70 



GENEBAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



[Sept. 1894. 



that the success of New South Wales will probably depend, in 

 a large measure, upon the solution of the problem, how to kill 

 the sheep on or near their pastures, and to bring them in the 

 best condition, and at the smallest cost, to the port of shipment. 



As regards the wool clip for last year, it is stated that the 

 estimate shows an increase of 18,160,914 lbs. over the clip of the 

 previous year. 



In the same report attention is directed to the very satis- 

 factory prices realised in London for rabbits recently sent there 

 from the Colonies, and it is suggested that by the aid of rabbit- 

 proof netting, an inexpensive mode of trapping on a large scale, 

 might be introduced, which, it' supplemented by the best methods 

 of preparing for export, might enable the Colony to secure a 

 large and profitable trade which would prove a boon to pasto- 

 ralists and farmers, and give employment to a very large number 

 of men. 



Kepeated Cultivation of Deep-Rooted Crops. 



Dr. Schreiner, of Oberstankau, writing in the Deutsche Land- 

 wirthschaftlicJie Presse, says that agriculturists are right in 

 using clover and other leguminous crops for the purpose of re- 

 storing in the cheapest form as much nitrogen as possible to soil 

 deficient in that constituent. But he points out that this 

 practice may be, and frequently is, carried too far. Not only 

 are those nitrogenous crops often grown in fallows, but also in 

 corn and stubble, to be ploughed in either in the late autumn or 

 in the following spring. 



Against such undue repetition of the sowing of deep-rooted 

 crops, Dr. Schreiner strongly urges two objections. The first is 

 with reference to heavy soils. Their heaviness renders it of 

 essential importance that they should be thoroughly loosened 

 and exposed to the air. But the above method of rotation 

 seriously retards that process by causing delay in clearing away 

 the stubble. 



A second objection, which applies to light as well as to heavy 

 soils, Dr. Schreiner puts in the form of a question. He asks whether 

 land cultivated in the rotation referred to does not after a time 

 become, as in clover-sickness, incapable of producing to perfec- 

 tion the other deep-rooted crops, as it certainly ought to do if 

 the method is to attain its object. Clover-sickness, he observes, 

 is a ghost which cannot be laid in many districts where there is 

 forced cultivation of red clover. Its cause is generally supposed 

 to lie in the fact that the subsoil has become impoverished in 

 the mineral nutriment so essential to red clover. For the same 

 reasons Dr. Schreiner thinks it highly probable that similar 

 impoverishment may also ensue from excessive repetition of any 

 deep-rooted crops, because they require similar chemical consti- 

 tuents in the subsoil. Besides, he adds, inasmuch as agriculturists 



