FARM AND GARDEN

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15185, 10 March 1923, Page 15 (Supplement)

FARM AND GARDEN

AGRICULTURAL EVENTS FOR WEEK ENDING MARCH 17. MONDAY. Stock Sale at Cambridge. Stock Sale at Patetonga. TUESDAY. Stock Sale at Hamilton. * Clearing Sale at Taotaoroa. WEDNESDAY. Sheep Pair at Ohaupo. Stock Sale at Matamata. Horse Sale at Hamilton. Clearing Sale at Tauranga. THURSDAY. \ Stock Sale at Claudelands. Stock Sale at Oparau. Sale of Milking Shorthorns at NewMead. FRIDAY. Stock Sale at Te Awamutu. NOTICE TO FARMERB.

Recognising the importance of giving the farmer highly scientific advice, we have made arrangements for articles to appear weekly from the pen of a recognised authority on agricultural matters. Farmers are invited to address any queries on farming matters to "Practical," care of Waikato Times, and they will be answered in the succeeding week's issue.

G.J.C., Frankton.—The land you describe wants further draining. Rushes, pennyroyal and such plants do not flourish on well-drained soils. \s a first step clean out the open ditches. A long handled spade is 1 useful for oleauing down the sides of the ditohes, and a drain drag with 4 or 5 fins can be used to clean the bottoms. This tool is very useful where weeds are growing in the bottoms of the drains. If ti-tree is available use it as fascines for the under drains, or put in tiles if ti-tree cannot be economically secured. ■ ••Billy Muggins," .Cambridge. —Artichokes are good feed for pigs, especially breeding sows. Do not get the tubers until you have the . land ready for sowing. The sets , do not keep well after being lifteC from the soil.

GREEN MANURING.

PLAGE IN PRACTICAL FARMING.

(By "Practical.") In countries where stock is housed during the winter manure accumulates. This is spread on the land and thus provides material which increases the humus in the soil. Tn New Zealand stock are not housed to any extent,' and little animal manure is therefore available, as in countries with more severe winters. The animal droppings'on well-managed farms are spread by the chain harrows, thus ensuring the distribution of the dung over the surface of the lani. This practice of chain harrowing applies to grassland chiefly. On pasture areas the organic matter of the soil increases by means of the decay of roots, and the dropping of the stems and leafage of the grasses, clovers and other forage plants. Humus therefore, increases in a soil, where pasture occupies the ground.' For a similar reason where forests exist the organic matter in the soil is built up, and the humus content maintained. Feeding Off Crops,

When cereals such as barley, wheat, oats, or millet are fed off by stock the organic matter of the soil gains because of droppings of the grazing animals and because of the decay of the roots and remaining stems of the grazed crop. The same applies to crops such as rape, mustard, turnips anu swedes, when they are fed off

Loss of Humus.

When straw crops are taken such as oaten sheaves, meadow hay, green maize and such-like, the humus content of the soil is reduced. The effect is noticeable, if the practice goes on successively for a number of seasons. Summer following, where the ground is left bare, also tends to reduce the humus in the soil. The sun bakes out the humus, when the bare soil is exposed. Importance of Humus.

Apsrt from the mineral matter, the moisture and air in the soil, humus which results from the break down of organic matter, is an essential of soil fertility. Nitrogen is an indispensable element to the growth of crops, and organic matter in the soil is largely responsible for the supply of this important element. Many of our soils are poor because of the lack of nitrogen, or in othr words of organic matter, which on breaking down as already stated produces humus. Patches in a field, which otherwise possesses a good, soil, are frequently poor because the crop is starving for want of nitrogen. Most farmers will have noticed such weak patches on their own farms or elsewhere, where the plants turn pale and yellow- These facts point to the great importance of organic matter in the soil. It is said that the barrenness of many soils of Mesopotamia, which according to historical records, were very fertile, but which to-day produce nothing, is due to the depletion of humus by bare fallowing. Agriculturists in America and Australia, where great areas are devoted to cereal growing, predict a similar fate to the soils which are. cropped and fallowed as those of Mesopotamia In New Zealand conditions are different, but it must r»e remembered Inat many of our soils, excluding the swamp lands, arc not rich in humus. Any means of increasing humus therefore shouli net be overlooked. Methods of Increasing Humus.

The modern farmer does not favour growing a crop and ploughing it under. It doos not appeal to his business instincts. A pasture which is running out. he considers, worth ploughing and vims he adds organic matter in the shape of !he turf which decays and is incorporated with the soil. To top dresM a worn-out pasture ofti.l proves profitable by increasing the clover growth, before turning it over wilh the plough. Root crops fed off on the ground increase the organic matter of the soil. Rape, mustard, kale, etc., similarly add to the soil's stock, when feii off. Legumes, of course, add nitrogen by means of the special globular growth on their roots. The soil is not a sullen, lifeless thing, where crops merely get a foothold. The modern farmer Js well aware of the fact that useful bacteria are at work in the soil- These bacteria do useful work on all organic matter turned under. Where they have air, moisture and a suitable degree of warmth they work on the material, and reduce it to humus. Lime assists their work. Hence where green munuring is prnctised, or where the organic content of the soil is added lo by ilio means mentioned abovo, lime should nol be deficient in the soil. One of the benefits of bming as h regular farm practice, is the assistance rendered in the processes

connected with the formation of humus. It is recognised to-day that artificial fertilisers are benefitted in their action in the soil by the presence of humus. This is particularly so with manures like basic slag, bonedust, ground mineral and phosphates. Some farmrs go to the extent of growing special crops for ploughing in, and they say that it pays. Quick-growing crops like mustard, oats and tares, rye, barley, peas and similar crops are worth considering in this connection It seems certain that as the need for cropping grows, as it must do with the growing necessity for providing more feed for dairy stock, for sheep, for pigs, etc., then the adoption of a suitable rotation of crops on the arable land to keep up the humus content will become a matter of greater importance to farmers.

MILK AND BEEF.

At the recent English fat stock shows an interesting and enlightening feature has been the size of the steers bred more on dairy lines than from recognised beef pedigrees, and the factor stimulates thought as to the value of size for the production of beef and milk. We know that a big, sfoomy, well barrelled cow has the greatest chance of being the supermilk producer, the governing principle being similar to the fact that a large volume Qf steam cannot be obtained from a small boiler. In these hard, commercial days, when scarcely one farmer can confidently anticipate profits, unless it be the milk producer, every penny must be carefully studied, and the big money from the heavy milker and from the large beef animal is of outstanding importance. One of the revelations of the SmiVhfleld Show was the enormous weight of the British Friesian steers, one of them —the heaviest beast in the show —scaling over 19cwt at less than three years old, and another of the same age weighing lSJcwt. The most notable feature of this exhibit was the fact that the heaviest steer was sired by a bull that has already got two 2000-gallon cows. All the. five steers of this breed weighed extremely well, and all had particularly good milking pedigrees. , The enormous framework of animals of this breed allows lor a digestive capacity that enables large quantities of roughage to be consumed and assimilated. In the female this food is converted into the moximum of milk production, and in the steer the food makes great quantities of beef. British Frlesians have made victory at the Dairy Show almost akin to habit, but the excellent performances of this breed at the Smithfield Show are not so well known. Neither are farmers in general familiar with the beefing qualities of British Friesian cattle, the old idea that a heavy yielding animal cannot also carry flesh, if required, still being prevalent, despite the excellent condition of in-milk matrons of milking and dual-purpose breeds seen at the summer shows. ]

THE NEW STOCK SALE NOTE. Some time ago the auctioneers I throughout the Dominion drew up a new sale note, a skeleton of which was published in these columns some weeks aso (writes "Ponaho" in the Christchureh Sun). The new note is, not at all popular with farmers, though some firms are not using it, preferring to adhere to the simple sale notes, j which they have found sufficient in the | past. The form now used is practic- , ally a deed, and by its length and lan- •: guage it is suggested by many farmers, that it is quite unsiyted to the condi- j tions under which such contracts are j usually produced for signature by the : parties. Usually it is over the rail of; a stock yard . two minutes after the arrangement of prices and conditions, and five minutes before the purchaser disappears over the hill in the agent's car. "No responsibility" seems to be the keynote of the new note, from the point of view of the agent. In view. of the fact that the degree and limits ; of the responsibility of stock agents to : vendors, in relation to sales of stock, | grain, wool, etc., made through such agents, has never been authoritatively settled, but rests, so far as it exists at all, upon a vague reliance on a "cus- j torn" supposed by vendors to be in force, it seems very desirable that a formal request should be made for a clear and binding pronouncement from the Stock Agents' Association on this highly important question. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the vast field covered in New Zealand by the realities of the matter, whatever they may be. . . The point has lately acquired a new and evidently urgent interest, owing to the scrapping, by resolution of the Stock Agents' Association, under special legal advice, of the old form of sale note, and the substitution of a form which is practically a deedIn a case, virtually one of appeal against the verdict of a jury, heard before a Judge at Wanganui on February 9-11, 1922 (D'Arcy v. Dalgety and'co.), this reliance on "custom" was much insisted upon by several witnesses for the plaintiff; but the Judge took the view that there was not sufficient evidence of any such custom, and that the jury, which at a previous hearing of the same case had formally declared such custom to exist, had been wrong. The practical effect, was that he quashed its verdict, ami the defendants were held not to be, liable, with heavy costs against the plaintiff. Clients of stock firms may ask what really is the use- of an agent in these transactions? What do we employ them for? What service is represented by the toll they take out of every pound of our purchase-money? Is it"merely because they have brought a purchaser, of whom there may be dozens whom we could reach oursclvess by a mere advertisement? Hitherto thev have believed that "responsibility"'was the answer ft these questions, and have been satisfied that it was a good and sufficient answer. It is time they definitely ascertained whether that belief has all the time been a pure illusion. The efforts of one of the ablest counsel in the Dominion has succeeded in establishing at the very least a strong doubt upon the point. The matter is far too important to be left there. The Stock Agents' Association has agreed to hold a conference with the Shcepowners 1 Federation, which has Taken the matter up, to discuss the question. The conference will be held when the busy season in stock circles is over.

CONTAGIOUS ABORTION. In the course of an address on contagious abortion delivered by Dr. E. C. schroeder, superintendent of the experiment station of the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry, at the IT)Mi annual meeting of the National Live Stock Sanitary Association in Chicairo (U.S.A.). i' was announced that the bull is not u direct spreader of the

abortion disease. This will be astonishing news to most stockmen, for the bull has always been considered a fertile source of infection. It would seem, from the experiments of the bureau, that live abortion germs in cultures placed in the sheath of a bull soon die, and that material taken from bulls that have just served infected cows does not show the presence of live abortion bacilli. Dr. Schrocdcr stated, however, that "the discharges from the male sexual organs may be dangerous when a bull is permitted to run with the herd, and hence, in the control of bovine infectious abortion it is desirable that the should have a separate pen, away from the cows, and that he should be permitted to serve cows only on neutral ground, or ground to which cattle do not have access at ! other times than during that of service." Dr. Schroeder further stated that cows are chiefly infected with the abortion bacilli by eating feed contaminated by the vaginal discharges of affected cows, or by milk from udders containing abortion bacilli. The chief danger from a bull, then, is the contamination of feed by discharges from his genital organs, which happen to contain abortion bacilli, rather than by the act of service. With that idea in mind, the doctor advised that it also would be wise to isolate cows after they have been served by a possibly infected bull, for fear that seminal fluid may leak from them, contaminate feed, and so possibly cause infection Of clean calves, heifers or cows. Sum-'i ming up, the assertion was made to the effect that "a community or association bull evidently is harmless, so far as infectious abortion is concerned, and he is so without elaborate and troublesome disinfection of this genital organs, provided that the suggested precautions are taken." This conclusion is not unanimously accepted by many other well qualified veterinarians. They still consider the bull a possible, menace to be most carefully handled, and as irrigation of the sheath with a mild antiseptic solution, such as a 0.25 per cent mixture of Lugol's solution, and blood-warm, freshly-boiled water, does not prove irritating, and is a sensible sanitary measure, they advise applying it two hours before and immediately after service. Service of cows showing an abnormal vaginal discharge, or that have aborted or retained the after-birth, also is considered unwise. There seems to be no successful medicinal treatment for the abortion disease, but vaccination may reduce the number of abortions. Hoard's Dairyman, in summing up the conclusion of Dr. Schroeder, states that calves from aborting cows become free from infection by weaning time, and will not abort at first freshening or later unless reinfected by their feed shortly before being bred or after breeding. The abortion bacilli multiply only in the body of the animal.

JOTTINGS. At a recent meeting of the Farmers' Union in Canterbury, something in the nature of a scare was raised by one of the members exhibiting specimens of what was claimed to be the dreaded Bathurst burr. The samples were •obtained from a drying green of a wool scouring works, and it was suggested that the seed of the weed had been brought into the country by some Australian rnerinos, the wool of which had been scoured at this particular works. The experts of the Department of Agriculture state that, so far, no genuine Bathurst burr has been found, but the specimens were burr clover, which is a species of trefoil and a good stock food. Dr. C. J. Reakes, Director-General of Agriculture, stated that he had received a sample of wool from Hawk'e's Bay with similar specimens adhering to it. The department recognises the necessity for watchfulness to prevent the introduction of the pest into the Dominion. Farmers will be relieved at the announcement. We have sufficient pests to cope with without Uiis bad Australian coming to us. According to the following the National Farmers' Union (Great Britain) has the same difficulties as its sister body in New Zealand: —"It's no use for us as farmers to continue grousing," said Captain W. Beer, vice-chair-man of the Monmouthshire Farmers' Union, at the Pandy Farmers' Union recently. "We've got to do some- : thing. In the first place we've got I to be united, and then we've got to assert ourselves. As farmers we have suffered from time immemorial; we have been unable to get a commenl surate return for our capital and lab- '] our, and unless we can assist the National Farmers' Union to get the same power as other organisations, the farmers themselves will be to blame." It was monstrous that the producer I was paid such a. small price for the i commodity and the consumer had to | pay such a high price. The Union had i the matter in hand, and they should I support headquarters. They were dumping potatoes into this country at | lower rates than they could be produced in the Eastern Counties, and yet as farmers they did not come under the Safeguarding of Industries Act. Foreign eggs were being sold as English eggs, and foreign meat was often sold as English, and yet the Merchandise Marks Act was being overlooked. Years I ago the Government had granted cre- ' Jit facilities to agriculture, hut i'n I mis country farmers had not been 1 strong enough to insist on a remedy. He repeated that it was no use grousing. They must do something effective; that was not only to join the Union, but to take an active part in supporting, their leaders. From data collected on 2.'5 farms, the Michigan. U.S.A., Station Quarterly | Bulletin i, 1922, shows that the cost or keeping a horse is practically equal to the cost of feed and bedding, since the other costs, such as depreciation, etc., are equalled by returns from manure and horse sales. The cost of j keeping a horse one year according to I tihese data, was approximately £lB 10s.

This season's wheat crop in Canada is estimated to amount to 40,200,000 quarters, and in the Uniled Slates to 100,700,000 quarters, representing increases over last year of 7 per cent and rather more, than 1 per cent respectively. The oat crop in Canada is estimated at [.5,000.000 quarters, and in the U.S.A. at 128,500,000 quarters, an increase in both cases of approximately 19 per rent. Thc'risc in sheep and how many bad profited by holding their drafts was being discussed when an old established farmer said that his experience had been that man should sell his slock whenever it was ready for the market. During his life linn: he had proved again and again that Hie most profitable" way for flu: farmer was to quit at the prices offering. The man who sold when his stock was ready was the winner in the long run. The official testing of dairy cows has become universal throughout the Tinted Stales. The value of a purebred animal is now largely determined by its records or the records of its near relatives. A purebred cow, even if she is a good individual, with plenty of size anil vigour, no longer has an equal chance with her tested sister, for now every buyer pays considerable attention to records of production. The dairy herd milked os the Borstal farm at Invercnrgill Is steadily increasing, and -iGO cows arc now being

milked. Within a fortnight the herd will number 300, as 40 cows are due to calve within that period. An instance of the value of careful culling and herd testing is afforded at Ngaere, where a farmer last year netted £l9 10s per acre off his farm of 28 acres. Another farmer in the same district, with a family of seven, collected £2O 10s per acre off a 45-acre holding. The following (says the Wanganui Herald) is an interesting extract from the Official Year Book of 1894: — "Dairying in the Middle Island has not taken root to the same extent as in the North. It is true that cheese factories are becoming numerous in Otago and Southland, with a few butter factories. As in all other new industries, losses have been made; happily, however, the initial stage has been passed and, with good prices for the outpjut last season, averaging 4d to 5d per lb for cheese at the faotory, matters are now in a satisfactory condition."

For some time past the freezing companies have been hampered by the number of sheep and lambs coming forward in need of dagging, with the result that the following circular has been issued by the South Island Freezing Companies' Association: —At a recent meeting of the Association it was decided that a charge of 6d a head should be made for all sheep or lambs which arrive at the works in such a condition as to necessitate their being dagged. The companies are reluctant to make any charge, and only do so in the hope that it will have the effect of materially reducing the verylarge numbers of daggy fat stock now coming forward to the saleyards and freezing works. It is in the interests of all concerned that this should be done on the farm, so as to avoid the possibility- of bruises immediately before slaughter. If this work has to be done at the factory it necessitates the sheep being redrafted and penned up for dagging, entailing delay in the killing of the mob, and a certain amount of unnecessary handling and possible bruising, which results in the shoep being either placed in the second grade or rejected altogether. The matter is of such importance to the producers that we feel it is only necessary to bring it plainly before their notice to ensure that the present cause for complaint will be removed and that growers in future will prevent the value of their stock being prejudiced by lack of attention in dagging.