RURAL TALKS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15488, 14 December 1910, Page 13

RURAL TALKS.

(By RUSTICUS.) December is usually a busy month on farms whore an all-round system of agriculture is carried on. This season, tho last month of the year, promises to bo busier than usual, because tho dry weather has forced things along, till shearing, turnip-sowing, haymaking, grass-seeding and then harvesting threaten to overlap. Shearing is for tho most part finished on the plains and downs, but on the hills and mountains it has only fairly commenced. Tn fact, shearing on tho back stations does not become at all general till towards the end of the month. It is better to keep the wool on the sheep in the uplands till tho weather becomes more settled than it usually is up to December, besides which the wool has more of a rise in it, and is .in better order generally than when shorn early in the season. Some adverse comment has been made by the buyers on the get-up of tho wool, and it is a pity that some farmers should lay themselves open to criticism of that sort on account of sheer carelessness. It does not pay to bo slovenly a.nd unmethodical in the work. No matter how small the clip is, it can be got up in tip-top condition. In fact, t know of one small lot of wool, from IoU ewes, topping one of the Canterbury sales last year. Unfortunately, there are instances, many of them, where men who have thrown all their wool together anyhow, unskirted and unclassed, havo secured good prices, equal to the better got up lots. But a buyer will remember that brand, and tho man who tries to have his wool open up well will eventually come out on top. In order to fully appreciate, the difference between a well managed clip and oye that is baled up anyhow, one want? to see the woo] as it comes out of the bales. It is then that the defects become very glaring, and dirt stains clean wool with which it comes into contact.

The main crop of turnips may be sown any time this month as soon as the ground is in proper ordor. The continued dry weather is against a good strike, but it is splendid for killing tho weeds. Thosa who have been preparing their ground for some time find tuat there is a good deal of moisture underneath, especially if the surface has been loose and line. To havo to tear up the ground from the bottom just now" with cultivating implements means that what moisture there is in tho ground must disappear. However, it is well to go on with turnip preparation, trusting to a good shower to wet the ground sufficiently to start the seed and it going. Should the ground be very dry, it may be as well to get the land ready and leave the actual drilling till some rain comes.

Imperial Green Globe is a good allround kind to sow. It strikes well, and grows well almost anywhere. It will keep good and sound well into winter. Indeed. I havo often hod them to feed off in September, and they wero then fairly good. At any rate, breeding ewes did very well on them. The Aberdeens, of course, are the best turnips for winter mid spring feeding, being but little inferior to the Swede in keeping and eating qualities, ihe.v require better ground than the Imperial Green Globe, and aro more unreliable in every way. Tho Fishorton Hybrid is a splendid" turnip of medium hardness. Its flesh is yellow, and the bulb crows to a good size. Other good yellow-flesh varieties aro: —Romney Marsh, easily grown and early; Centenary, a heavy cropper, and Early Sheepfold, a quick growing vellow-flesbcd hybrid. Of tho white 'fleshed kinds, Devonshire Greystono, Imperial Green Globe. P. T. Mammoth, and Lincolnshire Red, aro among the host known varieties. At some of the turnip experiments held a couple of seasons igo, a new kind, called tho

Challenge Early Marvel, called forth a good ileal of attention, but it docs not seem to have come into general uso. It was said to be the most modern success in turnips, bring the earliest white fleshed variety ever produced. It was recommended for early lamb feed, for feeding off in November. It was stated that it would be fit for eating off five weeks after sowing, and was suitable for sowing down with grass. For catch crops, especially on ground being fallowed for wheat, it was thought that the Early Marvel would prove very useful, but it has not yet grown into anything like popularity. Haymaking is now upon us,' being some weeks earlier than is customary. [Unfortunately there will be very little. hay to cut this season. All the grass was needed for the stock. Paddocks that were left for hay have, in many instances, no weight of grass upon them, and hay that is cut from them will havo to he raked up almost as soon as it is mowed down or it will shrivel up into nothingness. May should be cut when the majority of the grasses are out in bloom. It must not bo left too long beforo cutting or the stalks will become woody, and the ground will be unnecessarily robbed ol a good deal of fertility, because it is when plants are forming seed that f hoy draw heavily upon the soil. .Scute salt should be put with the hay while it is being stacked. Dissolve the salt in water and sprinkle some of the liquid, occasionally on the stack as it is being erected.

Like tho hay, the ryegrass will be in short measure this year. Some speculative people have been buying up ali the seed th°y can get in view of a shortage next Reason. A good deal of ryegrass can be saved by means of a stripper, and farmers will be wise tr make an effort to save some seed. II will probably bo dear to buy next spring. Potatoes must be moulded as soon as they are ready. It is not always easy ui decide at what stage they should be eai thed ur>, becauso there aro a good many young plants, that have come up slowly, and there is a danger of smothering these. At the same time there may he large plants which should certainly bo moulded up. In working tho horse hoe between the rows, one can usually manage to do a certain amount of light earthing up, and- when the potato moulder is put into commission the first time it if used, a small hill should he mad' 3 . Later on a bigger ridge can be thrown up, but care must bo taken not tc injure the young potafoes which arcthen forming. Before moulding it i' advisable to hand hoe between the sets in the rows.

Mangels', swedes and carrots should bi kept free of weeds. The difficulty during the past month or two is that the weather has been too dry for these seeds to strike properly. Tho weeds. however, havo had no hesitancy in making their presence known. rik l when the seeds do make a start after a rain they find that they have to eontend with a very strong foe. B?fore the young plants mako their appearance, it is not safe to do much handhoeing for fear of digging out the seed.

Harvest will commence towards the end of December in most pa.ts, and before that on light Ir.nd. A few fine weeks in January will see the harvest well forward, because it will he much lighter to handle than was the case last year. The binders should be got ready, renewals put in. and repairs effected. Drays and harness should b<» put in order so that when harvest does commence- there will be no unnecessary delay. It is very annoying to make a start at reaping, stook threshing or fitacking, and thou find that some of the gear is not in running order.