On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 3 February 1916, Page 59

On the Land

GENERAL. The sale of a 50-acre farm in the Bunnyth or district at £72 10s per acre is reported by the Manawatu Standard. For another property, which was brought six years ago for £4O per acre, an advance of £2O per acre was refused. Speaking at the Levin Show of the expansion of New Zealand fruit export trade, the Prime Minister said that while in 1909, 161 cases were exported, last year's exports totalled 62,164 cases. New Zealand had got a market, and it did not need a prophet to deduce a further increase.

' It will be a calamity to the dairying districts if the war lasts much longer,' remarked a Nireaha dairy farmer to a Wairarapa, Age reporter, 'as already the greatest difficulty is found in securing the necessary labor, and any further strain will compel many to relinquish the industry.'

A sheep race of novel and ingenious pattern, the conception of Mr. Duncan Sutherland, has been successfully installed at Omarama (says the Oamaru Mail). One side of the race carries vertical 3in rollers at short intervals, and the other is adjustable, so that the width of the race may be altered to suit circumstances. The race narrows gradually from the entrance to the exit, where are the familiar three-way gates, and the advantage of the whole arrangement is that two sheep cannot jam at the wide end, because the sheep on the roller side always has the advantage of the other. The more the sheep on the plain side pushes the more the rollers help his competitor to keep ahead and eventually to show him his tail. Sheep cannot damage each other in the race by crushing. The adjustable width permits of the advantages of the race being utilised whatever size of sheep is being handled.

At Burnside last week fat sheep and lambs sold at prices on a par with the previous week's rates, whilst fat cattle showed a slight decline. Fat Cattle.—l7o yarded. A medium yarding, of fair quality. A freezing buyer was operating, and secured some pens, but the yarding was slightly in excess of the requirements. Quotations: Best bullocks, £ls 10s to £l7; extra, £l7 17s 6d; medium, £l3 to £l4 10s; others, to £l2; best cows and heifers, £ll to £l2 10s; extra, to £l3 17s 6d; medium, £9 to £10; others, £7 to £B. Fat Sheep.—22B3 penned. A large yarding of medium quality. The sale opened with prices about Is per head below previous week's quotations, but as it progressed, the freezing buyers secured a few pens, and competition became keener. Quotations: Best wethers, 26s 6d to 295; extra, to 33s 3d; medium, 21s to 22s 6d; unfinished, 18s to 19s; best ewes, 23s to 255; extra prime, to 31s 3d; medium, 18s to 19s 6d ; others, to 15s. Fat Lambs. —832 penned. s There was good competition between butchers and export buyers for good-quality lambs, and prices were firm at last week's rates. Inferior lambs were not in demand, and were hard to place. Quotations: Best lambs, 20s to 225; extra, to 28s; medium to good, from 17s to 19s; inferior, 14s to 15s.

OUR EXPORTS. Speaking at the Levin show last week the Prime Minister said: ' Last year our exports exceeded by £5,500,000 the exports in the previous year. Last year's exports were £32,000,000; the previous year's were £26,500,000. These, of course, are round figures. I predict that this year we will exceed that £32,000,000. An important point is that a large proportion of the exports I refer to were the product of the soil.' Mr. Massey quoted the following export figures for last year:—Mutton, £2,893,000; lamb, £3,004,000; beef, £1,626,000; wool, £1,375,000; butter, £2,770,000; cheese, £2,730,000; hemp, £571,000 total, £23,952000. So that practically £24,000,000 worth of our exports were agricultural products.

Mind you,' Mr. Massey continued, we are experiencing the high prices which are due to the war. That has got to be admitted. However, as.producers (and like yourselves, I am a producer) we would very much prefer peace, an honorable peace, with moderate prices, than war with extreme prices.' The value of the meat supplied to the Imperial authorities, Mr. Massey said, was somewhere about £7,000,000 to date, the supply was still going on, and our exportss in this connection would be limited only by the capacity of our ships. He felt pretty confident that we would be able to get away this season the goods that required insulated space. Two or three months ago the Imperial Government said it was necessary to requisition for 15,000 tons of cheese—about one-third of the country's export quantity. The price was 7|d per lb, which was now below the market price, but there had been hardly a grumble. The producers had entered enthusiastically into the scheme, and New Zealand was getting all the cheese it required without the slightest difficulty. SOIL FERTILITY. Soil fertility is a term that lends itself to many interpretations. Expressed in practical terms, it can only ultimately mean productive power, and can only be really measured by the capacity of a given soil for crop production (says an exchange). It has long been a matter of common knowledge that plants need at least ten different chemical elements for full and perfect growth. These are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, lime, magnesium, and iron. Four other elements are to be found in plants, but they are not generally considered as indispensable to the plant's well-being. These are sodium, chloride, aluminium, and silicon. Plants extract either from the air, from the soil, or from water these various substances, and, after a series of complex' changes, build them into new tissue. Of the ten substances that are considered essential to the plant's welfare, seven are usually present in fairly large quantities, whilst three are commonly deficientnamely, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash. This, it must be understood, does not of. necessity imply that the total amount of these substances present in the soil is inadequate for the needs of heavy crops. It does imply, however, that at any given time the total amount of what is termed available phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and potash is insufficient for the plant needs of heavy crops. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that only a very small proportion of the total amount of phosphates, nitrogen, and potash can be regarded as immediately available for the use of the crop. And the whole practice of manuring is based on the fact that these deficiencies in the available food supply of the soil must be made good if heavy crops are to be reaped. From the standpoint of the chemist, the fertility of a given soil is measured by the amount of these three substances present compared with some arbitrary standard of fertility. It may be assumed, for example, that a good average soil would contain about .1 per cent, nitrogen, .1 per cent, phospheric acid, and .2 per cent, to .4 per cent, potash. Lime is looked upon as a most desirable and valuable mineral ingredient in the soil, not so much because it is a necessary plant food, as because the presence of a fair proportion of lime is usually indicative of a satisfactory physical and biological condition. The amount of lime actually present varies very considerably, but we may assume that a good average soil would contain from 2 per cent, to 5 per cent. It must not be supposed mere chemical analysis alone will give an infallible indication of fertility. The weak point in an analysis obviously is that, while it reveals the proportions in which the several constituents are present,' it cannot state with accuracy just how much of the plant food is available—i.e., fit for assimilation by the plant. It does, however, reveal the approximate total quantity of tha several essential constituents, and thus indicates the sufficiency or deficiency of the essential elements, and, consequently, affords a rational basis for inaugurating a series of tests with fertilisers.