SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 19

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Our Owk Correspondent.) Good progress continues to be made with. all classes of farm work, U or four weeks past the weather has been almost ideal "Just a trifle dry, perhaps. The putting in of the turnip crop has boon the principal work pushed forward, and good progress has been made. The turnips which were sown during December have come away splendidly, but the dry weather prevailing has not been conducive to the brairding of the seed sown since, and unless a good shower of ram comes soon it is feared that the Januarysown crop will be a failure. _ This is unfortunate, as there is every indication that winter feed is going to be scarce. Up to this point the grass, forced by the extreme heat and the damp subsoil, has grown almost luxuriantly, and if stock can bo reduced, to permit of a good rough sole existing from, say, April, there is hope of winter feed being conserved for later in the year, when turnips and such like forage crops are more urgently required. Fair headway has been made with shearing, but still wool is slow in finding its wav to the wool store. It was thought at one time that the catalogue to bo submitted at the silo to be hold on the z,6th would exceed the aggregate of the first and second sale of the 1910-11 series, _ but the quantity coming to hand clearly indicates that the number of bales to come under the hammer will be disappointing. One of the causes contributing to this state of affairs is the volume of business done bv private buyers, who have been particularly active, but the principal cause of the small catalogues to be presented is that which compelled the abandonment of the December sa..e —viz., the inability of graziers to get their sheep shorn owing to the wot season prevailing. Considerable excitement prevails in the live stock market at the present time, and prices for all classes of stock rule high, with the exception, perhaps, of fat cattle, values of which are low compared with stores. The demand from Canterbury and North Otago is the principal cause of the excitement, and this must have the effect of keeping juices firm for some time to come. The returns show that there is a shortage of some 80,000 head in Canterbury and 50.000 in North Otago and South Canterbury, or 130,000 head in all Tho damp season has forced grass ahead throughout tho whole of the South Island, and farmers are compelled to stock up. In Southland at present wo are rather more than fully stocked, and the prospects of a dearth of winter feed is causing graziers in this province to serious consider tho question of reducing their holdings. This anxiety to realise is, of course, accentuated by tho good prices offering. Young wellbred cattle and sheep are most in demand. This is only natural, as the railway freight on good-quality stuff is no more than it is on stock of doubtful ago and; quality. Some of the stock is being bought tor immediate delivery, but tho bulk is for forward delivery, mostly in March. One stock dealer in a largo way tells mo that It is quite a common occurrence to buy a lino of cattle in the evening, and to bo rung up before going to bpd. and arrangements made for a buyer, arriving by the 9.30 p.m. train from the north, to go out and See them first thing in the morning, a deal In most eases resulting. Tho hjmb market is croimr to lie late in opening this year

owing to the backwardness of the season, and_ in the absence of buyers' limits no business is being done, as speculators are iirnorant of the length they can go. Everything considered, the prospects of the stock market aro very promising.

The Weather and the Faiw.

The Urn Stock Market.

The evidence in favour of using ground •and unbumt limestone in crops of all kinds js increasing. Some “tall” information comes from th© United States, where they have boon trying as much as six to eight tons per acre of powdered raw limestone rock with the most astonishing results on toth lucerne and clover. They find that the powdered rook is bettor than the burnt stone because it is loss caustic, and does not waste the humus in tho soil (an important point in its favour) and dees not burn the plants. On the other band, its effect is equally good at neutralising the acid 1 or “sourness” in tho soil, and sourness is one of the principal causes of the failure of lucerne, clover, beans, peas, or any other legume. Apart from those results, rnanuiially or chemically, there is the fact that caustic or freshly-burned lime is a terrible kind of stuff to use. It burns your skin, gets into your eyes, 'burns your boots, and the harness on the horses, and Is, altogether, a condemned nuisance to tho workmen and horses who handle it, and as all tests tend to show that the same results are obtainable in the long run with raw powder, tho comfort in handling it to balance the question in its favour. For uniform distribution of material of this nature a machine is desirable, but In the absence of this the ordinary drill will do very well. In tho States thousands of tons of basic slag and ether dry powdery manures are put on annua’ly with the aid of tho drill used as a broadcaster, with the coulters taken olf, —and there could bo no better way of putting on limestone powder. One man and a good strong horse can get over 10 acres dailv if the manure is set ready for him in bags.

Unburnt Limestone,

The art of manuring consists in providing by the application of manures suitably chosen, for the presence in the soil of all the principal foods of tho plant in sufficient quantity and in a state in which tho nlante can make use of them. Plants do not live on a single nourishing substance, but on a food composed of various nourishing substances. This is a truth which has constantly to be borne m mind. Thus, if only one of the necessary ingredients of the food of plant be wanting, or bo present in insufficient quantity. the plant cannot develop ami thrive to perfection. A plant can form no leaves, no stems, and no grain from nitrogen or phosphoric or potash alone; tho several nourishing .materials must act together, a.nd each must bo available in proper quantity. For instance, oats are capable of producing a crop of 11,5001 b from 801 b of nitrogen, 1001 b of potash, and 501 b of phosphoric acid; but, if besides the 1001 bof potash and 501 b of phosphoric acid, only 401 b of nitrogen ho present in the soil in a form in which tho plants can take it up, only half of the crop can bo produced. In practice, the question for the fanmor is, “How can I furnish to my crops nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in tho best forms, and at tho least cost?”

Tlie Art of Manuring.