September, 1913 



Humus and Moisture. 



Soils rrqnire an abundant supply 

 of humus to promote moisture-re- 

 tention and render them readily 

 penetrable bv the roots of crops 

 The requirements of the latter in 

 this respect must be considered, as 

 crops like wheat and clover require 

 a firm seed bed, whilst potatoes, 

 turnips, and barlev prefer one that 

 IS friable. Virorin soils are fertile 

 because thev contain much humus, 

 but the subsoil cultivation exerted 

 bv the roots of trees must be con- 

 sidered. Tree roots go deep, and 

 in the process of decav leave chan- 

 nels for water and the roots of 

 crop to travel down. After a time 

 these channels close ; hence the con- 

 ditions for fcrilitv are later on not 

 so g'ood. Deep-rootin<T crop§ shoxUd 

 be employed to imitate the action 

 of tree roots as far as possible. 

 Humus, in decaving, produces car- 

 bon dioxide, which, dissolved in 

 water, increases the solvent action 

 of the water. This depletes the 

 soil of its lime, which should be 

 repnlarlv applied at proper inter- 

 vals wherever high fanning- is prac- 

 tised. Humus is best furnished by 

 ploughing in arreen crops, and lime 

 should be applied at this time to 

 promote decay of humus and cor- 

 rect tendencv to aciditv which 

 freshh' ploughed in vegetable mat- 

 ter exhibits. L<eguminous crops 

 shtould be used for ploughing in, 

 because these supplv nitrogen to 

 the soil. 



Powdered limestone is a suitable 

 form of lime to appiv when the 

 soil is deficient in organic matter. 

 For this purpose the purer the form 

 of limestone employed the better, 

 as the presence of "silicate of lime 

 retards the assimilation of lime 

 by most plants. Powdered lime- 

 stone improves the permeabilitv of 

 cla- sic-ils to water. 



Draining is an important' means 

 for amelioratine the conditio^ of 

 soils, and is much neglected. Solu- 

 ble salts of iron and acidity of the 



'V\H^ (MRDEN AND FIELD. 



177 



soil are connected with l)ad drain- 

 age and conseciUfut sterilitv nf 

 .soils. 



A Bad Habit. 



The bad hal)it calves have, of 

 sucking each other when the meal 

 of milk has been taken is a three- 

 fold evil. It causes indigestion 

 through pumping in wind, it cre- 

 ates sore places on the sucked 

 ]5arts, and it makes th« whole 

 hierd restless. A remedv is simple 

 (says a corresp'ondent of the Far- 

 mer and .Stockbreeder. Tie up the 

 calves before pail-fed, and keep 

 them tied for half an hour or 

 t%ventv minutes after thev are fed. 

 In the interval that ' they are 

 standing after drinking the milk, 

 give them a little inviting hav or 

 meal and chaff. Then, at expira- 

 tion of the time, their months will 

 have lost taste of the milk, and 

 there will be no desire to suck each 

 other. As to trouble of tvitig the 

 herd, whv, it is not worth sneak- 

 ing of, for I have tried a dozen in 

 less than five minutes. This tv- 

 ing is, too, well repaid for other- 

 wise, for it ensures weak as well 

 as stroncf- getting their share of 

 milk, and saves all confusion and 

 whacking to hec^i the headstrong 

 back from the pail. 



Charlock and Its Destruction. 



In spravincr charlock the strength 

 of the dressing is usually 15 lbs. 

 sulphate of copper in 50 gallons of 

 water to the acre, but a stronger 

 or weaker solution mav be used, 

 according to the erowth and the 

 more or less prolificacv of the 

 weed. For instance, a 3 per cent, 

 solution and a similar auantitv 

 (12 lbs. sulohate in 40 gallons of 

 water to the acre) mip^ht answer 

 the purpose. Clean soft water is 

 preferalile for making the solution, 



f'"""''^'" ' "I' I' I'' Il I I ll I Iin..,„l , Ill, I „|, l,„.-iin",„,|l,„,„|^ 



i B. ANDERS & SONS, [ 



j AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERS, &c., FREELING. S.A. f 



J Manufacturers of High Quality STEEL CULTIVATOR SHARES f 



J Perfeoslv Shaped to do irood work, cut out all weeds, are li^ht in draufrht, and give entire satisfaction f 



in wear. = 



4 Anders' SHARES are absolutely the best and Cheapest you ean Buy I 



4 l^sS'we'mXaTMLsTsWei^ steel carefully tempered, and .ill stand the severest f 



1 and or CoCial madTcuHivato^^^^^ either St"±'r' '"'P°'!^d Spring Tooth Cultivators «nd Harrows I- 



^ FARMERS I It wn: yay vou to use our Shares-.Post your orders (0 us. 



E. ANDERS & SONS. FREL'LINQ. ^ 



' ' I HI I I. P ,i ,„ I , „„.^;.^ 



and thf ve.s.'scl.'^ used must be of 



wood. A ))araHin cask, capable of 

 holding a little more than 40 gal- 

 lons, should be filled up to within 

 a few' inches of the toj). The sul- 

 phate of copper mav then be 

 weighed out, hung in' the water, 

 and the contents of the cask stirred 

 l)riskly for a few minutes with a 

 stick until the sulphate has dis- 

 solved. Copper sfilphate bought 

 under a guarantee of 98 per cent, 

 purity should be used, and to 

 facilitate solution .should Ije pow- 

 dered and not in crystals. When 

 the .solution is ready for use, it 

 should be strained into the sprayer, 

 so as to avoid choking the nozzle.' 

 Several of these casks mav be set 

 up at convenient distances along 

 the headland, and if two or three 

 of them are kept ahead of the 

 spraver, no delay in the work need 

 be experienced.— The Agricultural 

 Gazette, Tasmiania. 



A Dangerous Practice. 



Many teamsters have been in- 

 jured for life through that oom.mon 

 but foolish custom of riding on 

 shafts. A waggoner does it nine- 

 ty-nine times and nothing is 

 wrong, but on the hundredth some- 

 thing happens : a horse is fright- 

 ened and starts suddely, a rut in 

 the road or a stone causes the fatal 

 jolt, and the man on the shafts, 

 not being on the alert perhaps, 

 finds himself imder the wheel, and 

 there is another case for the coro- 

 ner or the hospital. And what rea- 

 sonable excuse is there for a wag- 

 goner to ride on the shafts of a 

 cart or a waggon ? If the vehicle 

 is empty, it certainly is not a 

 great task to climb into it and 

 drive the horses by means of a 

 pair of rains, and if the team' has 

 a heavy load behind it surely the 

 d;uty of the carter isi to walk. 

 Apart from the risk run bv the 

 wag-goner who rides on the shafts 

 there are the horses to be thought 

 about. Thev are apt to shy and 

 start suddenly, and even if the man 

 on the .shafts is fortunate enough 

 to extricate himself without ini'urv 

 ten to ome he is too late to eet to 

 the head of his horse in time to 

 stop the animal before some dgm- 

 age is done. Farmers and owners 

 of teams would do well to make it 

 a stringent rule that no .shaft- 

 riding be allowed. 



i 



Nitrogen can be added to the 

 soil by the growth of leguminous 

 fodder crops. 



