0^^. 2, 1908.J Agricidtiiral Gazette of N.S.W, 817 



gratlually accustomed to tlic cIkuihi' ])y putting them on witli fairlv full 

 stomachs for a few hours a day ; they will then be fairly safe. Lucerne, clover, 

 and rape are all good preparations for wheat, and the droppings of the slieep 

 provide valuable manures and greatly help to keep up the fertility of the land. 

 Rape is a capital crop for topping stock and improving the quality of the 

 meat — it has been found that from 60 to 100 lb. of superphosphate will about 

 double the yield of green fodder of rape, and much of the manure can be 

 i-etui-ned through ploughing in the later growth for the benefit of wheat, 

 besides adding organic matter to the soil. 



Cultivated Pastures. — Land that has been heavily stocked, no matter how 

 rich at first, must become gradually depleted of phosphates on account of 

 stock, and especially young stock, appropriating so much in the composition 

 of their carcases, which is not returned again to the land in their manure. 

 The phosphates, then, must be returned to the pastures by top dressings 

 occasionally with phosphatic manures if their fertility is to be kept up. The 

 clovers which may be sown with all pastures will probably keep the land well 

 supplied with nitrogen. Burning pastures, as a rule, is to be discouraged, as 

 this gradually depletes the soil of organic matter, and makes the grasses sour ; 

 tlie sweeter and shallower rooted grasses will also have their roots destroyed, 

 and the grass seeds tha": would have renewed them will be lost ; it will also 

 be found in wheat paddocks that continuous burning of stubble will gradually 

 lessen the nitrogenous contents. Stocking heavily for rank, sour grasses is 

 preferable to burning off. 



Change of food is very valuable to ewes and lambs, and keeps them in 

 health. The point is to keep them improving from their birth until they are 

 "weaned, for then both the weight and the ([uality will be there at an early age. 

 For stock grazing on succulent growths, like rape, lucerne, turnips, &c., access to 

 a convenient paddock with dry grasses is advisable. The drier foods help to make 

 a, better balanced i-ation, and to a great extent helps to prevent hoven and scours. 



In New England a farmer must not depend on the natural grasses, for 

 while they put on Hesh for a few months in the year, they are really at no 

 time fattening, and are certainly not succulent enough for young lambs. 

 Introduced grasses and fodder plants must be provided. On this farm pastures 

 of lucerne, cocksfoot, Perennial rye, Red clover, Kentucky Blue grass, and 

 Timothy, have given encouraging results during the first few ^^ears, and all 

 merit longer trial in the hope of getting a good mixture of pasture grasses 

 for New England soils. A small })atch of Phalaris commutata also promises 

 well, hut it is too early yet to say how it will stand close feeding. 



Lambs must be young and prime to fetch good prices, and be fit for freezers. 

 Merino lambs and wethers do not make good sheep for oversea ; they have 

 neither the shape nor the colour liked, and, as a rule, they mature but slowly. 

 The British-Merino half-breds generally have mutton of very good quality — 

 probably the best liked of all — but it is the experience here that those that 

 have the largest proportion of British blood attain the weiglits required much 

 earlier. These might be termed second crosses, and the mothers of them — to 

 pay the farmer best as he shears them — should be of the long-woolled breeds ; 



