NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 3 August 1888, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

We have now entered what is, according to the almanacks, the first mouth of The Season, spring, bub in these southern

latitudes, as a rule, we do not enjoy much springlike weather, nor see many tokens of ths presence of spring. To the farmer the advent of August is a rx minder of the flight of time and of the necessity of bestirring himself, for there is much to be done during the next few mouths and not over much time in which to do it. If spring wheat is to be sown the ground ought to be prepared this month, and the seed sown towards theend of this month, or early in the next at the latest. If wheat rises in price in the course of a month or two a considerable area will probably be sown, but for my part I don't hold wibh crowding in wheat at the lasi moment just because there is a probability of a fair price being obtained some eight or nine months hence. Better to grow a good crop of oats than a bad crop of wheat, and therefore it is not advisable to sow wheat in land that is not likely to yield a good crop. The weather we have had lately has been such as to cause farmers to despair of making much progress with the ploughing, and to suggest thoughts of wholesale draining operations being necessary before the land will carry a team of horses? I see that our Southland friends were boasting a week or two ago of the fine winter they were getting, but I fancy that the scene has changed since that paragraph appeared, and that the lambing reported as having begun has received rather a severe check. It is a true saying that ifc is not wise to brag until we are out of the bush.

Colonial farmers are prone to pay very little attention to v/hat they call bookArtificial farming, and to treat with Mauures. supreme indifference whatever

they see in books and newspapers intended for their instruction and improvement. The time will come, however, when all that appears in print relating to agriculture will receive more consideration at the hands of those for whose benefit it is produced. For instance, the natural fertility of our soils is being, and in many parts has been, exhausted ; and without the soil is replenished with the materials removed from it by continual cropping the farmer may rise early and work hard and late in vain. In order then to restore in some degree the natural fertility of the soil he must fiud out what substances have been taken from ifc, and in what proportion they require to be returned to it in order to effect his purpose. To ascertain this he must possess a considerable knowledge of chemistry, and even then he must grope along in the dark, as it were, feeling his way and substantiating his surmises and ideas by continuous experiments. But; by means of books he may acquire the information he is in want of with the greatest ease, for books contain all the results of the knowledge and, experiments of the best scientific and practical men of the day in the most concentrated and useful form. Farmers in Britain appreciate to the fullest extent the information that is gathered for them by men who devote themselves to the science of agriculture, and are not slow to make use of every means in their power I to further their own interests directly, and indirectly the interests of the nation. A number of the leading men of the kingdom form themselves into an agricultural society, and use every exertion to improve the condition of agriculture generally. I will here only refer to one branch of their operations by which farmers are directly benefited. The society employ an eminent agricultural chemist, to whom any farmer in the United Kingdom may apply direct for information. We will suppose a farmer wishes to purchase a quantity of artificial food for stock or manure for the land. He is offered a quantity at a certain price, but knowing that many spurious and adulterated articles of the kind are' in the market, he avails himself of the services of I the chemist retained by the society, and f ovwards a sample of the article to him aud states the price he is to give for it. He forwards, say, a sample of superphosphate of lime which is to cost him £7 per ton. In due time he receives an answer from the analytical chemist informing him that the manure is largely adulterated and not worth half the price asked for it. It may contain 20 per cent, of sand and 45 per cent, of gypsum, for which, without being forewarned, he would have paid an exorbitant price and wasted much labour at applying it to the land, to say nothing of the loss and disappointment resulting from the use of such rubbish. To a farmer in a largo way the opinion of the chemist in such a case would save him from the ' loss of several hundreds of pounds sterling. That farmer would pot be likely to sneer at a work on agriculture written by the man who was able to use his knowledge to such good pur« jpdse.

The remarks of Dr Aitkin anent this subject bring to mind the case of the Exhausted celebrated pastures in Cheshire Gfrass. that produced the famous Cheshire cheese, noted for its richness and flavour. Many years ago the meadows in some parts of the county fell off considerably, and began to show symptoms of exhaustion, and the manures usually applied failed to restore their wonted fertility. At last it was discovered that the soil reauired bone manures, and when these were used the grass regained its strength and sweetness and cheese producing qualities. These meadows were, of course, composed of a large variety of the best grasses, and had probably been in existeuce as pasture land for many years. The depreciation in the dairy produce was not owing to the grass being worn out through age, but through the landrequiring certain constituents to be renewed j thathad been drawn upon for along period. Now, in the case of our own pastures the circumstances are totally different. The pastures we lay down, composed of three or four grasses at most, usually die out in a few years on soil that we consider good strong wheat land. On rich flats and peaty swamps our pastures stand good much longer, but when it runs out it is owing generally speaking to want of permanency in the nature of the grasses more thau to any exhaustion of the soil. Dr Aitkin, in his lecture on manures, says that grass requires phosphoric manures when it shows signs of weakened vitality. That may be quite correct as regards the doctor's own country, but we havevery few pastures that would pay for expensive manures. In course of time we may be enabled to procure all the best English grasses at a cost very much below the present price, and then it may be worth while to form permanent meadows and go to some trouble to keep up their luxuriance.

A good many years ago it was reported that a company was about to be formed Sewage for the purpose of starting a large Manures, sewage farm near Dunedin. The project, however, fell through, and the sewage of the town continues to pollute the harbour. Sewage farming is a comparatively new and untried subject in this colony, but none fche less is it true that the sewage wasted in a year from a town liknDunedm alone is equal in value to many hundreds of tons of artificial manures. The lafifi Mr Mechi was a strong believer in the value of town and farmyard sewage, and quoted astonishing results from the use of ifc. In writing on the subject many yecirs ago he said that utilising town sewage was only a question of hydraulics. AH that is wanted is a pump to raise the sewage, pipes to convey it, and land to receive it. In the case of Dunedin the difficulty may lie in the matter of suitable land to receive the sewage. The soil requires to be of a very porous nature to enable it to absorb the sowage in sufficient quantities to give heavy crops. The results of sewage manure are not nearly so satisfactory from clay soils as from a porous loam ; and probably herein lies {the difficulty of utilising Dunedin sewage,',as the bulk of the land in the neigh- I bourhood of the town is of a clayey character. I am able from my own observation to speak of the heavy crops of roots produced by farmers i near the town of Auckland who cart the nightsoil from the town and apply it to their root and hay crops. The soil was, however, in this case of a suitable nature for such applications, and gave most satisfactory results from the use of the town soil. Applying the contents of the ■ night cart to the soil is a very different thing from using the sewage — that is, the contents of the town sewers, which is diluted with all the storm water that flushes the street channels, as well as all the soapy water and other' slops that are poured down the house drains. To make use of the sewage in a liquid form expensive pumping and hydraulic machinery would be required, and probably the undertaking would not be a paying concern while farm produce is of so little value.

The improvement in the management of the turnip crop in the matter of Feeding off feeding off is one of the surest Turnips. signs of a better and more econo-

mical style of farming. It is not a great many years since the turnip crop was consumed in a very wasteful and extravagant fashion. A mob of sheep was turned into a field of turnips, of perhaps several hundreds of acres, to roam over the whole at their own sweet will. The shaws were, of course, eaten first, and then the crowns of the roots bitten into so that a large qumber of the roots were spoiled, and became rotten before the whole field could be consumed. Nowadays, however, a very different system prevails, the turnip fields are subdivided, and each portion is completely finished off before the sheep are allowed a fresh portion. In this way a crop is made to go very much further, and the sheep get more good from them. The expense of running up a temporary fence is nothing compared with the saving of the roots gained by doing so. Sheep fatten much more quickly and keep in better health when they have access to a few feeding boxes of good oaten sheaf chaff, and there is no question but that more is made of the oats in this way than by threshing and hauling them a long distance to market. A few old straw stacks, too, are a wonderful help to the sheep while on turnips. They spend their leisure time in picking at the straw, and it does them good as a change from the watery turnips.

Agbicola,