Towyn-on-Sea and Merioneth County Times

FARM NOTES. [BY AN OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTOR.! After the unusually fine autumn, farmwork is in a very forward state. Stubble ploughing and clearing has been successfully accomplished; wheat has all been sown in capital order, and more than average acreage; roots are now all safely secured for the winter, and the recent spell of frost has enabled us to clear out all manure from the cattle yards. A fair breadth of land has also been ploughed for spring grain. Altogether the outlook on the farm is promising for the future, much more so than it was at the beginning of last year. Wheat has come up well and is looking healthy. Stock is generally healthy and thriving, and has been wintered so far at little expense, much of their food being scraped off the old pastures-saving hay, roots, and fodder for the spring months. The atten- tion of the farmer at present is occupied by ^e manuring and improving of grass land. Now is the time to get the meadows well manured, fol- lowing up with the chain harrow and roller. Where farmyard manure is available nothing is more suitable or beneficial for the meadow. Have it in a sHort, well decomposed condition, so tnat with the action of the chain harrow it will soon work into the roots of the grass and get well washed into the soil before the March winds set in and dry it up. A heavy roller afterwards levels and consolidates the surface, enabling the mowers to set the machines quite close to me ground, and thus secure a few more loads of hay off the field. Where there is not enough farm- yard manure to go over all the meadow land, the crop of hay may be greatly increased by the use of a little cake with the stock when grazing the aftermath, or by a judicious dressing of dis- solved bones, kainit, and sulphate of ammonia. For the improvement of poor pastures, basic slag is still the most reliable and inexpensive manure to be had. A very large number of ex- periments have been conducted, and the results published in the agricultural papers. The best conducted, most interesting, and most conclu- sive experiment we have heard of is one con- ducted by the Agricultural Department of the Cambridge University in connection with the Board of Agriculture and the Northampton County Council, an account of which is publish- ed in the Board's Journal. The experiment ex- tended over three years, 1901-2-3, and it is in- tended to test the result of various manures on poor pasture land. The results were arrived at, not by the usual method of weighing the pro- duce, but by carefully weighing each month the sheep pastured on the plots and ascertaining the actual gain in pounds live weight of sheep. Ten equal plots of about three acres each were hurdled off. A flock of sheep of uniform weight and quality is obtained, in lean condition. first each plot will take the same number of sheep, but as the manures begin to tell the num- ber has to be varied and sheep added from a surplus kept on the ordinary pastures. Before being put on the plots all the sheep are fasted for a night. They are then weighed and num- bered; after the lot has thus been reduced and made uniform a sheep is selected for each plot in rotation, and when the lots are separated they are carefully inspected and any changes necessary to secure uniformity are made. When put on the grass the different lots seldom vary one pound per head in weight and are practical- ly uniform in quality. At the end of each month the sheep are again fasted and weighed, and the increase made is credited to the plot. From the total increase in live weight made by the sheep the improvement effected by the manures on the pasture is ascertained. An estimate of the profitableness or otherwise of the treatment is made by valuing the increase at 33d. per pound live weight, and deducting from total of each plot the cost of the manure. Of the ten plots, two had no manure at all applied, but on one of these the sheep had cotton cake supplied to them the first two years, the other lots had nothing but the grass. The sheep on the plot that had no manure and no cake produce an average in- crease of 53 pounds per acre each season. Those that had cotton cake increased 178 pounds over the other; valued at 31(1. equals 55s. 8d., minus 4 cost of cake 47s. leaves the modest profit of 8s. 8d. per acre for the cotton cake. Plot 3, which had a dressing of 10 cwt. of basic slag in the winter of 1901, costing 24s., produced (without cake) 168| pounds over the unmanured plot, at 4 3fd. equals 52s. 8d., less cost of slag 24s., leaves the handsome profit of 28s. 8d. per acre. This is by far the most profitable plot of the lot, the sheep doing nearly as well on it without cake as on the unmanured plot with cotton cake. The next most profitable plot was No. 4, to which 5 cwt. of basic slag per acre was applied in 1901. This showed a profit of 14s. 6d. over the unman- ured plot. It therefore evidently paid much bet- ter to apply a proper dressing of 10 cwt. of slag than a half dose of 5 cwt. Dissolved bones came next in showing a profit of 10s. Id. per acre over the unmanured plot. The next was a mixture of superphosphate, kainit, and sulphate of potash. That also showed a profit of 8s. lOd. per acre over the unmanured plot. Seven cwt. of super- phosphate only on another plot showed 4s. 3d. profit over the unmanured. Perhaps the most instructive plot of the experiment was one on which four tons per acre of quicklime had been applied in 1901 at a cost of 72s. That plot only produced an increased weight of 41 pounds in the three years over the unmanured plot, which, owing to the heavy expense of the lime, caused a loss of 59s. per acre. The chief lesson learned by the experiments is that to improve old pasture we must begin by giving a heavy dressing of slag. No other manure is likely to be necessary. There is one important proviso — the pasture must contain a proportion of clover, as it is on the clover the the slag seems to act most effec- tively. If the pasture contains small white clover and bent grass, 10 cwt. basic slag ought to be applied, or if suckling clover or trefoil is abundant a less liberal dressing may do. Super- phosphate, dissolved bones, or sulphate of am- monia should not be applied. Some or nil of these may be used after the first few years are over, but they are not suitable when beginning to improve. The extent of the improvement will depend on the extent of the development of the clover during the first year or two. Anything that promotes clover will help to lay the founda- tion of a permanent improvement, and anything that hinders clover at this stage will hinder im- provement. Basic slag tends greatly to promote I the growth of clover, especially the second year after application. The result is not only a great increase in food for stock, but a great improve- ment in the soil itself for—(1) The land is man- ured by the droppings of the stock; (2) the roots of the clover open up the stiff clay, and let air in; (3) the decayed roots and leaves manure the land; and (4) clover roots have the power of en- riching the soil by passing into it nitrogen col- lected from the air. This last effect is very im- portant. It is well known that a good crop of clover helps land to grow a good crop of wheat on arable land, and on pastures there is a simi- lar benefit. The only difference is that in one case we have red clover and wheat, in The other white clover and pasture grasses. In conse- quence of the beneficial action of clover on the natural grasses these begin to spread, and in two or three years they become abundant. It is fortunate that they do fill up the soil, as clover itself would not continue to do so for any length of time. The subsequent treatment of a pasture must therefore differ from that adopted at first, for when we begin to improve a pasture our aim must be to encourage the growth of clover, but after a few years the grasses improve and establish themselves, and the manures ap- plied subsequently must be of a kind that will encourage a mixed herbage. A second light dressing of basic slag with kainit added will prove beneficial, or a mixture of ground lime and sulphate of potash, but the most efficient and most economical manure is that made by stock grazing the land and having a liberal allowance of cake supplied to them. On the whole it ap- pears the best practice is to apply 10 cwt. best basic slag to begin with on a poor pasture. In three years' time apply again 5 cwt. slag and 3 cwt. kainit. Meantime continue the liberal use of cotton cake to either sheep or cattle grazing ther eon. ° We observe that there is another determined effort being made to have the ports opened for the admission of Canadian store cattle, an effort which in the end may prove to be successful. If so, it will have a disastrous effect on the large number of British and Irish farmers who are en- gaged in cattle breeding and rearing. The farmers of Wales will be hit as hard°as anv if this movement should be successful, as doubtless the prioe of store cattle would come down with a run if the Canadians are permitted to land theirs in this country. The breeding and rearing of cattle has been the mainstay of the Welsh farmers through all these years of agricultural depression, and if the Canadians are admitted their main support will be knocked from under them, besides which we have no security against contagious diseases if we once admit store cattle to land on our shores. For a few years per- haps the farmers who buy stores for grazing may reap a benefit by buying in their cattle at a lower price; but how long will that continue? If the cattle rearing industry is discouraged by low prices, many of the breeders will discontinue rearing, and buy in stores for fattening instead of incurring all the expense and worry of rear- ing calves. Home bred stock will thus in a few years become scarcer than ever, consequently dearer. Then, if at any time disease should show itself amongst the Canadian cattle the wt lni stores would be immediately stopped Where then are we to get our store cattle from? The foreign cattle not to be had. home breeders discouraged and sold out of their breeding stock, and all in the market for stores. A breeding stock may be done away with in a marvellously short time, but it takes many years to establish a herd of good breeding cattle.

CIRCULAR 512. BOARD OF EDUCATION'S DECISION. Several schools in different parts of the coun- try affiliated to the Church Schools Emergency League have been reported to the Board of Education for disregarding Circular 512. The following letter regarding one of them has been sent to the Ipswich local authority — "In reply to pour letter of the 23rd November, I am directed to state that the Board of Edu- cation have made careful inquiry into the cir- cumstances under which children from the above-named school attend service in church during school hours on certain specified davs. It appears that no reference is made to this service in the schol time-table, and the extracts trom the logbook show that the schol is opened at the specified time for the instruction of all tionchildren whose parents object to thei rat- tendance at the church. So far as the managers are concerned, the instructions contained in cir- cular 512 as to the entry in the time-table and the time during which the school should be open are complied with, an dunder these circum- stances it would appear that th absence of cer- tain children from the school during the period in question is a matter for the local education authority, who can take proceedings under the by-laws against the parents of the children ab- sent from school during the hours of school at- tendance without reasonable excuse. The Board of Education would be glad to be informed if such proceedings are taken, and of the decision of the Counrt in the matter." Canon Cleworth, insome notes on the reply, says (a) We may conclude that the Board of Education will not attempt to remove such schools from the grant list, and is determined to pursue the policy indicated in Circular 512, of putting all the responsibility of enforcing that illegal document upon local authorities. (b) The only penalty posiblj is a prosecution of the parents for the absence of their children from the school-house during the time spent by the school inchurch. In the very unlikely event of such proceedings being taken we may prob- ably conclude with safety that no bench of mag- istrates would convict. Circular 512 itself ad- mits that attendance at church may be regarded as attendance at sciiool. Should this view not be accepted, still the parents would have a 'rea- sonable excuse.' But if a conviction is obtained against the parent the League is pl epared to take up the case and fight it through to the House of Lords, (c) The moral of this incident is that the advice of the League thai managers should continue the practice without asking or accepting consent is absolutely sound, and that any departure from it is a surrender of the rights of the Church and her children. Further that it is better not to enter attendance at church i upon the time-table."