EDITORIAL FARM NOTES.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10032, 10 May 1898, Page 2

EDITORIAL FARM NOTES.

" Weekly Press and Referee." i THE DEPTH OF PLOUGHING FOB GRAIN. We published last week the views of an Australian writer upon the depth at which land should be ploughed, and they agree in the main with the opinion held by the American Agriculturist. Some of our Can. ! terbury farmers hold that ploughing is frequently done too deeply, but no doubt there is as much difference of opinion here upon that point as in the corn belt in the United States. Of course much depends upon the character oj the soil. It has been found in the United States that where land is inclined to be wet, comparatively shallow ploughing, say four or five inches, will ordinarily give good results, but in the black, loamy soils of the central west, where the greater part of the grain is raised, the best practice seems to indicate that the ground should be deeply stirred, say to a 7 depth" of seven to nine inches. The yield of %rain is governed by the dry period, whicfr almost always occurs sometime during thef growing season of the crop. Any method, therefore, that will lessen the effect of the drought, that is, enable the ground to absorb and retain the moisture necessary to maintain the plant during that period, is the best one. THE SOIL MUST BE LOOSENED AND COMPACTED. It has been demonstrated, theoretically and practically, that a soil which has first been well loosened by the plough, then thoroughly compacted, b/ diec and tiue harrowing, and rolling, will hold the greatest amount of moisture. If sin of the surface is prepared in this way, a certain amount of moisture will be retained, but if 9 or 10ip are loosened vp r the reserve supply will be about doubled. For this reason subsoiling is advisable on many farms, but poor results have often been obtained,from the fact that the soil has not been sufficiently compacted after ploughing and harrowing.' This being the case, dry air gaiu# access to the lower layers and evaporates the moisture, hence it frequently happens that shallow ploughing pays just as well as this method of deep cultivation. If the upper layers are kept loose either by the use of harrows or shallow cultivators, the reservoir below, made by deep ploughings will store up and retain moisture that falls in the spring and early summer, to be used when the plant is forming the ears, and needs a supply. It is therefore recommended as the best practice to be adopted by farmers who have a deep, loose, loamy soil, to plough deeply either in the autumn or spring, and (then disc and harrow until all the ground that has been stirred by the plough has been well fined and compacted. On light or sandy soils, of course, deep ploughing is not necessary, and might be a detriment, as the moisture would go.down and escape. For such lands it is best to plough under green crops, in order to*obtain as much vegetable matter as possible. DISC PLOUGHS. For some years past New Zealand farmers Jfcave been acquainted with disc and spading harrows, and the disc plough, which is designed to do the work of the ordinary plough and the harrow in one operation, is now being introduced to their notice. The use of the revolving disc for pulverising the soil is no new thing. For a quarter of a century this method has been adopted in Ameria and recognised as the best means of cutting into and working up the soil. As may be readily understood, there is less friction and resistance in a rotary than a sliding motion, but the difficulty of keeping the revolving disc at a uniform depth in the ground and'ln a straight line of progression has long prevented its successful use as a plough for opening up and turning a furrow. It had long been recognised in America, however, that for certain conditions of soil, surface, and climate the ordinary plough was inadequate, aandihat much better results eonld be obt-ained H the implement were more suited to requirements; In semi-arid soils and wherever droughts were prevalent the first-consideration in working the soil should be retention of moisture ; on hill sides and in loose soil it should be the prevention of wash or whilst in the black-waxy or gumbo soils of the Southern States, and particularly of Texas, capacity to scour was the desideratum. Various efforts had been made to provide a better implement than the ordinary plough for meeting all these requirements, bnt the problem is said to have remained unsolved until the disc plough was produced and made practical. The difficulties that were met with have within the past five years been overcome and many improvements made, and now disc ploughs are produced in various styles and thoroughly established on the market, particularly in those parts of the country where the conditions for which they were specially designed, existed} Texas taking the large portion of them. Some of the advantages claimed in general for disc ploughs are that they save the friction and wear caused by the soil; they thoroughly break up the »oil, including the bottom of the farrow, which the ordinary plough to a certain extent compresses and thus makes of it practically a water trench to cany off what falls on the surface, and preventing sub-surface moisture from rising freely to the roote of the growing plants. They also scour or clean themselves in eticky soils where ordinary ploughs fail, and they turn under and*cover all weeds, Ac. From the work they are capable of doing there should be a future before disc ploughs in this colony, which has such a variety of soils and conditions, in many of which the ifin>kme&ts could be profitably utilised.

THR RHBA OR BAMIK PLANT.

A short time ago several correspondents asked for further information concerning the cultivation of the rhea or ramie plant, and this we are now able to afford from a leaflet prepared by the Secretary of Agriculture, a copy of which, together with a pactet of seed, has been forwarded to us by the department. It is said that the rhea plant is exceedingly hardy and thrives in almost any description of soil. In China, the Malay Islands, and in some parts of India, one or other form of the rhea has been cultivated for years, and the fibre utilised by the natives. Preference should, however, be given to high land, above the level of floods, having a rich, light, but not too sandy loam, well worked and somewhat shady at first. The sub-soil should be good, as the roots penetrate twelve to fourteen inches deep in search of nutrition, if the surface soil be poor. An analysis of rhea shows that the most favourable manure should contain nitrate of soda, sea salt and lime. In northern India the method adopted of sowing seed was on a gentle hot-bed under glass, and when the plants were sufficiently strong they were planted out one foot each way. The plant may also be cultivated by cutting well ripened spring-grown stems, but the most advantageous and profitable method is by the division of roots. The plants for this purpose should be three or four years old. After gathering the spring crop, dig up each plant carefully and remove the earth from the roots. The tuberous parts of the roots will be found to show a large number of eyes similar to those on a potato. Fiom these carefully separate portions, each containing five or six eyes; let the cuts be clean, and reject all fibrous and decayed matter. Expose these sets to the sun for a couple of hours to dry the surface of the wounds, and then plant 6in deep, and at the distance of lft, 2ft, or 4ft apart every way. As in some localities the plants grow more luxuriantly than in others, the distances between the plants, to give the best yield, will suggest itself after a little experience. If, in consequence of overcrowding or poorness of the soil, the plants appear stunted and weak,, then, after having reaped the available shoots of the first crop after spring, transfer every other plant to fresh ground and manure and hoe the old land. It will be found that the shoots from root-planting will grow rapidly to a height of 4ft to 6ft, and that the roots will become stronger every year, the plant being perennial. The first crop may be Teady in two or three months from the date of planting-out the roots, especially in favourable situations. The leaflet also contains instructions for cutting the rhea and gathering the crop. ; The stripping of the ribbons is a very I simple matter, and consists of steeping the fresh stems for a short time in boiling water and removing the ribbons by hand, and 1 directions are given tor doing the work when a field of rhea has to be dealt with. ; SEED POTATOES. Several large potato growers in Canterbury have noticed that whole sets have resulted in the fewest misses during this dry season. One of them states that he planted some sets, that -had been cut several days and were dried by a nor'-wester, and the failures are numerous in that portion of the paddock where they were put? in. Next to them were planted some freshly cut seta, and these have given better/ results, but still there' are numerous misses. Running short of seed potatoes he picked some small ones over, and the whole sets he used show very few failures. The lesson thus to be learned is that whole sets are the best in a dry year, and if they are out it should be done immediately before planting. If the growers would note the yields from the different descriptions of sets the information would be utefol. , -■■ - •.: .■ j