SUCCESS FOR IRRIGATION

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 14

SUCCESS FOR IRRIGATION

FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH SWEDES READY RESPONSE OF CROP TO WATERING Officials associated with the irrigation scheme on the Levels Plains, in South Canterbury, are more than pleased with the results of an experiment conducted .on swede paddocks. These swedes, which were inspected by the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, this week, have responded so well to irrigation that they are expected to return record crops. The following is the official statement describing the experiment:— “The first crop of swedes on the Levels Plain irrigated were on the property of Mr W. Day. An excellent cover was obtained, only a small area of about one-twelfth of an acre in the far corner of the field remaining unwatered. “A few days later, when the ground was firm enough to carry the horses, the crop was inter-cultivated to prevent caking and losses from evaporation. So well did the swedes respond to irrigation that since watering this first crop more than 30 such crops have been watered. Facts speak for themselves. Without question or doubt, the only crops of swedes to date on the light Levels Plains within the irrigation area are those that have been irrigated. The crops not irrigated are small and puny, with bluey, badly wilted foliage heavily infected with blight. In fact, so severe is the blight that many of these unirrigated crops can be written off as almost a total loss. “Remarkable Recovery” “The more cautious ‘wait and see’ farmers who watered their swedes when they were badly infected with aphis have staved off failure at the eleventh hour, but the application of water a little earlier would have meant a very good crop instead of only a fair one. Even in spite of the blight such swedes have shown remarkable recovery, and can be expected to bulb up well. On the other hand, the crops watered earlier are strong and vigorous, with almost an, entire absence of blight. Mr Day, who was the first man to have his swedes watered, to-day has unquestionably the finest crop of swedes within the Levels irrigation scheme. These swedes are growing on some of the lightest land on the plains, and a glance at the photograph will leave no doubt in anyone’s mind of just what irrigation means to swedes. It will be remembered that these swedes have another two months and a half of growing season before them, and with the bulbs as well developed as they are at this stage, the final crop will indeed be a bumper one.”