FARM TOPICS.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 45, 28 June 1929, Page 4

FARM TOPICS.

10 THE EDITOR Sir—Having read aM carefully studied the various articles published: in your columns, written by 'Arare' relating to top-dressing of farm lands anU other topics,, I would like to express my great appreciation of 'Arare's' contributions and also to you Mr Editor for devoting so much space every -week for the direct benefit of the farming community.

In yours of the 25th I read with interest the article on the use of nitrogenous' fertilisers and was about to commit an error in the -use of same by using a mixture basic slag and sulph of ammonia which 'Arare' states is scientifically Wrong aind wasteful. In connection therewith I will presume on your own and 'Arare's' generosity and ask a few questions'. 1 Would tjhere be! enough lime contained in 1 1-3 cwt of slag to' render useless the, nitrogen content of 1£ cwt. of sulp ammonia if applied simultaneously?

2.. Would sulph ammonia be wast--ed if used on land which had been! top dires.sed annually for som© years with slag. 3. Would it be waste of tim?. and mortay to top-dressl land with snip ammonia that had been limed this season?

%. Would it be wasteful to topdress pasture land with nitrate of soda that had been top-dressed with super phosphate? Three years ago I top-dressed 20 acres of my. farm with slag during the, winter. In spring I again topdtressed it with. 1 cwt nitrate of soda and H cwt of super phosphate and the growth of grass, was marvellous so much so Id 0 not think the super could have nullified the effect of the nitrate of soda. On another paddock I used nitrate of soda at the rate of H cwt per acre mixed with 1 cwt of super with the. result from a closely fed paddock I cut a very heavy crop of hav thirty days after I shut the paddock up, "but it took two years careful manuring to get. a fair sole of grass back, on the paddock, but. the clovers haye been eradicated!. I am mentioning this in order to obtain 'ArareV views as my experience in the use of iiiitrate of soda mixed with super was not in conformity with the views expressed by 'Arare' re mixing nitrate of soda and super. If I may be permitted I would also like to refer to an article written* by 'Arare' some weeks, ago re abortion and sterility in cows in which he attributed the primary contributing cause of this scourage to be breeding from heifers at too early an age. While not having the scientific knowledge of 'Araire' from observation ! and practical experience I hold different views which perhaps 'Arare' in some future issue may criticise and 1 thereby we may gain further information. Be sterility artd abortion. I consider that the primary cause i s chiefly in forcing greater production from cows than nature intended. We in our desire for excessive production have developed cows of a highlv Rtruntg temperament and tq h productive state that nature cannot supply from pastures that have to prochice and reproduce year after year the same constituents to supply tne animals needs in producing a calf and a supply of" butterfat and solids far. beyondi what would be nature's, requirements if the cow had only to produce sufficient to feed her calf which ia nature's only requirement. ■ • «

Before coming to. Tarailaki I was associated with cattle breeding on a large scale, where neither the oowa ujor the land was taxed by excessive production of butterfat. The cows were not the high producing and highly strung cattle which are the product of breeding and testing to produce an abnormal amount of butterfat. Among these run cows out of a mob of five hundred over a period of ten years, there were not a dozen cows out of the lot that ever aborted, 1 My deduction from experience is that it would be moiley well spent if re- ' search work was carried out to see if by the use of fertilisers through our pastures and free use of soluble minerals mixed with ensilage it'would be. possible to replenish the cow's .system with that which We-are taking from her by specialising on production. To my mind abortion is only rfatures way of protecting itself in an (endeavour to defend' its: host} against our forcing an animal to produce many times more than nature's (requirements to provide sustenance 'fo r he r oflspring. It is admitted by

all scientists that the mammary system and the reproductive organs of cows act in unison. When the mammary system is unduly taxed, although the cow may be in g°«dl bodily condition, the mammary and' reproductive organs become debilitated, the result being those organs become susceptible to disease «nd nature in an. endeavour to save the host seeks to, expel the foetus or set up conditions to prevent conception. So far as my experience has gone with highly producing rows, our best defence against abortion* is to replace by pas-