On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 15 June 1916, Page 41

On the Land

GENERAL. Apparently there is money in milk. A deputation from the Dairy Farmers’ Association waited on the Wellington City Council, and in the course of his speech the secretary (Mr. H. A, Ward) said that it now cost from £4 to £5 per gallon to buy into a milk run, whereas the cost a few years ago would only have been about £1 per gallon.

It is not advisable to milk a cow too soon after calving. A cow which has been affected by milk-fever at a previous calving, should not be milked for at least twelve hours. Breeders in the Channel Islands do not milk their cows for twelve to twenty-four hours after calving, • and by so doing have almost abolished the mortality from milk-fever. It is very seldom that a cow suffers from this complaint when the only means of drawing off the milk is by the calf.

Mention has frequently been made of the labor difficulties in connection with cheese and butter factories, and the actual experience of the Ilawera Dairy Factory is therefore interesting as typifying . probably the conditions experienced in most other factories (says the Star). Under normal conditions the number of men employed by the Hawera Company in its and branch factories is 43; in the last two years -no fewer than 102 men have passed through their hands, and of these 35 have already gone to the war, and seven more have enlisted. Under such conditions it is easily understood how difficult it is for the factories to retain a regular staff.

At Burnside last week prices for cattle and sheep were considerably lower than at the previous sale. Lambs were sold at late rates, and pigs were well up to recent quotations. Fat Cattle. — lßo head came forward. Competition was very keen for all good quality cattle, although prices showed a drop of 30s per head on previous week’s extreme rates. Quotations: Prime bullocks, £ls to £l7 10s; extra, £22 7s 6d; medium to good, £l2 to £l4 10s; light and inferior, £9 10s to £ll ; prime cows and heifers, £ll to £l3 ; medium, £9 to £lO 10s; inferior, £7 to £8 10s. Fat Sheep. 3ss6 sheep were penned, consisting principally of medium Owes and wethers with a few pens of heavy sheep. Owing to plenty of space being now available, competition was keen from exporters. Prices were down considerably from previous week’s extreme rates. Quotations: Prime wethers, 31s to 345; extra, 37s fid; medium, 25s to 295; light and inferior, 19s to 235; prime ewes, 27s to 30s ; medium to good, 20s to 245 ; inferior, l4s to 18s. Fat Lambs. —1494 lambs were penned. Exporters were operating freely and late values were well maintained. Best lambs, 22s to 265; medium to good, 19s to 21s 6d; inferior, 16s to 18s. There was a medium entry of pigs, prices showing little change from those ruling at previous sale. At Addington last week the entries of stock were large, and there was a fair attendance of buyers. Store sheep were in keen .demand, especially ewes, which formed the bulk of the offerings. Fat cattle were rather easier, and fat lambs were firm at late rates. The fat sheep market opened firmer under keen competition from butchers and exporters, * but later on prices dropped back to previous week’s level. Pigs of " all classes sold well. Fat Lambs.44lß were penned. Extra prime, 31s; prime, 22s 6d to 2fis; medium, 19s to 225; lighter,' 16s to 18s 6d; extra prime wethers, to 48s; prime wethers, 27s 6d to 31s lOd : others, 20s 3d to 275; merino wethers, 22s 9d to 25s 6d ; prime ewes, 27s to 31s; medium ewes, 23s t0,265-6d; others, 16s 4d to 22s 6d ; merino 15s 4d to 16s. Fat Cattle. — Extra prime steers, to £2O 17s 6d ; ordinary steers, £9 15s to £l2 10s; extra prime heifers, to £l3 15s; . ordinary heifers, £7 5s to £lO 10s; extra prime cows, to , £ls; ordinary cows, £6 15s to £9 10s. FigsChoppers, 70s to 1355; extra heavy baconers, to 105 s; heavy baconers, 75s to 90s; light baconers, 57s (price

per lb, 6Jd to 6^d) ; heavy porkers, 46s to 525; light porkers, 38s to 44s (price per lb, 7d to 7|d) ; medium stores, 32s to 38s 6d ; smaller, 18s to 30s; weaners, 8s to 12s 6d.

FUNCTIONS OF LIME. There are two principal effects produced by applying lime to soils (says the Journal of Agriculture). One of these is to furnish a base for neutralising the acids that may exist in the soil or that may form as the result of such necessary processes as nitrification. Through the decomposition of organic matter (vegetable and animal) by bacteria, available or soluble nitrates are finally formed, buk acids of various kinds (principally humic acid) are produced. These latter require to be neutralised by a base to keep the soil fully productive. As a result of this continuous break-ing-down process yielding free acids the bases in the soil (principally lime) are being gradually used up for neutralising the acidity thus produced. Strictly, acidity does not accumulate in the soil, but by finally neutralising all the lime present it renders the soil sour. Such a soil requires lime to render it fertile, or, in other words, to supply a base for the neutralising of acids continuously being formed by bacterial activity and for the formation of nitrates by the nitrifying bacteria. The acidity arising from ’ the application of acid fertilisers such as superphosphate, sulphate of ammonia, etc., and from the toxic substances believed to be given off by plants, particularly fern and manuka, in like manner calls for a base to neutralise it.

In addition to the above-mentioned function of a base is that of supplying a mineral in small quantity for the ready formation from ammonia and nitric acid of the nitrate itself, in which soluble form alone a plant can take up its food. From this we glean that a predominance of evolved acidity and an almost total absence of lime are decidedly detrimental to the formation of the desirable nitrates by bacteria T n short, the nitrifying bacteria are for the most part inactive in a predominatingly acid (sour) soil. To correct or neutralise that acidity is therefore important. Indeed, the chief reason, and usually the only justifiable reason, for applying lime to soils is to correct or neutralise soil-acidity. The other principal effect of applying lime to soils is that of promoting a more active decomposition or destruction of the soil itself, especially of its organic matter or humus content. The reserves of raw material, organic or mineral, are in part (varying with the form and quantity of lime applied) released and converted by chemical and bacteriological action into available or soluble plantfood. The decay of vegetable and animal matter and its conversion into a soluble form are accelerated. Potash and to some extent slowly soluble natural soil phosphates are released and converted into available or soluble forms. It is largely due to the previously unavailable potash, held in close association with the silicates, in clay soils, being released or made available that we find lime giving specially good results on such soils. ■ The need for potash manuring will for a time be eliminated by liming soils, but there will come a time, especially on the lighter soils, when potash manuring in some form will have to be practised. On the heavier soils, which are as a rule abundantly supplied with humus, the organic matter decomposes slowly, and lime is of special value for accelerating this decomposition. On the other hand, where a soil is not very well supplied with humus, as indicated by the absence of or deficiency in good dark color and by * floury ’ texture, the burnt lime in particular, if applied in anything but small quantities, results in injury to the soil through causing a rapid decomposition of what little humus is present. Burnt lime, in anything but small, applications, rapidly exhausts light lands, due principally to the loss from humus into the air of nitrogen in ammonia form and into the subsoil by leaching of nitrates.