SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 20

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Oitb Ow» Coebespondeot.) The past week has been an exceptionally busy one with farmers, and, favoured with good weather, satisfactory progress has been made with the harvest. This state of affairs came to a close —temporarily, we hope— at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning, at which time rain commenced to fall, and' continued almost without intermission until lato that evening. Sunday morning saw a moderato gale blowing from the west, and climatic conditions looked hopeful for an early resumption of harvi'sting operations, but scudding showers from the south-west set in late that afternoon and settled the question of stacking for the present. Another week would have seen practically the v. holo of the stacking completed, if one oxcepts the oats growing on turnip ground, which, in the majority of instances, are quite green, and show no signs of ripening. To give an idea of the lateness of tho harvest, eo far only two or three thousand sacks of oats havo been curried 1 over the railways in Southland this season, as compared with about 60,000 sacks at this date last year. It is true a good deal of threshing has been done, but farmers have been too busy to undertake the.carting of the grain to the railway station. Potato-digging has also been neglected for the same reason, sc that practically all branches of farm work are in a backward condition, all due to the unfavourable climatic conditions which have prevailed throughout the summer and autumn. I don't think that any Southland agriculturist is prepared' to dispute that the season of 1911-12 will go down to history as the wettest on record.

The (Vent iter Mid the I'm in.

Rvery year brings nearer the time when vast areas of land in this country—light, scoond-class soila —will demand the application of farmyard manure and lime to enable them to maintain their necessary fertility. In these days when artificial manures are beintr regarded as a modern cure-all, the matter of humus and the mechanical condition of tho soil is too often overlooked. The artificial is a valuable ally, but it has its limits. Thorough cultivation, tho value of which was well recognised by tho ancients, is still the best means of securing bountiful crops, coupled, of course, with judicious manuring, according to the requirements of th« soil, but nothing can take the place of humus. The prodigious waste of farmyard manure now taking place must cease; it must be carefully preserved, and the fullest use made of it. "When intense farming and the use <f large quantities of farmyard manure come to be employed, burnt Hmeetone. employed in small quantities, will be found an excellent thing to enable the fulk«t benefit to be secucfcd from the appi<As qrganio mattei. Where humus is not aiw-/£sKi, especially on light land, lime has afc exhausting effect in releasing the available ulant food. This has given rise to the saying that "liine makes rich fathers and poor sons." With unburnt limestone,

Burnt Lime rerxus Limestone.

the value of which is not yet appreciated as it should fco, the action on the plant food is very much more mild!—most desirable in certain conditions. While the avaihv bility of the elements of fertility is thus mado a more gradual process, and soil exhaustion thus ret-arded, the soil bacteria at the same time, is allowed to have free play. On stiff land, inclined to bo sour, burnt limestone is admirable, and nothing can take its place. On sour, peaty soils, which are full of humus, burnt limestone has a particularly good effect. On light Eoile, however, there is a great danger in its application, especially in any quantity. Beoauso excellent results have been obtained from a dressing of lime on stiff ltnds farmers have often been led to repeat the dose too often, with the result that it has had an exhausting influence. The effect of one good dressing will lost for years At Dalmeny, in Scotland, following the application of large quantities of farm-yard manure, light dressings of lime have had excellent results In hming the nature and condition of the land to be treated' must be studied, and the lime applied according to its special requirements.

From Henry HI of England to the present time is some 700 years; and for much longer than that the middleman has been out of favour with both producer and consumer. A statute of Henry recites: "Especially be it commanded that no foresta.ller be suffered to dwell in any town." It defines a forestaller as 'a man who, seeking his own evil gain, goes to meet corn, fish, herrings, or other artic es for sale as they are being brought by land 1 or water, carries them off and contrives that they shall be sold at a dearer rate. Such a man, the statuto declares, "is the pubho enemy of the whole community and country. He that is convict the time shall lose the things so bought; the second time he shall have judgment and the pillory ; the third time ho shall be imprisoned and mado fine. And thij judgment shall be given upon all manner of forestallers; likewise upon those who have given them counsel, help, or favour." Long before Henrys time it was heM that to buy anything for tho purpose of selling it again at a profit was essentially wrong. "He who buys a thing in order to, unaltered', for gain is the merchant driven from the Temple, wrote Chrysostom. The middleman has not only persisted, however, but flourished and increased; and we know of only one really important instance where the consumer, to avoid middlemen, hae gone to the producer. With that exception it is hardly too much to say that where producer and consumer have got directly together the pro duccr has gone to the consumer. This teems to argue that whatever waste the middleman involves falls more heavily upon the producer than upon the consumer. The latter, in an unorganised state, appears to have virtually no control over prices. As to a vast number of articles consumers oan refuse to buy, or curtail their purchases, and still get on quite comfortably. But if the producer stops producing he is ruined. If there is to be any getting together of producer and consumer, the producer must move first.

The Hardy Middleman.

The true value of the bull can on'y bo measured by his offspring.

It is a common saying that the bull is half the herd. The exact value of the bull represented in money would indeed Le hard to determine, but it is quite evident, when he is a prepoent animal, that he is truly half the herd, and sometimes more. It is of course, in many oases not aij easy matter to learn just what his offspring are doing; but it is entirely possible among registered animals to trace them up. Unless the daughters of a bull and his get have been tested and production records made, there is no way of telling what hia offspring has done or is doing, and thus *he value of keeping milk and butter-fat records is shown; not only to indicate what the cows are doing toward making aprofit, but to show through them what the sire can do. A purebred bull that shows any merit at all, as far as appearances go before his daughters come into milk, should not be fold to Bob Russell or. Bill Gurran—our local bull bujers—until the time arrives for his offsnring to prove him up. His ability to breed high-producing animals may greatly exceed all expectations, or it may prove"quite the opposite. This is a pont that is imnossibh. to determine absolutely until the bull has produced offspring.

j£ Wh t l« ♦' « Bull's Value?