SCIENTIFIC FARMING

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 11

SCIENTIFIC FARMING

LANTERN LECTURE AT MOMONA. The second of the winter series of farX'ers* lectures arranged by the Otago Expansion League, with the co-operation of the locai agricultural officers, was given at Montona last week. There was a gratifying attendance despite the bleakness ot the night. Mr W. B. Steel represented the league. The lecturers were Mr R. B. Tennent (Instructor in Agriculture) and Mr A. C. Ross (Dairy Instructor). The lectures v/ero illustrated by several scores of lantern slides. Both lecturers B ated their * subjects m an interesting and attractive manner, and while in no way detracting from the value of their lectures maintained good terms with their audience by introducing touches of light humour and topical c iluaion. Air Tenrent said their object was to put a few pictures ut the. screen and make tome observations upon them. They were concerned with farming in general and dairying in particular. He proceeded to deal with the question of pasturage, remarking that in New Zealand, although we had some of the finest land, we put in the poorest pastures. A permanent pasture should last eight or nine years, and if it were true might last till they were all grandfathers. He stressed the necessity lor paying attention to both top and bottom grasses, advocating liio wider growing of perennial rye grass and cocksfoot for th" former, and red, white, and Alsike clovers for the latter. Suitable pro portions for permanent pastures were suggested and the various methods of sowing traversed. Mr Tennent said cocksfoot was not grown so much as it should be, and explained the tussocky nature of many cocksfoot crops as being due to scanty sowing. The screen proportion was 8!b. As an example of the vilue of cocksfoot pastures he instanced the resulls attained in the dairy herds of Air North, of Orriimi. Red clover might be distinguished from cowgrass by its hollow stem, and was biennial. v.dierAis the latter was perennial. Mr Tennent emphasised the necessity for topdressing all pasturages with slides showing the increased growth where phosphatio manures were used, and said this was uii fortunately generally neglected. Liming was beneficial because it encouraged the growth of cio/er, assisted the decay of animal droppings, and sweetened tile pasture. Several slides were shown showing the effect of various manures on suede turnip erops, the lecturer taking opportunity to explain the difference between superphosphate and basic superphosphate /superphosphate sweetened with lime). Any nran whoso soil bad a tendency to sourness should never use superphosphates; on the other hand, it could safely follow liming. "Views of several supplementary fodder crops grown on the Gore "3xperimenfal farm

illustrated the necessity for providing dairy nerus with properly balanced and varied feed, the slides including pictures of a new crop, “chou rnollier'’ (French cabbage), of which the lecturer assured them tncy would hear a great deal. The storing ot these green-fodder crops in silos was advocated as providing food with all the succulence ot and more nutritive value than the original crop. Returning to the subject ot liming, the lecturer explained its chemical action on the soil, and said the natural stone Should be used in light soil and burnt lime in heavy. Passing to the subject of lucerne growing, Mr Tennant said there was no plant in the world to compare with the lucerne for providing hay for stock through the winter months, end yet there were only half a dozen places in the Taieri where it was grown. It was absolutely permanent, lasting 15 to 20 years, and required very little attention, and four crops could be taken off in tho year. Where the land was not natural lucerne land, as in the Taieri, it should be sown in drills 21 inches apart, and tho weeds kept down between until it cstanlished itself. Ultimately .t, would spread between the drills into one composite crop, and by that timo would have smothered the weeds. Dealing with inoculation, the lecturer explained that where nodules were found on any clover plants in a paddock lucerne might Safely be grown. Where the soil had not the necessary germs to enable the lucerne to extract the nitrogen it required. ail that was necessary was to sprinkle a few sacks of soil from a paddock where they were found. Several slides were shown showing the successive stages in the glowing and harvesting of the crop, and its remarkable deep rooting in the rocks of Central Otago. Mr Tennent was heartily applauded for a most interesting lecture. Mr Ross said one of the weak points in dairying w'as that the farmer did not know what return he was getting from each cow. The only way to judge was by the amount of butter-fat and milk produced, and that could bo learnt only by testing. Whereas there were 22 testing associations in the North Island, only 294 cows were tested in Otago last year, of which 265 came from Owaka. Mr Ross quoted figures to show the benefit, of testing and culling, one slide showing that, whereas there was only one cow in Owaka last year that produced over 3401 b of butter-fat, this year there were six, the best of which gave 383.701 b for 241 days, and the poorest 340.19 for 235 days. Statistics, he said, showed that in the North Island they were doing better work, but it must be remembered that they had been culling out for a longer period. To instance ‘the results obtained by testing and culling, ho quoted the experience of farmers in Owaka and Edendale. In the first case 18 cows gave 4019.861 b, and the next year, when four had been culled and replaced by two-year-olds, 4489.291 b. In the Edendale case, where the same number of cows were culled, the production rose from 4504.73 to 4916.521 b. Mr Ross emphasised at length the necessity for improving dairy herds bjr using purebred bulls, and condemned the false notion of economy which led to the use of cheap scrub bulls, which proved to be the clearest in the long run. He strongly advised the choice of purebred sires, with milking and not merely show records, quoting various records to prove that increased uroduction followed the use of sires, not necessarily expensive, but. with milking records behind them. Mr Ross further pointed out that Otago’s surplus producticjn of dairy produce had remained stationary from 1910 (when it amounted to 2500 tons) till 1918. which he put down to the wrong system of breeding from cheap sires. For the period ended March 31 this year it amounted to 5281 tons, and it was only in the interval that the fanners had begun using purebred bulls. He also instanced an experiment which showed that the daughter of a scrub cow by a purebred bull gave 49 per cent, more milk and 41 per cent, more butter-fat than her mother. Mr Ross showed a number of interesting slides depicting well-known purebred cows and bulls, pointing out that the testing records had already developed a small export trade of stud cattle. Touching on the quality of the milk supplied to the factories, Mr Ross said the quality of the butter was not so good as it used to be, and the quality of the cheese might be improved. There were too many lines of cheese just scraping through ns first grade, which deteriorated to second grade within a few months. Tho trouble was largely in the flavour, seemed to arise from that which had access to the. milk after milking. The milk was often kept in the wrong place; farmers seamed to be afraid of the fresh air. Mr Ross hinted that he had found very bad conditions in more than one place, and drew attention to the necessity for frequent cleaning of tho machines. The point was illustrated by slides of desirable and undesirable cowsheds. In reply to questions, Mr Tennent said he had never seen lucerne affected by frost. Lucerne should be grown for feeding from hay, and not fer green grazing, and where the former course was followed there need be no' fear of tainted milk. Both lecturers were accorded a hearty vote of thanks. A similar compliment was paid to the Expansion League and to Mr Steel in particular. The lectures which were to have been given at Waikouaiti, Goodwood, and Palmerston next week have been postponed, as Mr Tennent has been called to a conference of instructors at Palmerston North.