THE COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 274, 18 November 1910, Page 9

THE COUNTRY.

gHEEP'S BURNET AND CHICORY

-Stpc time ago a brief account of the jiysteDJ of fanning carried out by Mr. j & sB.. Elliott on- his holding at Clifton \ Parfe Kclsp, was given in these columns, and .i to strongly advise those of our 1 readers' who have not yet read this toofi* to do so, as copies can be obtained .'.' in.'i-ost .of the larger centres of tho nonunion- -*"° lose a^TCI a * °k~ t&injng permanent grass land, the book is,esseni_ally. a fascinating one, and even if the reader does not agree with the . ixitlipf iii all his conclusions, the advice and opinions expressed cannot fail to be Jielpfnl. We have often heard of the bqmir attached to. the man who could blades of grass grow where only one had grown before, but speaking from" our' own experience the greatest ; 'iiffienlty ih this country! is. not so much ~Jto'-di_ke>..he .two blades .'.grow, but io -" ! fcsCTJ; ijhem, growing,' and ;tl_,crc is a wide dSpiftlon between tlie two. gjomewhat , > "widely put, the main principles of. Mr. ■.;[ pniotfij system were tho use of deep • looting grasses and plants, and the scientific building up of the fertility of the Soil'.liy such means in preference to- the use y, of.;" shortlived, surface-feeding grasses as rye grass, etc., the heavy use of jnannres aud of imported feeding' Huffs. Amoug the deep-rooted plants which Mr. Elliott employed on some of lis high poor-Jan<L.*'e_re-<?W cory and Sheep's Burnet, and it is to ""these jrkich wo -wiali- to make referecne. .._•" SHEEP'S BURIJET. TbiS -plant has been quoted for many jeais.;iii":our seedsmen's catalogues' 'but las not been much iise'd, even on classes • ...country to which it should be -well adapted., It. is a perennial plant which grows in tufts and attains a height of 18; inches.. . Its strong roots penetrate deeply, and enable it to'thrive in almost i ..11 classes of soil, heavy clay to almost ;a' poor. sanoV 'It resists drought' well, .: aid when eaten down quickly throws up "fresh.shoots. . Sheep eat it greedily and ■- :«pidly;put on flesh,when fed on it, while it gives a good yield and remains green throughout the year., According to experience in NewJSouth \Yales it is worth •"extehded "cultivation to provide grazing for sheep or pig.,'particularly as its'perfflanent character makes it an inexpen- . livq/.crop to gro*v.' -'

, J* England Bui-net has earned a good :*?™e as a preventive and cure for scour . ctlruh While ifc has that invaluable quality pf early grosyth ■ in , spring- (Speak . _ oil I s a*' Clifton Park, on land -'' a '^H' relay..pan, 9iu. thick, Mr. ■' ift J.* 5 ' s , : -" A ' Bu niet plant we took , _, °" '$_ ' •aid had a tap root descendWi fffi ;• ms through .the hard pan I mMi. of 2 feet 2 *»■ the »T X.'■. ** loot was one -<& round and •: |*»?W* l aH>!6ot, three quarters ot an' ' £. v_ n y3lt * c of tWs Plant for hard, - «*X shallow soils is well known" Ban. T*7' of COUI ' S8 ' 'remember that ;. . "Blants .'which prove useful to Old

Country farmers do not 3uit the conditions of land and climate met with in New Zealand, and then again a plant which might suit one district might not suit another, so -much does our land vary in quality and ■ requirements. On the other hand we have the plant well spoken of in Australia, aud on some of our poor, dry country, we believe it would toe worth giving the plant a trial on a limited scale. CHICORY. This is another deep-rooted plant, for which qrality attention is called to it. It does not, however, hear such a good character a_ burnet. Writing of it in last year's report of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. T. W. Kirk says:— Chicory -was originally introduced into English farming in 1780 by Arthur Young, and tvas grown, for many years as a ,sheep food, flourishing well on all kinds of land. When used for this purpose, 41b. of seed.'.is sown 1 per acre in drills-12 inches' apart, tlie plants being

~ CHICORY. ; . there has .been abandoned-. As a fodderplant the great pt-jection to it is that as soon as a plant throws up a flower-stalk the leaves become -useless for feeding. -In Mr. Kirk's opinion chicory, is likely to ttecome a troublesome -weed, and therefore care should- be taken to only sow it where there is little chance of its becoming a nuisance. afterwards thinned out to a foot apart. It produces an abundant yield of leaves for three or four'years. At the present time other sheep feeds, such as rape, have almost stopped the growing of chic-, ory for fodder purposes. It is, however, .occasionally grown for its roots, which, ■when cut, dried and roasted, are, used to mix with coffee. In New Zealand a very small area in Canterbury and Otago is devoted to chicory growing, and the yield of, dried roots (about 24 cwt., to the acre) is sufficient for the requirements of the local coffee-mills. It was cultivated for some years near "Selson, but. was not found to Be payable, so that its culture :"'-L'.be Clifton Park System of Farming and __*._-___. Down X_and to Grass." —Sinip- - kin, Marabou and Co. .

TEMPORARY BARB-WIRE TESCES.

j The following is a simple method of putting up wire so that it can be easily removed: —Two staples are driven into the' post about an, inch apart, one above and one below the Wire, and both parallel with it.The wire is then held in place by a pin passed through the staples outside it, as in Pig. 1. The pins are easily made out of single fencing-wire, by bending •them round four spikes driven into a piece of hardwood, as represented by tho circles in Fig. 2, using a long piece of wire, and cutting off each pin, when shaped, with a cold chisel. The pins should be made with only a narrow space between the arms at A, so that they cannot he forced out by cattle rubbing or like causes, though they are easily knocked in with a hammer and withdrawn with a pair of pincers.—''Field"