SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3115, 26 November 1913, Page 19

SOUTHLAND AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) The week just closed lues not been perfect from ci climatic poim % ot vigw. 'ihe weather for tiie first few day© was favourable, but a" storm raged over the greater portion of the province on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and during that a considerable amount of rain. fell. Ihe temperature, too, was low, and, as a consequence, vegetable growth received a check. The country on the southerly coast line was the worst aii'ccted, not only as regards the severity of the wind, but also witn regard to low temperature and heavy rainfall, tne rain v. T as by no mcaais unwelcome in most quarters, as Southland land is very thirsty, and absorbs a.n astonishing quantity oi moisture. This spring season is generally recognised as having been a particularly good one from an agriculturist’s point ol view; nevertheless crops are, if anything, backward. They ha\£ made good growth, but at the same time they are not as forward as they should have been under ordinary circumstances. In the first place the unfavourable nature of the weather during tile autumn precluded the sowing of the usual area of grain at that period of the year, and the wet and severe weather during winter kept ploughing very backward, v. it.) the result that when spring-like conditions did arrive, the teams, instead of being put to the preparatory work necessary on land intended to be sown in grain, were still harnessed to ploughs turning oyer land, which, had conditions favoured it, should have been ploughed late in autumn or early in the winter. Food is everywhere abundant, and stock arc looking well, despite the severe winter they have come through. Not many large linos of stock are changing hands at present; but once_ the wool has been removed from the Hocks, transactions of greater magnitude will doubtless take place. A good many hoggets have been shorn, and although accurate weights have not been taken, farmers seem to be satisficel with the quantity; the quality, however, is 'not as "ood as one could have wished.

The Weather a (l The Farm,

The best experts agree that if dairy cows were confined to landed

areas of pastures while other portions got a chance to recuperate, with periodical removals of the animals from area, to area, the returns of the owner would be materially increased. A similar plan is followed with signal success in Holland and Denmark, and also to a considerable extent in many parts of the United Kingdom. Intimately connected with the foregoing is the still larger subject of keeping all land in good heart. One veil-informed writer on this subject maintains that the tune well probably come w hen it will be considered as great a crime to starve land as to starve live stock, and even human beings. As a matter of fact, it is morally a crime now, and always lias been, to keep exhausting the productive qualities in the soil without restoring them by manure and rest and rotational cropping; it is, as a matter of fact, a destruction of the soil, and that in its turn means the destruction of the country’s chief means of subsistence and existence. History lias toid valuable lessons in this respect. The depopulation- of many countries has been duo to the impoyer.ahrnont of the soil through never nourishing it with rest, and by means of manure. Some of the eastern States of America seriously suffered from this cause for several generations, and it took nearly half a century to restore the soil to a normal average of fertility. South Australia lias had a similar experience; and in our own country, too, there arc considerable areas where the land, through having been over-used and loft without nourishment, is now in an unproductive condition. And in regard to this matter the point is cue of considerable significance, and the frequent trafficking in farms for merely speculative purposes has exorcised a marked prejudicial effect in the feature of maintaining the fertility of the soil. The man who merely buys a farm to sell it again on the first opportunity has not the same desire to keep the land ‘* in good heart” as ho who is going to make his home on it, and hopes to make a living for himself and his family off it. In the majority of leases of farms granted in the Old Country stipulations are now embodied for systematic rotation of crops, proper drainage, fencing, and manuring, by which the country as a whole lias benefited materially. The lesson conveyed is the imperative necessity to treat the land intelligently—indeed, one might almost say affectionately; to nourish it with scientific care, and to restore it by means of proper rests, rotational crops, and nourishing manures, always a little more than they take out of it. Unless attention is given to these important essentials, all the advanced labour and industrial legislation will not be attended with even a modicum of benefit compared to w'hat would result if every farmer and rural landowner considered it his bounded duty and solemn responsibility to kee]} his land in good heart by systematic manuring, periodical rest, and proper crop rotation. The question is one which should rank as a dominant article in the agricultural creed of the country, as it is one which has an important bearing on the success of the problem of closer settlement, and, consequently, on the decrease of production and prosperity.

Starring the* I,and.

Tt is generally understood and recognised that fowl manure is of con-

siderable value on the farm, and it is interesting to note that lewt of it is equal to half a ton of cow manure as regards the quantity of nitrogen it contains; and, further, that it is more readily available as a plant food. Analysis has shown that dry fowl excrement is nearly four times as rich in nitrogen as compared with stable manure; sheep droppings about the same as stable manure; while cow dung drops down to about one-fifth of the value of the firstnamed. Fowl manure also scores in other directions, and this is explained by the fact that, both the solid and liquid excrements are combined, not forgetting that the urine of animals is more ricn in plant food than the solid excrement. Some people make the mistake in placing their fowi manure in a heap in the open. The action of rains and the atmosphere itself rob it of a large percentage of ita virtues. Hence it should bo stored in some receptacle under cover. A good plan is to scrape up the loose droupings and deposit them in a cement cask, and shake a small quantity of dry slaked lime over each lot as it is nut in. Where a matter of 30 or 40 fowls are kept it ie

Thc Value f Fowl Manure.

astonishing the quantity of manure that could bo saved.