On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 11 May 1916, Page 51

On the Land

GENERAL.

About 141 b of* raw carrots can be supplied to horses twice or three times a week. The amount of grain may be lessened by 51b or 61b on the day that roots are given.

The peanut farm started at Frankston, Victoria, last September by Mr. C. E. Liardet promises to give successful results. About £2OOO has been expended in experiments, and 58 acres are under cultivation. Mr. Liardet brought the seed from farms lately held by him in China.

The best cropping-potato this season at Weraroa Experimental Farm has been Maori Chief, yielding 14 tons per acre, the tubers being of good size and quality for table use. Gamekeeper was a good second with 12 tons per acre, and proved the best blight-resister. Seasonal conditions generally have been adverse for potato-growing at the farm.

On April 21 the New Zealand - Dairy Association distributed amongst its suppliers the sum of £47,003 0s 9d (says the Auckland Star). This covered 740,2361 b of butter-fat supplied during the month of March. The payment per lb butter-fat was Is 3d, phis premiums, for daily supply and direct delivery. The amount distributed for the corresponding month last year was £38,415 9s Bd. Thus, the increase for the month was £8587 11s Id.

The thrashing returns on the high country at the back of Mataura are very gratifying to the farmers (says the Mataura Ensign). Mr. John. Waugh, Windsor Downs, thrashed a 45-acre crop recently which gave 70 bushels to the acre, and in addition he cut 10 tons of chaff from the crop. The oats were a nice bright sample, and were grown from seed from the Edievale district. Mr. Waugh also has a 15-acre crop of Dun oats from which he anticipates cutting between 40 and 50 tons of chaff.

A caterpillar is attacking the cruciferous plants in various parts of Southland, preferably brocoli and swedes (reports the Times). A farmer said he had thought at first that it was the diamond-backed moth, which is making havoc of the swedes in some parts of Canterbury but Mr. Lennie, who has a chart of various insect pests compiled by the Government entomologists of the Australian States and New Zealand, has convinced him that it is the cabbage moth. The insect is a very small one, and it deposits its eggs at the underleaf of the plants. These hatch out into green caterpillars, which burrow down well towards the heart of the plant, after attacking the upper part of the leaf. f*

At Addington last week the entries of stock were large, especially store and; fat sheep, and fat lambs, the lastnamed forming the largest yarding this year. There was a good attendance. Fat cattle met with a brisk demand. Store sheep sold well, and fat lambs were firmer owing to a keen demand for export. Freezing sheep were rather firmer. Fat lambs 5598 were yarded Prime lambs, 22s to 265; medium, 19s to 21s 6d; lighter, 14s to 18s 6d. Fat sheep; Prime wethers, 25s to 325; others, 17s to 24s 6d; extra prime ewes, to 35s 3d; prime ewes, 24s to 29s 6d; medium, 19s to 23s 6d; others, ,12s 3d to 18s 6d. Fat cattle: Extra prime steers, to £lB 15s; ordinary steers, £8 10s to £l2; extra prime heifers, to £l6 ss; ordinary heifers, £6 17s 6d to £9 10s; extra prime cows, to £l6 ss; ordinary cows, £6 10s to £9. Pigs: Choppers, 50s to 85s; baconers, 57s to 84s (equal to 6d to 6Jd); porkers, 35s to 46s (equal to 7d per lb) medium stores, 22s to 265; smaller, 18s to 21s; weaners, 4s to 14s.

There were large yardings at Burnside last week and a fair attendance of buyers. Fat cattle: 195 yarded. A large yarding of medium-weight bullocks and heifers. There was a good demand for all prime beef, prices being on about a par with previous week’s rates. Quotations: Best bullocks made from £l6 to £l7; extra, £lB 12s 6d; medium to good, £l3 to £ls; others, to £l2 10s; best cows and heifers, £l2 to £l4; extra prime heavy, to £ls; others, up to £ll. Fat sheep; 3200 penned. A large yarding, comprised chiefly of medium quality ewes and wethers, very few prime heavy sheep being forward. There was a keen demand for all good quality sheep, and prices were fully up to late rates. Prices for medium and poorconditioned ewes, however, were not quite up to previous week’s quotations. Best wethers made from 28s to 31s; extra, 33s 3d; medium, 24s to 265; others, up to 22s 6d; heavy ewes, 26s ■ to 295; extra prime, to 34s 9d; medium' to good, 20s to 245; others, 10s to 15s. Fat lambs: 1500 penned. • Owing to there being a few days’ killing on hand at . the Burnside works, the export buyers were ’hot operating ' to * any great extent. ’ Notwithstanding ■■ there was * good competition between butchers and graziers, prices were about Is per head below previous week’s rates.

Best lambs made from 22s to 24sj- extra heavy, to 31s 9d; medium’to good, 18s to 21s; unfinished; 14s to 17s. Pigs; 150 fats and 40 stores yarded. - There was a good demand for both stores and fats, and prices were firm at late rates. Quotations: Heavy baconers, up to £0; light, to £4; porkers, to £2 17s fid; slips, to 28s; suckers, 10s to 18s.

SELECTION OF SOW.

A point of importance in the selection of sows for breeding purposes is the number/ and disposition- of the teats. It is possible to have sows too prolific by half, and to have the reproductive capacity in advance or in excess of the milking capacity. : It is of very little use a sow producing seventeen or eighteen pigs if she has only ten or eleven teats. The little pig does not suck promiscuously; he selects his own teat and sticks to indeed, he has to. The strongest pigs get the best teats and grow stronger; while the weak grow weaker. A well-formed udder is most necessary, and no sow should be bred from unless she has at least twelve teats, and all the better if she has more, placed equi-distant, and not blind. They should commence Vis near the fore leg as possible—it is said that the best pigs of a litter are those which get the teats nearest the fore arm—and extend quite along the belly, so that when distended they show between the hind legs. Small or ‘ blind ’ teats, which are generally placed in close proximity to a fullsized teat, give but little milk, and the animal to whose share one of these happens to fall is certain to fall behind in growth and development.

LUCERNE-GROWING.

A remarkable example of the value of lucerne as a fodder crop, and its adaptability and productiveness under most unfavorable conditions, has been furnished during the past season on the farm of the School for the Deaf, at Sumner, near Christchurch (says the Journal of Agriculture). An account of how, with bare grass-paddocks, the half dozen cows of the institution , were kept in good condition and yield during a droughty spell of four months and a-half by means of half an acre of lucerne growing practically on sand is contributed below by Mr. J. E. Stevens, Director of the school. The majority of dairymen and other farmers in Canterburymen depending in summer on grass, with perhaps some of the commoner forage cropshave had such a hard experience this past season that no excuse is needed to point a moral from this Sumner object-lesson. Dealing first with the establishment of the lucerne plot Mr. Stevens says,— ‘ Our first trial in lucerne-growing was made in the autumn of ‘ 1908, when we sowed down a quarter-acre, which germinated well, but which was soon smothered with weeds. In the following spring the same plot of ground was prepared again, to see if Better results could be obtained at that season of the year. The lucerne again germinated well, but so did the fat-hen, and the result was again a failure. The plot was put back into grass, and nothing further was done in the way* of lucerne-grow-ing until the spring of 1913. Then, on the advice of officers of the Department of Agriculture and following out their instructions to the letter, we selected for a further experiment the most worthless piece of ground on the school farm, a quarter-acre of sand hummocks covered by a very thin coating of soil. This area was levelled, what soil there was being kept on the surface, and a dressing of 4cwt of lime applied. The seed was sown in rows 15in apart, not broadcast as in our previous experiments. The seed germinated well, and when the rows could be -easily distinguished the hoe and the Planet Junior cultivator were kept going between them. When the crop was about 6 or 8 inches high it was cut and left on the ground for a mulch. After that, beyond resowing one or two bare patches, we had no further trouble. The following spring, ' 1914, we increased the size of the plot to a little less than half an acre, and it is now well established. With both these sowings inoculated soil was used.

‘ As showing the value of lucerne as a fodder crop, I may say that the past year was the driest we have ever experienced, and, in consequence, from the beginning of October until the middle of February, when the rains came, our paddocks ware almost devoid of grass. Yet during the whole of that time we were able, with our lucerne as "almost their only feed, to keep our six cows in splendid condition. During that time four cuts were taken from the plot, each averaging 3ft in length. A fifth cut was made in March. No manure was used, and the land has not been irrigated. The plot has been kept scrupulously free from weeds by regular cultivation between ’ the rows, and this has been, I think, the mffin reason why the growth has been so good. * ‘ This season we are laying down a . further.- area .in lucerne, and are experimenting with nine varieties of seed supplied by the Department of Agriculture-viz., Turkestan, Peruvian, Poitou, Provence, Russian, Spanish, Dryland, Hungarian, and Arabian.’ v