ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 17 May 1917, Page 51

ON THE LAND

Burnside reports last week:—Fat Cattle. —167 yarded. The quality, on the whole, was good, and the supply was quite sufficient for the demand. Prices may be quoted par to 5s per head lower. Quotations: Extra bullocks, to £22 10s; prime, £l7 to £l9 10s; medium, £l4 10s to £ls 10s; light and inferior, £l2 10s to £l3 10s; best cows and heifers, £l3 to £ls 2s 6d; good do, £ll to £l2 10s; light, £8 10s to £lO. Fat Sheep.—36oo penned—a large yarding of good quality. For heavy-weight sheep the market was decidedly easier, but medium-weight sheep, suitable for export, did not participate in the same drop in value. Taking prices on the whole, they were lower by fully 2s per head. Quotations: Best wethers, 39s to 425; extra, to 51s 9d ; good, 36s to 38s; medium, 32s to 34s 6d ; light, 27s to 295; best ewes, 38s to 425; extra, to 50s; good, 34s to 365; medium, 28s to 31s; light, 22s to 28s. Fat Lambs.—l26o penned, only fair quality. The demand was fair for prime lambs at prices equal to previous week's rates. Graziers competed well for unfinished sorts at prices slightly in advance of last week's rates. . Quotations: Best lambs, to 27s to 30s; extra, 34s ; medium, 24s to 25s 6d ; unfinished, 21s to 23s 6d. Pigs.—A small yarding, and for fats competition was very keen, while stores met a fair demand. At the Addington market there were small entries of almost all classes of stock. Fat cattle were firmer, as were fat lambs, the latter selling up to 9id per lb over all. Store sheep, which were mostly wethers, were also sold well, and fat sheep were firmer. Prime fat pigs were in demand, but unfinished sorts and stores were dull of sale. Fat Lambs. —Prime, 28s to 33s 6d ; medium, 25s to 27s 6d ; higher, 18s 2d to 24s 6d. Fat Sheep.—Extra prime wethers, to 43s 2d ; prime wethers, 36s to 425; lighter wethers, 27s to 355; merino wethers, 24s Id to 34s 6d : extra prime ewes, to 42s 9d ; prime ewes, 34s 6d to 395; medium ewes, 29s to 345; lighter ewes, 22s 3d to 28s 6d. Fat Cattle.—Extra prime steers, to £2l ; prime steers, £l3 5s to £2O: ordinary steers, £ll to £l3; extra prime heifers, £ls 2s 6d; prime • heifers, £lO to £l4 10s; ordinary heifers, £7 10s to £9 15s; extra prime cows, £l6 10s; prime cows, £lO 10s to £ls 10s; ordinary cows, £7 10s to £lO ss. Pigs. — Choppers, £3 10s to £8; extra heavy baconers, £5 ss; heavy baconers, £4 to £4 15s ; lighter baconers, £3 5s to £3 15s, equal to 7|d per lb; heavy porkers, £2 12s to £2 18s ; lighter porkers, £2 4s to £2 Bs, equal to 7d to 7-Jd per lb; medium stores, £1 6s to £1 13s; smaller, 16s to £1 3s; weaners, 8s 6d to 14s.

A WORD FOR GRASS ON FARMS. So much emphasis is being laid on the importance of increasing the acreage under cereals, that there is a tendency to overlook the great importance of good grass crops. It would be a pity if this boom of cereal cultivation should lead to neglect of grass crops, especially as during recent years there have been satisfactory signs that more attention was being devoted to the improvement of both meadows and pastures. In spite of the present urgency, from a national point of view, for an increase of wheat production, grass is indispensable on all well-regulated farms, and in its direct money value, and also in its collateral and indirect benefits, it is worth more to the world than all other cereal crops combined. Its direct is nothing to its indirect value in the influence it has in preserving the fertility of farms by its manurial wealth in many forms. No man can thrive on a farm, and no farm can be self-supporting, where grass is wholly neglected, or advantage is not taken of stock raised on grass farms. It is supposed by many that only such soil as is not for cultivation in the cereals or roots should be devoted to grass. This is a mistake. Farmers can afford to take their best soils for the production of this crop, and this is the real plan for bringing them up to the highest point of fertility. ',

MANURING SPRING CROPS. The soil plays various important parts in the life of plants; it stores up moisture, acts as a support, and is the warehouse from which the plants draw, as required, the supplies of nourishment necessary for their existence and proper development. On the fertility of the soil depends the success of the crop, and the fertility of the soil in its turn depends, apart from its mechanical condition, on the quantity of plant food, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, lime, etc., naturally present in it or supplied by dressings of farmyard manure and artificial fertilisers. The application of manures takes place in the autumn and spring, the nature of the application being dependent in a great measure on the time of the year and the crop to be grown. The plant food in the soil can be divided into two classes. First, there is the supply, readily available, consisting of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime in a condition which the growing crop can quickly assimilate; and secondly, there is the reserve stock, composed of organic and mineral elements, which have to undergo certain chemical changes before they can be utilised by the crop. Autumn-sown and spring-sown crops should, as a rule, be treated differently in the matter of manures. The former, in the ground many months from start from harvest, have time to utilise the class of manures which becomes more slowly available, excepting, perhaps, that in the springtime a fillip of a nitrogenous dressing may be desirable. But with the spring-sown crop, especially spring cereals, the case is different. Being in the "ground a comparatively short time, and having in this limited period to make as much growth as the autumn-sown crop, their needs for nourishment are much more intensive, and therefore fertilisers supplied for their nourishment should be rapidly available. For this reason farmyard manure, unless applied in the autumn, is not so useful, and more advantage should be taken of commercial soluble fertilisers, such as sulphate of ammonia, nitrolim, and superphosphate. Sulphate of ammonia, nitrolim, superphosphate, basic slag should be applied at time of sowing, or a little before, and sulphate of ammonia can also be used with good effect as a top dressing. Peruvian guano, rape dust, high-class fish guano, should be applied at time of sowing, while soluble guano can be used, as convenient, at sowing or as a top dressing, but it should be applied as an early top dressing if used in that way. Bulky, organic manures, such as shoddies, rabbit flick, and fish heads should be applied in the autumn, so that there is time for their decomposition before the crop needs the plant food in them. " Deep cultivation is one of the most important points in successful farming," said Mr. John McQueen, a well-known Southland agriculturist, at a meeting of farmers at Makarewa. He instanced a paddock on the Makarewa farm which had been worked to a depth of nine inches. They set out to get down another three inches and succeeded in reaching the full foot. Off that land they took 60 tons of swedes per acre the following year. He was sure that the beneficial effect of "stirring up" to that depth would be evident for years to come. Of course a foot was not necessarily the limit of. depth, and subsoiling was a very good thing, although a soiler was hard on the horses, seeing that it combined the operations of ploughing and subsoiling. It was easier on horses to go down after the land had been worked to a certain depth. " Don't buy more land," advised the speaker. "Make better use of what you have. I don't know how much land any of you have got, but you have got enoughall of you. Go down." It was a matter for regret that most people were not making the best use of what land they had. ~