The Farm

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 463, 24 February 1882, Page 23

The Farm

Effect of Manure on Ckops.— Year by year the work done in experimental agriculture increases rapidly, and the results obtained, which generally refer to the effeots of manure on certain crops, are published in the monthly and weekly periodicals. But part of this work, over which much trouble and time has been expended, is in a grtat measure lost to the agriculturist ; for soils, climates, and local conditions varying greatly, If the experiments are repeated exactly, disappointment follows, and labour and money are lost. It is therefore necessary, in order that the experimental results obtained by q&jßra may be made use of, that the modifications in the original plan which ought to be introduced, and which are determined by the locality, should be discovered by independent experiment in each district. We do not despair of the discovery in the future of some plan whereby agriculture will be regulated by rules other than those of thumb and chance. It is not proposed to enter here into an account of the various disturbing influences which render the modifications referred to necessary, but rather to lay before our readers a few facts, which may simplify their labour should they at any time venture to repeat on their own land the experiments of others. What we are about to say is rendered all the more necessary by reason of the method so frequently adopted in the description of experiments as to the amount of manures employed. We read that 421 bof phosphoric acid, or that 3cwt, of superphospate, were applied per acre. We doubt very much if these statements produce any definite impression on the minds of many who have read such a report. How are they to discover the number of pounds of phosphoric acid in a " super ?" or will 3cwt. of some super which they have bought be as good as that which is described in the experiments ? It is an answer to these questions which we now give. Of course, if we are told so many shilling's worth of 22 per cent, superphosphate have been used, there is then no difficulty in doing likewise ; the difficulty to be overcome is when we are told to use as much of a manure as shall contain a certain weight of some one constituent. In superphosphates, phosphoric acid, as is well known, exists in two forms, as the soluble and the insoluble phosphate of lime. The analysis, a copy of which can generally be obtained at the time of sale, state (1) the percentage of " soluble or dissolved phosphate," by which is to be understood the amount of insoluble phosphate, or bone «arth, rendered soluble in the process of manufacture. A second entry (2), which is explanatory ot the first, is sometimes made, which states the actual amount of phosphate of lime (chemically termed monocalcium phosphate) which is soluble in water, and its percentage is always lower than that of the first. One more entry (3) may be found, namely, the percentagi of insoluble phosphate of lime, or that part of tne original material which has escaped alteration during the manufacture. To calculate, then, the amount per 1001 b. of the super of phosphoric acid contained in either 1 or 3, it is only necessary to multiply the percentages by 0.46, in 2 the amount is found by multiplying by 0.607. The products from 1 and 2 will be the same, as the two substances are identical, the first being a technical term, the second the chemical term. Care must therefore be taken that both figures are not employed in the calculation. As an example, we quote the following analysis : — Per cent. 1. " Soluble phosphate" (equal to bone earth made soluble) ... ... 21.84 2. Soluble phosphate, monocalcium phosphate ... ... ... ... 16 39 S. Insoluble phosphate ... ... 5.56 Multiplying the percentages of 1 and 3 by 0.46, we find that 1 contains 101 b. and 3 contains 2£lb. of phosphoric acid, though not in the same state of combination. If 2be multiplied by 0.607, the same result ia obtained at> when lis multiplied by 0.45. Of course, if the manure be wholly insoluble, as in the case of bones, there can then be no doubt as to which factor to employ, Nitrogenous manures being also largely employed, either of sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, or raw bones, it is necessary to show how it is possible to translate a given number of pounds of nitrogen into sulphate of ammonia, etc., or vice verti. The analyses state, besides the prosphate of lime, the percentage of ammonia which can be obtained from the bones. To calculate the amount of nitrogen to which this percentage is equivalent divide by 1.214 ; or, t>upposing that it is desired to know how much puie sulphate of ammonia will contain the same weight of ammonia, then the ammonia in the bones must be multiplied by 3.88, and its equivalent in pure nitrate of soda will also be obtained by employing the multiplier 5. In the same way we may calculate the quantities of guano which are equivalent to known weights of sulphate of ammonia, etc. The only other manure to which we need specially refer is kainit, which contains at least 24 per cent, of sulphate of potash. Multiplication of the percentage of the sulphate by 0.44 gives the amount of potash present. By the aid of these figures we hope that some of our readers will be able to understand, and to appreciate more thoroughly, the experiments which have been carried on for years past by such earnest workers as Messrs Lawes and Gilbert, and others.— The Field. Milk Production.— We are giving 61b of cotton cake, 111 bof linseed, 6ib of hay, about 201 bof pulped mangle, and 2 bushels of chaff per diem to our dairy cows. The cotton cake costs £6 7s 6d i delivered at the nearest station, and probably £6 10 before it arrives home. This means 6s 6d per cwt, about 2|d per lb. The cost of cotton cake is, therefore, 3s 3d per week. The linseed costs 8s per bushel, and the cows receive lib each. It is first crushed in a grist mill ; and, after each day's rations are prepared, the next day's allowance is placed ia the cauldron and allowed to steep in cold water for some twenty honrs. The fire is then lighted, and it is boiled for about four hours, and thus converted into a thick mucilage, distributed through 24 gals, of water. We find the linseed costs close upon Id per lb, or 7d per week. The linseed mucilage is poured over a conch ot straw chaff, and pulptd maagU it then spria-

kled over at the rate per head above given, and the whole mass it well incorporated by mixing. The cows receive two bushel basket! at two separate times ; each basket contains about 241 bof the mixture. The cake constitutes a third meal, and the hay is given at eight o'clock at night, making four meals per diem. Assuming the consuming value of water — meadow hay at £3 per ton, or 3s per cwt, and taking the quantity consumed at 421 b per week, we have here an additional charge of Is l£d per week. Mangle is difficult to value, but if we estimate the cost of production at £7, and the crop at 20 ton per acre, we should be correct in calculating this cost upon a basis of 7s per ton, or 4fd per cwt ; 201 b would therefore cost Jd, and the charge per week further raised s^d. The cost of labour is estimated at Is per week per cow, and this may be made to include coal used in preparing the food and of chaff cutting. We would also be inclined to put down Is per week for interest and depreciation, Jcc, on cow stock. This is done to cover the unavoidable losses which are caused by cows refusing to breed, slipping, losing quarters, or even dying. We are not aware of any other cost directly incurred ■ by the cows, and should be disposed to notice such other charges as railway carriage on milk, or expenses connected with the making-up and disposing of goods, at a later stage. The cost estimated on a liberal scale per cow per week appears then in our case to be a* follows :— S. D. Cotton cake (421 b per week) ... ... 8 3 Linseed (71b per week) ... ... §7 Hay (421 b per week) ... ... 1 U , Mangel (1401 b per week) ... ... 0 6| Labour and coal ... ... 10 Interest, loss, and depreciation... ... 10 Total 7 4} We believe this to be a fair estimate rather above than below the actual cost — as all good estimates should be. It should also be men* tioned that this is the cost of cows actually in milk, and not a'mixed herd of dry and wet cows. They will not average more than 1$ gal. milk per diem, which at 10£ d equals a money value of 9s 2Jd per week, and a profit of Is 9£d, which again must be reduced to pay for railway carriage, &c. Those who dispute our figures would do well to think whether under any system of winter feeding the cost of maintaining a cow can be reduced below 7s 6d or 7s per week. Also, whether a higher winter average than 1J gal. per cow per day can be maintained in a large dairy where a constant herd is kept up and fed on such moderate fare as the above. It is during the summer that the chief profit is to be make from cows. It ia then that the milk is Becreted in the largest quantities and at the lowest expense. When the actual cost is scarcely more than the rent, and the cows are paying 10s per week per head, dairying is then truly profitable. Taking the case of 100 acres of grass rented at £2 per acre, 50 acres of which are mown, we might expect 50 tons of hay, which at £4 per ton equals £200, or the rent of the entire 100 acres. Then there is | the extra grazing for sheep, work horses, and young stock, which perhaps pay for the cost of haymaking. The prospect of profit in this case seems more hopeful than in the picture we have drawn of winter feeding and its heavy costs. Probably those f aimers who put their cowb in strawyards during the winter, and contrive for calves to drop in April, make more money of their dairieß than thoae who I struggle to keep up a regular supply the year round. On the other hand, good living in winter tends to keep cows up in condition during summer, and the manure made during the winter is of very superior quality to what is produced in an ordinary strawyard. The difference between the summer and winter wholesale price for milk is not sufficient, although we suppose it is regulated by supply and demand. If dairy farmers would make the calculation, and let ns know what they are doing in the matter of winter feeding and winter production of milk, the publication of such results might be useful. While Bupply and demand regulate price, ventilating the subject may regulate supply, and thus indirectly affect prices ; for no one is likely long to pursue a particular course after be sees his way to a more profitable one. — Agricultural Gazette.

The " Catholic Directory " for 1882, published by Messrs. Burns and Oates, by the authority and under the sanction of the Cardinal- Arch bishop of Westminster and the rest of the biahops of his Church, shows some interesting and instructive facts relative to the progress of the Roman Catholic religion in England. The archbishops and bishops in England and Wales are 14, not reckoning those of the Sees of Shrewsbury and South wark, which are vacant. There are also in Scotland six ether archbishops and bishops. The priests in England and Wales now number 2,036, 6erring 1,190 churches, chapels, and missionary stations ; in Scotland there are 295 more, serving 286 chapels, ice, thus showing that both clergy and chapels have doubled in less than 25 years. In 1858 there were only 749 chapels in England and Wales and 177 in Scotland, the total of the priests who served them being 1,179. The Roman Catholic peers in the three kingdoms are 38 ; the baronets are 47. There are six Roman Catholic members of Her Majesty's Privy Council, and the Roman CathoUc members of Parliament are 66, all representing Irish constituencies, except Mr. Jerningham, M.P., for Berwick on Tweed. The Sacred College of the Cardinals at Rome at this moment consists of 59 members, the vacant hats being 11 ; and no less than seven cardinals have died during the year 1881 — vis., Regnier( Archbishop of Cambray), Kutscbker (Archbishop of Vienna), Gil (Archbishop of Saragossa), and Cardinals Borromeo, Moretti, Caterini, and Oiannelli. Of the existing College, 32 are Italians, nine Austrians or Germans, seven French, three Spanish, three English (viz., Newman, Manning, and Howard), one American (M'Closkey) one Belgian, and one Armenian. To the present volume is prefixed an interesting list of the Roman Catholic prelates who have presided over their Church in England during the last three centuries as " Vicars Apostolic " down to the re-establishment to the hierarchy ia 1850