WHEAT SOWING.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 40, 15 April 1875, Page 3

WHEAT SOWING.

Several South Australian . farmers drill; ttieir. wHeaij ['.lapfl.^.B^ey^ffijit every, 'yjar's, experience "iskiu-favJJE of the practice; It shows more; and more thaty as against sowing* the se&%oad« cast, it is economical in labor and in seed*, ranc£" gives a better^ . crop. Tbe difference^ in v labor (says 'a compe^ift judge) is, at.^^tL^s^aiL^acjce^o^^ie cost ;of two harrdwih'gS after Soaring/ or one • cultivating. Tjie, , 4ifs9rence in seed is sat least half a busnef an acre, and the dixference in the'crdpiS^Mfy one-fourth,

or upon fairlyrgood^soil. six bu^^^ acre. ; Tw ; o pqunds. p,er acre, upon ten acrea will more than pay for the best drill made, which will sow ten acres, a day. But if the means of purchasing! a drill., are not available, .and tbe?e*jafe. ! less than ten acres of wheat to'be sowja, it. will, yet pay to hire a drill, .which* may be done from some neighbor for? funate' enough to possess one.' It is one of the greatest advantages .res.ultjng from the use of machinery upon farmjs," that it ; to a great extent necessitates' good farming; -At least that it compels .improvement : and the farmer who once enters upon the march of improvements rarely stops, and never' turns' : back: Thus, when a drill is used for. the first time the farmer finds his crooked fence ; in his way, his narrow gates or his awkward bars are inconvenient, the brush and weeds around his fence interfere, his poor ploughing is troublesome, ttie baulks : and hard spots that have been left are, a nuisance to him, aad the weeds, trash, rough clods, and stones upon the surface are a severe tax upon his patience. The next season all .these. faults will be remedied, because, discovering the profit, of the machino, he is obliged to prepare for its use.This is like the entrance, of light into dark places, and a number oi things that were never noticed or suspected before are ,now so conspicuously apparent that .they cannot be any longer left undone! H The v same is true as to the use .of the r mo,wer p^the^eaper; and thus Ihe money * spent for any of these needful mactiihes is repaid in more ways; than one.

I The ' Queenslander ' recently pubI lished the following letter upon the adj vantage of using old. wheat for seed :— Most farmers are. fond of new. wheat, Lyet, jfyoulask them^yhy, they "cannot tell , you ; they can '. assign : no ■ reascin why new wheat is preferable to old, only simply that'it suits/- I, who always, •love to- make observations on. causes as well as their 'effects^' have found by ex-' perience that it is most! advantageous t j sow old wheat. My reasons are these : First, I have a field of twenty acres, which, whenever in the course of time it came to : be sown with, wheat, wsjs ' always sure to be winter proud." The soil beihg rather light, I' sowed (merely from practice) with new wheat; 1 the result was, it became shriyejjled i.h. the" grain, and was not all. to be .compared with the. crop of an adjoining neighbour, even though the culture. of the soil w,as the: same in every respect, and the only differance was that the ground 'was sown with" old wheat." Another year followed, and it presented the same ' appearance— shrivelled' in the grain, and the straw very weak and brittle. The result was, I tried it last season with some seed wheat of some three years old (if I may. use the term), and' strange to say, I reaped; a plentiful harvest— an,d,for grain and straw, my crop was unequalled. Many farmers have suffered from this distemper destroying their crops, and who under the title of " rust," believed the distemper incurable. Second, I would advise my brother farmers to burn the stubblp before ploughing, and : likewise not to sow the, wheat (and.npt use wheat of less* than two. years old) too late; and lastly,' : to be s'ure'hever to rollit until the crop appears •'over ground. I have tried this, and: found that I have extirpated the rust from my: fields.— L. D,. O'Ryan, Drumeane Farm, Woolert. As -fences made of wire are more used, it becomes all the more necessary to 1 have a suitable method' of tightening th 3 wire. . The usual: manner of straining the wire in one direction only, ..tends, to draw, the straining post out of -its position. But if_the-roller_upon which the wire is? wound o strains from both directions, -the force is equalized so r far as; the straining post.is. concerned; .and it is necessary 'only to have thel end posts,- well; -stayed. - Each post is well stayed with a brace, which supports, it in the direction in which the wire is! drawn. The posts are bored to receiv^ irdliersupdn which the wires are wound.: One end of each roller is made square,; and somewhat' larger than the round! part.: The holeb in one of the posts ftre! -made square to fi> the square ends of] the rollers./ 7 A which; is.also made to; fit the rollers, and the wires are tight-' ened r J'by: turning,- the*. rollers: with the.; winch. One wire. is wrapped from; above, and the other from' beneath r tbTe :roller,so that both; are tightened: at the; same time.; -When the wires are drawn light, the square; end of the, roller, is; driven in to th£ square, hole .in the post, ; and tfle : rollers me" 'firmly held. The quality ;of our potatoes might; be, considerably, - improved did our; farmers but take the trouble necessary j to furnish •t^taserves wi^n^ejv^eedL; Frclh~T;he "rep^at^d^^n^pyment year ! after year' (if tile "same sort of seed, a ! degenerate crop " may - ; - naturally-, be expected; indeed, " a coarse^ 'stringy potato;*: subject to; "the dry rot,- as ,our, farmers) nowr. supply us srithr <;In 1 S|/j!, ,duringj%e .pqteto/amine ? f arnjeys on the J Continent of Europe; Jcais^d potatoes for seed from the potato iapple! By^ perseXeTihgTdr ' tbr(ee~p? Tour years in planting ttie sniall potatoes "obtained from the potato apple a new potatq,was proeured^graeii&ii^ golkl quality, and free from the .disease -th&i sb®im|." oi JIC3 ir ~ "-^^ Gather .pu^mbe^fQFj picking; Merp day ; the small ones : not over two or three^{hcKel^r^gn^/3iKS£^ithe best pic^Srt The over-growhvbnes may I be' made into cucumlje^j ''wfisjFjfa r.fbr winter use. 0l r ' _i li " " ,