FARMING NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2286, 26 February 1912, Page 7

FARMING NOTES.

A FORAGE MIXTURE. At one time in England a combination of wheat and rye, known as maelin, used to be sown on light land which did not grow good crops of wheat alone. The result was that a heavier yield was obtained. This particular mixture of crops has died out in the old country, but others are sometimes adopted. For instance (says an exchange), dredge, a blend of barley and oats, yields a good crop of horse corn cn poor, light land, where it proves more productive than either crop sown Vetches and rye are a common mixture, the rye serving the useful purpose of holding up the atraggling vetches. The same thing happens . when beans and vetches are sown together, or when peas and beans are mixed to produce the crop known in some districts as blendings. It has also been found that various kinds of roots can be drilled in alternate rows with advantage to the yield. A useful mixed crop where sheep are run is kale and swedes, alternating every few rows. Not only does each subject grow well, but when the sheep are folded on them any that are getting a bit tendermouthed can feed on the kale, though incapable of tackling the harder swedes. OATS IN ROTATION. ! | Intelligent farmers in the drier areas are coming to the conclusion that oats must become an increasingly important factor in judicious farming. Mr. Jacobs, a South Australian has stated that although oats were much more trouble to harvest than wheat, a good crop of them could be grown where wheat would not do so well. This was a great consideration where there were mallee shoots to deal with, as the stubble burned well, and two good stubble burns just about finished off the shoots. The land seemed to be improved by oats, and a heavier crop of wheat could be grown if the soil carried a crop of oats now and again. Poor sandy soil would not grow anything other than oats at first. Oats should be sown early, say in April or the be ginning of May, so that they would root well before the coldest weather set in. A farmer should sow just as I large an area as he considered he • could harvest, bearing in mind that jit was a crop that was liable to I shake out. As a crop to market, oats paid as well as wheat. Last harvest he took off an average of 35 bushels of oats per acre, while the wheat only averaged 10 bushels per acre. Oats were needed on the farm as horse feed, and oaten hay was good if not too rank. Should the crop blight off at all, or be stunted, the stubble would make first-class feed for stock running loose.