THE FARM.

Timaru Herald, Issue 170301, 21 August 1920, Page 5

THE FARM.

BY •KOEA©!." ENOUGirjIAIN. . For the thne being v,e. have had all ii.ie ruin that we want. No dcubt we Wild have clone without the. latest ji.o,vnpour just for the present, but it U, satisfactory to know that the land i.. .si lion- contain sufficient moisture . :.j last for some considerable time. It .c beter to have o good downpour at tiiis season of the year than to experie.iie rough. wot weather iaier on, when ,t,io lambing is in progress. No doubt ;'L„e very wet state of die 'and lias ltiii'eied team work, especially drilling, but It must be reii.embered Li at the winter 3ns an exceptionally line one for getting 011 with the work. There has been I very little hindrance, and cultivation, THi&cially ploughing, is '.-.oil forward. |T*ie line and dry conditions that pte-.•vr-ed during Jmy enabled a good deal <o r whsat to be put in then. so that the Tjidrauee d..ring this moath will nut it si l'eit as much as it. would lu-vt; Leon July been as wet as it usnaliy is. SIU. there is a, good deal of wheat to ■"-o" sown, and it is to be hoped that the will soon dry sufficiently t 0 ens Wo ■T"~i7s to be done. If possible all wheat '"s !r oiild be got in by the end <f the (SWontih. Even then ic is late enough. Of good crops have resulted fi oirt \Soptsluber :uid October sowings, but it is preferable to .have all the crops well above the ground by the end of Septemjoar. Outs arc very often put in later, ibut if they can be sown during this Jmonth or next so much the better. (There have been some very hard frosts lduring the last few days, hut, after all, it is seasonable weather. We may look tfor something better during the next .ifew weeks. We were told at the, teiginning of this month by Mr "vVboles [that the conditions that should have obtained during July would bo experienced tin's month, and so far he has (proved himself a true prophet.

THE WOOL PftICES. No doubt every farmer has'seen and lead the lengthy statements in;.de by Mr Mikie in connection vith tlie bargain made between the Imperial Government and the .New Zealand Cabinet in connection with the disposal of ofir wool during the Avar period. Briefly stated, the contention of Mr Milne isthat our Government made a mistake in selling our wool on the basis of 191314 prices received at auction sales within the Dominion. He has lad access to the cablegrams received by the Prime Minister from the Imperial Government offering to buy our wool, and he interprets them quit© differently to ■tie meaning given, them by cur people. He states emphatically that the cables received from Home conveyed an offer of 45 per cent, increase on the prices obtained for our 1913-14 wool on the London market. He claims, I believe, to be thoroughly conversant with the language employed in cabling messages, aiuf though neither New Zealand nor London is mentioned he is- firmly convinced that the latter place was intended. It is understood that Mr Massey has now cabled Home to ascertain what was reallv in the minds of the Home authorities when they made their offer, and no doubt they, as honourable men, will clear up the position. Of course, if the Imperial Government intended to pay on the London values the bargain ultimately arrived at vould have brought manv more millions' to the pockets oF the nroducers here, money that would have 'been very welcome m the country. However, it must 1 e remomTered that wool was sold :>t, 55 per cent, increase on the 1913-14 New 7eaU"r.d prices, while the offer made in the first instance was 45 per cent. It would be interesting' to ascertain -what is the difference between 45 per cent, on London values and 55 per cent, on New Zealand prices. The rhspute between the Government and Mr Milne, is on interesting one. and the result is being awaited with a good cV.al of interest.

STOCK MARKETS. In spite of the fears that exist in the minds of many of our farmers regarding the disposal of the clip during tile forthcoming wool year, store sheep of ah kinds have risen very much in value during the lust month. Many are expecting a slump in the wool market on account of the big accumulations in Australasia and at Home, but all the same sheep are going up in price, and have probably reached a higher level than at any time during the war. Of course we iaiow tliat there is very much more confidence in the future of the meat market than was the case some two months ago or so, but even so there will not havf to he much of a fall in wool if buyers are to make their purchases pay at present prices. There is a good deal of feed about, but since the rains mors turnips, or rather shells, have been wasted than at any time during the winter. The grass is not growing much as yet owing to the recent frosts, but a milder turn, might set in at any time. T.t is to be expected when September is reached. However there is no difficulty as regards feed, and that may have a good deal of influence in causing prices to harden in the way they did. Then there is a decrease in tills number of sheep in the Dominion, if the figures recently is-siued are tlo be depended upon. Holders of store stock show no inclination towards weakening, either in sheep, cattle, or horses. Store sheep, as 1 have stated, have risen appreciably, particularly if they are carrying fine wool. But crossbredg are selling well, especially those that are suitable for finishing up the turnips. Cattle are very free sellers a* present, particularly dairy cows. Some of the prices reached at recent clearinosales have 'oeen most satisfactory to the sellers. Dairy sorts seem to be in very short supply. „They will no doubt be much, scarcer when the milking season starts. Draught horses have taken an almost pl»e<noHieiial rise during the past six months', and anyone who bought in early is to be coiigratnlated. A decent sort 'of horse cannot be obtained under £SO, unless by a lucky chance, while down south good mares have been bringing as high as £75. By the way, it is stated that the number of sheep in the world hag decreased by nearly 15 millions since 1917. This is a Very big drop. Tt approximates the total of this Dominion. The "Live Stock Journal" says tfeat •'Hie total number of sheep in the world in 1917 wa s just oyer 590 millions, while in 1918 they ►did not rea«h a total of 575 millions.

[ TREATING SEED GRAIN. , I A little Home newspaper lias ■ leached me through the post containing the following very interesting article ou the subject of helping seed grain on its way after it has been committed to the ground. The idea i.5 to put power into the seed before it is sown, anl the experiments appear to have been successful if the following is to believed:— The Board of Agriculture and the scientific farms at Rothampste&d in Hertfordshire, have been experimenting with a new idea of treating seeds. One of the gravest lessons impressed on us by the war is that we must grow much more food. We can do that either by cultivating more land or by making the same land produce heavier crops. In either case more fertilising substance mnst be used. Scientists in Italy, where farmers have been specially handicapped by the difficulty of getting fertilisers, have been closely studying fee whole question, and hav«? come to the conclusion that our present system of manuring is astonishingly wasteful. They h«ve now car-

Ned out experiments which may create a Revolution in agriculture. Consider what happens after the farmer spreads a fertiliser on his 1: nd. Part is carried away by rain, and lost; a large part simply serves to stimulate weeds. When the crop is yom.g. and at the critical period of its life, it is least able to absorb the fertiliser'; as the crops grows and ripens its p.etite for fertiliser increases, but just at that time the power of the fertiliser in the soil is nearly gone. _ The remedy proposed by the Italian investigators is that, instead of manuring the soil, we should manure the seeds. They contend that instead of scattering fertiliser on the ground, better results can be obtained by allowing the seeds to absorb the fertiliser before they are sown.

It sounds most captivating, and the process, carried out in Italy" with nitrate of ammonia, consists of soaking a certain weight of seeds in a weak solution of nitrate and water for a ngriod of from 12 to 14 hours. After" they have been thoroughly soaked, the seed's are dried in the air and sown in the ordinary way. By this treatment it is claimed that the seed not only absorbs from the nitrate more of the nitrogen, which is essential to a sturdy growth] but Sets it as it first starts to grow, just when the action of nitrogen is most beneficial.

Experiments carried out near Rome show that grain treated in this way shoots up earlier and grows better than untreated seeds. It is better able to withstand high winds, and, although ripening a little later, on account ( of its superior size it gives 25 per cent, more straw and grain than seeds manured in the ordinary way. Moreover, it is said that only onetenth of the nitrates that would be spread on the land is required.