On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 20 May 1915, Page 59

On the Land

% ■:. GENERAL. v Good prices were realised at the Shorthorn ? sales in Scotland recently. - One '■ bull made 1050 guineas, another 620 guineas, whilst over r forty r others made three-figure prices. .' _ The cows and heifers also sold well, one yearling heifer fetching 160 guineas, and another 165 guineas. ..; A farmer at a recent meeting held in Waiuku to consider the rabbit pest stated that he knew of an instance of one man who fattened ten bullocks a year less than formerly owing to the depredations of rabbits, and he considered it was a question of exterminating the rabbits or being exterminated by them. - . ; ;; V The Lyttelton Times says that the scarcity of feed consequent on the long period of dry weather is sorely exercising the minds of the Banks Peninsula farmers. Those fortunate in possessing plenty of feed are asking and getting as high as 3s per head per week. At present cattle and sheep are looking well, but a hard winter will, it is feared, cause many losses. :| We are only beginning, says an expert, to realise the improvement, especially in yield, that may be realised by proper methods of breeding, and great progress is being made in working out these methods. Their general application by practical plant growers will effect most substantial increase in the value of crops. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that the general application of our present knowledge of breeding would result in .an increase of 20 per cent, in the value of its crops. ''""".- Raising plants from bulbs, roots, etc., is now known to be only an extension of the same individual, which will cease to grow when it arrives at its stated limits (says an American authority). For this reason grafts from a kind of tree, long known, and often transferred from tree to tree, sooner die of old age than those taken from a kind later derived from the seed. It is for this reason also that any kind of potato, however excellent, ceases to produce good crops, after being for twenty or thirty years extended by planting tubers. It must be renewed from the seed from time to time, or become extinct. All other modes of propagation (excepting by seed) are but the extension of an individual, and sooner or later terminate in its total extinction. At Addington last week the yardings of stock were again moderate, and there was a good attendance. Fat cattle sold rather better, as did fat lambs and fat sheep. Store sheep were in a little better demand, and fat pigs showed an improvement. Lat Lambs.—Best, 17s to 19s 9d; others, . lis to 16s 6d. Fat Sheep.—Prime wethers, 20s to 23s 6d; others, 15s s 9d to 19s 6d; extra prime ewes, to 24s 6d; prime, 17s 6d to 21s 9d; medium, 13s 6d to 17s; inferior,' 7s to 13s; merino, 9s 4d. Fat Cattle. Extra steers, £ls 17s 6d ; ordinary, £7 2s 6d to £ll 10s; extra heifers, to £l2 12s 6d; ordinary, £5 to £8; extra cows, to £lO 15s; ordinary, £4 17s 6d to £7 10s. Price of beef per 1001 b, 26s to 40s. . Pigs.— Choppers, £3 to £4 12s 6d; extra heavy baconers, to £3 18s; heavy baconers, £3 2s 6d to £3 10s; light, £2 12s 6d to £3 (price per lb, 51-d to 6d) ; heavy porkers, £1 10s to £1 17s; light, £1 5s to £1 8s (price per lb, s|d" to sfd) ; medium stores, 9s to 17s; smaller, 5s to 8s; weaners, Is 6d to 4s. . <. At Burnside last week there was a large yarding of fat sheep (4730), consisting principally of medium to good ewes, with a few pens of prime wethers. The number forward, being far in excess of butchers' requirements, prices showed a drop of 2s 6d per head on previous week's value. ■_■ Medium and light wethers and ewes, in particular, were difficult to dispose of, although prime, heavy wethers did not suffer in value to the same extent. Best wethers, 23s 6d to 275; medium to good, 20s to 22s 6d; inferior, 17s to 19s; best ewes, 20s to 235; medium to good, 14s to 18s. Fat Cattle.—l9o head were yarded, consisting chiefly of medium weight bullocks and heifers, with a few pens of good bullocks. Prices for good quality were, if anything, a shade better than at previous sale, medium and inferior quality being

, about, the same. ■ '--Prime' bullocks, £l3-10s to¥ijs'-?i : extra prime, to £l7; 17s 6d; medium, £lO 10s to £l2 •• best cows and heifers, £lO 10s :to : 'Y-£ 12 ;t medium to: good, £7 to ; £8; inferior, ;/£6V to £7. Fat Lambs.—6oo lambs were penned, - and prices 'were W, r shade better than have been ruling 1 lately. Best lambs; 17s to 18s 6d; extra prime, 225; medium to good, 14s 6d to 16s; inferior, 10s to' lis 6d. ';' Pigs".— 6l fats and 20 stores were yarded. - Prices for fats were, a good dear easier than at last sale. Suckers, 5s : : to 8s; slips, 9s 6d to 12s; stores, 14s to 21s; porkers,■: 30s ■" to 41s; baconers, 49s to 60s. - ( - : - . x« -■ ■•■-■ .' - ".. :•..■:- • .-.-• . • -•... ■_.'', ■ ' i: ■..''';•: •■■.';?.'■ THE PROFITABLE USES OF ARTIFICIALS. " The question of profitable manuring is one of the " greatest interest to all farmers. Every crop extracts a greater or less amount of fertilising substances from the soil; milk, meat, and wool also help to deplete, and unless the fertilising material is replaced by means of natural or artificial manures the quality of the soil must deteriorate. Of all the elements in ordinary' cultivated soils only four are likely to run; short— nitrogen, phosphates, potash, and lime, and it is. these we aim at supplying in the several manures (says Farm and Field). Abundance of any one ingredient in a soil will not make up for the deficiency of. another. Some soil may only require one fertilising substance to be added before it can produce a. full crop. Poor soils would naturally require a complete manure, which supplies all that is likely to be wanted, but it must be remembered that every manure is not complete. Some supply only one or maybe two or three fertilising elements, and in consequence we have'nitrogenous, phosphatic, and potassic manures. A knowledge of each group and simple trials on the farm, leaving -unman ured parts for comparison,; will often be the means of forming a paying investment to the farmer. Vendors of manures are bound to supply the purchaser with a guarantee stipulating the percentage of nitrogen, phosphates (soluble or insoluble), and potash they contain, as the case may be. - v V : . : The condition of a manure, as well as the kind and quality of the plant food it contains, has also to be taken into account when putting a value on it. \ Good cultivation is essential if the full effect of manure is desired. Not only does it help to make the dormant plant food in the soil soluble, but also gives more,vigorous and robust plants. As to lime in the general average of soils this must be present in sufficient quantity. 'lt has a many-sided action. Not only is it a plant food, but it has also a physical effect, helping to open heavy soils, it binds together loose soils, helps to liberate other plant foods, combines with the acid in, a sour soil and sweetens it, besides being one of the best curative agents to employ in combating club root in turnips. A usual dressing would be about two tons' per acre. . .:.•'. WHEAT-GROWING.. Wheat is a deep-rooting plant, and needs a long period to establish a satisfactory root-system (writes Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf in the Journal" Agriculture). In Canterbury, May is, as a rule, the ideal month for sowing, but if one cannot sow then, June will do equally well. Most, farmers try to avoid sowing .in July and prefer to wait till August, but often the Julysown crops are quite successful. It all Hepends on the weather of the succeeding spring. Wheat sown in August and September often does well, if the varieties used are either of the Tuscans or Bobs, and this has been notably the case in the past season, when the December rains were beneficial to the late-sown crops, but useless to those that were more nearly mature, v; Still,.it is -a very good rule to sow your spring wheats in autumn and to sow in spring only when forced by circumstances to do so. ; In Otago spring sowing is almost universal, and is much the most successful. •■■';- " .'"?->: