NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Having completed lny own harvest I indulged in a trip through more southern stacking. and later districts 'in order, *». 4. i amon 8 ° th <» things, to see how the oat market ib likely to be affected by the famous yields of Southern oata. There are undoubtedly some splendid oropa of oata all over the country; well headed and well filled, and straw in proportion., The old* back* delivery reaper, or tilter, M it is commonly called, as not yet altogether die-carded, as- 1 saw it in use in more than one paddock of oats. There ia no question l that hand tying has one •great advantage over the maohine tying in a wet harvest, as the sheaves are never too tightly, bound by hand, and thus dry out modi faator after rain. The machines all pinoh the sheaf very tightly and make a sort; of dent or waist where the band goes round, and this prevents quiok drying as well as the tightness of the band. In outting a late and heavy crop the tension dip should, I think, be adjuated/ao that the sheaf will not be drawn together too tightly ; better to have a few Bheaveß fall out of the bandß than beoome rotten in the Centre because of the wind not being " able to co through them. Stacking and reaping I saw going on side by.' Bide, ' but the majority of the oropa will not ba in stack for a few weeks yet. Stacking is an operation that generally gives the farmer a good deal of anxiety unless he ia a competent staoker himself, and builds his own stacks. Nearly every man who oalls himself a stacker thinks his system or style is muoh better and safer than tbatof anybody else. But while there are^eome so called stackers who cannot build a rain-proof ataok, I think that nowadays farmers, if they cannot 3taok themselves, have sufficient sense to be able to- know when the work is being properly done, and will not entrust" the safety of their grain to any man who does not possess enough kuowledge of hydrostatics to keep the ram from running into the centre of a staok. Many Old Country stack-bui'dara pay no attention to Ike slope of the sheaves in the staok so long as the shape and outline of thd staok is symmetrical and corraot. Tueso men no doubt have been in the habit of building so in the Old Country, wherf/tbe t hatcher and his assistants are ready to thatch the staok a3 soon aa it is put up. In a reoent number of ft weTknown Northern farming papor there appasr d a- ill at a. i -a of the proper way- in which to lay the sheaves in a stack, but though the £lan thus shown would be perfectly safe, it would, I think, cause an unnecessary amount of trouble in building. The sheaves wara shown in the illustration to be eloping downward at a short. angle all the way from the bottom to the top, and the itaok had also a considerable " spring "—that is, the butt or alem of the stack was muoh wider at the eaves tbaa at the bottom, which gives the droppings from the roof a clear drop away from the stack. This latter is very prop9r and necessary, but I do not see any need to give the sheaves so much slope in the butt of the stack if the roof is properly put on and the eaves project beyond tha bottom of the 'stack. Then, again, there are safe stackers who build ugly stacks, thinking that as long as the grain is secure tbeappqaranceisnotof much importance. The safety of the grain 1b certainly of the first importance, bnfc I do not sea why safety and symmetry should not go together. . A wellbalanced and handsome stack is nn ornament to the farm, and there is no reason why all stacks should not be equally good both inside and outside. I have seen some very queerlooking specimens which appear to be secure from rain, but as a rule I think it will be found that a man who knows bis business can build good looking stacks that will, also be rainproof. At this time of the yoar the ground ia generally pretty damp, and it ia well worth while to put a load of straw below each stack. Straw is plentiful, and a eood bed saves much loss and bother at threshing. A practioal farmer writes a long letter to a Home paper upon the apathy uit and indifference so generally Worth the displayed by farmcra with rewhiid gpeot to what may be termei the minor sources of inooma upon a farm. It has become very fashionable juat lately in the Old Country to make muoh of the minor matters or little things, Mr Gladstone takes (ha lend w veqorattQltdiag

farmers to pay more attention to fruit-growing, poultry-rearing, &0., and readers of Rural Notes may remember that some months ago I told how the G.O.M. had advised his tenant farmers to go in even for rabbit-farming. The writer of the letter referred to at the beginning of this note also advocates the cultivation, for example, of strawberries, and Bhows how little labour a large plot requires, and how that, in a good season, a profit of £25 per acre may easily be made. He then goes on to say that a few pounds can be made by Belling garden stuff, but that a farmer's garden is generally a " howling wilderness," and that & good fanner rather prides himself upon its neglected oondltion, as he thinks it shows that he is so diligent in the business of looking after the farm that be has no time for such " unprofitable " work as tbe garden. The next items mentioned are tbe growth of one's own turnip and mangel Feeds ; then reference is made to the possibility of making a £10 note by having a plot of early potatoes fit for digging before other people have any ready. This is to be done by getting the seta Bprouted in a shed, and popping them into a warm dry patch of ground in a sheltered situation. Mention is next made of a Scotch farmer who grows seven or eight acres of carrots for sale eaoh year, and finds it a very piofitable orop. Of course the poultry yard, the dairy, and the piggery all come under the category of negfeoted means of income on many farms. Then the writer winds up with a stinging satire upon the prevailing contempt of little things, and the tendency to excuse neglect of such by saying, V It's not worth while." lam afraid a true bin may also be found against oolonial farmers in this matter, for holding, as a rule, larger farms than our brethren of the British Iblcs, we are still more prone to despise little things and devote all our attention to the pounds, leaving the shillings and pence to look after themselves. By doing so we reverse the old adage which says that if the penoe are shepherded the pounds will also be safe, and therefore we cannot espeot to prosper. Farming, in the truest sense of tha word, must, I suppose, be taken to mean the making the very greatest . possible profitable we in every possible way of everything that can possibly .be grown or reared upon a farm. But with all deference to the Grand Old Man and his ideas I must aay that whether or not a former should follow after filthy luore in variouß petty ways and mean* depends altogether on circumstances. Before growing strawberries or tomatoes for sale he must firat see whether' there is likely to be a market for them, and whether tha returns are not likely to be all Bwallowed up by expenses of growing and getting to market. If a farmer is pretty near a largish town and can get his butter, eggs, and fruit, &0., to market by means of an old horse and a spring oart, and, moreover, has a large family to assist him in looking after these matters, he is very unwise if he does not take advantage of snob favourable circumstances. On the other hand, what is the nee of a farmer going in for 'such things if he has to send them a long distance by rail, or has to employ labour in produoing and marketing them ? One farm near an ordinary country township may do a good deal of business with the non-producers that are always to be found where men do cougregate, but if a dozen or more farmers also competed in 'the aama limited market the demand would soon be swamped by the supply and prices would soon go far below the line. °f profit. Therefore I say, let every farmer do the best he can for himself with the means at his disposal according to the oiroumatanoeß in whioh he finds himself, and I would add that not in any case is he justified in neglecting any means of making a penny simply, because he is too lazy and disposes of the matter by saying, "It is not worth while." A general storekeeper keeps every article, big and little, that is likely to be required by his customers, and thinks as much of a penny made on a box of pills as one made on a ton of sugar or flour. A mixed farm is similar to a general store, and the ocoupier ahould endeavour to be supplied with everything that is saleable at a profit, whether if is fashionable to do bo or not. Follow no fashion or fad for any consideration whatever but' that of the almighty dollar.

The North British Agriculturist has an article under ihis heading, in which are "nigh" summarised the results of a Farming. recent turnip growing oompeti- '._ tion in the Lowlands of Scotland. A prize of £10 was offered by a nitrate company of London for the best two aores of turnips grown with nitrate of soda or \ wi^h nitrate and phosphates only. The competition was a conducted under the auspices of the looal agricultural society, by whom a committee was appointed at the proper time to measure off a plot of two aorea for eaoh entry, and by weighing the roots and shaws of tbe measured plots the total weight of roots and ahawa ' per aore w&b computed. There were six competitors for the prize, and with one ezoaption all the oompeting cropa were Aberdeen yellows, tbe other being Fosterton hybrids. The first orop inspected was growing upon a steep high-lying field, the previous crop having been oats. Five hundredweightof superphosphate, and 2owt of nitrate had been used, the cost being 323 per acre. The orop was Bound and healthy, the bulbs firm in the flesh, and the total weight per aore of tops and roots 32 tons. In the next entry the competing crop bad been grown after oats, sewt of superphosphates and f cwfc of nitrate being used at a cost of 21s per acre. This crop seemed eoarcely full grown, but the gross yield was 33 tons lfcwt per acre. Tha next entry only weighed 24 tons per acre, the cost being 27s per aore for Bnwt superphosphates and ljowt of nitrate. The fourth entry gave in return for 2|owt of superphosphates and l^owt of nitrate, 28 tons BJowfc of roots and shaws per acre, at a cost of 22a 6d per aore for manure. The fifth lot examined was not nearly full grown, but yet it totalled 32 tonn lljowt per aore, in return for 4owt superphosphates and 2^cwt of nitrate, which cost 32s per acre. We now come to the winning lot, grown by Dr Shirra Gibb, an energetic direotor of the Highland Sooiety. Hiß roots were after oats on land previously four years in grass. The plot had received 7cwt of superphosphates and lj of nitrate, costing 34s per aore, for a yield of 37 tons 17cwt of roots and shaws. It is certainly bigh farming to raise nearly 38 tons of good Bound roots per acre, and the cost of manures is a mere trifle, for in this orop we have more than 22owt of fodder for 6aoh shilling sp6nt in manure. But No. 2 does still better, tor for 33 tonß Ifowt at 21s per aore means 31§owt of food for each shilling expended, bo that with respect to relative cost for weight this lot comes out much the best though unplaced in the award for hsavy yield. The whole Bix allotments Bhow a wonderful yield for the amount .of manure, and great credit must be due to the various farmers oompeting, for suoh returns conld not b3 made unless the land had been in tip-top co idition irrespective of artificial manure.

This form of artificial manure is becoming very common in the Old Country as H«tr«te a means of eupplyine nitrogen or soda. to growing crops. In connection with the above-noted competition Sir J ft fcaww faM Bcmathiug to «»y

about nitrate of soda and the necessity for its use where the soil is deficient in nitrogen or any form of nitrio acid. It is well known that root cropß contain considerable quantities of lime, potash, &c , besides nitrogen and phosphates. Some authorities still cliDg to the old fashioned idea that plants derive their chief supplies of nitrogen from the atmosphere, but Sir John Laweß emphatically ' denies that such is the case, for he has repeatedly proved by experiment that root cropa cannot be grown continuously upon the same plot without supplies of nitrate of soda or similar manures containing nitrio acid. If the plants obtained their nitrogen from the air they would get as much in that way one year aa another, and other manures being supplied, the yield would not decrease. Sir J, B. Lawes says, "At the present time we are growing mangels upon a field which for a great may years had been devoted to root experiments, and it will only produce four or five tons per acre unless nitrogen is Bupplied in some form or other as well as the necessary mineral manures." He points out how, by the continuous growing of the same crop in a field without changing the manures, be gets information whioh oould not well be obtained by any other meanß. A field which with mineral manures alone only produced five tons of roots per acre yielded 30 tons when nitrates were added, so that seems pretty oonolusive evidence that nitrio aoid must be diffused through the soil, as well as present in the air, surrounding the plants. In the prize competition above noted phosphates and nitrate of soda were applied together therefore it is impossible to tell bow much was due to the aotion of each ; but in all the oases the quantity of superphosphates was as four or five to that of nitrate of soda— in one oase only f owfc of nitrate wbb used to sowt of superphosphates, and the crop yielded 33 tons per aore. This 3owt of nitrate oould not possibly have supplied all the nitrogen for such a orop, and therefore the |soil must have contained a good supply before. It appears from the account that this field had previously had cattle fed with large quantities of oU oake upon it, and this done would give a good supply of nitrogen. Unless there be sufficient nitrogen in the soil it must be applied in some form, for it is as essential to the full development of the turnip as the allowance of superphosphates. We all know the wonderful effect of lowt or 2owt per aore' of superphosphates upon a crop of turnips, and it must be that our land possesses plenty of nitrio aoid aa yet for growing roots ; but in the oourse of time we shall find that superphosphates alone will not be able to stimulate the soil to the same extent, and then one shall have to go in for nitrate manures aB well. AGBIOOLAi

and Wellington shows last year, and Caradoo was first as a yearling bull in Oamaru and Dunedin in 1889, and took second prize at last Dunedin show as a two-year-old, the only three times exhibited. The price Mr Riohmond gave for this handsome bull wag 60gs, and he was shipped to Melbourne by the Waihora. We (Times) feel assured, should Caradoo arrive safely in Melbourne, ha will maintain the fame of the herd of which he comes, and be heard of again at the front at the next Melbourne show. The ABhburton County Council are in favour of taking strong measures to cope with the small birds pest. They have decided to pay 4s 2d per 100 for full-grown small birds' heads, and have decided to recommend the Minister of Lands to introduce the sparrow hawk and merlin, and protect the native hawk. At the meeting at which these resolution were passed, Mr Grigg said that his storekeeper had told him that 59,000 eggs had been brought in to him by the boys immediately around LongBeach homestead. Mr Fooks bad told him that for the Wakanui Road Board and the county counoil he had paid £175 sa. He waa fn favour of paying 5b for the beads of grown birds, so as to make it worth the while of men to undertake their destruction, The nuisance was now so great that very Boon 20 per cent, of the rates would be absorbed by it. Five purebred Border Leicester ewes purchased by Mr W. Boag, of Canterbury, from Lord Palwortb, of Kelso, and landed at the Christohurch quarantine ground about three ttonths ago, have since given birth to eight lambs, and the small noon: are all doing well. " The Akaroa correspondent of a Ohrietohurch paper writes : — " Most of the grass-seeders have finished threshing. Much less seed is discoloured than was at first thought, and what has been damaged is due to its having been out on the green side. Farmers are looking out for a good price, and I have heard of some receiving 4Jd for seed once through the sieve." The harvest prospects of the Chatton district (writes the Mataura Ensign's correspondent) look bright this year. Cutting is about through, and stocking is being pushed on with all speed. The crops are uniformly good, especially the oats. The heavy wind of last week did considerable damage to late crops, but the bulk of the stuff being cut escaped. Grass and turnipß are moat favourable this season for the graziers. There will be considerable numbers of fat atook for sale by and bye. Mr Max Friedlander is sending from Canterbury to England, aa an experiment, some particularly heavy mutton. The weights of 10 half bred Hampshire Down one and two shear wethers, prepared for freezing, totalled 12801b, besides 2201b of fat. They were bred

says : — " But this adhesiveness of the milk and the stability of the mixture of fat in it stand in the way ot the butter-maker at times— when, for instance, the weatbor is hot, or when it is very cold — and some way must ba found to overoome these obstacles. Without mentioning the various other ways in use, we may merely consider how this mixture of water with the milk operates. It thins the milk and renders it less adhesive, and so causes the butter globules in it to rise with greater ease and rapidity. If we were to break up some corks into very fine particles, or take fine sawdust, and sink these with molasaea, we Bhould find they would rise to the top very slowly indeed, and the smallest particles would never get to the top, because of the adhesiveness or stickiness of the molasßes. If water be added, especially warm water, it would be quite different, and this is precisely the case with the milk." Several oases of cattle poisoning through j eating sorghum are reported in Victoria. A discussion has been going on for some i time in America as to whether the dishorning of cattle will perpetuate the polled character, and there have not been wanting advocates who affitm that such will be the result. If thi? theory be correct then (writes " Bruni" in the Australasian) all our breeds of domestio sheep should be without tails, for we have been persistently cutting them off for many hundred years. Notwithstanding this deprivation the tails of our domestio sheep are much longer than those of any known species of wild sheep. When, owing to what is commonly called a freak of Nature, a beast is born without Thorns, a polled variety may be produced, for such animals often have great prepotent power. Polled merino ramß are occasionally found, but I have never heard of an instance in whioh the produce of a polled merino ram was hornless. The well-known Parramore stud merinos in Tasmania were originally greatly inbred to a polled ram, and yet the rams from this stud have aB fine horns aa any in Australia. The Winton correspondent of the Southland News writes : — " The farmers here are in the middle of perhaps one of the best harvests the district has ever produced. The grass seed harvest was also a large and very prolific one. Some of our farmers who bad a considerable area in seed thia year will net a neat little cheque for their labour." In Victoria the Minister of Lands has been enforcing the powers of forfeiture in the case of persons holding rural lands for speculative , purposes. A reoent Government Gszotte contained over 15 pages of nameß of persons whose rentß for lands were overdue. The Leader Bays I that the list of arrears lately published does not, however, specially apply to defaulters of that class for whom the rod is in piokle in the

Donald Beaton • Scott (12 points) William More's Toss (8 points Hoberfc Duncan's Glea (7 poluts) D. Maofarlane's Bob (7 points) A. M'MMau's Toss (7 points) ... 1 ... 3 ... t ... t