FARM AND STATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16021, 6 January 1923, Page 10

FARM AND STATION.

Tho cost oi' production and marketing of butter wns tlio subject of some discussion at tho annual meeting of a well-known Australian Dairy Company.' Mr. T. Hose said that in 198.'! the cost oi' manufacture, including everything, was Is Id in the £, leaving ISs lid for the supplier. In 190" tinworking cost was 2s lAd in the £; in 1913 it was 2s 7:;d in the % anil in 1922; i.t.was 7s (id in tho £, leaving only' 12s (id out of the £ for the dairyman. The manager showed that it was iinpossiiyi'c :tu compare costs of production by working out a percentage of turnover. When the price of butterfat'was low, the same cost of production would bear a greater proportion lo the turnover than it would when the price of butter was high, 'the only way in which a fair comparison could he made was to work out the costs at per lb: or per ton of butter. Last year the company had returned over SS per cent, of the money to suppliers. This vcar it was returning 78.4 per cent.

ir.is usually desirable to add sal! to hay-stacks,- especially in dairying districts. Besides helping to preserve the hay, it is one of the simp* list ways of feeding salt to the slock. The poorer the quality of hay the more*salt required; generally from Sib. to 101 - per ton of hay will be sufficient.

The- proper time to cut lucerne is when the crop commences to bloom. There is n considerable difference in food-value between hay made from lucerne commencing to flower and a crop fully in bloom. As the lucerne plant: commences to bloom young fresh growth will be noticed coming away from the crown of the plant. These shoots grow rapidly, and represent the succeeding growth. If cutting the crop is over-delayed these shoots growto such a length that when the crop is eventually mown the tops arc nipped off, and the subsequent growth will thus be retarded. One important point in cutting lucerne at the proper time is the fact that in so doing the leaves," which are the most nutritious portion of the plants, adhere much.better to the stalks, and are not lost in the process of haymaking. The principles of meadow-hay making apply generally to the making of hay from lucerne.

"Can anything be done to prohibit the sale of useless cows?" was a question asked by the chairman of the general committee of the Taranaki Agricultural oSciety (Mr. W. B. Grant) at a recent meeting (states the Daily News). Mr. Grant said he had been asked by the Council of Agriculture to call for suggestions on this important matter, especially as it had been reported that a lot of these cows had been imposed on soldier settlers. Members' thought consideration of the matter should be deferred till next meeting, though the opinion was expressed that a. solution of the question rested as much with the buyer as the seller. If the buyer insisted on seeing a cow's record before a sale was effected the sale of these worthless animals would be stopped. Another suggestion was that such cows should be. branded.

THE SEASON'S LAMBING. Following are complete estimates of the current season's lambing, computed from estimated average pcreonttafes furnished by the Department's Inspectors of Stock in the various districts. Corresponding figures for the three previous years, together with the actual numbers of lambs tailed, are also given for comparison:— NORTH ISLAND. No. of. Est. Av. Est. Breeding- percent. No. of

EXPERIMENTS ON MOUTERE HILLS.

BY CAWTHRON INSTITUTE. STRIKING RESULTS.

Much interest is being expressed concerning the experiments conducted by tho Cawthron Institute on Messrs. Bisley Bros.' property at Mildura (says the Nelson Mail). „The experiments are a continuation of the cover crop experiments which were carried out during the winter. The cover crop experiments included plots of lupins, horse beans, and tares with oats. The object of tho experiments was to ascertain how the crops could be successfully grown, and also their relative merits for use in orchards on the Mouterc Hills. The cover crop experiments demonstrated that, the us,e of 2 tons of ground limestone and 5 cwt. superphosphates per acre was essential as an initial treatment of the land in securing tho best results with horso beans and Scotch tares. In the case of lupins it A\as found that lime was not so essential, but the use of a phosphatic manure such as superphosphate was nceessary.in order to obtain a satisfactory growth/ The need for soi'l inoculation for-both horse beans and tares was clearly proved; but in the case of blue lupins it did not appear so necessary. One interesting feature of. the winter experiments was the good results obtained with horse beans'and* tares with oats. Both of these crops gave much higher crop

yields than was the case with blue lupins. From this fact it might be expected that both tare and horse bean cover crops would possess a higher ■iiiiiiurinl value than the lupin crop.

One of the experiments which is now in progress has been designed to test'the mamirial value of the cover crops grown in the autumn. For this purpo.se' oats have been chosen as the test crop. The cover crops were ploughed in towards the end of July and the. oats-were sown at the beginning o'f .September. The oats have made excellent growth over all the plot where good cover crops have been turned in, but on the tint rented plots where the cover crops were poor the oats are correspondingly bad. The oats from small measured areas on .the various plots have been cut and weighed. The crop weights show that the tares cover crop has resulted in the highest increase in the oats. Horse beans have given the next best, results find lupins have given the lowest increase in the yield of oats. In the case of the plot where tares, treated with 2 tons of ground limestone and 5 cut. of superphosphate were ploughed in, the oat crop is four times greater than that obtained from untreated land.

Another experiment -which will bo of great interest; to farmers on Meniere Hills soil is connected with the growing of. fodder crops. A held of 19 acres has been set aside for this purpose, and a start has been made bv conducting experiments on a large scale with tares and oats which were found to-do so well with proper treatment in the winter cover crop trials. Although spring sowings of tares with oats do not give such good results as autumn Sowings, very good growth has been obtained on some of the plots. The following table shows the frreen weights of the crop cut from plots treated in'different ways:

Plot No. 1, treatment, untreated; green produce per acre 3 cwt. No. 2, 5 cwt. Nauru Bock phosphate; 12 cwt.

No. 3, 4 cwt. basic slag, 50 cwt. ■" No. 4 ; 41 cwt. blood and bone mix turd, HO cwt.

No. f 5,4 J cwt. superphosphate and 2 tons ground limestone, 120 cwt. • The results of the experiments show clearly the impossibility of growing •crops on Moutcre soil unless proper treatment of the land is undertaken. The crop obtained by treating the land with 2 tons of ground limestone and 5 cwt. superphosphate is astonishingly good. The initial cost of treatment of the land is high, but it must be remembered that the lime will exert an influence on the soil for a period of S years. It is anticipated that, for tho next three or four years, land which has had the initial treatment will grow good leguminous crops with the annual application of 2-] cwt. superphosphate per acre.

a * • • MANURIAL EXPERIMENTS. INTERIM. RESULTS. Regarding the experiments being carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Christchureh, in respect of manurial top-dressing the indications, according to an interim report, an': that basic superphosphate is giving the best results on pasture where the land is of a heavy nature with a high moisture content. On this class of land Nauru has, so far, given negligible results. The experiments on this class of land are being carried out on an area at Cashmere. On land of a lighter nature, in the Tai Tapu district, and correspondingly dry, superphosphate has, so far, proved most satisfactory; next in merit is superphosphate and lime; again tho Nauni results were not noticeable. The fer: tilisers were applied at the end of August last, and the interim report covers, a period of close on four months. Groat care has been taken in the conduct of these experiments to observe uniformity of land throughout and to reduce experimental error to a minimum. From the results of these experiments so far observed it would appear that heavy applications or top dressings are not economical as far as yield of hay is concerned; but results will be, probably, manifested in the effect oil the grass as a grazing proposition.

• • • • CALF-REARING COMPETITION.

The calf-rearing competition for North Taranaki, which has just be'en concluded, has been most, successful, 70 calves having been presented to tho judges for examination. The children who took part must have learned much (says the Taranaki Herald). The competition aims at producing tho best-conditioned calves at the lowest cost. With this object in view marks up to 100 are given for condition and up to 100 for cost of rearing. Prices are fixed tor new milk, skint milk, and artificial foods, and the marks for cost are obtained by deducting from 100 the number of shillings spent on food. Thus a calf thai costs 10s lo rear will secure 90 marks, one that costs 25s receives 75 marks, and so on. As, a cheek to cost and to encourage accuracy, the children keep charts showing the amount of food supplied and its cost. The charts receive as a maximum 40 marks. It is obvious that the best-conditioned calf may fail to head the list owing to its having cost too much to feed. As the cost set. down ranged from (is or 7s to £2 9s Sd, it is evident that ideas on food varied very widely. • • • » THE WORLD'S MAIZE. DECREASED PRODUCTION. In view of the Australian maize supply position, information of special interest is to hand from the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome. As regards the world's production of maize, the institute's statistics of. the crop In the Northern Hemisphere state that for the countries responsible for more than 75 per cent, of the world's maize production, this year's harvest is estimated at 701 million metric tons, showing a decrease of 8 per cent, as compared with 1921, and of 3 per cent, as compared with the average of the quinquennial period, 1910-20.

• • • • GROWTH IN ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.

Mr. R. B. Harvey, of Minnesota University, reports to the American journal "Science" his success in growing a great variety of plants from seed to seed entirely in artificial light. ' This seems the first recordtyl instance of the conduct of the.complete life-cycle from the germination to.the setting and ripening" of the seed in the case of the higher plants, except in the presence of the radiant solar energy on which life in the last resort, depends. Mr. Harvey claims to have succeeded with several varieties of wheat, with oats, barley, rye, potatoes, buckwheat, lettuce, beans, peas, clover, radishes,

flax, and a number of common weeds. The tests were performed in unhealed basement rooms with no other source of heat, than that given out by the lamps; for cereals the temperature was controlled automatically at 14 degrees Centigrade by blowing in cold outside air. The lamps used were tungsten filament bulbs, tilled with nitrogen, and were burned continuously throughout the twenty-four hours. This absence of intermit fence is one of the most curious features of the experiments, for plants have generally .been supposed to require, like animals, periods of rest during which the physiological rhythm is altered. But the growth was continuous, and much accelerated, so that spring wheats produced ripe seeds in ninety days. .11 would thus be possible to grow three crops in a year on the same area, allow - I ing a handsome margin for tillage and i harvesting.

p • » ' ' * VISIT FROM SOUTH AFRICANS

Mr. Reg. Porritt and Mrs. .Porritt, proprietors of the Kirkwood. Stud Poultry Farm, Pietermaritzburg, Natal. South Africa, are touring New Zealand. Mr. Porritt. has 4000 White Leghorns and Black Orpingtons, 230 single pens, shedding accommodation for 3000 birds, and incubator capacity for 6000 eggs. Mr. Porritt single-tests all his breeders, his highest test for the past year being 325 for White Leghorns and'3/5 for Black Orpingtons. He also employs all the latest labor devices on his farm. His competition wins are three firsts, seven seconds, five thirds in all team tests since 1916. During his stay in Auckland he visited many of the. leading poultry farms, and was also taken to the Mount Albert laying competition by Mr. E. Garrett (Government- Expert) and the writer. Mr. Porritt expressed himself as being delighted with the birds, and said they were ryhend of anything he had seen in Australia.

Year. ewes. Lambing, , Lambs. 1922 . . 0,771,482 90.36 0,119,530 1021 . . 6,312,450 S9.05 5,059,355 1920 . . 5,83S,704 S7.95 5,135,524 1010 . . 0,311,797 81.57 5,148,779 SOUTH ISLAND. 1022 . 5,724,572 S2.53 4,724,475 1021 . . 5,835,332 83.28 4,859.425 1920 . . 5,729,S45 80.20 4,505', 120 1910 . . 5,900,709 72.2S 4,331,883 DOMINION. 1922 . . 12,490,054 S0.77 10,843,005 1021 . . 12,147,788 80.59 10,518,780 1920 . . 11,568,549 S4.ll 9,730,950 1019 . . 12,308,500 77.02 9,480,002