Decoinber. 1913, Till^^ (iARDEN AND F1£LD. .'ill 



® XKe Farm ® 



Lucerne Hay. 



when lucerne is carel«Svsly 

 handled in hay-tnaking there may 

 be considerable loss in weij^hl, 

 and still more in actual feedin<; 

 value. In lUiUetin ,V5, Colorado 

 KxpcrinK>nt Station it is stated 

 that in average lucerne from 40 to 

 60 per cent, ol the croji consists of 

 stems, the balance being leaves. 

 As the hay dries the leaves be- 

 come brittle, and, together with 

 the finer stems, are easilv broken 

 off in the process of hay-making. 

 It is calculated that in Colorado 

 the loss from this cause ranges 

 from 15 to 16 per cent, of the total 

 crop by \veight. These leaves are 

 the most nutritive part of the 

 crop. In his standard work on 



Farm' Foods," Woll states that 

 in clover the leaves contain more 

 than half the ilesh-formers of the 

 whole crop. A similar estimate, 

 mav safely be assumed for lucefrne, 

 and the importance of saving the 

 leaves during haying is thereby em.- 

 phasised. In making lucerne hay, 

 the crop as left by the mower 

 should be drawn into wind-rows 

 before it reaches the brittli stage, 

 and allowed to dry still more in 

 that position tmtil it is ready for 

 carting. In rows the material will 

 be sufficiently compact to hold 

 most of the. leaves when ready to 

 lift, and, moreover, this kind of 



drying will preserve the colour 

 better. Where a crop has been left 

 too long in the swathe of an after- 

 tuwn a dewy morning next day 

 will often allow it to be raked to- 

 gether with littK- lo.ss. On d'ry 

 bristling lucerne the horse-rake is 

 a bad implement — and it is worst 

 naturally when the crop is light. — 

 Journal of Agricidture, Victoria. 



♦ 



To Poison Crows. 



In preparing bait for poisoning 

 crows and eagle hawks, etc., the 

 following method has been used 

 with success (writes "The Western 

 Mail) :— 



Care must be taken not to 

 handle the mixture with the hands, 

 but use a stick or board. Take a 

 pickle bottle, pour into it about 

 two inches of cold water ; take a 

 stick of phosphorus and break it in 

 half, put in the bottle, then add 

 about a wineglass of bisulphide of 

 carbon to dissolve it. Shake well. 

 Get an oil drum or kerosene tin, 

 pour into it about three pints of 

 cold water, add 2ft. sugar, and the 

 m.ixture from the pickle bottle ; 

 mix well ; add as much pollard to 

 make a stiff dough. It can then 

 be put in a bag and carried to 

 where a sheep or other animal is 



dead. Skin the animal, lay skin 

 flesh side uj). Open brisket, collect 

 all blood, take as mucli pollard 

 and mix with the blood as well 

 make a thin paste. Spread over 

 skin, nail .skin to log or fence, 

 flesh side out. Paint remainder 

 over the carcase. The jxiUard that 

 is not u.sed will keep for weeks, if 

 kept in a cool place. 



Cyanide of i)otassium is perhaps 

 a better ])oison than strychnine ; 

 first, l)ecause it is far more rapid ; 

 second, it has not a disagreeable 

 ta.ste ; third, if left about or 

 dropped accidentally, it will be de- 

 composed by the air and become 

 innocuous. It is very deadly, and 

 even the vapours from it are 

 poisonous if inhaled to any extent. 

 It is used just like strychnine. The 

 powde-red cyanide is placed In a 

 bait suitable for the particular 

 vermin it is laid for. 



4 



Mixing Fertilizers. 



It has been known for some 

 timie that the application of a 

 mixed manure consisting of phos- 

 phates and potash salts yield bet- 

 ter results than when the two in- 

 gredients are applied separately, 

 and that has been especially re- 

 marked of mixtures of basic slag 

 and kainit or other potash salts. 



Investigations show that the 

 action of the salt has the effect of 

 rendering the, phosphoric acid more 

 quickly available ; thus the per- 

 centage of cit-rate^soluble phos- 

 phate in the slag rose from six to 

 ten per cent, in the mixture. 

 Kainit, common salt, muriate of 

 potash and sulphate of potash all 

 acted in the same way. Similarly 

 the fertilising effect of bone meal 

 was increased by admixture with 

 salt, so that it may be regarded 

 as a fact to be acted upon that 

 basic slag and bone meal are ren- 

 dered more quickly available as 

 plant food by^ being mixed with 

 kainit or other potash salts, or, in- 

 deed, common salt. 



The experiments brought out a 

 second point which is worth not- 

 ing, namely, the unfavorable eflect 

 of lime on the action of bone meal. 

 By mixing carbonate of lime with 

 bone meal the effect of the bone- 

 meal was reduced by more than 25 

 per cent. The additional lime 

 partly prevented the phosphoric 

 acid in the bone meal from becom- 

 ing available for plants. Bone meal 

 is therefore not a suitable manure 

 for soils with plenty nf lim's, while, 

 on the other hand, its action is 

 favorable on sour soil rich in 

 humus. — Exchange. 



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