HARROWING CROPS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 1 October 1927, Page 10

HARROWING CROPS

f|VHE harrowing of tile wheat crop A when it is about six inches hign is coming more into favour. Harrows certainly drug a few plants out, but when the stand is not already too thin, no damage results as the increased vigour of the crop, and the better stooling induced, more than make up lor an disadvantage. in years when heavy winter rains have fallen, and on heavy land which is inclined to set hard (advises the New South Wales Department of Agriculture), harrowing in early spring is very beneficial. Harrowing breaks this surface crust and also destroys many weeds, it is also of great advantage even in normal years, on all classes of soil in the drier parts of the State, a s it helps to conserve moisture by producing a surface mulch. On heavy land, harrowing should be completed early in spring, otherwise the land in inclined to become so hard that the harrows will hardly mark the surface. Rolling is sometimes practised when the crop is Gin or Bin. high 11 it is intended to be cut lor hay or silage. This is only done to level the surface. Rolling is beneficial on many ol the light open soils especially on the light sandy Males lands, as it assists in consolidating the soil. Farmers on this class of land, states the Department, would improve their yields by rolling the growing crop. On very heavy soils rolling is not so beneficial.