Vol. X. No. 244. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



283 



MANURING AND MEAT PRODUCTION. 



A noce on work relatino; to this .'iubjscr., carried out 

 by Prolessor Soinerville was given in the Agricultural 

 Netos, Vol. VIII, p. 301. More lately, the results of 

 fourteen years of this work have been issued as a sup- 

 plement to t\\e Journal of tlie Board of Agriculture, 

 Vol. XVII, No. 10, and it is from this that the follow- 

 ing conclusions are taken: — 



1. Cake of variou.s sorts was fed to .shsep on pasture at 

 eleven centres, and in no instance was the outlay on the cake 

 recovered in the increased mutton produced by the sheep in 

 the season when the cike was consumed. 



2. In the latter part of the grazing season sheep getting 

 liberal allowances of cake did not increase in weight to 

 a greater extent than those getting no cake, but which were 

 grazing pasture improved by liberal dressings of basic slag. 



3. The residual values of cake were occasionally higher 

 than is usually estimated, but, in comparison with basic slag, 

 cake residues had a poor ameliorative effect on the pasture. 



4. Even when both direct and indirect effects of cake 

 are taken into account, the original outlay was not recovered 

 at two of the three main stations. This result was confirmed 

 at such of the minor stations as were concerned with this 

 problem. 



5. It would appear to be bad practice to feed cake on 

 pasture containing much clover, as the nitrogen in the cake 

 residues has a tendency to repress the clovers by stimulating 

 the non-leguminous plants. 



6. Common Imrned lime, used alone at the rate of 4 tons 

 per acre, has proved very ineffective; but smaller dressings of 

 ground lime, when added to a phosphatic dressing, have some- 

 times been justified. 



7. Basic slag, applied as a single dressing at the rate of 

 ^-ton per acre, has generally proved a most effective agent in 

 improving the feeding value of pasture, and its effects are 

 not nearly exhausted at the end of nine years. 



8. It has proved much more profitable tp_ apply a heavy 

 dose of basic slag as a single dressing, than to divide it into 

 two equal portions and apply these with a three years 

 interval. 



9. A repeated dressing of basic slag has, however, had 

 a marked effect in some cases, and the productiveness of 

 slagged pastures that are showing signs of exhaustion can be 

 rapidly improved in this way. The action of a repeated 

 dressing appears to be more rapid in many cases than the 

 action of the first dose. 



10. Basic slag put on in the middle of June had much 

 more effect than the same quantity applied in winter. 

 Whether this result is of general application can only be 

 determined by further experiments. 



11. Where a direct comparison has been made between 

 the effects of equal quantities of phosphoric acid derived 

 from basic slag and superphosphate respectively, the foririer 



manure has always produced the greater amount of live- 

 weight increase. When the cost of the manure is taken into 

 account, the profits from the use of basic slag have always 

 been much greater than those from superphosphate. 



12 Potash added to a phosphatic dressing generally 

 resulted in the production of more live weight increase, but 

 this increase was not a profitable one. The expediency of 

 using potash on pasture.s — as contrasted with meadows — 

 therefore, receives no support from these experiments. 



13. The addition of moderate dressings of sulphate of 

 ammonia or nitrate of soda to land already treated with pho.s- 

 phate has increased the yield of herbage, but has, as a rule, 

 reduced the yield of mutton. The use of nitrogenous 

 manures on pasture would, therefore, appear to be bad 

 practice. 



14. Dissolved bones compare badly with basic slag and 

 superphosphate. This is doubtless due to two reasons ; (a) 

 the slower action of jiart of their phosphates, and (b) the 

 presence of nitrogen. But the nitrogen of dissolved bones, 

 being less active than that of sulphate of ammonia, the gene- 

 ral effect on the sheep of the dissolved bones, has been better 

 than that of a mixture of superphosphate and sulphate of 

 ammonia. The use, however, of dis.solved bones on pasture 

 would seldom appear to be justified, and especially so as their 

 phosphoric acid costs more than the same substance in basic 

 slag. 



SISAL FIBRE-CLEANING IN FIJL 



The machines used at the stations are made by Death 

 it EUwood of Leicester, England. That such machines clean 

 the fibre very well will be seen from reports upon the 

 fibre prepared in Suva by one of them. They are said by the 

 makers to turn out 6-10 cwt. of fibre in a day, requiring 

 3-4 h.p. 



They are provided with rollers which grip the leaves and 

 crush them before they come under the action of the beater- 

 knives. The direction of motion of these rollers may be 

 reversed by pressing a conveniently placed foot-lever. To 

 clean leaves, this lever is pressed and two leaves are fed in, 

 butt ends first. When half cleaned they are withdrawn and 

 the point ends are then presented to the rollers, the fibre of 

 the cleaned half being held by the operator. 



In common with all hand-fed machines, much in the 

 way of output, depends upon the operator. With these 

 machines an increase in the speed does not mean an increase 

 in the output in exact proportion, because the time taken to 

 reverse the leaves and to feed in fre-sh ones remains the same, 

 whatever the speed. 



It is important that the butt ends are cleaned first, for 

 some of the fil)re does not reach to the tip of the leaf and it 

 would be drawn through during the second part of the clean- 

 ing, if the point ends were treated first. For the same reason, 

 care should be taken that not more than one half of the leaf 

 is cleaned during the first part of the process. A careless 

 operator in this respect can cause the loss of muck fibre. 



Machines are usually adjustable for different fibres, and 

 should be set so as to clean the fibre perfectly but without 

 damaging it. Of course with less perfect cleaning, the appar- 

 ent yield of fibre will be greater, but the value will be con- 

 siderably reduced. (From Sisid Hemp in Fiji, Bulletin No. 1 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Fiji.) 



