The Press Monday, March 8, 1926. Wheat-Growing Methods.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18634, 8 March 1926, Page 8

The Press Monday, March 8, 1926. Wheat-Growing Methods.

Sir-Frank Heath, the eminent scientist now visiting the Dominion, had something very much to the point to say to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce the other day on the subject of wheat-growing. At the same time he made some observations on the practical side which can scarcely be bome out by fact. He said, for instance, that " Australia has great natural dis- " advantages in the growing of wheat," and that " Canada is a country with "enormous disadvantages as a wheat- " growing country." It is rather strange, if such is the case, that per head of population, or of farmers, these two countries are far and away the biggest wheat-growing countries in the world. But such is not the case. The soil preparation methods in Australia are incomparably cheaper than in 'New Zealand. It is rarely that crops cannot i be sown there through broken weather. As for harvesting advantages, the position is exactly the opposite to that stated by our visitor. Cutting by reapers and binders, with the resultant cost of stooking, not to mention leading in and threshing, is very little practised. The system of " stripping" allows the grain to be produced in one operation. It has been authoritatively estimated that in harvesting alone New Zealand is penalised in comparison on an average crop of 30 bushels to the acre by Is a bushel. It was only the other week that there was demonstrated in Victoria a harvester which harvests the wheat at the rate of a bag per minute. A 100-acre paddock can be harvested in two days! No invention of a similar character could be applied to New Zealand harvesting conditions. By the "enormous disadvantages" of Canada Sir Frank Heath no doubt means prevalence of snow. As a matter of fact snow is the essential factor over much of Canada. The seed is sown and the blanket of snow when it comes protects the seed from frosts and facilitates germination when the thaw comes with its life-giving moisture. There is no dependence on rain, so necessary in New Zealand. During the farmers' "six months' idleness," of which our visitor speaks, Nature is carrying the job along. It is fair to assume from these facts that both Australia and Canada possess real advantages in wheat-growing rather than disadvantages. But it would be entirely wrong to discount Sir Frank Heath's observations on the scientific side. His criticism of the cultivation methods is warranted. Those whoSe experience goes back a few decades will not dispute the contention that cultivation is not as thorough now as it was then. The methods may be better, -which is doubtful, but this amount of cultivation in respect of general farming is certainly not greater. No matter what other aids may promote higher cropping returns, the basic one is cultivation—"keeping the. surface of the soil "stirred," as Jethro Tull wrote over 150 years agd, "in order to imbibe the " dews of Heaven." This is as true today as when it was uttered. We have certainly nqt been so progressive as we might have been in the matter of producing new varieties of wheat. It is quite true that Victoria has increased her yield by 4 to 6 bushels per acre by the adoption of new strains of wheat, and that Canada has made extiaordin-! ary advances in the same direction. If the New Zealand Department of Agriculture has done anything in this respect there is little result to be seen in actual'farming practice. As a matter of fact it may be said in passing that there is very wide scope for the exercise of more activity and capacity in the control of the Fields Division of our Agricultural Department, and it is a matter with which the new Minister of Agriculture might profitably concern himself. Lincoln College has been experimenting for a number ftf years with limited resources at its command and has succeeded in producing one variety that has undoubtedly proved a good yielder on many classes of soils. However, there is a great variety of soils even in Canterbury, and a variety that suits one will not suit another. This fact has been specially stressed by the Victorian experts whose advice to farmers generally mentions the particular districts for which certain classes of wheat are suited. In New Zealand the varieties in use years ago are practically the dominant ones to-day. Heavier yielders have been discovered but they do not, so it is claimed, possess the milling virtues of the others. Here the millers come into the argument in a position of authority, but a milling plant has been established in Wellington by the Government to determine the milling qualities of various varieties of wheats, and this marks some advance. The farmer also is recognising the inevitable march of the |ractor and this has a definite bearing on the economic aspect. As an instance agricultural tractors in New Zealand increased between January, 1920, and January, 1924, from 324 to 512; in 1924-1925 the number more than doubled, being 1026, and it is claimed by implement vendors that the year just closed will show a further doubling. It is obvious that the bulk of - this additional machinery is destined for work in connexion with wheat-growing. This marks one advance in-which there has been a certain amount of lagging. If their increased use means better or increased tillage, and if experiments are undertaken to determine if there are better yielding strains of wheat, Sir Frank Heath's criticism will have been extremely useful. There is certainly scope for advance in both directions.