The Cultivation of Rape

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 198, 4 August 1928, Page 12

The Cultivation of Rape

Part I.

Ploughing and Soil Preparation

Comparison With Other Fodder

By

“SUNDOWNER”

(Written for the “Tribune”— All Rights Reserved.)

Time passes very rapidly for the busy farmer, and it will not be long now before he has to consider the provision of some fodder crop to top off those lambs which do not go fat off the mothers. There is not the slightest doubt that the greatest profit for the fa rmer, and the greatest advertisement for our lamb will be secured by turning the greatest possible number of lambs we can into the works as “milk” lambs, for there is really no comparison in flavour between a milk and a rape-fed lamb. However, in an average season there will always be a certain percentage (we hope as time goes on it will become smaller and smaller} of lambs which must be topped off on rape after weaning.

THE TWO MOST POPULAR FODDERS. In various tests conducted throughout New Zealand, most of the popular fodders have been thoroughly tried out and compared, and whereas in some districts barley, oats, silver beet, kale and so forth have given sufficiently good results to warrant their extensive cultivation, it has been proved that the two fodders, par excellence for fattening weaned lambs, are rape and lucerne. The latter is being more and more widely cultivated and used for lamb-fattening, for it has been proved that, taken over the number of years which this crop lasts, it fattens both sheep and lambs more cheaply than the rape which has to be sown down each seasen. For various reasons, of which the rotational cropping of land in preparation for laying down in grass is an important one, rape holds its own in popular favour, and because of its rapid fattening qualities is likely to retain that popularity. PROFIT IS DERIVED FROM SECOND AND THIRD CROPS. In all tests in which rape has been in competition with other annual fodder crops, it has been proved that the profit in growing fattening crops depends on the second and third feedings—not on the first. For instance field peas have been proved to fatten more sheep per acre on the first grazing than rape, but there was no second growth andj actually it did not pay to plough the ground and -sow them.

The provision for a second and third feeding, therefore, is the most important feature in rape cultivation, for therein lies the profit for the farmer, the first grazing, however good, doing little if any more than paying for cultivation, manure and seed. Any method of cultivation calculated to increase and guarantee these later feedings must therefore be of real interest to the farmer and worthy of a thorough trial. PLOUGHING FOR RAPE. Rape being a rank, quick-grower, is also a gross feeder, drawing the bulk of its mineral and chemical food from the first two or three inches of surface soil. For it to develop into a first-class crop several conditions are necessary that are frequently overlooked by the farmer.

In the first place, to ensure rapid growth it is essential that the land should not be ploughed so deeply as to bury the rich nitrogenous and humus-laden surface soil beyond the reach of the young plant roots. When sowing rape on virgin land this difficulty can only be overcome by comparatively deep autumn ploughing to cover and rot the turf, then leaving the land fallow through the winter, followed by skim crossplougliing and thorough cultivation in Septembei or October. When dealing with land which has previously been cropped, a different procedure is necessary. Where the soil is heavy, or is lying on a clayey subsoil, it is advisible to turn a shallow furrow of two or three inches, and if the attachment of a subsoiler to the plough is impracticable with discs nnd scarifier In any case plant food for rap- must not be buried more deeply than three inches if the best results are to be obtained, A FINE TILTH NECESSARY. Natural!/, with shallow ploughing, the most thorough surface cultivation must be given the soi

to conserve the moisture on which such a rapid-growing plant as rape is dependent. The farmer, therefore must make it his object to get the finest tilth possible, and any extra working with discs and harrow's will be more than repaid in rapid growth.

Where the subsoil is of a loose nature, rolling may be necessary to compact this strata and allow the moisture to rise to the root depth of the plants, but this should always be followed by' a harrowing before drilling, as it. must always be kept in mind that the retention of reserves of moisture in the soil is the primary es sential if rane is to be a success, for rape drinks an enormous amount of moisture tn form the fleshy, nourishing leaves. SOIL-MOISTURE ALLIMPORTANT. Earlier in this article I pointed out that it was to the second and third feedings that on<- had to look for the profit from rape and all other fodders excepting lucerne. I have also stressed the fact that rape needs an enormous amount of soil moisture to ensure luxuriant growth. Our method of conserving this moisture is to cultivate a fine surfa :e tilth which breaks up the capillary action and prevents evaporation, but the very method of feeding-off rape nullifies this work, for the sheep trample and compact the soil just at the driest time of the year, and the rapid evaporation then depletes the reserves which are needed to force the growth of the second and third feedings.

INTER-CUT,TTVATION THE GUARANTEE OF PROFIT. The only remedy where rape is grown in low summer rainfall districts is inter-cultivation, and in spite of the added work which this entails, the writer is certain that this method of guaranteeing subsequent growth will ultimately be the nopular system employed in the Dominion. This inter-cultivation of rane crops, is. however, such an important subject that it deserves exhaustive discussion in a special article. in which T will endeavour to convince those w'ho grow rape for lamb fattening, that assured success lies in adopting more un-to-date cultural methods than those now usually’ employed.