NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2525, 6 August 1902, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The making of the family supply of butter gives a good deal of trouble Butter-makiug to housewives in the cold im Winter." ' weather, and the churning ia frequently a long and vexatious job. This is owing to the cream nob ripening properly, through the low temperature preventing the- formation of the bacteria, or germs, which are necessary to- the souring or ripening of the cream. If the cream crock is kept in a cold dairy, ifc requires to be slowly heated before being churned, and this is best clone by standing the< crock in a vessel of water at a temperature of lOOdeg Falir. TlnV should warm the cream to about 60deg, and it mitsfc bo kept stirred, < .Sb that ihero will be an even temperature 'all through. Overheating de-

prives thfc butter of colour and flavour, ant the proper use of a shilling dairy thermometer will ensure a c&rrect heating of thecream. The souring process oan be assisted by adding to the cream, tho day before churning, about half a pint of the buttermilk from the previous week's churning. Attention to these details prevents t\e> cream from swelling and frothing, aral getting so "sleepy" that it requires hours of churning to get the buttc-r.

" Southland "Farmer " write? me a long letter describing his experiFailore of ence in turnip-growing of Turnips. the past few years. He says that his turnips have brairded splendidly and grown well for the first two or three months, both on raised drills and on the flat; fo fast have they grown that lie has had difficulty in getting them singled in time. They flourish until they become a little- larger than a teacup, and then, he says, they seem to stop, sometimes going off colour;, but last season they kept their green appearance, but did not get any size. White turnips grow larger with him than yellow ones, but do not attain half the bisse- they should 1 He manures liberally and ' tills the land thoroughly, and reaps heavy crops of oats after the root crop. _ "Southland Farmer" is naturally much disappointed at such poor crops of turnips and cannot imagine any reason for it, and asks me if I can. account for the poor crop after' it has made such, a promising start. * Most turnips- were- peior this last season, owing to the excessive wet ; but "S. F." says his have been -failures for

As the season is now approaching for the sowing of winter wheats, farmers should use Isaaio and Blaib's " Standard " Grain Manure, which will add bushels of grain per acre to their crops. It is a manure of very high quality, and always gives satisfactory results. .Price £6 per t0n....

several seasons, and I cannot solve the puzzle for him. The diamond-backed moth sometimes attacks turnips when about halfgrown, and, by eating the leaves, stops the growth; but this peat has not been noticed for some years now, and I am sure that my querist would have 6een their depredations, as by eating all but*the veins of the leaves they give the latter the appearance of skeleton leaves. He thinks the land must be lacking some essential ingredient, but, seeing that it grew good turnips years ago on the virgin first furrow without manure, it must be good turnip land. Moreover, as he gives 2cwt of bonedust and superphosphate per acre on the flat and $ewt to the raised drills, the turnips cannot be in want of plant food. As the. manure he has been using has not proved satisfactory, he thinks some other might prove | more satisfactory, and asks if potash manure i would be likely to produce better results. Kainit and muriate of potash are the principal potassio manures, but the latter is not to be recommended except in particular cases. Kainit contains about 14 per oent. of pure soluble potash, and is a cheap manure; but I may tell "S. F." that mostsoils naturally contain all the potash necessary for turnips or grain, especially clayey soils. Kainit may be mixed with superphosphate or Peruvian guano or bonedust, and drilled with the seed. Perhaps it may be worth while for "Southland Farmer" to try 2ewt good kainit with lewt of superphosphate. It may bo that basic slag or litae would effect an improvement in this case. In reply to "S. F.s" question about mixing manures, I need only remind him that a good rule is to_ avoid using lime, or. any manure containing lime, with nitrogenous manures, as the lime causes the ammonia in such manures to become volatile and pass off in vapour. All organic manures — that is, those made from any animal substance — are, nitrogenous ; also farmyard manure. Lime in any form can safely be used with any phosphate manure. Ba?ic I slag is a useful fertiliser that is not much known here. It contains phosphoric acid and phosphate of lime, also free lime, and 19 good for roots, grain, or grass. Kainit is usually slow in action, and in recommending its use in this case in conjunction with superphosphate I have the idea that the superphosphate will start tho young plants, and the kainit bo available a few months later to carry them on ; but this sort of thing is purely experimental work, and it would bo well, perhaps, for my querist to try several different manures on adjacent plots and watch the result. All farming is experimenting, and experience is, rightly speaking, knowledge founded upon experiments. The writer of the letter under notice displays a good knowledge of farming and an intelligent grasp of the use of fertilisers. I hope he may got some good from adopting my suggestions, and I wish him better luck next year. A Hyde farmer writes to ask me if I think that Waverley oats would W«verlfjr suit the district, and deOat*. scribes the soil in which he proposes to sow. Waverley, Newmarket, Tarn Findlay, and Pioneer oats are now varieties, obtained by cross-breed-ing, and all have been given a good name in the Old Country.' The Waverley oat haß been especially commended both on account of its prolific nature and also because the grain is of good quality. There is no reason in the world why this oat should not do well in Central Otago, and the soil described by "Farmer" should produce a firts-rate crop if the season is fairly favourable. Any kind of oafc will do well in high altitudes, provided other things are favourable. I have seen grand crops grown as high as 1800 ft above sea. level. I have not tried the Waverley oat myself yet, but I have seen ft sample grown in Southland which was .-o heavy that five bushels were easily put into an ordinary fonr-Lushol sack. '"Farmer" says that he intends to chaff the crop for sale, and in that case he is quite right in -sowing thorn, as he intends, as early in August as tho weather will permit. I find that early-sown oats are usually the i>e.st for tho purpose he requires, and early sowing precludes danger from ru3t, -which is often bad in late oats if the season be moist. Tartars make good succulent straw , for chaff, but are not 9iich heavy yielders ' as the shorter oats under the same conditions. I bhould say that any bind of oats will do well in the soil mentioned, anc 1 if '"Farmer" use? seed of his own he will save the cost of buying Wnxerle-y seed; but that is a, matter for his own judgment, and if he is anxious to try the new oat lie need not fear any ill results becatise the climate of Central Otago may ba more severe than that of Southland. The climate of the j former is drier, but, so far as I can judge, the Waverley can stand a dry climate a« well as other oats. Hyde and Kokonga are about 1100 ft above sea lovel, Eanfurly nearly 1400 ft; theieforo there is no reason why oats should not do as well there as any- ! where, providing other things are favourable. The oats mentioned at the beginning of this note are not called Gar ton oats; that is, they were not produced by Garton Bros., of Cheshire.

Another Otago farmer, ''G. M.," would like to know whether it is best Grafting to sow down grass w ith oats Dona. or turnips. This depends

entirely upon his requirement a. Ey sowing with early turnips he can obtain a good lot of soft feed for his lamb 3 next autumn, whereas by sowing with a crop of oats lie will not get good grass so soon, but he will have the benefit of a crop of grain to pay for the grass seed and other expenses, as I pointed out in answer to another query a, week or two back. Therefore "G. M." must decklo which plan will suit him best. If he wants early autumn feed he must sow grass with soft turnips or rape ; if he tnerelv wants to get his land under grass, I should ad\iso sowing with oats. "G. M." aleo ask 3 how to apply lime, how much per" acre, and whether it would produce any results the first year. Lime is applied in various ways. Sometimes it is spread over the land as it is .shovelled from tho dray and then harrowed in ; it can be put out in small heaps and coveicd with soil to slack it, if it is hot lime, and then spread. Ground lime can be drilled or spread from a broadcast sower, as also can mild lime which has been air-slacked. The quantity per aero- varies from half a ton to two tons, according to circumstances. Smaller doses are now used than used to bo customary, and more frequent applications. Lime will do little good unless the land is in a dry state as regards drainage, and in heavy, wet lend under-draining should precede liming. "G M." says tho land orrp-w a heavy crop of oats last year — tho third crop — and it had lewt manure per acre. Ho says lie wants to feed the soil

before sowing to grass. Perhaps it would suit him as well to bow it down aa it is and give the grass a good top-dressing with lime later on. As to his question about the lime giving good results the first year, I can only say that it is impossible for anybody to stale whether it will or not. Lim« is uncertain in its results, and opinions formed upon experience are conflicting. I know cases in which a good doae of lime has been given to a stiff olay soil without much result, and again I have seen lime give excellent results, and that is the general experience.

AGRICOLA.