FARM TOPICS.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8062, 22 November 1906, Page 1

FARM TOPICS.

Kumeras are being imported by the Government from America, as it is thought that a change of seed would he beneficial, and that the cultivation of the kumera should to a large extent take the place of the potato.

Oue effect of the dry weather in Blenheim is the appearance of dry rot in some of the potato crops. This is said to be particularly the case in the Reunick distiict, and even in the Spring Creek district some crops ate slighil) affected. Ju entering for competition some duck eggs at the Palmerston North show, the exhibitor, Mr S. hi. Baker, of Foxton, stated in writing : "Fourteen duck eggs laid by eight Indian Runners in oue night. I hereby certify that my eight Indiau Runner dut.ks also laid twenty-five eggs during the three preceding days and twentyfour eggs during the following three days, making a grand total of sixtythree eggs for eight ducks in one W .ek."

Seven of the experimental wheat plots being run by the Victorian Department of Agriculture are in the mallee or on the fringe of the mallee, aud up to the present their coudition is almost equal to that which obtains further south. Present appearances indicate that these experimental plots will yield from sixteen to twenty bushels to the acre. The plots are on land of average quality, and have been manured at a uniform rate of 561b of superphosphate to the acre. Mr Gilruth is of opinion that the college for dairy instruction should be near a city, preferably Wellington. The pupils should go to the teachers, not the teachers to the pupils. Apart from this, he says, there are many other advantages to pupils and teachers in residing near a big city. Top-dressing of grazing lands has been proved all over the world to produce such wonderful returns for the small outlay involved that it is not looked upon as au expense but as a necessity, and the longer artificial manures are used the more satisfactory the results. It will surprise most people to learn that according to experiments of Lawes and Gilbert (two of England's greatest chemists) the quantity of phosphoric acid and phosphate of lime a beast and milk extracts from the pasture is as follows: —Fat bullocks, every 10001b weight, phosphoric acid 23 00, phosphate of lime 50.21 ; milk alone, every 500 gallons, phosphoric acid 10.16, phosphate of lime, 20.16. These facts should be sufficient to cause all dairymen and graziers to give top-dressing a trial.

ihe Yorketown correspondent of the South Australian Register writes; A series of interesting experiments in intense wheat culture by the aid of electricity has been interrupted by the sudden death of the late Captain George Butlfield. For some time the deceased was trying the effect of this power on grain, and began his trials with small quantities of wheat in dower pots, using a magneto-electric machine, and applying varying degrees of power to different pots with results ranging from 40 up to 90 per cent. He then prepared three plots of ground, adjoining each other. In one he sowed the wheat in its natural state. No. 2 was electrified at half the power of the machine by placing it in a bag with zinc plates as electronodes, and subjected to the current before sowing. No. 3 was fully electrified. The results were : —No. 1, 11 bushels; No. 2 18 bushels; and No 3, 23 bushels approximate. Mr J, Barclay, of Corney Point, has been trying a similar experiment, only on a wide scale, and last year subjected about half the seed be used to electricity, with the result of a 10 per cent, better crop than the other half. The experiments open up wide possibilities of what may be done in the future by this extraordinary power.