NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2058, 3 August 1893, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Although I have had something to say in this connection before, it is one of

Impoverishirient of The Soil,

those subjects that will always bear repetition, for it is upon the maintenance of the fertility of the soil thaii the continued

prosperity of our country depends. The one essential element of all soils, without which the food plants cannot grow, is phosphorus. This element occurs in the soil in the shape of phosphates of lime chiefly. The original source of phosphorus is the older sedimentary rocks, from which the soils are chiefly'derived. A fairly good soil should contain somewhere about one-tenth per cent, of phosphorus, or, say, roughly, lib of phosphorus to every 10001b of soil. This does not appear a very large percentage, yet it is sufficient to render a soil fertile so far as that all-important element is concerned. Since the percentage of phosphorus is so small in soils, it is easy to comprehend how, when the "grain is sold and the stock driven to market, there is a constant drain going on, which will, unless suitable fertilisers are used, soon completely exhaust the soil. The bones of animals contain from 60 to 70 per cent, of phosphate of lime, so that when the stock raised on the farm are sent away, the logs to the soil is very great.- In the thousands of carcases of frozen mutton sent away yearly there is a severe drain made upon our natural resources in this one element of soil fertility alone. This is a drain that will soon tell upon our naturally fertile soils, and in conjunction with the dairy export trade, speedily bring the farmer face to face with the agricultural chemist.

To show how speedily a soil can be depleted of its phosphorus in the ofdiHow the Soil nary course of husbandry, it is loses ~ only necessary to state -that if Phosphorus, we grow 50 bushels of wheat to the acre — not an extreme crop for a really fertile soil — we remove 101b of pure phosphorus from that acre of soil. ■ The phosphorus will be contained in about 501b of phosphate of lime. If oats are grown, 80 bushels will remove the same quantity. Six tons of potatoes, three or four tons of oaten hay, 20 tons of turnips or mangels, and 1400 gal of milk will each remove 101b of phosphorus from the soil. From this it is easy to understand how a soil gradually becomes weaker in phosphorus. Clover hay rapidly robs a soil of its phosphorus, and it is safe to calculate that in the bones of every eight sheep we ship across the seas we are making our country 101b the poorer in phosphorus. In the one and three-quarter million carcases sent away yearly there is a very serious drain indeed, which is not counterbalanced by the pure phosphorus imported for rabbit poisoning. In any case the rabbits for the most part die in their burrows, and so there is no g&in to the soil. While we have virgin soil to operate upon, and while our agriculture is still young, we may not feel the drain ; but we may rest assured that the time will come, and that all too soon, when the fields will show phosphorus hunger, and then fertility will only be restored at great expense. Wise is the farmer, then, who recognises that his soil is his bank, and if he makes too big an overdraft he will land himself in agricultural bankruptcy.

In view of the tremendous importance of phosphorus in the soil, the, The Best Soil farmer who finds an originally Fertilisers, good soil deteriorating in quality cannot do better than use phosphates of lime .to restore the fertility. In every such case phosphate of lime is the very best fertiliser, in whatever form it may be applied. The most reliable phosphate is, of course, bonedust, in the unadulterated state. Next to that comes some of the guanos, which are most excellent natural manures. A good guano should contain about 50 per cent, of phosphate of lime, in a more or less soluble condition ; and since 501b of phosphate of lime contains lQlb of phosphorus, about 1001b of good guano is sufficient to restore the phosphorus required for one season's crop. The farmer who uses lewt of guano to the acre is not therefore far out, if the guano is reliable. Just here arises the necessity for the Manure Adulteration Act, to compel merchants to supply a manure of guaranteed purity. Next to the guanos come chemioal manures, and these latter, above all others, require the vendor's certificate, to guarantee the percentage of phosphates they contain. The ordinary farmyard manure is tolerably rich in phosphorus, but in most cases the liquid [portion, which is richest in phosphorus, is allowed to run to waste. And last, but not least, seaweed and marine plants generally are rich in phosphates.

The duration of manures in the soil is another

important matter. For catch Soluble and crops and turnips or hay the Insoluble soluble phosphates may prove Phosphates, the best. The very best soluble phosphate is that known as superphosphate of lime. This is readily made by dissolving bones in weak sulphuric acid. When superphosphate is used it should only be applied to a thoroughly drained soil.- Unless care is taken the manure will go down the drains and water courses instead of to the roots of.the plants. For sowing in turnips or mangel drills where the ground is necessarily drained dry superphosphates are very suitable ; the same might be said for potatoes, but for grass and grain orops the insoluble phosphates will be found in the end to give the best results. Insoluble phosphates, such as bonedust, givo the speediest results when finely ground, and the finer the quicker the crops will get the good of the manure. Insoluble phosphates are gradually rendered soluble through the action of certain acids in the soil, but the process goes on very gradually, so that the finer the state of division of the manure the quicker the conversion will go on. These are matters that should be within the ken of every farmer, as it is only by the application of science to modern husbandry that any country can attain pre-eminence as a producing country.

Most farmers know that good tilth is essential to the production of good crops, Yalno of a Good and that the expense of giving Scortbea. the land a thorough good working is money well laid out. It Jg peare.ely credible, however, that there should be such a difference in the yield from land ploughed once only and the same land ploughed twice, as is shown by the result of experiments made in this direction. Experiments, have been made with a field of wheat div{de4 into four different plots of an acre ploughed once and harrowed once, the third ploughed twice and harrowed onoe, and the f onrfb ploughed twice and harrowed twice. In other respects the 'plots were the same, there being no perceptible difference in the quality of the land,',and the same seed, and -in the same quantity, was used upon all the plots. The first plot produced 16 bushels, the eeconq

18, the third 121, and the fourth 23 bushels, showing a difference of seven bushels between that plot ploughed once and ,that, which was ploughed twice and harrowed twice. In fact the increase of yield is in mathematical proportion to the amount of cultivation given to each plot, and there is no doubt that, in this case at anyrate, the increase of yield would more than pay for the extra expense of the preparation. I t can scarcely understand why there should be so. much difference in the yield, for wheat, as a rule, does not require a particularly fine seedbed, and much more generally depends upon what is in the land than upon the tillage of the same. I have grown splendid crops of wheat from new land prepared in the roughest manner, for when new land is broken up full of tussocks the cross plough is usually a pretty rough job, and the surface is, in such oases, very rough and lumpy, and yet if the land is good, there is invariably a good crop. In fact the surface of an autumn-sown wheat field should be left in a rough condition to protect the young plants through the winter, and also to prevent the surface from caking. It is the nature of the roots of the wheat plant to search and penetrate in all directions through the soil, and a fine seedbed is not considered at all essential to the success of a wheat, crop, providing the land is good and the seed sown in due season. - A rule cannot be laid down as the result of one experiment, and I Would not accept the result of the foregoing experiment as an infallible proof that wheat will pay for the formation of a fine seedbed. Barley, oats, grass, clover, &c, revel in a finely-worked soil if other things are favourable, but wheat is supposed to be able to extract the nourishment it requires from the soil without much attention being paid to 'the fineness of the seedbed.

This name of windgalls originated in the idea that they were filled with air Windgalls because of the puffy, elastic feel in a Horse, which' they have. The correct name is bursal swellings, and they consist of distended sacs filled with joint oil (synovia). Treatment of these so-called windgalls is only r considered necessary under certain circumstances. Generally speaking, they do not produce lameness, excepting where inflammation is present, or they become so large as to interfere with the motions of the joints or the movements of the tendons. They are, hovever, unsightly, to say the least, and do ' not conduce to the satisfactory sale of a horse from the vendor's point of view. The best - means of reducing them is an elastic bandage or - truss, and apparatus can be obtained to suit any case of this sort. Other means of treatment may be found in the different forms of counterirritation, setons, blisters, and - firing. An < effective method in old and severe pases, is that of passing a seton under the skin over the swell ling and leaving the seton in for some weeks. Then, when the wounds, have healed and the ° inflammation has subsided, further treatment may be resorted to in the form hi a blister or the firing iron. This is considered rather a severe plan, and is only adopted in bad cases which have resisted milder treatment. " .Agbicola.