On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 23 July 1914, Page 59

On the Land

Subscriber. —ln order to get early potatoes sprouted in preparation for planting, you should place the tubers with eyes upwards in shallow boxes exposed to the light, in a shed or spare room. If treated in this way the potatoes will soon commence to push growth from the main eyes. When the sprouts are about two inches in height it will be time enough to plant. GENERAL. The first World’s Poultry Congress will be held, on the invitation of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, at the Hague in 1916. Particulars of arrangements will be issued in due course when these are sufficiently advanced to do so. There was the usual attendance at Burnside last week, prices ruling as under:— Sheep. —A smaller yarding than has been usual of late. Wethers of all classes were keenly competed for, and late rates were maintained, but ewes were, if anything, a shade easier. Export buyers were operating for all suitable freezing sheep, and a total clearance was easily effected. Quotations : Best wethers, 22s to 25s ; extra, to 28s; light and unfinished, 20s to 21s fid; best ewes, 17s 6d to 20s; extra heavy, to 80s; others, 12s to 16s Gd. Lambs. — There was the usual attendance of export buyers, and prices were slightly better than last week. Fat Cattle. — A full yarding. The sale opened well, with values quite on a par with last week, prime cattle, if anything, being in keener demand. Quotations; Best bullocks, £ll to £l3; extra heavy, to £ls; others, £9 10s to £lO 10s; best cows and heifers, £8 to £10; others, £5 to £7. ' At Addington last week entries of stock generally were somewhat smaller than at previous week’s sale, fat sheep and fat cattle being exceptions. Fat cattle were easier, as were fat lambs, of which there was only a small entry. Fat sheep sold well, and there was no change in pigs. Fat Lambs. Extra prime tegs, to 25s 6d; tegs, 19s Gd to 22s Gd; average weights, 17s Gd to 19s; light and unfinished, 14s to 17s. Fat Sheep. — Extra prime wethers to 38s fid ; prime wethers, 23s to 28s; others, 18s lid to 22s Gd merino wethers, 19s 5d to 22s fid; prime ewes, 20s to 23s lOd : medium, 17s Gd to 19s Gd; aged and light, 11s 9d to 17s; merino ewes, 13s 5d to Ifis. Fat Cattle. —Steers, £7 2s Gd to £11; extra good steers, to £l6 ; heifers, £6 to £8 10s ; extra good heifers, to £ll 17s fid; cows, £5 17s fid to £7 ss; extra good cows, to £ll 7s fid; prices per 1001 b, 28s to 32s Gd. Fat Pigs.— Choppers, 70s to 90s; heavy baconers, 65s to 70s; extra heavy baconers, to 735 ; ordinary baconers, 52s Gd to 60s price per lb, 5d to 5 Id; heavy porkers, 44s to 475; other porkers, 38s to 42s price per lb, fid to 6|d. Store Pigs. Large stores, 45s to 49s Gd; medium stores, 38s to 445; small stores, 28s to 375; weaners, 9s; for very small sorts, to 21s Gd ; for extra good sows in pig, to £5 10s; sows with litters, £6 10s. ‘DON’TS’ FOR CATTLE FEEDING. Some excellent hints for milk producers are in a paper contributed to the Bath and est Journal by Dr. Milburn. They are ; , Don’t use a food merely because it is in fashion, for the price may he higher than its contents justify. Don’t buy mouldy and damaged cakes or meals because they are offered at a low price, for they are likely to be dear in the end. Don’t forget that patent foods are usually sold at a high price in proportion to the feeding material contained in them, and further, that there is an element of doubt regarding their digestibility and manurial value. Don’t forget the great importance of * balance ’ in the ration —i.e., the proportion of nitrogenous to nonnitrogenous material. Don’t be too liberal with cake during the flush of grass in early summer. It is doubtful if it pays.

Don’t forget that a mixture of meals usually gives more economical results than any single meal, and is less likely to taint the milk. Don’t feed cottoncake to very young animals, nor to milk cows near the time of calving. Don t forget that salt forms a valuable addition to the ration for farm stock; it enhances its palatability and in other ways acts beneficially. * * 5 ■ Don’t forget that palatability, though addins nothing material to the food, is of importance. AN ORIGINAL CONCRETE SILO. On a farm of the Donald Estate, Eeatherston, tho manager has constructed a concrete silo on somewhat original principles, the object being to reduce the cost of making to a minimum (says the Journal of Agriculture). The silo is a simple concrete tank, of a height of 10ft, half of this being below the ground surface and half above it. The area of the tank is 21ft by 18ft.. The walls are Sin thick. A roadway, 4ft high at the highest part, was built against the tank, to facilitate filling operations. The silo was filled with oats cut in the milk stage, and those were silaged in the sheaf form.. When the filling process had got beyond the first stages; fin by 2in uprights were employed, to hold the material in position and allow it to settle evenly. No roof isprovided, earth being piled on the material to exclude the air. MALTING BARLEY: INFLUENCE OF POTASH AND PHOSPHATES ON QUALITY. In some experiments carried out in Germany with the object of ascertaining how, and under what conditions, the application of potash and phosphates affects the quality of malting barley, the following results were obtained (according to a paragraph in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture ) ; It was found that the application of a phosphatic manure enabled the plant to utilise more freely both potash and nitrogen. There was shown to be a real need for potash when medium and heavy dressings of phosphate were given. In every case manuring with potash and phosphate produced an increased grass yield, while the albuminoid content in the grain was diminished. Apart from the yield, the dry matter contained in the grain increased almost regularly with increased applications of potash and phosphates. Whether this was due to a higher degree of maturity of the better nourished barley or to a larger deposit of potash and phosphates in the grain, was not determined. In most cases there was an improvement in weight, conformity to type, and proportion of chaff. Increase in weight was generally accompanied by greater conformity to type, but by a decrease in the weight of chaff. Manuring with potash and phosphates resulted in a noticeable, if not pronounced, improvement in the germinating power. • Barley manured with potash and phosphates had almost always a canary yellow color.. Generally the results showed that potash phosphatic manuring produced a general improvement in the quality of the barley. Based on the results obtained in the experiments, the following conclusions are arrived at with regard to the manuring of barley for malting purposes. To obtain the best, quality, nitrogen should bo available in minimum quantities; this end may be most safely attained by the omission of nitrogenous manuring and by a liberal manuring with potash and phosphates. If the highest yield is desired it may be considered advisable to apply ,a nitrogenous manure. It should be remembered, however, that the largest yield is not consistent with the best quality : there is, however, a point up to which nitrogenous manuring may increase the yield without leading to deterioration in quality. The attainment of this aim is dependent upon suitable manuring with potash and phosphates.