NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 10

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Tho matter of adding phosphate to the soil is daily becoming of more importance, and must be carefully considered by all occupiers of lands who soli primary products. It is a well-known fact that constant cropping will steadily reduce the supply of phosphate; although it is not so generally realised, however, that in delivering dairy products wool, meat, etc., that depletion of fertilising elements takes place. There is but one way to make up the loss, and that is to buy ihe phosphate and put

Adding Phosphate to soil.

it back into the soil. If a farmer -will but' reeogniso that all the time he is selling products oif the farm that phosphate is being exhausted, and ho looks upon his farm as a, homo for his life time and his children for over, ho will surely sec that he must all the umc be putting phosphate back. With this belief held fast, it is the practice ufc Hoard's Dairyman Farm to buy ground raw rock phosphate by the ear load,' keeping iD constantly on hand to mix with manure ana top-dress iucerne sod or other sod before ploughing it under. They he.vo seen their soil steadily grow stronger, more reliable, and more productive. They, after years of expedience, arc satisfied that the investment is a wise one to make. Dr Hopkins states it as a general fact that the steady use of phosphate rock in this manner will return a profit of 700 per cent, on the investment. Hoards know of no way of investing the earnings of the farm that will pay as big an ■ntcrest as that, and so they keep on investing. Who is going to be the first one in Otago to adopt this simple method? The writer would dearly like to hear that somefarmer is alive to the common-sense probabilities of the practice advocated.

So many people consider that cows, when dried off, cart do well on a starvation diet, forgetting the fact that this period ought to bo a time of resting and recruiting. Any sort of rubbish is considered good enough, and a dairyman—save the mark —thinks such management is the height of economical feeding. He is wrong. At no time, probably, will the feeding of nutritious food pay better’. It is not advised that a cow should get as much succulent food as when in full flow of -milk, but an amount sufficient to cause an animal to thrive and 'maintain her condition. It must not be forgotten that large demands are made upon the cow, and if the food is withheld the cow must supply it from material laid up in herself, and that is ever a weakening process. The dow r is in a sense a savings bank, and stores up deposits of food, and returns it in greater production and better health, and when a draft of milk is demanded it is honoured and interest paid upon it. It is an absurd and wasteful policy to so care for a cow that, ■when she comes into the dairy, any part of her food should be used up in restoring her to normal condition.

Treatment of Dry Cows

In apportioning the mangel ration it has to be borne in mind that the quality of the root undergoes during tho period when it is stored a process of gradual deterioration. As pointed out in the Marie Lane Express, the sugars particularly disappears. According to investigations, a proportion of 6 to 8 per cent, of the sugar has vanished after three months storage, although the weight of the root remains tho same After four months the loss has been found to roach 15 per cent., ail’d after six months as much as 25 per cent. The nitrogenous substances, the total weight of which remains without change, also undergo a transformation unfavourable from a nutritive point of view. The dry matter diminishes, and may be 10 to 12 ner cent, less than at the time of harvest. Thep ractical point from these investigations is that the daily weight of tho roots supplied to the animals should be increased in a progressive manner, in order to furnish an equal quantity of nourishment. It is difficult to indicate precisely what should be tho scale of increase—as the nutritive value of the roots varies so much according to variety and conditions. It may bo said, however, that in a leaflet the French Minister of Agriculture, in calling attention to the subject, suggests that after two months’ storage the quantity allowed in the daily ration should be increased 10 per cent, in order to give the same food value. After four months the increase should be 15 to 18 per cent., and after six months about another 15 per cent.

The Mangel Ration.

Some attempt might well be made to gather the host of leaves- which have been brought down by the autumn winds and rains.

Fallen. Leaves.

and are probably lying , in heaps to rot and waste. If gathered and put' on the compost heap, they in a very short time will be converted in a useful organic manure, rich in humus. Recent investigations show that dried leaves contain about 0.75 per cent, nitrogen and 0.25 per cent, potash, two invaluable fertilising elements, as well as a trace of phosphoric acid. Nature returns the leaves to the soil in order that in their decay they may furnish a fresh supply of nourishment. Hero, then, is an object lesson which should serve to induce us to go and do likewise. It has been proved by Grandeau and Henry, two French professors of agriculture, that besides serving as food for earthworms and other organisms, the activity of which keeps the soil porous, friable, and superficially rich in nutritive mineral matter, dead leaves fix atmospheric nitrogen to the extent of 121 bto 201 b per acre annually. So_ that to deprive an orchard or garden of its dead leaves is like robbing a farm of its dung. AGRICOLA.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. By Agricola. “Concise,” Matakanui, sends sample of grass for identification, and wishes to know; its value for sheep or cattle. The specimen is couch grass (Triticius repens). _ Is a post on arable land. Has some slight value as sheep feed, and more so for cattle; but you are better without it unless you cannot grow a better grass.