NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 14

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Every practicaj man will no doubt conclude that the school of bitter experience, where •her© is only on© prize in !0 blanks, in breeding is :iat will bring the various good and bad points of an animal eo prominently and vividly to the notice of a young aspirant that he cannot fail to be deeply impressed. There is nothing like the attempt to develop some peculiarity cf conformation or tjpe in the offspring cf two animals, to make the young judge remember all about their deficiencies and excellent points All good judges acquire their knowledge in the school of competitive breeding. No other training will stick with suoh persistence. The agricultural college does much to teach young judges. There the manual side of their education is not neglected, and in providing for and waiting on purebred animals much is learned about them. They show their gratitude so much that one gets to love them; and when one gets proud of any particular class of animal, ho is in a fair way of becoming a gocd judge of that class. The theoretical and practical instruction of the master of the college gives them an insight into the ideal conformation and true type of the various breeds. Each association might do something to encourage young judges. Without being allowed to act, or get in the way, one .or two of them might be allowed to escort the acting judges in each class. It would be a decided advantage to theim to have expert opinion to refer to, and' watch the various methods adopted by the judge©. They would watch _ the juage examining the animal from a distance, and learn that the genei-al form and bearing has much to do with his verdict. They would see the judge progressing with systematic exactness in noting the various points of close exhibits, and they would see that true judging is no haphazard matter, but depends on an intimate knowledge of the breed before him. Lincoln College makes a gratifying feature of this work, and gives special instruction and training in the technique of the subject. A certain number of the students also visit Addington periodically, and become conversant with all the varieties and values of fat stock. The occasion of a show is the best time afforded for learning how to improve stock, and how to judge them, and the Lincoln lads are taken in nand at the Christchurch show, to some purpose. Some time ago the Wairarapa A. and P. Association sent circulars round to a number of judges asking them if they would oare to instruct young judges as they performed their work. Most of them replied in the affirmative, but there were others who thought that many competent judges might object to give reasons for their decisions. That would no doubt be the case, but the overwhelming majority of assenting replies indicated that there would be no great trouble in getting judges to demonstrate either while they are at their work or immediately afterwards —the former for choice. Agricultural, societies will soon be compelled, on account of the scarcity of judges, to take up the subject and follow the lead of the Wairarapa A. and P. Association, and after the elections the Government might be induced to give us cur long-promised State farm, and it will be our own fault if we cannot get a training school attached to it where our lads will get the chance of beginning their education as judges. If they had this grounding to begin with, which they would get at such an institution, they would then profit so much from association with competent judges that they would soon become proficient and reliable judges of stock. .

ranching Young Judges. i he only one t

Considering that the racang olute get a subsidy tof practically a quarter of a million a year trom the people, and do so little for the improvement of the breed of horses, it is not to be wondered at that a demand is made for some of that money to be earmarked in order to improve the bores stock of the Dominion. If the racing clubs were to set themselves seriously to consider the matter, and raise the weights and lengthen the distances mn, only horses with some stamina could compete. It is the four-furlong race that produces the sprinter, which has developed speed at the expense of everything else, constitution included. But why connect the totalisator with a grant for the improvement of horses in the Dominion? Is there not a good case to go before the Cabinet, without any reference-' to racing clubs. Although the farmer gives place, to no one in his love for a good horse and knows something about one when he secs it, he is net, generally speaking, a racing man. When, ho goes to a race meeting he criticises the points of the horses and comments on them freely. Ho goes for a day’s pleasure, not gambling. The usual frequenter only regards the perfectly-conditioned, trained-to-the-rninute horse as a means to win him a stake on the totalisator, the precincts of which are much more attractive to him than horseflesh, however refined. Much less does the farmer worry his brains about the totalisator odds, and the weights allotted to each horse are not a serious consideration to him. But all horse-breeders would like to see thoroughbred horses and hackneys improved by the importation of suitable sires, which would bo placed at the. disposal of the various districts. If a number of these were subsidised by the Government under certain, well-defined stlpu-

Slia. ing Tutn isatur At rtllPV

lations, one of which was freedom from all hereditary disease, much good would be effected. The Government could easily encourage, the importation, of highnslass stallions by supplementing the soascos <t sound horses. The horse chosen for use in the South African war was from 14.3 to 15.2 hands high, and Mr Reakes thinks that 15 to 15.1 hands is the ideal height lor a mounted infantry horse. We want stallions that will breed ;-uch horses, and we have every right, on behalf of the small farmer in particular, to go to the> Government and say that an important work like horse-breeding, which is an adjunct of national defence, should not be relegated solely to private enterprise, but should have the very active co-operation of the State- Let the Government follow the lead of Great Britain and all Continental countries in this matter, and give such encouragement - that the work might almost be said to be conducted' under the direct control and guidance of the State. The latest asoirant for political honours in, the south says "that '.'the country cannot afford to stop horse-racing in view of the thousands of pounds whioh have been invested in horse-breeding. England s pride waa in her blood stock, and New Zealand was similarly the home of those in the Southern Hemieohere. It was his belief that Carbine and the All Blacks had advertised New Zealand more effectively than the famous Dreadnought, He hoped the time would nevor come when the country would be run by faddists who wished to stop manly sports and pastimes, but that New Zealand would go on breeding Carbines and All Blacks." All the good horses we can breed will be required some day, but at present they are not worth breeding, and unless the breeding of light horses "is subsidised by the Government, there is no likelihood of much improvement in the immediate future.

It is only since 1857 that the Forestry Department of Norway has been organised to control the position, 'but it has had time to increase in 54 years from a staff of two men to upwards of 500. The bureau which has been formed is entrusted with the' general management of abbreviation areas and State woods, and also deals with laws, finance, and valuation. From' the earliest records ofr the trade littu* attempt has been made, as with us,, to control or prevent over-cutting. The first measure of conservation was passed m 1892 forbidding any exportation tof timber from the provinces, in the extreme north, for three years. ' And froim 1893 the supervision of private forests was entrusted to local councils. The activity of. the State and of private holders is largely due to the efforts of two societies, which receive grants from the State and have branches all over the kingdom. The season! for planting is restricted by the snowfall to early summer or early autumn. The task of determining the best varieties of trees for planting has been taken up by many private owners as well as by the schools. The importance or procuring good seed was early recognised, bartioularly with pines. It was found that home-grown coniferous seed was much more successful than the imported seed, and four seed-growing stations wene established, one of which turns out annually 1000 bushels of "bones, which yield over one ton of seed. The State has planted an area of over 8000 acres at an average'cost of 18s per acre, and subsidises societies fo take up the work s on their own account. The largest communal scheme in Norway has 4500 acre's in hand. Another afforestation society arranged with several large landowners to do the work of planting, on their estates if the owners agreed to give them future control, or, failing lihem, the State. The owner Ibears the cost of upkeep, and receives all the profits.

Forestry in Norway.

Excellent work is done in. the schools in the country districts where elementary instruction in the. theory and practice of afforestation is given, and plantiiMr days are instituted. The Norwegian Forestry Society has made arrangements whereby the State provides the plants and trains the schoolmasters who wish to interest the children in the movement. On one piece of parish land 100,000 plants have been put in by the school children, in three or four years, and are thriving Well. That is a fact which should interest our Education Board. The first foresters received their training in Germany, and later on many took the course at Sie Forest Institute at Stockholm. The Agricultural High School was founded in 1897, and is open io the most deserving applicants over 19 years of age who have had one year's practical experience to *>he good. The subjects in the first year include rural economy, mathematics, chemistry, geology, zoology, botany, physics, bookkeeping, and theoretical surveying. In the second year forest management, valuation law, advaniced bookeeping, practical surveying, levelling, and anap-making. For two months of the year the second year class live in the vicinity of some large forest, where the practical work can be carried out, and early in the autumn make an extensive tour of. the country with the object of examinintg all kinds of woodland and woods management* Latterly a plan has been arranged whereby students for f' 'ghi months out of the 12 are put under © direction of capable woodsmen for p racial training. At nearly every agricultural college instruction in) forestry is included in the curriculum. A few men trained in that

Forestry Education.

way ought to be cf .great assistance to the Dominion! at the present juncture.

experiment is reported from Kelso, in Scotland, where most of the fields experimented upon have a- southern exposure and a steep slope towards the Whitadder. In a season of drought it was nothing short of wonderful to see the luxuriant sole of grass which the fields were carrying, and this was mainly brought about by the introduction of wild white clover into the mixture sown which was as follows: 6lb each of perennial and Italian ryegrass, 41b cocksfoot, 31b timothy, 21b each of red clover, late flowering cowgrass, wild white clover, alsike, yellow clover, hard fescue, tail oat grass, burnet, rib grass, and lib each of cowgrass, meadow fescue, tall fescue, poa treviahs, kidney vetch, and l-3ib yarrow ; —total seeding, 44 l-3lb per acre. The splendid sole of grass which lihe field carried in such a season even as the present struck everyone who saw it as being remarkable. The wild white clover was as thick as a carpet, and other grasses seemed to have grown prolifioally. It did not show much in the first year,—but became thoroughly established in the second, and spread rapidly, crowding out the other grasses like cocksfoot which did not grow so rank as usual. lir commenting upon the results obtained by the grower, the North British Agriculturist says: "Should Mr R. V. Mather's very successful results with wild white clover at Eliemford be confirmed from other centres, people will have to revise their ideas as to pasture and pasture-makisisr. Hitherto the variety of white clover (Trifoliumi repons) which has been almost universally used m grass mixtures has been the ordinary cultivated white land. Even the cultivated kind has a marked' tendency to creep along the ground and give off roots from the joints of its stems at short intervals. This peculiarity has mode it of considerable value in pastures, especially where they aire intended for. grazing. It does not Bwra to do quite so well for haying, where an abundant upright growth is a consideration v and on this account red or alsyke clover is generally preferred for this purpose. But if the wild, variety of white clover is ever to beat the cultivated one in respect of creeping or tillering powers and the tenacity of its grip in the, soil, it will be a discovery of the utmost importance. Nothing is more valuable in thefee days to an ordinary stock farmer than a good sole of rich succulent grass which will carry well into the autumn and winter. Should wild white clover help matters in this respect, as it seems to have done at Eliemford, it may revolutionise pasture-making, especially on the higher lands. Wild white clover grows in considerable profusion in some districts in the South of England. Meantime its seed is not much in commerce, but should it prove a general success that difficulty will no doubt easily be got over."

An interesting Wild White Clover.

One is sometimes induced to ask whether it is necessary to sow white clover or not, because whenever there is a blank in the sowing of any field which has 'been frequently cultivated white clover invariably fills it up and covers the ground alter the first ycecr. Fields are also seen covered with white'clover which has, not been recently sown in them., and the seed has all the appearanc of having come uo spontaneously, and it is now indigenous all over the cultivated ground of the Dominion. It has such a :wealth of bloom and seeds so freely that the ground gets fuJl of it, and it lies dormant till brought to tfie surface again. When grown on rich landfall cattle eat the Tierbage with relish, but it is less useful for the production of milk than of flesh, and is of special value for fattening sheep. When top-dressed with nitrogenous manures the grasses get the benefit, and there is less growth of clover than! when no manure has been applied, but when mineral manures like superphosphate or slag a>re used the clover comes away rapidly and the bulk is considerably augmented. AGRICOLA.

Sowing White Clover.