THE FARM

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 6379, 22 July 1916, Page 4

THE FARM

THE VALUE OF HUMU3. Hvfluue is so thoroughly dessau? inated in the soil that its presence is noticeable only in the dark colour it gives-when in large amounts, but black soil may sometime* be due to its mineral content rather than humus. Humus, is black or brown in colour, resembling charcoal in its lightness and porosity: and in its destructibility by fire. It is highly absorbet of gases and moisture in the latter case swelling eight to fourteen times its dry volume. In chemical composition it varies with the composition of the plant from which derived, In a soil humus ia usually combined with lime and other elements as humatcs, and is then not soluble in water, but is dissolved by a solution of caustic alkali and of carbonate of soda. When, soils are weak in lime it forms free humic acid, and this acid condition must be corrected by the use of lime. The unavailability of free humic acid is one of the reasons ■why the lime-loving plants, such as alfalfa, should have application of lime to correct this tendency of acid formation when the lime in the soil is depleted. Humus improves the texture of soils. It does this in clay soils by causing aggregation of flocculation of the particles of clay into a granular condition, thus produ-, cing looseness and easier tillage, j The soil is thus better aerated and ventilated, and is made warmer for plant development. By this condition it is made more receptive for rainfall, permits greater fredom in the downward percolation of water, and prevents its evaporation by the sun's heat. When incorporated with loose, sandy soil it occupies the spaces between the grains, thus binding the sand together, and giving better texture. By this the soil is mado to hold moisture which would otherwise be lost by percolation and by evaporation ; and is made cooler in summer because of absorption and radiation of the heat from the black particles. It decreases the conductivity of a sandy soil for heat, thus preventing over-heating of surface plant roots in such soils. Humus ill the soil absorbs water and water vapour. This is due to its porosity, which gives it a very high absorptive power. But it does this only in its diffused collidoal condition in the soil. When separated from the soil and dried at a low temperature it loses its colloidal nature, acts only as so much fine silt.

Humus promotes chemical action in the soil. The humus acts upon the inert and insoluble minerals in the soil, and slowly renders their elements of plant food avoilablc for plant use.

THE PERFECT COW. Her Astounding Bountifulness. Few people have any idea of the wonderful productiveness of cows. Were it not so wonderful, milk, butter, and cheese, could not be ended at current prices. It is, however, a puzzle to spme to know how it can pay to keep a great beast and send its milk up to the cities by rail for sale at fourpence a quart, which is obviously much more than the man who actually owns the beast gets. The puzzle is solved by an examination of the oreaturc's power of production. We take for our example a record cow, a prize-winner in every respect. This cow—would that all others were like her—has showed herself the 100 per cent, efficient cow that breeders have been trying to produce ever since the creation of milk was raised from a haphazard occupation into a science and an art.

Her owners expect this cow to better her present record. If she does she will be the first 105 or whatever other figure cow that has ever lived. If other breeders should beat her—and there isn't any reason why, in time, cows should not be mere milk and butter machines, with production going on constantly—new standards of 100 per cent, efficiency must be invented. For in proportion to her age, her size, and the food she was given, she had done everything the present theory of 100 per cent, efficiency demands—and she is the first to have done so.

Here is what she did during her test year just closed, that entitles her to be called the world's greatest cow ; she gave 24,612 pounds of milk, she gave 1395 pounds of butter, she gave 1,115 pounds of fat. In other words, the marvellous provisions of nature with which she is provided gave in 12 months seventeen times her own weight—for she weighs l,4solbs—in milk I And gave in butter within 60 lbs. of her own weight ! Stop for a moment and think what these figures mean. And having stopped, let us go on with a few more to show what it means to be a 100 per cent, efficiency cow, because only by comparisons can its extraordinariness be realised. About the milk—a milkmaid as a rule carries two twelvequart pails from the milking stalls. As a pint is a pound, this. cow's output in quarts would be | 12,306. quarts a year. It would take, therefore, a string of 512 and one three-quarter grown milkmaids to carry the year's output away !

Again, the average full milk meal for a baby is eight ounces, 6 times a day. The cow's yearly output, then, would provide the baby with 49,224 meals—or, translated into days, if a baby could remain a baby that many days—6\2o4 days, or 23 years and 154 days- fullfood supply. Or, another way of putting it, her ons year's output would feed*23 t b«bies for one year isoh, fPd-give some, other little one IW'cfeyif of full stotaach, -

At to the butter—the ioMau' average . B | It would, therefore, take nine men to of butter, if it were formed into a pat, •and a . boy three-tenths grown 1 would have to carrythe 45 lbs. left over. It is a rare pity that more attenion is not given to the breeding of such creatures with the idea of increasing our output of milk products. It would be a more econotmical method of feeding the people than the giving up of the grass lands to the production of beef and mutton, which is cheaper bred elsewhere.—"P. S. Sittings.'f

MANURING FRUIT TREES, j The sign that a fruit tree is in need of manure is the growth is weak and short. If allowed to go in< want of manure, growth becomes less and less, whilst the leaves are small and and they fall early in autumn. At the same time fruit-buds form freely, and the tree bears increasing loads of small and worthless fruit. So long as a tree makes satisfactory growth and bears fruit of good size, it does not need manure. Its use when not needed results in excesive growth at the expense of the fruit. Thus.it seldom happens that all varieties in a plantation require mauurc in the same year. Unless the soil is very poor fruit trees do not require any manure when planted or until they begin to bear fruit. After their first decent crop they are certain to want help. If they continue to bear pvcry year they will need manure every 3 years as a general rule. After an extra heavy crop or a check to growth from any cause, a dressing of manure should always be given.

Manures to Use. There is certainly nothing to equal farmyard or stable manure for fruit trees. It is usually applied during the winter, being either forked in lightly or left on the surface as a mulch. The former plan is less wasteful. Whilst the trees are young the manure should be applied to a space around each tree slightly wider than the spread of the branches ; but in an established orchard the roots reach practically everywhere, so that the whole surface of ground must be dressed. Indeed, the space close around the stem then becomes less important as it has less of the useful fibrous roots which make use of the manure. On very light soil, which dries up badly in summer, in spite of the fact that there must be some loss of valuable ammonia.

Chemical fertilisers, pure and simple, are very uncertain when used for fruit trees. In some cases, however, artificials are very useful to supply some particular dc-i ficiency in the soil. On very light land, for instance, where the trees are prone to fungoid diseases, a great improvement has resulted from the use of a potash manure. Again, where the trees make rank growth at the expense of the fruit phosphatic fertilisers should be tried, such as basic slag on heavy land, or superphosphafe on light or medium soil, using the former at the rate of 4oz per square yard in autumn or winter, and the latter at the rate of lioz per square yard next month. Lastly, nitrate of soda may be usefully employed for stunted trees in spring or early summer, using Joz to loz per square yard. For the general manuring of fruit trees, however, there is nothing to equal farmyard or stable manure.

Need For Lime. Lime must by no means be forgotten, for it is very important for fruit trees, particularly stone fruits. Ground or slacked lime can be applied at the rate of 4 to Boz per square yard every five years, or ordinary builders' quicklime in lumps at the rate of lib per square yard. Lime should be given in autumn or winter.