NEWS. NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2426, 12 September 1900, Page 6

NEWS. NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

"W. 8.," of Southland, asks if I think that 10 tons of lime put on very What is a Dose sour land would stop all vegeof tation from growing for 10 Lime? years? and also what is the bigest dose I have ever known or heard of being applied? To this latter query I may answer that* as much as 10 tons has been applied years ago to sour, reclaimed land in Britain. The quantity and frequency of lime applications depends upon the nature of the soil, its depth, and the quantity and land of vegetable growth. If the land be badly drained more lime and more frequent applications are needed, therefore it is most important that sour, wet land requiring lime should bo well-drained alid so require Ics lima to effect the desired improvement. When a soil is shallow less lime is needed to impreg-

nate the whole, but, as a rule, shallow soils are light in texture and do not require artificial additions of lime. If "W. B." will go into a slight calculation he will find that the heaviest dose of lime ever put on land is such a small fraction of the whole bulk of surface soil that it can alter only in a slight degree the_ chemical composition of the soil. An ordinary liming of a ton or two to the acre when mixed up with the soil will not amount to more than one-fifth per cent, of the soil. In fact, it requires about 12 or 15 tons of lime per acre to add 1 per cent, to the bulk of a soil 12in in depth, 1 per cent, being only one-hundredth part. I may tell "W B." that in reclaiming deep swamps and marshes in Britain as much as 100 cubic yards of chalk, marl, and lime have been put on per acre to lighten and sweeten the soil. But that large amount when spread over an acre covers the surface only lin in depth. There are 4840 square yards in an acre, and a ton of lime is 22401b or 4480 half-pounds, so that one ton would give less than half a pound to each square yard, and 10 tons would, therefore, allow less than 51b of lime to the square yard, and if "W. B." will try that application on a few yards as a test he will find that there will be no risk of killing- the herbage for 10 years, or one year, or even one day if the land be very sour and contains much vegetable matter. As much as 10 tons per acre of lime has been applied to such land in the old country with good effect. " J, H." sends me a very brief and unsatisfactory query anent a mixA Seed ture of grass and clover seeds. Mixture. -He wishes to know how much he should sow to the acre of rye grass, white clover, red clover, and trefoil. It is impossible for me to farm land without seeing it, and alsd- without getting any information about the soil, climate, and other circumstances which govern such queries as the "one under notice. 1 can only assums that the seeds mentioned by "J. H." are suitable for the land he proposes to sow, and that he is not bound by the question of expense. Such being the case 1 can only advise *" J. H." to be libeial with the seeding, for I have always found that, a3 a rule, when tho soil is any way.s suitable, the thicker the seeding the better tho pasture. White clover and trefoil must have pretty moist soil in order to do much good, and it is of little use to sow them on hard and dry downs or on a dry, stony flat. Clovers of all kinds delight in a free, calcareous soil, and cannot thrive where the soil is stiff and clayey. As "J. H. y ' has not told me what his soil is like I will take it for granted that he thinks it suitable for the seeds he intends sowing and I will b9 on the liberaZ side and say 301b ryegrass, 31b red clover or cowgrass, lib of white clover, and lib of trefoil to the acre. If the soil is adapted for these seeds the result should be a good thick bottom, and a lot of feed in favourable seasons. A story comes from America anent a sure and certain means of detaching A New Bot bots from the lining of the Destroyer. stomach of a horse. A gentleman in Georgia took a notion that he would try a few tests upon ,a quantity of live bots taken from a horse which died from a superabundance of them. He first tried all the remedies he had heard of, but most of them had no effect. When put into sage tea they died in 15 hours; but as that was too slow a process, he tried' them in nitric acid ; but it seemed to trouble them no more than water. He then bruised some tansy, and made an infusion of the juica and put some of the bots into it. They were dead in a minute ! As he had a horso suspected of being troubled with bots, he gave him some tansy tea in the morning, and a dose of salts ia the evening. The next morning the hors&'s dung contained three half pints of bots. If this statement be true, and it should be reliable, as it is published by' the United States Department of Agriculture, we have at last an effective cure for horse bots, which should have been worth an immense sum to the discoverer if he had patented it instead of making it known. The tansy plant is a native of Britain, and the Continent of Europe, and is very common in gardens there. The common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) is probably also well known to many of the readers of these notes. It is a plant with a sweet smell, but very bitter taste, having small button-shaped yellow flowers. If it proves to be the case that a tansy decoction, which can be so simply and cheaply made, is an effective cure for bots, it will soon be in the market all ready prepared and bottled, and it may be that the tansy plant will have to be cultivated in order to supply the demand. In years gone by tansy was much used in medicinal preparations, also in culinary operations as a flavouring ingredient in cakes and puddings. Tansy wine and tansy tea was also popular among village doctors as a stomachic. The director of the- New Jersey Experimental station has just published the Scab on results of a series of exp&riPotatoes. ments made by him during the last six years, with a view . to ascertaining the cause of v/hat is known as "scab" upon potatoes and other roots. The report deals with many ingenious and varied tests, and covers a wide field of investigations, including the degree of susceptibility to scab in different varieties; seed fungicides, soil fungicides, life of the germs, and methods of inoculation. There is no need, however, to go into these matters, as we are only concerned with th© acLual results of the learned professor's researches. He has come to the conclusion that of seven standard varieties tested, the "early rose"' was the mo3t susceptible to scab. He found, too, that scab germs are in the . soil, and can retain their vitality for at least six years ! In testing the inoculation of soil with scab germs, he had scabby seed potatoes producing a crop of tubers so scabby as to be worthless. He also, in another "test, had manure from cattle fed with scabby potatoes dug in with clean seed potatoes; -but in this case the crop was not nearly so much damaged by scab. Numerous other tests were made, and it was proved that uninfested soil can be contaminated by planting diseased sets, . and that it lakes years to get that soil clean again so as not to infedt healthy sets. The professor also made many tests with the object of finding most effective means of killing the scab germs. Lime, gas-lime, kainit, corrosive sublimate, sulphur. Bordeaux mixture, sulphuric acid, coal oil, benzoline, and many other less familiar chemicals were tried, and it was found that lime, in most cases, increased the disease, while the corrosive sublimate had some curative effect; but sulphur alone yielded re?r>lt= mf ficicnt to warrant i(a recommendation as a pro-. vontivo of scab. The professor is most emphatic in slating thi,-, and adds thai freshly-cut seed potatoos should be rolled in fn.ilph.ur powder, and that as much as 3001b of this substance may be applied in the open drills with advantage. The professor says that washing oi soaking scabby seed potatoes in a solution of corrosive sublimate has been the lemedy commonly advised of late years, but he thinks that Fuch treatment will not prove of much use when potatoes are plan tod in scab-infes-ted soil. Whether he "is right or notj it oau-

not signify much, for surely there" is no ona so foolish as to plant scabby seed in clean; soil, nor yet clean seed in scabby soil. Whoever follows such idiotic practices can only expect, as they will certainly get, just such re-. suits as they deserve. AGRICOLA.,