SUBTERRANEAN CLOVER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25092, 25 January 1947, Page 5

SUBTERRANEAN CLOVER

Establishment Of Pastures PRACTICE ON LIGHT LAND No single factor has had a greater bearing on the rehabilitating of Canterbury light land than subterranean clover. Experience with sub. clover over eight years at Ashley Dene, the light-land farm owned by Lincoln College, is summarised in a survey of the work recently published by the college. The survey discusses various methods of establishing sub. clover as follows: “Conclusions drawn from observations to date are:— “Under cereal grown for crop:—For the establishment of sub. clover this method is good provided the crop is sown not later than March. Later sowing may result in frost-lift of the clover. During the maturing and ripening of the cereal crop the clover plants are free to develop strong runners and set a considerable quantity of seed. Any ryegrass sown with the clover is liable to be badly thinned out after harvest owing to the dry condition of the soil —it may, therefore, be omitted at this stage and be surface introduced in a year or two when the clover is well established. “Under cereal crop grown for green feed after fallow, the establishment of sub. clover is good and the winter feeding off tends to prevent frost-lift. The paddock must remain either ungrazed or very lightly stocked in No-vember-December of that year to allow setting of the clover seed. This method is most effective if the green feed is sown on fallow or after rape. Restraint in grazing is not necessary in subsequent years. With* Green Feed “With green Jeed on stubble following a cereal crop which has been harvested the results are not satisfactory unless, immediately after cultivating the ground, the subsequent weather is

such as to maintain the land in a good moist condition. This method may be regarded as less safe than others. “With rape:—This has not proved satisfactory for sub. clover as the feed-ing-off of the crop in January-Febru-ary finds the sub. immature and the normal dry weather at the time prevents satisfactory seed setting. “After rape is fed pff:—As with stubble sowing this method depends for.its success on the autumn rainfall. The ground should be surface worked and the seed sown as early in autumn as possible on a firm seed bed; given good rains followed by an absence of drying winds the method is satisfactory “With turnips:—This method proved quite satisfactory when the turnips were sown in December-January for winter feed. The - clover shows no tendency to flower arid die as is the case with the October rape sowing and the trampling incidental to winter feeding of the roots tends to prevent frost-lift. “On fallow after green feed: —This is a most satisfactory method and fits in well with the system of rotation now adopted on Ashley Dene, viz., grass, turnips, and lupins, rape, green-feed-Italian ryegrass, fallow, sub. pasture. “Surface introduction: —This method has been subjected to trial during the years under review and has proved satisfactory' provided that: —(a) The ground is surface worked with the grubber, or one-way disc before sowing. (b) There is not a heavy Brownton turf. The experience gained indicates that the Browntop definitely prevents the young seedlings from gaining a roothold in the autumn, (c) The land has not been so over-cropped that the surface fertility is too low to allow a relatively vigorous growth of the clover in |he first year, (d) The sowing is done before March so that the young seedlings have a good roothold before the heavy frosts begin. Later sowings have in all cases proved worthless, (e) There is ample February rain to allow of satisfactory surface cultivation. Sowing after Fallow “The method which has given the best results and which is now adopted is that of sowing the pasture on fallow. But where oats are still grown for crop the under-seeding of the crop with clover seed is well worth adopting, especially when it fits in with the rotation: grass, turnips, and lupins, rape, oats, and grass. “Special attention is directed to the drilling of sub. clover seed. It has been found that shallow drilling of the clover seed with lewt super, or reverted super, is essential for the best •results. Hence when sowing with oats it is worth while to drill the oats, harrow and/or roll and then cross drill with the sub. clover, taking special care to avoid deep burying of the seed. Half the super, may be sown with the oats, the other half with the sub. seed. “Top-dressing of sub. clover pastures is essential for success if heavy grazing swards are to be obtained. At the outset of the triails at Ashley Dene it was thought that super, alone, at the rate of lewt per acre was the best topdressing to apply. Subsequent work over the years has shown that lime is equally important and the combination, of both lime and super, is to be recommended. From results obtained so far two main methods appear to be satisfactory and economically practicable. (a) Five to lOcwt of lime with lewt. of super, at sowing time and thereafter lewt super, one year and scwt of lime the next, so applying super, and lime in alternate years, (b) An initial dressing of i-1 ton of lime at sowing time and then lewt super, biennially followed by 1 ton of lime every 5-7 years. “Note: research into the question of top-dressing is being continued.”

REFRIGERATED-FOOD CACHES

A practical use to which quick-freez-ing was put during the recent war was for specially-constructed emergency food caches in the mountains of Switzerland when invasion threatened, according to advice from London. After constructing a series of large refrigeration containers, the development of easily-dism'OUntable, insulated cooling depots was undertaken by the Swiss, the first two dismountable depots being supplied in 1942 to the Bischofszell Fruit Utilisation Association. One of the chief requirements with such depots was easy erection, allowing dismantling and quick re-erection. Insulating slabs which took the form of a finished wooden lining were fitted to the framework, and a separate compartment accommodated the refrigerating machine set. With these depots the Swiss could have had kept up a rearguard action for a considerable time in the high Alps.

EWE FAIR DATES February 21 —Kaikoura. February 28—Fairlie. March 3 —Amberley (Southdown section). March 3—Pleasant Point. March 4—Little River. March 6—Hawarden. March 7 —Rakaia. March 7 —Tekapo sale. March 10 —Amberley (Northern section). March 11—Waiau. March 12 —Geraldine. March 13—Culverden. March 14—Methven. March 14—Albury. March 15—Kaikoura. March 17 —Ashburton County. March 17—Fairlie. March 18—Sheffield. March 24—Oxford. March 25—Coalgate. March 25—Tinwald open.