NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Jau Christison writes as follows in Tuesday's Daily Time on the shipment of grain : — "Being a stranger in New Zealand, and having business at Port Chalmers which detained me there nearly a month, I made it my business to examine several parcels of grain, and watched those that were examining grain for different ships loading at the Port. Well, as I have some knowledge of the Colonial and European grain trade, I beg to warn farmors and exporters against the suicidal policy of exporting grain unclassified, and would impress on those interested the necessity of examining the grain more closely, and by competent grain viewers or examiners. lam greatly mistaken if there is not more mischief already done this season through shipping mixed and unfit grain than what can be remedied for several years to come. My advice is, examine closely all farmers' parcels, and for examiners employ competentmen— men of undeniable trustworthiness, otherwise you will find our Otago grain distrusted in tho markets of the world. Being a Dane, I am not able to express myself freely in English, but those interested ought to watch closely what is being done,

There can, perhaps (uayß the Canterbury Weekly Preßa), be no better preparation for wheat than a ci op of peas or beans. Beans thrive best in heavy clay soils. The value of a pea crop, and the beneficial influence it exerc'ses on the following wheat crop, are well known. Indeed, the pea crop may be termed a restorer of fertility to soils exhausted of nitrogen through constant cropping with cereals. The leaves and roots of the Dea crop left in and on the ground furnish a supply of nitrogen to the following grain crops,' hence the value of peas in rotation with cereals. To secure the greatest benefit to the soil this crop must ba sown early, so as to obtain a plant that will completely shade the soil. As a rule early crops yield the best. It is somewhat surprising that peas are not more generally sown, considering their value as food for all kinds of stock, and their fertilising influence on the soil. The haulm, or straw, is excellent feeding for young cattle, and it chaffed, moistened with water, and dusted with crushed linseed, it makes capital food for milking cattle. Beans and red clover are also an excellent crop to rotate with wheat, but beana will only thrive on strong soils.

DrMarek, of Konigsberg, read a paper before the German Millers' Association recently on the Cultivation of wheats rich in gluten and producing a large yield." The speaker said bia attention was first attracted to the subject in 1879. His labours and experiences were extended chiefly in two directions : to the chemical composition and percentage of gluten and nitrogen in the saznples examined, and to the means of increasing the quantity of gluten or nitrogen. In 1882 he had tfevoted his attention to the cultivation of tIW earlier varieties of wheat, as they were of most importance in East Prussia. He did not confine his experiments to ascertaining the amount of gluten, but also found out the amount of nitrogen in each sample. The spring wheats showed a proteine percentage of 10*6 per cent, to 17 03 per cent., according to their origin, the Russian varieties being richer in gluten (the greatest percentage of proteine) : then followed the Hungarian and South German, while the poorest varieties came from East Prussia and Scandinavia. In 1881 he examined 72 varieties of winter wheat, which showed enormous variations in the percentage of proteine, from 7"8 per cent, in the lowest, to 24 "8 .per cent, in the highest. Sheriff's square-head wheat had 18 '88 per cent, of proteine. The English varieties differed much, but did not belong to the poorest in gluten, from which the speaker concluded that the locality in which tho wheat was grown affected the percentage of gluten and proteine. This he had proved by experiments with the same kind of seed grown in different parts of the country. He looked upon a definite characteristic of the varieties rich in gluten as extremely difficult, almost impossible under these circumstances. The specific weight was not a characteristic for the percentage of gluten ; the smaller berries appeared to contain more nitrogenous matter than the large ones. The weight per measure, to which so much importance was attached in commerce, was not reliable either to give ths percentage of nitrogen, but smooth, glassy wheats contained, in general, more nitrogenous matter than the floury ones. In his experiments he found that by liberally manuring the ground he could, with spring wheata, increase from 10 per cent, the percentage of proteine up to 18 per cent., the nitrogenous matter increasing in proportion to the amount put into tha soil. With winter wheats he found thi» was not the case. — Adelaide Observer.

Mangel 3 for the last century hays proved their value, and year by year, while improved cultivation has been brought into play, has the yield per acre increased. To farmers and dairymen this root is valuable, and the enormous weight per acre which has been, and which, under skilled labour, can still be produced, ought to incline our culturists to pay i more than common attention to the crop. At the various agricultural shows which we have attended this year we could not but be gratified at the improved quality of all roots belonging to this tribe of plants. Evidently, greater care has been bestowed upon the selection of seed, and cer* tainly an improved system of culture has been introduced. The roots we examined at Dandenong, Heidelberg, Bairnsdale, and j again at Lancefield, showed a great superiority in quality, symmetry, and size over those roots exhibited even ten years since. Those who wish to grow their own seed should now select the best-shaped roots for planting out. Plantr these in a richly - prepared piece of land, and allowing a ' square yard to each root, abundance of seed may be secured for the spring of 1884. Care must be taken not to grow more than one variety on one plot ; but neighbourly farmers can agree with each other to exchange weight for weight of seed, and one may grow long reds on nis farm and the second long yellows. The same arrangement might be made with the globe sorts ; Swedes also. — Melbourne Weekly Times. /- ■' Green Manures. An American farmer once wrote : — " I have never yet been able to make as much barnyard manure as I wanted, and commercial fertilisers are dangerous things to come in contact with a farmer's pocket, so I touch them lightly. Then what is the next best resort ? Green manure," Many a settler in this country can testify to the truth of two of the facts above stated, namely (1), that it is hardly possible to make as much stockyard manure as is usually required, and (2) that fertilisers are somewhat dangerous to the pocket, inasmuch as they are expensive, and occasionally are not a little adulterated. But very few settlers have resorted to the practice of green manuring — a system that is within jAach of all, and . that might be tried with g>^}t advantage on some of the farms in this Province. Such were the benefits resulting from green manuring, that the farmer above referred to exultingly writes : — " I now believe you may grow wheat en the same lands year after year by following each crop with a pea fallow, along with 10 bushels of lime per acre, applied when the peas are ploughed in. We did not apply any lime to our fallow, as the land had been limed a few years before with 50 bushels per acre. I verily believe the lands can be cropped "as abov» stated, and constantly improved. We should never buy peas to sow but once, and thus save our seed each year, even ii you have to sow a separate lot for that purpose. I have tried peas as a fallow crop for the past three years, and find them the best and cheapest substitute for barnyard manures that the poor-land farmer can find." When a green crop is ploughed in — no matter what it may be — fermentation commences, and in a short time changes the whole into a rich compost of black mould. The larger the crop the more of course will the land be enriched. Some plants, howaver, are much better adapted for green manures than others. But the practice itself has been in existence from the earliest times ; and various plants have beon tried for the purpose in different countries. 1 For instance, in China coronilla and trefoil are grown specially to be turned in as a manure for the crdp of rice. In the United States both clover and corn are utilised for gteen

manures ; while in France beans and tares are used for the same purpose. The Italians plough in lucerne, and in Tuscany white lupins are used to enrich the soil. It is well known that, in parts of both England and Scotland, farmers employ turnips and mustaid, buckwheat and tares, clover and rape, for preen manuring their land, and generally with beneficial results. Writing on the subject, Pi ofessor Johnson aays — and ne puts the sentence in italics to emphas-ise the words — " Indeed, a green crop ploughed in is believed, by some practical men, to enrich the soil as much as the droppings of cattle from a quantity of green food three times a<< qrreat. ' lied clover is an especially excellent plant for green manure, and has always been a favourite crop with wheatgrowers, to plough in as a preparation for growing the cereal. The theory w that clover plants, striking their roots much deeper in the soil than the plants of wheat, and, when more or less developed, becoming as green manure incorporated with the ground instead of being removed from it, will necessarily transfer to the soil a due proportion of mineral matters, which, being assimilated by the wheat, increase its growth and productiveness. How clover, ploughed in, enriches the land for a wheat crop, is explained in this way in one of the Journals of Science : — " Clover takes from the soil more potash, phosphoric acid, lime, and other mineral matters than any other crop usually grown. But during its growth a large amount of nitrogenous matter accumulates in the soil, and this on its decay is transformed into nitrates, which are especially beneficial to cereals." Rye and rape are also good crops for ploughing in, and, as the former will grow on comparatively poor soil, it might on such soil prove a better crop to sow than either «ape or olover. There is not the least doubt that, in the place of leaving land fallow during winter, a good deal of it would be highly improved if some crop were sown on it and left until the spring, to be then turned in as green manure.

Bab in addition to the fertilising properties of these green manures, it must be remembered that they have also a mechanical action on the soil, in the Bame way that straw and stubble have when ploughed under. For all these materials mixed with the soil have a tendency to loosen it, to open its pores, to make it lighter — a very desirable effect upon some classes of land.

Without, however, entering into unnecessary details on this subject of green manuring, it may be of interest to quote what Allen says about the system so tar as it concerns the United Slates:— "This system has, within a few years, been extensively adopted in some of the older Bettled portions of the State**. The comparative cheapness of land and its products, the nigh price of labour, and the consequent exnense of making artificial manures, renders this at present the most economical plan that can be pursued. The object of the practice is, prima- ily, fertilisation ; and connected with it is the clearing of the ground from noxious weeds, as in fallows, by ploughing in the vegetation before the seed is ripened ; and finally to loosen the soil, and place it in the mellowest condition for the crops which are to succeed. Its results have been entirely successful, when Bteauily pursued with a due consideration of the objects sought, and the means by which they are to be accomplished. Lands in many of our Eastern States, which have been worn out by improvident cultivation, and unsaleable at lOdols an acre, have by this means, while steadily remunerating their proprietors for all the outlay of labour and expense by their returning crops, been brought up in value to s<> lots?'—" Agricola" in the Auckland Weekly N«ws.