FODDER AND FORAGE CROPS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14854, 20 December 1913, Page 16

FODDER AND FORAGE CROPS.

Tlio season so far makes the outlook for tho agriculturist exceedingly promising. Stock feed is plentiful, crops aro healthy and 6how good growth, aud stock on every hand is in fine fettle. Although the winter has been ono of tho mildest on record, and the spring weather so favourable yet tho writer has hoard it said by several farmers in Canterbury that tho growth of grass in their districts has not been as vigorous as ono would have expected. In fact they state that there was more feed about- in the early spring of last year than at a corresponding time this year. The lato rain . have, however, improved the feed conditions considerably. Notwithstanding tho present favourable outlook there is always the possibility of dry weather ensuing in autumn and early winter, and it is well for farmers to bo prepared for such conditions, and to have something in readiness for a non-rainy day. On many farms work has been pushed on in tho sowing of fodder and root crop... Advantage has been taken of tho fine winter to keep the plough going fairly constantly, and tho land so treated is in an excellent physical condition. It i.~ a well-known fact that soil ploughed in tho early winter and let lie till sowing time in spring, will retain more moisture, and retain it to a greater depth than land turned over just immediately beforo the crop is sown. More especially is this' the caso whoro slight cultivation has been carried on -periodically and tho surface kept stirred by harrowing to a depth of 3 inches or so. By this means a surface soil mulch is obtained and evaporation of moisture prevented to a largo extent. RAPE. Ono of tho most useful summer and I autumn fodder crops to grow is undoubtedly rapo. A largo area "of this crop has already been sown, but where farmers follow tho good practice of sowing at intervals of a fortnight or so there is a considerable area still tb bo sown. In fact, if tho sowing season keeps favourable, blocks of rape, etc., may be sown up till January. Rape being a rapid grower require, tho land to bo well cultivated in order to allow of its vigorous root growth. Tlio tilth for this crop should be fino but firm, and there is just the danger this season of having the tilth too fino and the soed sown at too groat n depth. After cultivating and preparing the seed-bed, the soil should be compacted somewhat with the roller and harrows as rape like wheat requires a consolidated seed bed for its maximum growth. From li to 31b of seed are usually sown per acre in either 7 or 14 ih. drills. Somo farmers prefer the former width stating that with - this the plants are moro distributed, and have a greater feeding area, for their root. . Others prefer the 14-inch width <*w with a heavy crop tho stock have moro access to the cror>, and the plants get a greater proportion of the artificial manure applied. Rape can come almost anywhere in a rotation, and owing to it. strong root growth, and the fact that it is consumed in situ, all crops including grass probably do better after rape than any other crop. It may be merfioned that at a. depth of 9 inches in the soil rapo has 50 por cent, more root fibre, than dees wheat, whereas at twice" this depth it has two to three times as many. SOWING OTHER PLANTS WITH RAPE. Rape when sown alone is often a dangerous crop to feed owing to its high fattening qualities, and its thickening influenco on. the blood of the animals consuming it. More especially is this tho case when tho rapo has finished its growth and is turning a purplish colour. To neutralise this injurious effect it is usual to sow with the rape, or at a later period, a sprinkling of 6ome other crop. For tin's purpose mustard, turnips, or grass are often used. Mustard is a favourite seed to sow with rapo, but owing to its extremely quick growing habits it is generally in the seed-nod state before the rape is ready to feed off. The sheep, howevor, eat tho mustard even at this stage, but it may be a°botter plan to sow the must.ird, say, three to four weeks Liter, so as to have it ready at the same time aa the rape. The mustard can bo drilled in strips in tho paddock left for this purpose on tho headlands or across tho growing rape. Two to four pounds of seed is the usual seeding, and the drills can be either 21in or 23in apart. If the plan of drilling across tho rape be utilised, the coulters not in use can be tied up to pievent unnecessary disturbance of tho growing rape. Mustard has certain medicinal properties for sheep, and can bo thoroughly recommended for purposes mentioned above. Turnips are also sown with rape to advantage. Some farmers mix 3 to 4oz of turnips with the rape and sow this mixture, whilst others sow the turnips through one or two coulters of the drill. Soft or white fleshed turnips aro thoso most usually used for the purpose owing to their quick growth. Devonshire Grevstone and Lincolnshire Red are two varieties that can ba recommended for the purpose. A practice followed by some agriculturists is to sow with. the rapo yellow fleshed turnips of the Aberdeen class. Such turnips remain untouched at the feeding off of the rape, and thoy como in for feed in the early spring. It is, of course, a largely followed practice to sow grass down with rape, but even where a pasture is not wanted after the rape is fed down, a sprinkling of 5 to Gibs of Italian ryegrass with the rape has a good influence at feeding time. Too large a quantity of Italian may be detrimental to the growth bf rap_ owing to the former's exceptionally fast growing propensities. MANURING THE RAPE CHOP. Any plant like rape supplying a, considerable bulk of fodder in "a comparatively short soaco of time, requires liberal manuring with a readily available manure. • In growing the rape crop loaf production is required, and'for this purpose it is essential that the manure used should contain a certain percen-tas-o of nitrogen. It is of further advantage to have the nitrogen f.om such organic sources as dried blood or blood and bonedust. Again the almost universal deficiency of phosphates in the Now Zealand soils makes it imperative that phosphates should form the bulk of any manure for the rape crop. Further experiments are showing that on many -soils tho addition of potash has a beneficial influenco on crops, and incidentally on rape. At one of the Government experimental stations it was found that rape manured with a complete manure containing nitrogen phosphates and potash showed a greater

growth of healthier fodder and gave an extra feeding when compared with crop manured with nitrogen and phosphates alone. Several of the proprietary mixtures of manure for rape have given satisfactory results. Of course, tho manuring of any crop depends largely on tho soil, but" nevertheless the same crop of rape will respond to tho same manure on many classes of soil, and if the manure is mixed for tho crop requirements rather than for the soil, good results should follow. A manure with an analysis of 2 per cent, of nitrogen. 20 per cent, phosphates of which two-thirds are soluble, and 2 per cent, of potash has given good results on a large number of soils Where farmers mix their own fertiliser a mixture of scwt blood and bonedust. 14cwt superphosphate (35 per cent), and lewt sulphate of potash can be recommended, and this can be used at the rate of 2cwt per acre. Besides artificial manuring for rape, the question of supplying humus to the soil by green manuring is one that must in the future largely concern farmo.rs in the districts that have been cropped for a long period of years, or in those containing soil of a light nature. Continual cropping depletes tho organic matter from the soil and its moistureholdins: capacity •is thereby largely diminished. Rape succeeds best on land rich in organic matter, and for this reason it should never be sown in a rotation at too great a distance from the lea.