AGRICULTURAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13733, 24 October 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURAL.

."*•.% AMERICAN FARMING. .'• (From-the American "Review of ' -■„ i Reviews.") '•- The foundation of all American prosthe American firm, and. the .American farmer as he. i» to-day *» a new product of civilisation. roruierly lie Worked to live; now he runs the land a», a. great factory. The old hand-to-month agriculturist is giving place to a highly educated scientific captain of industry, and master of machines. Mr Catson says that the beginning of the new.era dates from the year 10*79. A . bad harvest in Europe coincided with a good-crop in America, and the price of wheat -went. up. to above a dollar a bushel- The result was that in that year the other nations of the world paid the United States 240 millions sterling for farm products, and this unparalleled isponring of foreign money made the United States the richest and busiest nation : of the- world. The wprk-day . average.- value of the American Arop is Dearly £5,000,000 sterling. Mr Catson, 4a- hi», picturesque style, says : j,** Place your finger on the pulse of your ' wrist, .and count the heartbeats —one — .. -two^-three—four. With every four of these quick throbs, day and night, a thousand dollars clatter in tot the goldbin of the American farmer. ~ "When we remember that the American farmer earns enough.in seventeen days yto : buy. out 'Standard Oil, and enough in fifty days to wips Carnegie and the Steel . Tn&t off the industrial map, the 6tory . of the trusts seem like "the short and simple'annals of the poor." -•* One .American harvest would buy the Kingdom of Belgium, King and all; two would ,buy. Italy ; three would buy Aus-tria-H angary, and five, at a spot-cash . price, would take Russia from the Tsar." The enormous increase in the value in land is strikingly illustrated by what Mr - Casooa -say* about • the fetate of lowa, "which be -regards as the most prosperous of] ; all -the., agricultural States. He ■. says- , •." When the Indians sold lowa to Uncle .Sam they got.about eight cents an acre. • To- ghre the price exactly, to a'cent,,'it was £575,000; When this 7 money-was paid there were' statesmen who protested that it was too much. • Yet : this amount was less than one-quarter of the.value of the eggs in last year's nests. Every, three months the lowa ben pays for-lowa."-

- v Th« immense agricultural developimnt has. be*tt stimulated by a great advance in agricultural, education : • - "There are now 15,000 new farmers who' l hare - graduated from agricultural colleges; and since the late Prof. W. O. Atwater opened the first American cxperiment station, in 1875, fifty others have sprung into vigorous life. There is a'so at Washington an Agricultural Department, which has become the greatest aggregation of farm-ficientists in the world.-, • -To' maintain this department •Uncle Sam -pays grudgingly £2,200,000 a rear.'* , -That pays, Mr Catson illrstraies by mentioning the fact that a single professor m lowa College by his expriroente discovered an improved seed which increased the yield by ten bushels an acre-

-•American farmers nave always been pioneers* in agricultural machinery; but ■what-tb*ir fathers did is nothing to what tbey.are.doing to-day. Mr Casson says: ■'" .Already gasoline engines are in vne among the fanners. The International Harvester Company made 25.000 of them list "year at Milwaukee, without supplying'tbe demand. These engines, in the near future, will be operated with alcohol, -which the fanners can distil from potatoes, at a cost of ten cents, a gallon. Tfiis is no dream, as there are now 6,000 alcohol'engines in'use on the farms of Germany alone. . - "When that age of alcohol arrives the making of the new fanner will be very nearly complete. He will then, grow his own power, and know how to harness " the omnipotence of the soil. "To measure- American fanners by the census i» sow an oat-grown method, for the- reason that each fanner works with the power of fire men. The farm has become- a factory. Four-fifths of its work is done by machinery, which explains- how we can produce one-fifth of the wheat of the world, half of the cotton, and three-fourths of the com. although we are only 6 per cent, of the honun race. "Roughly speaking, the time needed to, handle an acre of wheat has teen reduced from sixty-one" boors to three by the use of machinery. Hay now requires four hours, instead of twenty-one; oats seven hoars, instead of sixty-six; and potatoes thirty-eight hours, instead of 109." BRITISH MEAT SUPPLIES. The question of the sources of the meit supply, eays the Agricultural Gazette. is not one that can be agreeably contemplated by the British agriculturist, for it is chiefly suggestive- to him of increased competition from countries in which the cost of production are. from a variety of causes, cheaper than in b» own. Still it-may bo useful to indicate that at the present moment various cbaog«i> of importance are in progms. and if these do net imply any slackening in tl*> difficulties be has to face, they, at any rate, show that in holding their own eome- of h* most formidable rivals are experiencing 'a certain amount of trouble to which they have formerly ben accustomed. For example, tho hitherto unquestioned supremacy of the United Status for beef production, and Auslrakcia for its output" of mutton is not now unchallenged. Of course the former country hn* Mill two- strings to its bow, whereas the Argentine Republic has only one—in the one ease both live cattle and fw»«h beef can be landed in this country, whereas only beef can be imported from South America. The prohibition of imports of live cattle from the Argentine has been followed hy a remarkable development of the froh beef export trade. During the, three months ended March 31st the Argentine exported to this country 848.129 rwt. of fresh beef, including, refrigerated and fro xen. The Argentine now heads tho lint lioth of fresh beef and fresh mutton imports—a very noteworthy achicve'nent in the conrse of- a few years. There ix iu> doubt that the growth of the Argentine. exports of beef k» giving riw> to anxiety in the United StaKe. and th« result may !*• important in several way.*. The -Home production of meat, and especially of l>eef. is excessive. ,and j<rn-.K are being run low. Of course, the b'i'k ff whit is exported from Nor«h and South America comes here, and i' would Ik* welcome news if it wen- found to !>-• possible for a portion of it t» lw diverted rV-where. Germany and France »r» suffering from warcitv of l>eef. and ir. remains to be ?<en how lons tl>'« » dl b» submitted to. If. however, tlf industrial classes were to n«ert tliemrelvr-. an_ important change might l>- eff»•»..!. and tb'« would be U'ft>ti< ul to Kn-'.l»di stwk feeder*, a* the market v«mld be relieved of i'« present conc'-«t'-.| Mat-. and values for the home-produced p.eit would increase.- It i» a. pity that Par. liament will not turn it- atMition to d-vi»i<iC BW« to erinre tint the •lr»ir.of the public t>.» |iUielu»r hmnc "■■■" n jr»*af could he sati-fkd, and no l>it-r plan ha* ' hitherto been »ucg«-t«-d tya «e,..K»re all-meat-clearly marked, >h<»« itig distinctly its place of origin. . .-PRAIRIE GRASS. •Mr.Alfred 1.. Evar-t r-tii' - < •- ' ■ Paatoralrats* Review- the foilow-n- ir-i*rc«». ing article on prairie- grass, 'which thrive*

to well in New Zealand :—The prim* factor about prairie gras«> »> that it is so palatable to stock and is »> extremely nutritious and fattening. In a 40-acie paddock, sown with 16 grasses, including lucerne, rye. and all the cloveis, it in invariably the case that all the sloek —sheep, cattle, and horses—take to the prairie grass first. It » for this reason that prairie grats is oftt-n unjustly condemned by graziers as being unable to stand heavy stocking, becauce if town with other grasses stock are so fond of it. that they fairly worry to death, never allowing it to seed, and eat it right to the roots, though the other grasses in the paddock are a foot high. The writer has seen in the middle of summer a paddock sown with prairie and cocksfoot, with the prairie eaten to the ground and the cocksfoot 6in high all over the paddock. Prairie grass should most certainly be sown by itself, as if any other grass is sown with it, it is only taking up ground that should be in prairie, and which will probably not be eaten, the single exception lucerne. Then, again, it can be spelled at seeding time to the best advantage when sown by iteelf. If prairit grass is grown on suitable ground, and in a suitable climate, and spelled regularly every year for a month when the seed is ripening, it will last as well as .any other grass that can be grown, and, except lucerne, will give very much better returns. Prairie grass will grow in a fairly dry climate, and also in a very wet one. It will grow in damp ground and in flooded flats. ' Prairie lik«6 rich river flats, and grows there to perfection, but will thrive in as poor ground as most artificial grasses. Of course, there are a few exceptions, tuch as couch grate, paspalum dilatatum or golden crown, rib, and soft mallum, all of which will grow in very poor ground. But then a plant of piairie is worth two of the others, and both paspalum 'and couch grabs are valueless in the winter, when prairie is at its best. If prairie is cut, and not eaten off at all, it will grow well in very poor, sandy ground. On the very poorest yellow clay in a good climate prairie will carry one and a-half to two sheep to the acre, and fatten them.

Prairie grass is a very heavy seeder, and as it will stand a very heavy harrowing, it is not hard to thicken up the sward by this means. Prairie is a deep and strong-rooted plant, and nsponds to fummeis' rains really well. It is not .uncommoon to see 6in of growth from prairie gran* in midsummer after 2in of rain, when followed by mild weatlier, and every 50 points will give a shoot that conies in handv for lambs.

Prairie grass is a particularly stronggrowing plant, and it is as to cultivate as cither oats or wheat, and the seed will strike on loese ground even when lying on the surface or if sown sin deep. Generally speaking, a depth that is suitable for 'oats would do admirably for prairie. Unfortunately, prairie cannot be sown through a drill in any quantity, as it in too light, and clogs, and would break the machine, but about 71b, not more, can be sown to the acre with wheat or oats; wheat, being the heavier, will carry more prairie heed through than oats. So if i-own by itself it must bo sown broadcast by hand at the rate of 2J bushels to the acre, and thoroughly harrowed in. If sown with other grasses it is b;st to sow by itself jin>t and harrow it once, then the drill coming after with the other seed will effectually cover it. After the drilling it finished it is advisable to cross harrow with a very light harrow. Very great care should bo exercised when buying prairie grass s'.ed, as if the seed is very green it is quite on the cards that it will not germinate, so that it is advisable to see that tlie teed is quite free from any green tinge and perfectly mature. The size of tht» seed is not a criterion of its quality, as green seed i> often a fair size. Prairie s'"d is very light, so that when sowing by hand an 10ft frtrip is quite wide; enough trv take to make sure of the groinjd being covered, sowing with two hands' The b i-t result*, will b> obtained on a windy day by sowing with one hand side on to the wind. -

If 71b of prairie gra.«» is sown wil.li Algerian oats and rape for sheep or lamb* it will be found that tin? iiuality of the crop* is enhanced, and the prairie will tpin out the duration of the crop by some few months, giving a nice pick after the outs and rape ore finislied. A few acres of prairie laid down in really well-cultivated and manured ground., and always cut. never being fed off. would be found of great iwrvice to inilkei*.. stallions, working hoites. or stud sdieep, giving a. green succulent biu? in tinmiddle of winter, and for a t>ick beast there is nothing to b.-at it.

Last month Met-sis A. Muritzoon and Co.. grain merchant*, of Duncdin, wrote to the Minister for Trades and Commerce' •suggesting an innovation in the direction of furnishing the London oflire every jifar with sample jacks of various grades of oats and wheat fixed «aeh rear in Canterbury and Invorcargill by the Chamb>T of Commerce or by firms engaged in the trade, t>o that if at any time bu»i ness fc> Wing done by cable with various parts of Great ltritain tin? hutiiKhs propie of this" Dominion would refer tlie Home buyers to the Agent -liberal's office to obtain sample*. A n-ply has been receive*! to the effect that while the New Zealand Government appreciated th" offer want of b]Kice in llie of tiers a'< present occupied by the High CoinniisMoner in London operated agair*,t the immediate acceptance of the olf-r. TieHigh Commissioner, however. «as being communicated with in order to aMvrtain if it were possible for him to provide the necessary «<pace.