ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 13 May 1920, Page 43

ON THE LAND

MARKET REPORTS. At Burnside last week there was a fair yarding of fat stock. Prime cattle showed an advance of about 5s on the previous week’s rates. Prime bullocks £lB to £25, medium to good £l6 to £l9, light and unfinished £l3 upwards. Fat sheep : The yarding comprised mostly ewes, which were in very good condition. Prime sheep were in good demand at about 2s to 4s above the preceding week’s rates. Prime wethers made from 40s to 60s, medium to good 30s to 435, light and unfinished up to 325, prime ewes 37s to 465, medium to good 32s to 38s, light and unfinished 20s upwards. Fat lambs; A medium yarding, of fair quality. Prices were Is to 2s firmer than the previous week. Extra good lambs brought up to 395, good 26s to 305,. medium from 21s upwards. Pigs: A fair yarding, and prices showed an advance of Is to 3s on the preceding week’s prices. At the Addington market last week the yarding of fat stock was smaller, than usual, but for prime beef and mutton there was a good market. Inferior stuff was in poor request. Fat lambs were easier of sale. Only one freezing buyer was operating, and the bulk of higher sorts went to graziers. Extra prime lambs 34s to 35s 2d, prime lambs 27s 3d to 32s 9d, medium lambs 24s 9d to 20s 9d, lighter lambs 20s 7d to 245. Fat sheep: The yarding of prime sheep being no more than butchers' requirements, those on offer met with a firm market. Extra prime avethers 46s 6d to 55s 6d, prime wethers 28s to 43s Id, medium avethers 32s 6d to 375, lighter wethers 27s 9d to 31s 6d, extra prime ewes 42s 3d to 46s 6d, prime ewes 35s to 41s, medium ewes 31s 6d to 34s 6d, lighter ewes 21s 3d to 30s. Fat cattle; There was an improved sale for prime beef, equal to quite 20s on the preceding week’s rates. Inferior sorts were not in request. Extra prime steers to £2B ss. prime steers £l9 to £24 15s, medium steers £ls to £lB ss, lighter steers £ll 17s 6d to £l4 15s, prime heifers £l3 5s to £2O 15s, ordinary heifers £9 5s to £32 17s 6d. prime cows £l3 10s to £l6 17s 6d, ordinary cows £6 7s Gd to £l2 10s. Fat pigs; The supply was large, with a big proportion of unfinished sorts. The demand was weak, and the lighter classes did not reach 10d per lb. Choppers £7 to £lO 4s, extra heavy baconers £6 to £7. others £5 5s to £5 15s average prime per 1b lOd; heavy porkers £4 5s to £4 10s, others £3 os to £3 15s — average price per lb 10.1-d to lid. Messrs. Donald Reid and Co. report as follows on the sale of rabbitskins, etc., held on Monday: : At the rabbitskin sale, postponed from April 19, as anticipated. prices showed a considerable decline in sympathy with London and American markets. The bulk of the offerings comprised summer skins, which show a drop of from 70 per cent, to 75 per cent, as compared with the extreme prices realised on March 22, the date of the last sale. At the same time, compared with the Amines current at this time last year, the prices paid showed a considerable improvement. The following is a range of tin 1 prices obtained on Monday; Runners and suckers lid to 15d per lb, light racks 19d to 213 d per lb, summers 21 d to 22d per lb, prime racks 25d to 27d per lb, early autumns 36d to 393 d per lb, late autumns 41-id to 423 d, incoming winters 47d to 48td, winters 50d to GOtl, summer blacks 26d to 26|d, autumn blacks 40d to 441 summer fawns 26d to 273 d, milky 15d to 153 d, broken loci to 17d, springs 24d to 26d. horsehair 28d to Bid, ha reskins 16d to 18d, catskins Gd to 12d each. PREVENTION OF BUNT OR, SMUT. At the Wagga experimental farm Dr. Smith and Mr. H. Ross have for some time been experimenting with the prevention of smut by treating the grain with dry copper carbonate instead of Milestone — sulphate. The Milestone treatment often means cracked grain, and is apt to delay germination. As the result of their conclusions the authors finally adopted a treatment with dry copper carbonate. The latter, which was in the form of a powder, was dusted through the seed at the rate of 2oz to one bushel of wheat. The grain and the fungicide must be thoroughly mixed, preferably by mechanical means. The results of this treatment show distinct increases in the yields per acre. These increases were substantial, amounting in some cases to practically 100 per cent. They summarise the advantages as follows 1. No water is required. „, 2. No injurious effect is caused to either the grain or the young plant, as is the case with Milestone pickling. 3. Seed wheat can be treated weeks before it is sown. 4. No damage is done to the grain if it should lie hi a dry seed-bed for weeks before germinating.

5. A better germination is obtained. y r-- ;y - - -a 6. The process is quicker and less laborious than wet pickling. - W ■ b T ‘ 7. A better yield is obtained. 8. The whole of the season’s requirements of seed wheat can be treated at the farmer’s convenience,' and not necessarily within a day or two of sowing. This process is certainly worth a. trial on some of , the grain crops which the Agricultural Department have supervision of. SILAGE FROM LEGUMES. Under proper conditions legume crops may be preserved in the silo with entire success, but as a rule they are best preserved as hay on account of the much greater weight to be handled if put into the silo and the lack of suitable machinery for handling the green crop in the field. V hen conditions make it advisable to put legumes into the silo, in addition to ordinary precautions concerning exclusion of air, special attention is necessary that the proper amount of dry matter is in the material. For proper preservation in the silo, a dry matter content of approximately 40 per cent. gives the best results. Legume crops in the stage of maturity as cut for hay may contain as low as 20 to 25 per cent, of dry matter. If put into the silo under these conditions, the silage will haAe an extremely disagreeable odor AA-hen removed, and is almost worthless for feeding purposes. The wide variations in results from legumes for silage, as reported in agricultural literature, is largely explained on the basis of the dry-matter content of the materials used. Sufficient dry matter to ensure proper preservation may he assured by allowing the crop to reach" a suitable stage of maturity before cutting, or in case the crop has not reached the stage of maturity necessary to ensure the dry-matter content desirable, by allowing the forage to He in the field five or six hours after cutting before putting into the silo. Lucerne cannot ordinarily be allowed to stand in the field until the proper stage of maturity is reached, and except in the season of drought, when the dry-matter content of the plant is abnormally high, it should be aliened to lie in the field four to six hours, so that some ol the surplus water can evaporate. Peas and oats are in condition to go into the silo when a stage of maturity is reached where the pea pods are becoming yellow and the oat heads are showing the hist indications of ripening. Clover will contain the proper amount of dry matter 1 allowed to stand until somewhat more than one-half 'of the blossoms are brown. On account of the wide variation in condition and imo of planting, ii is often necessary to put cow peas in tin, silo before the proper stage of maturity is reached. 1 ; nder these conditions partial drying in the field is essential to good results Silage from legumes is superior in ,1 tn/ 1 ) content but ; somevhat inferior to maize silage in total digestible nutrients. With a proper amount of di\ mattei present the loss of feeding matter while in the s. 0 18 . ,i() greater with silage from legumes than with silage from maize. In America wheat is used to some extent for silage and supplies a silage of reasonably good quality, having a feeding value approximately the same as maize silage! It should be put into the silo when the wheat grains are in the dough stage. No special precautions are necessary to ensure a proper preservation. y Rye may be preserved readily in the silo, but the resulting silage is not very satisfactory on account of its not being palatable For best results it should be put into the silo in the blossoming stage, or even earlier. In feeding value it is somewhat below that of corn silaoe ' Ihe above opinions are based upon experiences recorded by the authorities of the Missouri Agricultural College.— Farmers Jjmon Advocate.