THE FARMER’S PAGE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160731, 18 August 1920, Page 6

THE FARMER’S PAGE.

- TOPICS OP DAILY INTEREST.

With a view to preventing tlie deterioration of their potatoes, some Kooweerup growers make a practice of planting small uncut seed one year, and large cut sets the next. A felicitious phrase which the late Joseph E. Wing liked to use in his talks anti articles wa-s “Legumes love limestone ” His observations in America and in many foreign countries formed the foundation of his faith in the almost miraculous power of ground limestone to make clover, lucerne and other legumes grow. A fresh record for a female of any breed in any country was recently paid for a British Friesian. This informal matiou was conveyed to the members who attended the annual meeting of the British Friesian Cattle Society. The price paid was GOOD guineas. In 19 )S Denmark purchased about 3500 tons grass seeds and 3000 tons clover seeds -from abroad. In that year, 1908. a plant-breeding station wat started and experiments were carried out there and elsewhere, all varieties of grasses and clover being selected and improved. The result is that now Denmark not only grows as much as is required there, but exported during the past season, amongst other seeds, 2000 tons of cocksfoot, value, say, .£300,000. The pastures on which cows feed affect the nature of the milk to some extent. From rich pastures there is usually a lower percentage of acidity than that from poor grazing land. This factor should be taken into consideration when measuring the rennet for producing the curd. Milk from a limestone soil is naturally sweet. The French Government is making an effort to establish merino sheep in Morocco. They have secured the services of a .well-known Australian sheepman to buy for them. This will be an interesting experiment, and by all the rules should turn out well. Morocco is only a few miles south of Spain, the home of the original merino and it ia not likely to be 100 wet for the variety. The Trench have been making great efforts to develop this possession of lata years, and with considerable success. As it is another cheap labour country, it may yet become a competitor with Australian wool. Acquired tastes are as prevalent in stock as in the human animal. With horses the taste for maize is a good case in point. Most of ns know how hard it is to get a horse to take maizo at first, unless mixed with some other feed. But when ho gets to like the taste of it he will eat''the last grain out of the chaff. With pumpkins it is the same, and in the potato-growing districts the local horses scon acquire a decided taste for the tubers. But it is going a long step further to bo told that "cattle develop a great taste for fiili. In Norway the dairy-men living near the great fishing ports collect ihe neglected beads, etc., of the fish, ory them, and put them away for winter use. They arc fed to the cattle afier being boiled into soup, mixed with straw. Lime water is the common remedy for scour in young pigs, the dose being about half-pint at each feeding period. The lime water is usually made ns follows: Take one tablespoonful of quicklime and put into a large-sized ’bottle; then till the bottle with water, and shake vigorously. We sometimes hear it said that horsehoeing “lets in the drought.” The truth°is nil cultivation lias exactly the opposite effect. You cannot better conserve moisture in the sod than by having hj fine, loose surface tilth, kept constantlv moved, so that it never forms a direct connection with the more solid soil below, A USELESS PRACTICE. Warnings are being given against relying on dressings for seed potatoes as a preventive of blight. They cannot eradicate the disease without also injuring the tubers. The "only really effective preventive is spraying, either with Bordeaux mixture {copper sulphate combined with lime) or •Burgundy mixture fcopper sul■phato combined with washing soda). Well sprayed halums, instead of withering under an attack of blight, remain healthy and green; ihe crop is increased and the tubers themselves remain immune to the disease. Of course, even the most careful spraying can never bo so complete as to prevent all tide of infection, but it is nevertheless a very efficient safeguard. In an average ’season - the cost of insurance by spraying is amply repaid bv the greater yield of healthy tubers. RECORD MAIZE YIELD. The enormous yields of maize, 157, 14-G and .135 bushels per acre, reported recently in connection with the Manning River show 'competition, have, states Inspector Pitt, of the N.S.W. Department of Agriculture, been exceeded by a plot (one acre) grown for this competition by Mr R. Dyball, jun., of Taree estate, and although two other crops have still to be harvested, this farmer will probably be the winner. No less a yield than 173 bushels has l>een harvested from this plot, grown especially for the competition. Like the other high-yielding plots, it was favoured with ’ideal conditions. The variety was Silvennine, from which Mr Dyball harvested over 100 bushels per acre last season. Ihe plot was well prepared. The rows were 3ft 9in apart, and the seed dropped by hand, at the rate of four and five grains every 3 feet. Mr Dyball used 3cwt. superphosphate and 3cwt. blood and bone, besides a

top dressing of 1-Jcv/t. nitrate.- of soda, per acre. The crop had one irrigation, with a Spray outfit during a dryspell. Although .grown so thickly every stalk produced a good solid cob. NEW WHEAT MARVEL. Millions of acres in the Central West will be planted this year with a superwheat, which yields from three to five bushels an acre more than the varieties now grown. The super-wheat is known as “Kanred,” developed through fourteen years of careful experiment, with a single head brought from Russia. It promises (.completely to replace varieties now grown in the hard wheat areas, and ro increase materially the grain production of the United Slates. Approximately half a million acres were seeded with Eanred wheat last autumn. If the seed from this harvest be sown next fall, the .acreage will be six or seven millions, and after that it is believed that use of the new variety will become general. The Kansas Crop Improvement Association, composed of 500 farmers, is endeavouring to have all the pure seed replanted. It ia expected a fourth of the land wheat acreage in Kansas, and large acreages in Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and South Dakota will be sown with Kan red. Eventually Kaured will be grown universally in tii’e hard wheat country, in the opinion of specialists at the Kansas Experiment Station in Manhattan, in the State of Kansas. Turkey or Kharkbf are the two- varieties of wheat most commonly grown, says a statement issued from Manhattan Experiment Station, and Kahred has demonstrated its superiority to these classes of wheat. It has been successfully grown in every State of the hard wheat belt, and it is confidently believed by experiment station workers to be better than any other variety grown as far north as South Dakota. NEW BOOK FOR FARMERS. We hive to acknowledge from the publishers a copy of a bonk entitled "Management of diseases of sheep in Australia,” a work that deals exhaustively with the subject under review, the information being founded on long and practical experience .by breeders. The most impressive fact about the book is the common sense and practical way the information is given. It is a mine of information and nothing appears to be overlooked. In fact, as the publishers say, in the preface, “the man on the land when in doubt will not turn in. vain to its pages.” Over 20 pages are devoted to the car-e of herds .and how to get the best service from them. Over 100 pages of vital information are given before Chapter XIY. is reached, which deals with breeds and breeding- of sheep. Many of the hitherto only dimly appreciated points regarding this ticklish subject arc made as clear as noon-clay. The mistakes in breeding arc clearly outlined, and the value of this chapter is very great to those who wish to breed profitably and surely: Next cornea a useful chapter on handling and fattening sheep for market, and then tho chapters relating to lambing and lambmarking, which go through every part of practical lambing and the difficulties of sheepmen in connection with compli cations in lambing, abortion in ewes, and other complaints. Here will _bo found much guidance and practical advice regarding both paddocks and conducting’the lambing, and such matters as mating find increasing flocks; percentage of rams to ewes. Fifty pages have been devoted to the diseases sheep arc heir to. Each disease is taken separately, and a general description is given, followed by ihe symptoms and their treatment, or prevention. Twenty-five separata complaints are debit with here,_ and finally ia given a long list of simple and effective drugs, and how to ns4 them in sheep complaints. There are 562 pages and 200 illustrations. Tho diagrams and plans have all been specially drawn’ from a practical point of view, and there is no doubt that when one© the book becomes known to the practical man, he will come to regard it as his personal adviser and right-hand man.