ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 10 May 1917, Page 59

ON THE LAND

At the Addington stock market last week there was a smaller attendance than usual of buyers, farmers, and others. The general entry of stock was not quite so large as has been the case lately, the alterations in the railway service being partly responsible for this. The entry of store sheep was a medium one. Fat sheep were fairly well represented, and, so far as lambs were concerned, they were about 1000 less than previous week. Fat cattle were in good supply, though the sale opened only moderately well. Fat Lambs.—Extra prime quality, 32s 6d; prime quality, 27s 6d to 30s; medium, 24s 6d to 265; lighter sorts, 20s to 23s 6d. Fat Sheep.—Extra prime wethers, to 42s 9d ; prime wethers, 35s to 395; lighter, 26s 9d to 33s 4d ; extra prime ewes, to 40s 3d; prime, 34s Id to 395; medium, 27s lOd to 325; lighter, 21s to 25s 9d. Fat Cattle.— Extra prime steers, £2l 2s 6d; prime steers, £l3 to £lB 17s 6d; ordinary steers, £9 5s to £l2 17s 6d; extra prime heifers-, to £l4 10s; prime heifers, £9 5s to £l3 15s; ordinary heifers, £7 10s to £9; extra prime cows, to £l4 17s 6d ; prime cows, £lO to £l4; ordinary cows, £8 to £9 10s. Pigs.—Choppers, £3 10s to £6 10s; extra heavy baconers, £5 7s; heavy baconers, £4 to £4 15s ; lighter, £3 10s to £3 17s 6d ; heavy porkers, £2 6s to £2 12s; lighter, £1 18s to £2 4s; store pigsmedium £1 8s to £1 18s, small £1 to £1 7s; weaners, 8s to 12s 6d.

Burnside market reports last week:—Fat Cattle. — A medium yarding, 182 head coming forward. The quality, taken as a whole, was good. Although the number was not large, it was quite sufficient for butchers' requirements, and prices were on an average of about 10s below previous week's rates. Extra prime bullocks brought to £2l 15s; prime do, £l6 10s to £l9; medium, £l4 10s to £l6; light and unfinished, £l2 to £l4; extra prime cows and heifers, £l4 to £l6 10s; medium do, £ll to £l2 10s; light and inferior, £8 to £lO 10s. Sheep.—lß6s were penned. There were some very prime sheep forward, although the number of these was not great, the bulk of the yarding consisting of medium ewes and wethers. Competition was keen throughout the sale, and prices were much on a par with previous week's rates. Medium weights were, if anything, slightly firmer, but any unfinished ewes were hard to dispose of, unless at slightly lower figures than those ruling of late. Extra prime wethers brought to 55s 6d ; prime do, 40s to 47s 6d ; medium, 35s to 38s 9d ; light, 25s to 30s 6d ; extra prime ewes, to 50s; prime do, 35s to 40s; medium, 28s to 31s 6d ; light and unfinished, 17s to 255. Fat Lambs.—A medium yarding, 1053 coming under the hammer. The quality of the yarding was rather better than has been the case of late. Although competition was by no means brisk, the prices realised were much on a par with the previous week's rates. Extra prime lambs brought to 30s 6d; prime do, 25s to 28s; medium, 21s to 23s 6d ; light and unfinished, 16s to 20s. Pigs.—A medium yarding of fat pigs, and a small entry of stores came forward. There was a splendid demand for fats, at prices above previous week's values. Stores also met a good sale.

THE DAIRY FARM. Dairy-farmers (says an exchange) anticipating their cows coming in early in spring should look well ahead to see that there should be plenty of succulent food to keep them in profit until the grass is sufficiently grown to give the cows a full bite. It must be remembered that cows cannot nip short grass so well as sheep or horses, and unless they can get a plentiful supply of food without having to ramble too far for it, they cannot give first-class results, and a liberal supply should be kept up during the whole of their lactation period. Many dairy farmers do not seem to realise the importance of this. It is not unusual to hear it said that though feed is scarce in the first of the season they will come to their full profit of milk production as soon as feed gets more plentiful. This is not sufficient, for as soon as the cows come into profit there should be

an abundance of feed so as to encourage as large a milk yield as possible. If feed is scarce during this period, and the cows, for want of proper food, fall ’ short of their full milking capacity, the farmer is not doing justice to himself, for if not kept up to the highest mark the cow will in time deteriorate, and 7 at .the beginning of each milking season she will, instead - of improving as a milker, start with a lower yield, and will get worse each season, until in many instances she will lose her reputation as a milker, and will sooner or later have to be turned into beef. FERTILISERS FROM BANANA STALKS. One result of the war has been the complete cessation of our supply of potash for fertilising purposes, for the whole of it came from Germany, where, it may be remembered, it constituted a powerful monopoly. Yet this chemical is indispensable for nourishing the soil. Under these circumstances it is incumbent upon us fully to avail ourselves of every source of supply, no matter how unlikely or unimportant it may at first sight appear. One such possible source was described recently by Mr. R. 11. Ellis before a Leeds meeting of the Yorkshire section of the Society of Chemical Industry, and the discovery was the direct outcome of a chance observation. He discovered that the banana stalk contained a high percentage of potash, and practically no soda. The investigations showed that a ton of the useless stalks would yield 188 pounds of dried matter, containing 13.7 per cent, of potash, or 54 pounds of ash containing 47.5 per cent, of potash that is, over 25£ pounds. The yield may not appear to be very great per ton; but, when the huge consumption of bananas is borne in mind, it should represent in the aggregate a considerable amount. For instance, it is computed that in Leeds alone the stalks of at least four thousand bunches of bananas are burned as useless every week. These weigh 16,000 pounds, and contain 1340 pounds of dried matter as rich in potash as kainit.

ASSISTING NATIONAL PRODUCTION BY TRACTOR PLOUGHING. jtx. scheme propounded by Mr. J. W. Todd, of Waikavva, for the general utilisation of motor ploughs is engaging the earnest attention of the National Efficiency Board (says the Marlborough Express). The suggestion is to form district associations of farmers, with a membership the size of which would be determined by the local considerations as to the most effective plan of operations for the working of the land. The affairs of each association would be controlled by a committee. Say that an association had a membership of 20 farmers, with an aggregate cropping area of 2000 acres. The association would decide how many fullyequipped motor-tractor ploughs would be required to break up that area to allow of sowing for next season. Then it would state its requirements to the Government, which would supply the ploughs with qualified men in charge. The larger productive power that would be gained by the adoption of such a system of co-operation will be readily realised. One man with a double-furrow plough and four horses would break up about three acres in one day of eight hours. It would take him 33 days to complete 100 acres. One fully-equipped motortractor plough of eight furrows, operated by one man, would deal with about 20 acres in one eight-hour day—or 100 acres in five days. One man with a motor plough could accomplish more in five days than could be done by six men with six double-furrow ploughs and 24 horses. The motor-ploughs are equipped with powerful headlights, and, if necessary, could be worked by shifts throughout the 24 hours. One of these implements, operated in turns by three men, would turn over 1000 acres within 17 days, accomplishing what would require the energies of 20 men with 20 doublefurrow ploughs and 80 horses, extending over about the same number of eight-hour days. ■ . : a