NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2745, 24 October 1906, Page 5

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

I ha\ ' 1 efoiG me a delail<<! rfpoit and ))UKO li-l of t!n» Trinij Dairj dapy 'how. In hi rarly in Tcsth. August la«r. Aboin a \i_ar U2TO I HOU'd ihr> r< -alii ■> of r'..<- Lo'iclc m dairy fhow. an wh eh a enu c.i! 1 ' 1 I Dglio'\ 24 y°ai- o'd, t'X>k fii-t ])riyi^ in ih.- }i avv-wfight c la-*. At tiie T'uuh •-how th,' ages c* th(> ((■nipctinp cuv •> range 1 f i oni fo'ir lo tu;i yeyr«. Jn the heavy wotglu chi--. for c-ow- oxc; ediuji 93Clb" live weight, the-e were 26 entries, ana the wiun-er wa-. n .To; =ov i o\\ , nine .-v.-a:-. old. weighing lC2slb— a hoa\y cow ioi a .7i"=">,-and had Loci 122 rla%- ri nulfc. She "i^A\<- 471b 2oz of l.ulk p. 2- 1 Ji^-.n-. ard th's milk \i-eickd ?1 ! j 15io/. of but tor, tlio ratio of milk to b'Utei b-'iu,; lit 661b 'Ihtre wo,«« fv ) u v.. 'il-, oi o lie n^ foi butter and the ml»r 10, iu"!v j ic'd or, in oih"r v\ijjc'- d i cjua ,ti v , 'id quahtv. A tw"i)i"d in, foui v.ai- oil. aul utig'iHI2- 136511) tr:uni'd h' ' i~>i i/.> 1 L.r milL yie' ' H 1 •< - f.«i..> bOilh in iho 21 hoar-, but only Lib 9^.r. butier, the ratio being 23.371b.

>r Jersoys are -upposed to be small oow=. and 0 jot theie wore 11 of them m <h" heavy It cow e!a-«. ard most of the=e tipped the 1. iteun at a little over 10001b. In tho clas-s s for cous under 9001b there were 21 entries. s all Jeisoj-. the highest being 6271b. Th? a. winner in butter yield ga\e 491b 14oz milk 1 and 21b 4goz of butter; j-atio, 21.711b. Ih<>. c < oxv with the lowest ratio — that is the ■- richest mill* — .vas out of it because she f only ga\,^ 19ill> of milk. I should mention r» thr.t pon t-5 wee given for Kilour anJ 1 quality of butto*. . I ha\o icceive a copy of Bulletin No. 1.1 • 1 :■»- ued by tho c homi-.tr v , . Fhocphfttfs. divifeion of tho Agricultural Department, ami t how hip: - tii'- result* of phcsphau* fertiL-or* -on root t crop-, 'fnrnip-grov.ers in tho South Island L » cl<; not roquiro to be told that root? cani nut b ■ succ"«fully grown without manure. ■y and >till je-« in the North I«!and. where ' ti -• =oi| inquires more phosphate manure t in order to get equal result =. The bulletin 3 tolls us that tho average \iokl per atiu r of turnips grown at tho Momahaki Experimental Farm was only about 3^ tons over - a period of nine yea'«. while tho a\orage yield for three year-> from similar soil 10- ,- coning 2J,i'\vl of Maiden Island guano was - 26 tons per acic. Tho co-t of tho mamuv 1 was 12s S<l per acio, .«o that the extra yield ot 22^ tons por acre was produced at a co-t cf about 7d por ton. A mixture, of > lew I steamed bonedust and 2ow t of l\a=!c ■> slag ga\e a yield of 43 tons of turnips 1 por acre. With mangels, tho yield without t maniuv was 50 ton^; with 3c\\ t --uporphosphatc 70 tons per acre were obtained at a . ccx=t of about lOd per ton for tho oxtia ? yield of 20 tons. 4 trial of New Zcalan 1 1 ground rock phosphate at tho rate of 4cwt • per aero yielded 70 tou-. and the cost per p aore was only 14s for manure, and this was . a low grade phosphate, which had no other treatment than drying and grinding the . native rock. The chief object of the . Bulletin under notice is to show that largo . quantities of phosphatic manure- are acquired in the colony, and that the rock . phosphates would rorvo our purpc-c* if i sufficient amount can be found and pic I pared for u-e. To encourage tlio scar< .'1 1 for tiii- material and its preparation as v . fertih-or, tho State offers a bonu-, of £509. with certain noo^-sary condif ion-. La~t year wo impoitod 38.632 ton- of mnntn-->. i tho bulk cf which was of a plio-uhatie : nature, and tho total cost to the- <i,!ou\ was £148,000. As tho .-ettloment of the toNuiv incroa-e- there i- bound to bo an expansion of the rooi-giovv my area and consumption of fcrtili-eis, and therefore the di-iovivy of large dopo-its of nitiua! pho-phatic r<xk woul'l mean that largo Miin-, of money would be spoilt in the colony instead of going abroad for imported feitili-cs lteferoncc i~ mado to tho phosphatic be tU found at Milburn and Clarendon, and information ii given as a guide to the ifloiitificatiou of the rock. Photograph-, of tho experimental plots at Momahaki aro given, '■bowing a few nii«erable-lcoki:i<r row i of turnips sown without mamro. while on eac'.i -ide of them are flouribhinrr row = -own with guano at the rate <<T 2< vvt pot- aci-o, tho yield of w hi« h proved to be 15 time* as much as that from no manure Theio i- a view «iko of s.x drills with Mood manure, whuh gave a viehl of only three ton-> por acre, while a \nv superior cop on oach tide wa- produ-cd .from a similai amount of phospliaiie niariur \ Of couve, wo all know that the- *ml ai.il (hmato of the North l-!an<l diftVrs <v*i> -.ideraljlv from that of tlio =outh, but nevertheio-- the results noted «erve as a qenericl guide to tin mi) grower- 1!1 all part-. Tin- judge of an English County Court r ocr.tly decided a ca-e -nr«jrerh' \olving a legal point in con Liability for noction with auction salo? Stock Rosght He ruled that an auctjoiK'e: at Auction. l- not responsible for clchvorv of stock puicha-ieu -it aufiion. T, apjjoars that a nnn hoiiffht i-'iinc -lioi-p at an auction sale, and the aiusior: >ci n fn-r<l delivery until tho pur<hi l' njonoy wa- j)aid. So mo time during the afternoon of tin- «<ime day the *-heei< di-appwiiod (it .s not -tatoil vvhat became of them), and then tho bujer rcfuse-1 to li.iy. Tho auctioneer '-uc<l him for the; amount, and th<- judge h-jld that i.-cjrditit; t<j th<' eoiidiiioii- of lhe -ale thi- s 1 o< p wore the buvor's fiom tlio time the harmii. r , f-ell. ami theiofi.n gn\o judpiiient to the an tiot >o t for the amount ami coM-,. "A A ' IVctumoiiT. lei'- me ihut in ao ciJi-cla'ic-' with advua given SepiDiiif -oni'' unie ago, he Potatoes. :-<j)iic potato -mo.l, and h.- - now -own it in <!'i!i- He vvi-li', to know now abo'tt t'liiimm the liKuit- if tlie -c- d comes up Of c nu-c lo urn-; tliiii thorn, for ),<.i.ii.t- .i- with oth'T tiling-, leqiuie -nflii i- i.t l oni foi pio^cr (loveiopmetit. >- < dl.i'u _i,«<;a!oo- will m,t firow to any ?i<-ar -i/.e th<_ tii „; \rar poointr lhai if i-i-|]!iim i pl;out four yea's for coiny]ru< tiilx-raiiori but for all that ih"y hoithl ii. be fi<n\d< 1 in tho ilnik, and I v, uii!d -iv i ! i.i i ih' i > -hou'd he thinned out -(. .i- to allow about a fcoi between each )>;.i>ii that l- if tho «-c 'cl-, «'otno up pretty tiuc-o.iv, for "A. A ' may find that, few of me -e«vk will {Terminate. I have not gone i i ni'i:h for rai.-in'g jjotatoct, in that waj-, ]/< ca i-o it is a branch which reqi.ii-', a gifat doal of attention, and the i< ult afio some year- of tioublo may prove diaappomti ig. While on. this subject 1 may refer to t!i£ remarks made by Mr Burrcil, of the North Island, who, when aeked

by ''Anti'qua Ovis," how he made 4ewt of sets s.Tie for planting an aero, replied that he made every eye do for a set. He mentiono.l that ho had imported 51b cf a new kind of pot at c, and he cut the 51b into 62.0 sets, and that means that each set could weigh only a qu&rtre of an ounce ami must, • therefore, have been nothing but a sprouf, or at most utst a Lare eye with very little ' .siibnin-.-e to nourish Hie young plant.. After Oiot explanation it is easy to understand Jiovi 4cwi could be cut into enough seed to " plant an jero of ground. I sco by latest: Homo papers that the past summer has been rat nor Jry, and the potato crop is reported a>= being healthy but light in yieW. The triowci* of early potato crops in tha Islan'l of Jersey complain that it has been a bad y?ar for them on account of the low pricr-s ruling fer their later crops. Two pounds per ton was all they could get. and it i* said that iv view of the cost of production, higi> rent-, etc., that price leaves them vory little profit. '¥. F ," Waihoh. a>k« to he informed as to the ingredients of what Bordeaux is known as Bordeaux Mixture. Mixture for spraying potatoes, and adds that it is »ih»pected that the blight has appeared in that district. It is surely early days for blight to appear, for ve:y few potatoes can have appealed yet. However, it ia well to I" 1 prepared, ami if spraying is to br> clone it is wi->o to begin it iv good time. The ingredients of the niiKturo aro 41b sulphate of copper (Milestone), 41b fresh lime, <uul 40^al water The bluestone must first be dissolved m water. Put it into a. wcc<lou tub, pour boiling water iipon it, and stir till all tho crystals are dissolved. It can be done in cold water, but takes more time. Slack tho lime in a bucket, and then a<ld it to the bluetsouc. After a gcotl stirring add cnougji water to bring the whole up to 40 gallons. If one gallon is usfd in <li<-K>lving the bluestone, add 39 gallons It is applied with a spraying pump, usually when the potatoes are about; six oi- eight inches high, and twice after, say, at interval:, of about 10 clays or a>

fortnight. As the blight fungus is generally on, the under 6ide of the leaves, it- is necessary to see that every part of all the leaves are thoroughly sprayed. If ram should fall within a few hours of spraying, the- mixture will be washed off and must be applied again at once. If blight appears in spite of the first "sprayings a stronger mixture Tnay be required — say 61b bluestono instead of 41b. AGRICOL A. 7