FARM AND STATION.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19805, 18 December 1929, Page 14

FARM AND STATION.

CURRENT TOPICS.

SOUTHERN PROGRESS. Canterbury and North Island visitors to Southland for the first time, and who had a chance of motoring over the country, have returned from their visit to the" Koyal Sho-.v greatly impressed with the appearance and prospects of the province. To those who knew the Southland of 30 years ago or more the change for the better has been astounding. Unless visits have been i:i;ide m the meantime no other word could adequately describe the difference. This season, though dry in the early spring, recently has had the benefit of good rains—not heavy but frequent —and for miles of country there are to be seen fields of the best pasture, heavily but in many districts apparently inadequately stocked. However, hay saving is an important part of the southern dairyman's operations, and little of this wealth of grass will be wasted. The Southland of a few decades ago was primarily agricultural, with dairying making steady progress, but in most instances confined to small herds, whilst sheep for the most part were held in small flocks, except on the higher country. To-day oats occupy only a fraction of the area that they did 30 years ago, herds are now frequently numbered by their sixties and seventies, instead of their twenties and twenty-five's, whilst good-sized breeding flocks J are spread over practically the i whole of the valleys and the easy downs of the province. As an evidence i of the great advance in sheep numbers the weight of wool produced in 1921 was seven million pounds, and in 1928 it was 12 million. The advance in dairying commenced earlier .than in sheep, but the relative progress up till a few years ago was only a degree less. With the liberal rainfall there has never been any difficulty in maintaining a permanence of pasture, even 1 before the new practice of top-dressing came in. Now that top-dressing has assumed such scope it would appear that the only land to be turned over in future will be that required for roots for fattening and winter feed and the few oats that will be required for a steadily shrinking market. THE CAUSES. The causes of the advance in production are several, but they are definite. The outstanding one is the great foundation the application of lime has given the soil, following on the extensive use of the drain plough. One was an indispensable part of the other. The cold, sour condition of the soil has been replaced by a state in which acidity plays a very small part, and with the handiness and comparative cheapness of lime the land is given little opportunity of reverting to its former state. This favourable condition, aided by a liberal rainfall, has enabled the subsequent top-dressing of pastures to produce the maximum benefit. Topdressing has markedly increased the carrying capacity of the land. In a climate where the spells of rough weather are fairly prolonged on occasions a decided benefit is that topdressing shortens the winter. Feed extends later on in the autumn and comes earlier in the spring. This advantage probably reduces the winter in its effect by six weeks to a couple of months. Many farms were pointed out to "Straggler" during a run round that to-day were carrying four to five sheep to the acre for nine months of the year, which at one time earried less than two for less than eight months, and that only with the assistance of the plough in providing winter feed. In effect, the production of the average Southland farm—in those cases where it is "farmed," of course—has been increased 70 per cent and the labour nearly halved, except in the one aspect of the extra stock requiring proportionately more handling. Rut there is a third reason for the | change that cannot be overlooked. This is the great destruction of the rabbit ' pest in the last few seasons. Seven or eight years ago it was only a few of the favoured localities that could be claimed to be moderately free of the pest. It would be too much to claim that to-day the rabbit has completely disappeared, even on the more intensively worked farms, but as a pest it has practically ceased to exist. Its existence is mostly confined to riverbeds, where periodical floods exact a heavy toll, and to the unfarmed lands and the warmer faces on the hills and the high country. The difference from the old days when "rabbit trains" were run daily from the "rabbity" districts has been little less than marvellous. Farmers should take every care that the succession of a few good winters should not allow the pest to revive. NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE. A good deal of the success of the Eoyal Show last week was due to the publicity given it by the Invercargill newspapers. To the southerners the Show was of first rank importance. At some of the previous Royals it was jnst an incident of the week's happenings. In developing the southern atmosphere the newspapers took the principal part. The "Southland Daily News" signalised the event by issuing a 48-page special, a 24-page supplement being devoted to excellently produced illustrations of representatives of various breeds of stock, to farm scenes, and to the tourist resorts with which the province is so richly endowed. A most informative letter-press accompanied the illustrations, and altogether the production as an advertisement of Southern attractions, and a record of Southland progress would be hard to excel. THE OATS CROPS. Early oats on the coastal areas of the Ashburton County are being cut, and a number of fields that are rapidly changing colour are to be seen on the medium-light land north of the Rakaia, but few really good crops are to be observed. Some are fair, but the bulk are poor, the straw being short and thin, and the head lightly filled. The small birds have taken a very heavy toil, particularly where a plantation adjoins, and it would seem that when ordinary chaff needs are met this year there will not be much left over for threshing. It frequently happens that in such seasons the balance is too small to justify pulling in the mill, and the whole crop is chaffed. This poliey will be encouraged this season on account of the exceptionally high price chaff has been ruling at this last few months. In 1923-24 less than two million bushels of oats were threshed in the Dominion. The new crop, unless the southern yields are up to normal, may not exceed that boshelage by very much.

By "Straggler."

PLANT BREEDING.

A DAY AT LINCOLN COLLEGE. Between 300 and 400 farmers spent a very profitable day at Lincoln Agricultural College yesterday, the occasion being what is known as "Farmers' Day." The visitors were shown over the agricultural portion of the College land, where they found everything just as it should be" on a well-ordered farm—the land well farmed, and the stock in good order. Chief attention was paid, however, to the experimental plots, and there was much of interest in these. Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf showed the farmers the experimental plots which are devoted to wheat and oats. Mr J. W. Calder, M.Sc, B.Ag., dealt with the grasses, and Mr D. J. Sidey, B.Ag., H.D.D., gave an address on the subject of rotational grazing. Mr R. E. Alexander, the director of the College, Dr. O. H. Frankel, genetecist in charge of plant-breeding operations under the Wheat Research Institute, and members of the Board of Governors accompanied the party. Wheat Variety Trials. The variety trials in wheat were interestingly explained by Dr. Hilgendorf, and the wheat was seen to be well grown in most of the plots. It was explained that the primary object of the trials is to ascertain the best yielding varieties and the best attributes generally possessed by different wheats. It j \ was mentioned that although loose smut Is not found in Hunters, it is found in Tuscan wheat. The plots were | seen to include wheats from various j parts of the world, including some from , Bulgaria, Syria, and Russia, these being i grown to learn whether they possess desirable qualities which are not found in New Zealand wheats. Some of the foreign wheats were not seen to advantage, this being attributed to the fact that in some cases the seed was several years old before it was sown, and had been knocked about in being transported long distances. In all there were 1100 kinds of wheat, these experiments being conducted by Dr. Frankel, on behalf of the Wheat Research Institute. Dr. Hilgendorf mentioned incidentally that the introduction of solid straw Tuscan wheat to Canterbury by Mr H. A. Knight, in 1900, had probably given the wheat-growing industry the biggest stride forward that it had ever received here. Some experimental plots of oats were also seen in crossings between Algerians and Gartons, the object in this case being to produce an oat with the thin husk of the Garton, and the rust-resist-ing properties and the high yield of the Algerian. Eradicating Thistle. Dr. Hilgendorf also had something to say concerning a new treatment for the eradication of Californian thistle, and he showed those present the result of this treatment on some thistles in one of the grass paddocks at the College. The material used was sodium chlorate. This, he explained, is made at Niagara Falls, and is exported in lcwt. drums. Two cwt had cost the College £2 12s per cwt. ft looked like common salt and was easily handled, being noncorrosive and non-poisonous. It was easily spread by hand or shovel. The powder, he said, should be applied to the thistle in grass; the best time of application was probably early April after the ground was wet, but before the thistle had died down, and after May Ist might be regarded as too late to get a satisfactory effect. The poison should be broadcast by hand or shovel at the rate of 2cwt. per acre, or under an ounce to the square yard. A patch 10 yards by 10 would take about 51b of the chlorate, and would cost, at the price quoted, about half a crown. The thistle coming up next spring would be very weak. They did not know how best to treat it, but suggested leaving it till the ground was wet again in autumn and then applying more chlorate. The trial inspected that day was only a single experiment, and there was no certainty that the effect would be the same in all localities or in all seasons. Where the chlorate was most heavily applied the ground was quite bare, where it was put on more lightly there was a good growth of clover and weeds. Potatoes were planted over a treated patch on November sth, and observations on their growth on December 12th indicated that there would be about a three-quarter crop. Dr. Hilgendorf suggested that farmers should give this new treatment a trial. The Grass Plots. At the grass plots Mr Calder held the interested attention of farmers while he explained the experiments with clovers, cocksfoot, and ryegrass, and showed the results of them. He explained that the object is to promote the growth of leaf rather than stem, aad thus provide the maximum quantity of succulent pasture. In Denmark the Danes grew cocksfoot for seed, but in New Zealand the class of cocksfoot that was wanted was that which provided leaf rather than seed. When they allowed their pastures to go to maturity, leaf production ceased, so that the aim should be to grow pastures which would not run to maturity early; and the experiments which were being carried on at the College were intended to show the best varieties to grow in order to attain this end. Rotational Grazing. Dr. Sidey went, into some detail on the subject of intensive grazing and winter feeding. He said that the practice of rotational intensive grazing was being widely advocated and actively put into operation with good results. Like other farm practice it had to be adapted to local circumstances. Essentials pf the practice included (1) a reserve of feed as hay, silage, or oat-sheaf chaff, etc., for the extra stock carried, for winter feed, and for other times of scarcity; (2) They should grase here all pastures not set aside for reserve supplies at least once a fortnight; (3) they should stock sufficiently heavily to graze paddocks bare in four days at most. Winter feed should always be provided. To obtain the best results from root crops or green feeds, these should be supplemented with dry feeds, such as hay or chaff. Where meatmeal is included in the ration it should be fed with chaff. It should be remembered that with intensive grazing there was no old dead grass or pasture roughage to help the stock during winter. In a very dry summer it might not be possible to cut any hay in which case the pastures intended for hav could be used as roughage to carry the stock until the intensively grazed areas were freshened by rain. Dr. Sidey suggested that it would be worth while to p*y more attention to tb* gzovjag

of lucerne as a source of high quality hay and because it could be grazed by ewes and lambs in a dry season. They should avoid, at all costs, the possibility of a shortage of feed at any time of the year. With intense grazing, pastures should be eaten bare in a few days; young pastures, however, should not be bared to the same extent as old ones. The age or condition of the pasture, the type of soil, and the prevailing weather conditions should all be given consideration in regard to bareness. A young and open pasture on light land would, in all probability, suffer considerable damage if eaten bare in dry -weather; on the other hand old pastures with a close sward on heavy, rich land, could be eaten bare without any ill effects. In actual practice, a reasonable balance should be struck between the condition of the stock and that of the pasture. Both should be kept in a thriving condition. The best results were obtained, as regards both stock and pasture, by keeping the latter fresh, and by moving the stock frequently. Provided the eating out i» done quickly, dirt would not accumulate to a harmful extent; to secure this, heavy lands might require up to 50 ewes to the acre to eat them out in two days. Excellent results had been obtained on one farm by shifting the ewes and lambs practically every two days, regardless of the condition of the pasture, which was usually short. They were brought back in two or three days, as the grass supply indicated, to be moved off again at the end of another two days' time. Throughout the season the pasture remained clean, and did not become clumpy; the lambs were in splendid condition. Too large a mob of ewes and lambs was to be avoided, but mobs as large as 450 ewes and their lambs were being handled with no loss of efficiency. It would thus be seen, Dr Sidey said, that fencing for intensive grazing was not such & formidable objection after all. On light lands 50-acre fields would be suitable, while on heavy country fields of 15 to 20 acres were desired. The field should be top-dressed so that the quality and the quantity of the feed would be maintained. Dr. Sidey also gave some informative figures to show the value of intensive grazing, these proving, among other things, that on short, sweet feed, stock do better and fatten more quickly than on feed of older growth, which was less jjalatabl* and laaa antzztioafc