AGRICULTURAL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13828, 13 February 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

AGRICULTURAL.

"The problem of farm management is one .-demanding more careful planning ' ahd ; foresight than actual information. /Who invented the plough ? There is no record of his name, but he did more for the good of the world than any" war lord or wielder of the pen. ;k "The Danes have harnessed science - to the plough and the churn, and have madei;hcir country a land flowing with • milk;and'butter," says the Danish Ambassador. - The "success fid man on the farm is -he who thinks, who studies, who meets .with-his, neighbours, who is proud of • his business, and who is a useful citizen,, taking' part in all affairs that stand for the upbuilding of the com.nninity and State. The. use of modern machinery: the use-of. animals bred for the pnrpose for which they are employed; the proper rotation of crops; returning, as much fertility to the land as is taken away by the crop:- cultivating the fields to get-the best returns: raising crops bestadapted to the land and purpose for which they are used, in short, getting all'oiit-'of/the land that is possible, and passing it on to the next generation in as. good or better state of fertility than it was when, found, this in brief is '•• modern farming." "X wise man once was asked, " What is the most- valuable discovery in agriculture ?" He answered, "Drainage." In draining the land we are concerned, for the most parr, with the surplus water" and' its removal. For drainage acts "thusly: It removes the gravitational water —the kind that- often injures plants, the kind that drowns the ; roofs, and it increases the quantity of ' capillary water —the kind useful to ' plants,-the kind that draws into solu- : tion 'the needed plant food salts, and secures them for roots and stents and leaves and for all the growing tissues ' of: the plant. ' Mr-Edwin Hall, secretary of the Auckland A. and I'. Association, states ". that for 14 years the American Bureau of Soils has employed a large force of fjeldmen, chemists." and soil. physicists in soil- surveys and investigations, and the result of thir, work has materially the views previously held aWut the principles of soil fertility, —— rathin.recent years the conclusion lias been arrived at that the condition 'of the soil.is almost of more importance than' its' chemical composition. As Professor Whitney, of the American Bureau .of Soils, put it. •' W enmst : cleari out our soils as we do' the stalls "or. our stables." Professor Whitney is I adding volumes of knowledge to agri■cultjjral" science as to the need for a -proper sanitary environment, which is ■as necessary' for plants as for human 'beings.- Plants throw off excreta that must-be disposed of, and if left to accumulate 'in the ground, unneutralised ' bv- -rotation of crops or by manures, will poison plant life. The excreta wJiichnright be poison to one plant is food for another, and so on. A valuable illustration of the capahilities of kauri gum soil is demon- ! stfated bv the farm operations carried on at Avondale mental hospital. There -it is made to yield all the "products';of mixed farming; including grass, grain, and roots, in large quantities jind excellent qualitv. The oats this year were estimated bv a southern farmer • to-vield-at least 40 or 'SO bushels per 'acre and thev were grown on one or • the poorest parts or the farm, and on crrmmd 'that had yielded five oat crops in succession. Five grain crops in suc-cession-is a good test for any land, and yet this latest crop looks as healthy and strong' as the ordinary person could desire, and considering that it only received 1-J ewt of basic slag and 13- cwi of kainit, it is obvious that the results were not obtained by heavy ; manuring. As a matter of fact, the ' onlv assistance this land has had during th'e greaterpart of the time it has been cropped is lime.

OLD AND NEW FARM LAND VALUES. Mr Edwin Hall, secretary of the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral 'Association, who has returned from an extended trip through England Scotland,, and America, gives some mterestinri- information regarding European, American, and New Zealand land values "While travelling ahout, he states, "I made frequent inquiries regarding the price of land, and frequently heard the opinion that the prices quoted in some parts of New : Zealand were too high. One New Zealand settler informed me that he could buv good land in England for less ''money than he sold his farm in New Zealand. I heard, of good farms well .imnroved with fine brick homesteads, selling in Lincolnshire at less than £2O per acre, and of farms in other counties at under half that figure. This is deterring people from coming to New Zealand. Farmers say they can gee better land, on easier terms, in England than in New Zealand. The ground on which the Letchwork Garden City was built, a typical examole of tho beautiful English countrvsi'le. vithm 45 -minutes by rail from London, was sold for less than £4O pe** acre, - rd this included the buildings of two villages and the timber on the oitate. Inquiries in America, Queensland, and New South Wales led rcie to the ooini' n that the average prices of land in those countries are lower than in New Zealand. Surprise was also r ; xr.:?s3-;d that the -'system of making valuations, based on the rental, which had s.-> long obtained in England, is not more generally adopted in New Zealand, instead of "the haphazard of basing calculations on sales, which are always subject to extreme fluctuations. Everywhere efforts are being made to lure the "people back to the land, -n Denmark the Government is advancing SO per cent, of the purchase mc ney for land, stock, and plant to enable tenants to secure the freehold. .American boats that it has a farm for every son. England has voted large sums to enable'lrish tenants to buy their holdings, and Canada advertises that 87 per cent. of the Canadian farmers are their own landlords, which all goes to show how little labour agitators and the general town socalists know about the real crux of the land question.

TESTING THE SOIL. The amount of sand, silt, clay, and humus in a soil may easily be determined (says the Hawkesbmy Agricultural College "Journal") by a simple mechanical analysis, though not as exact as when made in the laboratory. First examine the soil sample closely in the hand, then with a lens. Note the colcnr, and look for dark particles of humus. Rub a portion between the fingers to determine the texture and size of particles. If smooth it is mostly clay 'and silt. Moisten a quantity and squeeze it hard. If it retains its shape after releasing pressure, the soil contains much clay and silt, and must he worked carefully; if friable, it contains much humus and sand. A more exact form of analysis is as follows: —Take a quart of moist soil as it conies from the field, screen out coarse particles and weigh carefully. Spread thinly on pan, and place in oven or back of stove, and allow to dry. "Weigh when dry, and place the' dry soil upon a coal shovel on hot coals or in very hot oven. The humus in the soil will smoke and burn. Good soils should shrink considerably. The sand, silt. and clay may then be separated. Take & large bottle, two to four quarts, put, in bnrned soil, and fill with water and shake vigorously. Place on table and

allow to settle. The coarse sand will settle first, then the medium and fine sand, while the silt and clay will remain in suspension for. several days. When all-is deposited the sand will he at the bottom, the silt next, and the clay on top. The manner of settling and amounts of sediment enahle one to estimate roughly the proportional amounts of sand, silt, and clay. It is better to take a composite sample to test. The character of a soil, its water holding capacity, aeration and relative fertility are determined largely by the relative amounts of sand, silt, clay and humus present. In purchasing a farm or; in adjusting some new crop to a field it is. often desirable to make some simple tests -which will indicate in a general way the adaptability of the soil for the purpose intended.

PREVENTING LAND MONOPOLY

The land monopolist is not finding any favour in the eyes of the American people at the present time, and means are being devised to harass him, even if it is not possible in the immediate future to remove lu'm altogether. About two months ago the last of the great Indian reservations in " the United States was thrown open to settlers, the 828,000 acres that it covered being divided into 160-acre blocks. Congress will not accept money for land thrown open in this way, on the ground that if the land were sold some multi-mil-lionaire might buy up the whole_ lot and establish something like a pnncimlitv in the "land of the free,' and the allocations of the sections was therefore - determined by ballot,every person who had personally registered at the local land office being entitled to a chance. There were _ 114,069 names on the list, one person in twenty-three securing a prize, as the names were called out the lucky ones dashed across the line to select their lots. The average value of the farms was about £7OO, so that Congress sacrificed a very large sum of money in order that the greatholding might be distributed among some five thousand families. Of course, many .enormous estates exist in America' at the present time, but the path' of the big landowners is being made difficult in many ways. The county authorities oppress them with specially heavy taxes and constantly devise new means of encouraging subdivision. Poads are cut through the properties for the "good of the public," and the big owners are then assessed for the improvements that they would gladly have paid to avoid. Mr. Pierpont Morgan was a recent victim. He owns'a- vast property on the banks of the Hudson River, and the county authorities -selected his border as a suitable site for a gaol. He offered to buy the property that the country had acquired and to give a new site at another spot, but bis offer was declined firmlv. The eountv had no desire to retain the millionaire.

THE DECAY OF AGRICULTURE. " The number of persons engaged i" agriculture had decreased by one half in the same number of years in which

the population nearly doubled itself/ writes Mr Holt Schooling in the August Windsor. "These results relate to England and Wales, as the corresponding particulars for the United Kingdom are not stated in the official records. Wo have lost sight of the necessity to preserve a. just proportion between our agricultural industry and our manufacturing and other industries. Cobdenism takes no account of such a, vital matter as this, a. matter vital ta our national welfare. Our so called free trade is purely commercial. It is concerned solely with the obtaining of money profit. It forgets that national welfare is much less dependent upon the, money profit gained by a nation's' mere traders than upon the maintenance of an. industry of such primary importance as agriculture. History teaches us that no great country can' let its agriculture decay without ultimate ruin. And it is easy to see why this should be. It is a primary provision of Nature to supply a population with the means to • feed itself—the first necessary condition of a continued life. And if a nation will not use the means given by -Nature for its supply of - food and if'that nation will allow'other nations largely to feed it, the time will come sooner or later when reliance upon foreign food will prove to be the ruin of a nation so foolish and so neglectful of the direct teaching of Nature. It is as imprudent to rely upon foreign food for our means of daily life as it is rash for a nation to rely upon foreign mercenaries for its defence in battle. In both instances the thing wanted can be bought for money. But it is not wise to buy all things; and two things that cannot be wisely or safely bought by a great nation are foreign food and foreign service to fight its battles. But we°are buying our food more and more largely from foreign countries, neglectfuLof'the danger of this act." HOW NEW WHEATS ABE BRED.

An interesting lecture was recently delivered by Mr G. L. Sutton, New South Wales. Government wligat experimentalist, at a meeting of farmers in the Glen Junes district. The lecturer created great interest by showing the process of crossing one wheat with another. The method was shown to be quite simple. Mr Sutton explained that each grain was treated specially, full notes taken in a field-book, and the full pedigree of each variety was always obtained. A photograph was shown of the first grain of "Bobs" wheat in 196. In 1900 the nuantity was like drops of water over Niagara Falls in multitude. He. especially referred to the growing demand for strong wheats to make strong flour, and said that if a wheat were 12 points of strength,greater than another kind, that meant that wheat like '•'Jonar " then absorbed 12 quartz of water more than some other varieties, and that the .baker couldmake 12 more loaves out of a ton of it. So they could understand why they could get more money for their strong wheats. He dealt with the need of plenty of organic matter soils,'even if well manured. The yield would he more than doubled if plenty of organic matter were put into the ground. Good farming, he said, implied that a farmer should be able to hand down his farm to his son, and even his grandson, in as fertile condition as when be himself commenced to cultivate it. One handy way of doing this was by crop rotation. Deeprooted crops like lucerne or sorghum brought up valued constituents from the subsoil, which shallow-rooted crops like wheat never reached. He strongly advocated plenty of cultivation, and showed pictures of the cultivation and orchard on Coolabah experimental farm, near Bourko, where the country had the reputation of being a desert, and where dry farming, with as low as 2jjin. of rain on-the whole crop had turn-ed-the wilderness into a. garden. Even hero tliev had short droughts, and when thev had short droughts, and when they had these dry spelisvthey would immensely increase their yields bv dry cultivation.

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS

The "Manuawatu Times" publishes facts connected with the spread of contagious mammitis which show that the position will have to be very seriously considered. An instance is given of one farmer near Palmerston having forty out of ninety cows affected, thus losing £4OO on his profit for the season, as well as putting nearly half his herd permanently out of use as milkers.

-Mr. Gilruth first drew attention to the danger five years ago, and reported strongly upon it last year. The "Times' points out that there is great danger of infection from beasts purchased at saleyards. Keakes, Chief Veterinarian, interviewed on the subject, said the spread of contagious mammitis is undoubtedly a serious matter, and in their own interests farmers should take every precaution to prevent the introduction of the disease into their herds; or, if they be unlucky enough to already have affected cows, to prevent its spread from these to other milkers, hands are a common medium for the conveyance of contagion from cow to cow. "in anything but mild cases, and not always in these, no satisfactory curative is known. The injection of a 4 per ceut. boracic acid solution sometimes gives good results in mild cases. Under present conditions of legislation, if improvement is to be hrough about —and it must be principally on the lines of "prevention" —it is particularly necessary that affected animals should not be allowed to pass from the possession of one farmer to another. Captain Young, veterinarian for the Taranaki district, was also interviewed and testified to the very dangerous hold the contagion had on the Taranaki herds.