CULTIVATING THE OUT CROP.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 120, 18 May 1912, Page 3

CULTIVATING THE OUT CROP.

(By W.S., in N.Z. Herald.) Oats being one of the most useful of our cereal crops, a short1 note on this subject may prove of interest to those engaged in its cultivation. The oat, as no doubt every farmer is aware, is the best and most suitable of all fodder crops for the feeding of farm animals, being highly-nutritious and comparatively safe to feed to horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry. Its ready adaptability to various soils and climates make this crop more extremely useful for the feeding of farm animals than any other cereal. It is extensively grown for grazing as well as cutting for hay, besides being allowed to ripen for tain's cabin to find the key of one of chaffing or threshing, while for green feed it is highly esteemed, by dairyfarniers. It is cheaply and easily grown and, providing the conditions are favorable, anyone with an ordinal y amount of intelligence can cultivate a payable crop on almost any class of land. The.seasoni in which' the oat crop can be sown has a wider range than wheat or barley, there-, foro it is often put in when the season is too far advanced for sowing the otiier cereals, especially wheat. SOILS FOR OATS. Although there are certain classes of soil more favorable to their, growth they can adapt themselves better to a more varied range of- soils than perhaps any other crop. Oats, however,- i thrive best, as would be reasonably j expected, on the heavier richer soils, I but with careiul cultivation will oc- I casionally grow enormous crops on medium soil and payable crops can be grown on light shingly land. In the latter case the rainfall must necessarily be high. Oats being a deep-rooting crop, the ploughing and general cultivation should be deep and thorough; an abundance of soil moisture is essential to the^proper development of the oat crop, ana it is especially necessary that* the supply of moisture should continue right on till near the close of the ripening period. - This is greatly assisted by deep cultivation.

EFFECTS OF MOISTURE ON OATS

A deficiency in moisture injures the oat more than either wheat or barley, and. the cultivation of the latter crops is to be preferred in all districts liable to suffer from drought on dry soils. We snoukl bear in mind, however, that while the oat , crop 'cannot be cultivated successfully unless under an abundant and continuous rainfall, neither does it succeed on wet^ undrained soil^, sodden and soured by excess of stagnant water; but if the supply of moisture is right the crop, will grow better on thin and on poor soils than any other cereal. Oats will come anywhere in a rotation, and •is most useful for sowing down with grass in autumn or spring. On medium or light land maray prefer to sow the oats in the autumn and sow the grass on the growing crop inthe spring:, and excellent results are usually obtained in this way;'others defer sowing until the' spring, then sow the grass seed with the oats. OATS AFTER TURNIPS. Providing the conditions are favor^ able this practice also has its. advantages, particularly when following turnips, as this crop usually occupies the land until too late in the season to put in any other crop. As each break is fed it. usually gets a stroke of the cultivator, acid .when "there is aVI large enough piece ready it is ploughed in readiness for the'drill. Cultivating before the plough has two important advantages, namely, j rooting out the shells of the turnips ; that are in the ground too deep for the sheei> to reach, and secondly, j there will be more even distribution j of manure fromv the droppings of the j sheep. '

SHALLOW PLOUGHING Breaking up' the crust retains the manure in the surface soil instead of being allowed to get dry and blow about the field, in which case the major part of it drifts into the hollows, or more often, in windy districts, does not stop until arrested by the fence, where large quantities of this valuable manure is to be found, and which often does more harm than good, instead of being evenly distributed over the field. Cultivation of the surface also conserves the manurial ingredients of the urine, which is another important item, whereas, if left uncultivated for any length of time, the greater portion will, evaporate and be lost. If the teams can be. spared it pays to give the land a second, or even third, stroke of the scarifier previous to ploughing. OATS AND GRASS. If the farmer considers a good plant of grass is of more importance than a higher yield of oats, the latter method is no doubt best, but the grain crop will be sacrificed to a. certain degree by leaving the sowing until the spring. Firstly, the season for growing crops will be shortened, and in nine cases out of ten autumn crops <3;ive. the highest yield per acre; secondly, by sowing the ' grass and clovers with the oats if the strike is good the plants will cover the whole of the surface, and in this way will rob the oat crop of a good deal of its plant food. TIME TO SOW OATS. Of course, autumn-sown crops that are sown down to grass in the spring also suffer Considerably through., the roots of the smaller plants clinging round those of the oat crot>, but in a much less degree than if sown on equal terms. The reason for this is not difficult to explain. . Oat!s sown in autumn will h*ivr> m^le a wort deal of g: voivtb, by spring, tiie roots of

the plants will have penetrated deep-^ ly into the ground, and also taken up a substantial hold with the sideroots, and is therefore in a'better position to withstand the ravages of the lesser plants of the grasses and clovers, so in the majority of cases, when grasses are sown in the spring on the autumn-sown oats, the latter will take the lead a.nd keep it, and although, this method has many advantagesl over the other the grasses must necessarily suffer in favor of the oat crop. If, however, the season is favorable, though the grass may have ! suffered by being kept in'check by i the growing crop, if not stocked-too ' heavily after the crop is cut, and is allowed time to recover, there will usually be a~good plant of grass. COMBINED CROPS. Taking the value of,the combined crops, I am much in favor of this ! method of sowing down.. The yield !of oats will be considerably higher, I and in a favorable season the- grass i and clovers will grow profusely in the ] growing crop, and with a little care, ' grow into an excellent pasture. It . has often come under my notice that fields sown this way were so luxuriant t ,that when fJhe crop was being har- | vested' the machines could noti be ' raised high enough to miss cutting the clover. On the other band ,Jf i sown all together in the spring the grass and clovers have no doubt a . hotter chance tr> flourish, but the oat crop will rarely, if ever, give

such a heavy yield, so, by taking into account the increased value of tlie better plant of grass (although, wheii circumstances permit, I am in favor of the former method), there is not st> much .difference between the two methods a sone at first might be ted to imagine. Many fanners "will follow the latter . method in preference to the former.