SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 14

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

lEhom Our Own Correspondent. ) The past month,- unlike" "the two previous months, has been very wintry. The Weather The first fall of snow this and winter took place on the 7th tho Fnrm. v it >t anc ] snowstorms occurred again from the 21st- to the 24-th. A severe trost -was also experienced during this period, the night of the 24th being in the opinion of some old residents the coldest ever experienced in Southland. Stock had a hard time last month, especially whore straw slacks were not available. Good straw is of considerable value for both .cattle and sheep, and in tho older districts there is not nearly enough of it. .Farmers living in old settlements express surprise when they see the landscape dotted with stacks in thoJater settled districts. A number of years ago it was tho practice with many farmers to feed oaten chaff to sheep, and feeding-boxes were to be seen everywhere. They have disappeared long since, ami nobody, with the exception perhaps of carpenters, regrets that such boxes are not now in use. Not much chaff is now given to slteep, and there is in ' consequence a considerable saving in cost of management. A little ohaff is no doubt beneficial to them, hut hoggets sometimes gorge themselves to death when there is an un- ■ limited supply, and chaff has been supposed to have contributed to foot-rot through heating the feet while the sheep were feeding around the boxes. Stock aro healthy, and serious losses among sheep have seldom oceured during the last few years. Most sheep diseases and ailments are preventable, and can bo avoided by not overcrowding, and by ploughing the paddocks every four or five . years, or by depasturing occasionally with . horned stock instead of sheep. Some buyers of fat stock have dropped money through buying too largely during the boom, and owing to the difficulty experienced in getting meat shipped farmers have been unable to oispoee of fat sheep whenever they wished. Oats remain at a low prio<> notwithstanding I hat many farmers refrained from selling. A number of buyer? had heavy losses last year and probaDiy have no inclination to speculate. Milling sparrowbill has been sold it the sidings for some time at Is 2d; seed ' iparrowbill (that is, samples equal to milling, ' Jilt true to name) at Id more. Seed which i ' s described aa doubly dressed is not in all I ' jases up to the mark, and I have &een such j ;eed improved by another dressing. There 1 s 1 great deal Df discoloured oats for Bale ' md bright samples may be worth a few < icnce more later in the ?eason. The severe costs have spoiled a good deal of potatoes dnelrwerS-Stored in buildings, and pits have ;een damaged in some -.placet also. There j las not been much ploughing clone during i •he month, but as a good deal of land was | ' urned over previously there is a probability • hat the majority of farmers will be pre- ] )ared to sow in due time—that is, from the < >eginmng of September to the middle of 1 )ctober. Some hesitate to sow early in Sep- 1 ember on account of the depredations of < urds. but as there a risk of loss through 1

bad weather in a late season it is advisable to sow early. Draining has bean carried on here in the older settlements for a oonDrainiitg. siderable number of years, and during the last half dozen years a great deal of this work has been done in the newer districts. The dram plough is not now so generally used as it was a few years ago, but it is still being used, and with satisfactory results, in districts where the subsoil is stiff clay, and the fall sufficient. I cannot say what is the minimum amount of fall necessary for satisfactory draining with • the mole plough ; but should think that il would need to bo greater than the minimum required for open ditches and covered drains — viz., Bft per mile (1 in 660). Tile draining is more satisfactory in all cases, and there is a continuous extension of the area of land drained in this way. It is a curious fact that there is much more land being drained in winter than in summer. Some explain it by saying that it is oasier to ascertain the fall when tho land is wet, and others say that it is because labour is not so scarce in tho winter time. Levelling instruments are used by ~ but few ; and good workmen say that they are not required, and that if the employer lets_ the cutting of the drain only, there will be ocular evidence of the nature of" the work. Some of the best workmen commence the drains at the source of the drainage area, and ascertain the fall by observation ns they proceed. It is advisable, however, to itEoertain the depth that the drain will have to l>e made at its' outfall; but this can be' found by mean a of an ordinary spirit level, or a v/ater level. A plain draining level with sights and aro divided to degrees, also -giving rise and fall . in inches per yard, with tripod staff, costs about £2. The usual depth of the drains, made here is P.^ft, and the pipes mostly in ' use are those of 2iin diameter. Firat-class ditchers charge for drains 2£ft deep at the rate of 2s 6d per chain, or about 7d per cubic yard of stuff removed, and prefer not to have anything to do with tho laying of the tiles, or with covering them. Anyone can lay the, tiles, and the covering can be much more' cheaply done with the plough than by mean* ' of band labour. Open ditches cO3t less (about 4d per cubic yard), as there is not so much time occupied in making a uniform fall. Agents are again busy soliciting ordera for i _ manures, and endeavouring I Manures, to secure priority so as to dispose -of as- much as possible. But farmers should not be in top much hurry to oblige them, unless they are buying manures which they have proved to be good. There are a number of different manures, or at least there aro manures which are known by different names, and the most satisfactory testimony of their quality is that ascertained v by careful trial. Turnips are practically the only crop manured, and the beat for producing a heavy crop- should be used. It is folly to bo persuaded into buying a, fertiliser.whioh exerU moro influence on succeeding crops than on the one to ■which it is applied. Aa. Aikman remarks in his interesting little book dh the food of crops, "The slow acting-fer-tilisers whose influence tells through several years are no longer regarded ■with such fa- 7 your as they wer& — and rightly -so " ; and • again, " it is an open question whether bones have not been in the past, as a rule, overvalued by farmers. They give, no doubt, what has been termed ' backbone' to the soil, but the tendency of modern agricultural prao- ■ tice is to use quick-anting manures rather than slow." A few years ago a number of: farmers tried artificial manures on the cereal crops, but the quantity used was so small (Icwt per acre), and the seasons so wet, thafc there was little difference between the manured and the unmanured portions. The cereal crops are not so exhaustive as tho root crops, and it is sufficient in order to restore fertility to the soil to manure the latter heavily, seeing that the crop is consumed by sheep where it grows. The cereals, it may be remarked, do not respond to manure so freely as turnips. Oats, wheat, and barley require somewhat similai manure. Tho first named is always depended upon to grow where nothing else will ; but if manure is applied, it should be in a readily available form, as this cereal, like barley, is shallow rooted. Mo3t farmers will appreciate the following remarks taken from the book already referrea to: — "Oats are a much hardier crop than barley, and they can grow on a wonderfully large variety -of soil, and under comparatively xdverse circumstances both of climate and situation. They are well suited for a damp slimate, and flourish on sandy, peaty, ot clayey soils. They show a preference, howsver, for soils rich in decayed vegetable matier. It is for this reason that they flourish ' io well in soils freshly broken up from pas.ure and are often the first crop to be growa >n such soils."