ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 18 September 1919, Page 43

ON THE LAND

MARKET REPORTS. .. At Burnside last week 200 fat cattle were yarded. The quality was good. Prime heavy bullocks £3O to £34 10s, extra £3B” 10s to £4O, prime £24 12s 6d to £2B 12s 6d, medium £l9 to £22 10s, prime cows and heifers £l9 2s 6d to £22 17s 6d, medium £l4 7s 6d to £l6, light £lO upwards. Fat sheep: The yarding consisted of 1605 sheep. A fair proportion were good quality, with a few extra heavy show sheep. Prices were easier on previous week’s rates by 2s to 2s 6d per head. Prime heavy wethers 58s 6d to 71s, extra to 955, prime 48s to 57s 9d, medium 38s 6d to 44s 6d, light 345, extra prime heavy ewes 60s 9d to 62s 6d, prime 43s 3d to-47s 6d, medium 35s to 38s 6d, light 31s. The few hoggets penned sold at 36s to 525. Pigs: A fair yarding of good quality. Prices opened on a par with late rates, but towards the end of the sale eased somewhat. At the Addington, market last week the yarding of sheep and cattle was about on a par with the previous sale, but the general quality of the stock was not so good. Fat cattle: 302 were penned, and the quality generally was good, but a good deal inferior to that of the previous sale, and values weakened a little. Extra prime steers to £34 15s, prime £lB to £24, ordinary £8 10s to £l7, prime heifers £ls to £lB 10s, ordinary £ll 12s to £l4 10s, extra prime cows to £2l 15s, prime cows £l2 to £l7 10s, ordinary £8 12s 6d to £ll 10s. The yarding of fat sheep was larger, but of much poorer quality, and values declined for all except the few good quality lines. Extra prime wethers to 695, prime 40s 3d to 54s 6d, medium 35s 6d to 39s 4d, lighter 27s to 34s 3d, extra prime ewes 54s 6d, prime 42s to 50s, medium 35s 6d to 40s 6d, lighter 30s to 335, hoggets 30s 9d to 40s 6d. Pigs: There was a small entry of fat pigs of moderate quality, and porkers were slightly easier. Extra heavy baconers to £9 ss, heavy £7 10s to £8 10s, medium £5 to £6 15s (equal to 10id per lb), heavy porkers £4 10s to £5, medium £3 10s 6d to £4 5s (equal to Hid to Is per lb), choppers £4 to £lO 14s. There wasa large entry of store pigs, but a weak demand. Quotations for large 55s to 645, medium . 42s to 525, small 37s to 41s, weaners, 19s to 425.

Messrs. Donald Reid and Go., Ltd., report having held their fortnightly rabbitskin sale on Monday, September 8, when there was a full representation of buyers, and large catalogues were submitted by each selling broker. Bidding was again very keen throughout the sale, and prices for all classes of skins may be quoted very firm at last sale’s high rates. Values for extra prime winter does and extra prime winter,, bucks advanced slightly. Quotations; Extra prime winter does to 196 d, first winter docs 180 d to 190 d, second winter does 155 d to 175 d, extra prime winter bucks 130 d to 160 d, first winter bucks llOd to 125 d, second winter bucks Food to llOd, outgoing winter does 96d to llOd, outgoing winter bucks 90d to IOOd, incoming winters IOOd to llOd, best autumns 75d to 90d, early autumns 66d to 72d, prime racks to 38£d, light racks 26d to 30d, prime winter blacks 195 d to 202 d, first winter black 175 d to 190 d, second winter black 140 d to 150 d, autumn black 90d to llOd, fawns 95d to 103 d, hareskins 33d to 41d, catskins Gd to 12d each, horsehair 16d to 19|d. | LIMING OF SOILS. A Farmers’ Bulletin, issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, on the principles of the liming of soils, contains an interesting feature in a brief summary of what should not be expected of liming. There is sometimes a disposition to regard lime as a cure-all, and this summary is, therefore, quite worth repeating (says a writer in the Freeman’s Journal). It is in the following terms; “Liming will not take the place of drainage. Acid-soil conditions frequently are due to poor drainage, but liming can improve only the conditions in the upper soil, making for better circulation of air and water. Impervious layers or hardpan should be broken up. Liming cannot take the place of proper crop rotation, cultivation, or soil management. In fact, the use of lime makes it more necessary that rotation and all cultural methods be studied more carefully. Lime does not supply any of the elements furnished by fertilisers phosphoric acid, or nitrogen. The use of lime may enable the farmer to do with less fertiliser, or in an emergency to do without it altogether for a time. Good results should not be expected from the application of lime to a soil deficient in organic matter, and liming should not be expected to build up such a soil, unless such organic matter is supplied, either in stable manure or in green crops ploughed in.” ROTATION OF CROPS. . " The following interesting paragraph is from a paper read* by Professor A. J. Perkins, Director of Agriculture in South Australia, at a conference conducted by the Agri-

cultural Bureau in that 4lder|dtys| if cultural Bureau in that State:—-“In older days ... it was •. customary to ? assert that plants excreted from their root system , special undefined 'substances, - - which were j toxic in their action; against plants of : the same kind,i but harmless, and sometimes i even beneficial, to plants ; different iin type; . . . this unsupportable theory was "generally supposed to Justify; sufficiently the practice iof rotation. lOn this particular - point the long and patient experimental work of Lawes -and Gilbert throws some interesting sidelights. Year after year, •" and ,on the same land, they were able to grow crops of wheat of more than normal yields ; for more than 60 consecutive years, and they were equally successful with crops of oats and barley. Hence, it soon became apparent that insofar as these three cereals were concerned, the excretory theory could not be maintained. Indeed . . . Sir J. B. Lawes „expressed the " opinion f that if in current practice English farmers were unable to grow wheat to advantage year after ■ year on the , same land, it was mainly because, in the course' of time, the land became very foul with weeds. On the other hand, Lawes and Gilbert were,far less successful in their attempts at continuous cropping of root crops, such as turnips, etc., and of leguminous crops, such as red clover, beans, etc.. Inquiry into the causes of various failures met with by Lawes and others, in their ; attempts at continuous cropping, tends to show that no one particular factor can be held universally responsible in all cases. . . . Repeated cropping enables parasites to - accumulate on the land; ... it is certainly the case with wheat grown in those localities at all liable to take-all.” COW-TESTING FOR PROFIT. A certain cow-testing association in the State of Washington, U.S.A., in completing its third . year of testing, reports that 62 cows were found to be unprofitable and were killed for beef during the period (says a writer in an exchange). The owners of several cows which were sold for dairy purposes testified that the association’s records had helped them materially in getting full values for their animals. One stud-owner relates that the records enabled him to got £4 per head more"for certain cow-s w-hen he sold them. A considerable company got enough over average prices for similar animals to theirs to pay the cost of testing for 10 years to come. A third owner was also helped materially by the association records in selling his cows at good prices. A comparison of the averages of the three years’ operations is distinctly instructive, the productions of the cows increasing steadily under the influence of testK —'duo in a large measure to improved methods of feeding.' The report states that there has actually been an increase in the number of silos in use in the district, and the herds where there are silos show much better average productions and profits than those where there are none. The average production per cow tested by this association is given thus: Milk. Butter-fat. Profit over feed. 1916 ... 57781 b ... 255.41 b ... 145 s 2d 1917 ... 61121 b ... 261.41 b ... 170 s Od 1918 ... 75501 b ... 316.11 b ... 278 s 7d The same tendency is evident in Great Britain, w-here milk records associations are being formed in quite a number of centres. Cows in respect of which certificates have been issued find ready buyers. It is related by a writer in Mark Lane Express that at a recent sale in the north of England a non-pedigree Shorthorn cow brought £175 only on her certified record. The means by which herd-testing is going to be carried out in this country are hardly clear yet, but every serious student of the dairy industry, and everyone who takes a brief view of the economic situation, sees that it is only a matter of time when the question of disposing of the many unprofitable animals in our herds will have to be faced. The boarder cow is a piece of inefficient machinery that will have to go, partly because she is unprofitable in herself and partly because she may be keeping a better cow out of good feed. The present high prices are little more than fostering unsound business, and to that there is always an end.