FARMING INTERESTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18820, 7 March 1931, Page 18 (Supplement)

FARMING INTERESTS.

STONES IN THE PASTURE. QUESTION OP REMOVAL. Flint-picking used to be considered a necessary problem on chalk and gravel soils in England, where stones of some size were constantly working to the surface. On . sheep farms especially the tramping of the sheep sometimes causes the stones to rise in such abundance that they will more or less completely cover the soil. In such a case it is' desirable to remove some of them from time to time, for otherwise cultivation and seed-sowing becomes difficult. To-day, although some stone-pick-ing is still done when it becomes absolutely necessary, it seems that the practice is less regularly followed than it used to be. Probably there are two reasons for that—-first, the increased cost of labour, and the difficulty in getting women and children to do the job; and, second, the poor demand that now exists for the stone when it has been collected. Before the motor vehicle came into existence, and before anyone had thought of dressing the surface of the roads with tar, even our main highways were often mended with nothing but flint—not an ideal substance by any means, but often the best that could be had. Flint, at any rate was cheap, and the farmer was usually willing enough to take about a shilling a load for any of the unwanted stuff that he could And a market for close at hand. Nowadays this demand has mostly disappeared, for even the by-roads are mended with something better, flint being used only for the least-used country lanes. What result this lessened demand for flint may ultimately have upon farming remains to be seen, but it would certainly seem that the stone might still be used to a considerable extent. It is good stuff for the foundation of any road, and if local authorities made more use of it in this direction a good deal of the money now spent on road-making might perhaps be saved.

MANURES AND WEEDS. THE EFFECTS OF LIME. Dr. Winifred E. Brenchley, dealing with the influences of fertilisers on meadow hay, showed that fertilisers exercise an indirect, as well as direct, action on yield on grass and arable land by influencing the growth of plants other than the desired crop, so varying the degree of competition to which the crop is subjected. The composition of weeds or undesirable plants is a much more important factor in determining yield than is generally recognised. On arable land the type of manuring that is (favourable to good crop production also favours the growth of weeds. If seasonal conditions encourage the germination and growth of weed seeds before the crop makes headway, the competition causes serious reduction of crop yield, which is frequently more marked with heavy than with light manuring. The potential weed flora may be very abundant, quantitative experiments at Rothamsted showing that the number of viable weed seeds buried in the soil may run into hundreds of millions per acre with certain types of fertilisers. On grasslands the effect of artificial fertilisers is variously influenced by liming. On heavy land long continued treatment with sulphate of ammonia and minerals tends to produce acid soil conditions, and the production of a herbage composed of the less desirable grasses and giving relatively low yield. Liming under these conditions increases yield greatly, and changes the balance of composition in favour of more desirable species. On the other hand, on the same soil liming has much less or no beneficial effect with one-sided manures, such as superphosphate alone, or where the soil is tending toward an alkaline reaction due to the use of nitrate of soda and minerals. PORK ON BACON. Like many others, I am faced with the problem as to whether it is better to sell our pigs now as porkers or run them on for bacon, remarks the “Farmer and Stock Breeder.’ The pork price is good, while the bacon price has eased off a bit. With foodstuffs as cheap as they are, the cost of making the additional weight is small, but the problem is to foretell the trend of bacon prices. We know that they have sufficient pigs in Denmark to flood our markets and send prices down with a run, but there is , evidence that the Danes themselves are, since this is their principal market, not anxious to spoil it, and are looking for some other outlet. Those of us with pigs sincerely hope they will And it.

One of the high-producing Jerseys bred by Mr J. D. Read in his Springhurst Stud in north-eastern Victoria, Tecoma of Springhurst, has completed seven official lacation periods for an average production of 471 b. butter-fat. Now over ten years old, Tecoma entered her first test at 21 months old, and returned 2881 b. fat. Since then she had exceeded 4201 b. on every occasion with a top record of 6051 b. butter-fat. Her average production over the last three periods has been 5571 b. butterfat. One of her daughters, Tecoma 3rd of Springhurst, by Starbrlght’s Prince of CHen Iris, which calved at 20 months old, recently completed her first official test for 3371 b. fat. She produced 5311 b. milk, and gave a yield of 1511 b. milk on the closing day ot the official test period ol nine months.