequer and of the duchy of Lancaster, aud the secretary for Scotland, oae of whom, or a member of tho privy council, shall be appointed president by the Queen.