NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3969, 8 April 1930, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Care of Farm Implements. That farmers should band themselves into a new society, a society for the prevention of neglect of farm implements, was the suggestion of a Home farmer in an address to members of the Glasgow Agricultural Society. If they wished to restore prosperity to British agriculture and help to solve the problems of acute depression among all tillers of the soil, they must aim at reducing costs of operation as much as possible. To that end there ought to be the widest possible use of labour-saving devices, and it should be the constant aim of all farmers to maintain these in the best working conditions. It would be found that usually their success or failure depended on the care they took of their implements. His slogan was “ Houses for Implements! ” so as to prevent weather decay when the implements were not in use. Another essential was the periodical application of good quality paint, which alone could combat the destructive power of corrosion, especially of steel work. At the same time all implements should be carefully overhauled, cleaned, and oiled before being brought into use. The opinion was expressed that the persistent borrower of implements should be discouraged, especially the man who could !T OF J. H. AT JUNE 30, 1930. Assets.

£17,448 “ swank ” a motor car and stoop to borrow a digger or a distributor. Farmers in New Zealand would do well to look round their farms and see that implements are not left out in all weathers to rust and perish. Oil and paint plus shelter will effect wonderful economics.

Future of Wheat. . Dominion wheatgrowers at the moment must be somewhat concerned in regard to gloving wheat in view of the strenuous eltorts made elsewhere, and the fact that there is at present a very considerable amount of this cereal in the world. A message from -■Washington is opportune. « Farm Board's plea that American wheat farmers should decrease their acreage and Mr Scull in’s broadcast appeal to Australian wheat farmers to increase their acreage, Mr Alexander Legge was asked to comment upon tiiis apparent anomalous position of two of the largest wheatgrowing countries in the world. Mr Legge, while acknowledging the fact that wheat prices are on a world parity basis, said: “It will not interfere with the programme of the Federal Farm Board for wheat acreage reduction in the United States. The purpose of the board is to get wheat production in this country on a domestic market basis. If Australia and the Argentine increase their acreage that should have no adverse effect- here. The mere fact that acreage increase is being urged in Australia does not necessarily mean that there will be increased production, because of uncertain crop conditions there. The Canadian Wheat Pool is advising Canadian farmers to plant less wheat. I think,” he added, “ it would be to the advantage of other wheat-exporting countries to follow this example: but if they desire to do otherwise that is no reason why the American grower should not get his production as nearly as possible on a domestic basis.”

When Liming Pays. It is a risk to sow certain crops on a soil known to be short of lime, and farmers to-day cannot afford to take risks. The distribution of rainfall through the year has a marked effect on the need of lime, especially on grass land. Liming on the drier lands will often induce close grazing due to the efforts of stock to

obtain a better mineral supply. SoiU overlying limestone, one would imagine, should not require liming, but not in-, frequently they give an acid reaction. Professor Hanley, principal of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, in the course of some remarks on liming, says: “ Because lime is handled by the top instead of by the hundredweight, as with most fertilisers, the methods of throwing it about are apt to be somewhat haphazard. The best results are only obtabled when a dry, powdery material is applied to a soil as dry and workable as possible. It is wasteful to apply lime in such a way that it turns up for years at each ploughing. The lime that hag done its work is that which lias disappeared from sight. When it is desired to lime land to be ploughed out from old grass, worn-out lucerne, or other crops which have been undisturbed for some years, the lime should be applied after ploughing so that it may be well worked into the surface soil. Lime cannot bo worked into the soil of permanent grass land, so every care should be taken to prevent waste by even distribution when the land is dry, and (if quick lime is used) by running chain harrows over the land as soon as the small pieces aje found to be slaking. Finely ground carbonate of lime is less wasteful than quick lime for application to grass land.”

Age of Sheep. A correspondent raises the question of age in sheep as told by its teeth. Few persons connected with woolgrowing will credit the assertion that a sheep's age can be approximately told by its wool. Yet (an exchange says) that after many careful examinations of the wool of sheep of different ages it is possible by noting the manner by which the staples are held together to say what were the ages of the sheep. First, comparison was made by examining a lamb’s fleece and that of an old ewe. The former is known principally by its pointed, curly tip, and by the manner the binders are attached to the staple. In a lamb's staple the binders arc attached to the very tip, the same as ribbons to the maypole, which are easily detected as the staples are being drawn, giving an irregular appearance to the whole length. Take now the other extreme, the wool of an old sheep. The staple when drawn will come out almost in a bunch or independently, and if there are any binders they will be very few and very loosely connected to the base of it. Noticing this difference between the old and young wool, other fleeces of sheep of different ages may also be examined, resulting in the conclusion that the age of a sheep can be approximately told by the position of the binders on the staple. Take the fleece of a two-tooth or a yearling up to 20 months old and compare it with the fleece of a natural 12-month-old lamb, and upon drawing the stable it will be seen that the binders of the two-tooth or 20-month-old wool will not be attached to the top or tip as in that of the 12-month-old lamb, but a little further down. The binders in a two-year-old sheep will be connected a little further down the staple than in the yearling sheep. In a three-year-old sheep the binders are lower down than in a two-year-old staple. In a four-year-old sheep the binders show very near to the base of the staple, and as age creeps on the binders are almost absent. AGRI COLA.

Farm Property— Land, 1,000 acres . . Buildings . . £1,000 Less depreciation 25 £ 13,000 £ — 975 13,975 Implements, etc.— Plant and tools. as per 1929 list 300 Less depreciation 30 270 Plus discs bought 20 Car 150 290 Less depreciation 50 — ■ ■ 100 390 Live Stock—Horses, as per list 7 Sheep do. 1,420 Dairy cows do. 9 140 1,000 74 Beef cattle do. 128 604 Produce, etc.— — 2,424 SO tons O.S. chair 240 Bags, seeds, manure 67 Cash— — 307 On deposit at call . . At bank . . 200 27 In hand Money due from sales — 232 120