SPRING FEED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8546, 28 March 1908, Page 7

SPRING FEED.

'recommendation for JFAKMEKS.: INTERVIEW WITH MR W. LOWlillfi. ; The dearth of feed for autumn and winter has made it ail the more necessary that more attention should be paid to putung in catch crops for spring: toed., The weaiher is now favourable tor this work, and as Mr W. Lowrie, director of Canterbury Agricultural College, had in conversation referred to the use of artificial manures in connection with crops now being sown, he kindly g.aVc his views in more extended 1 form. "There are good this year," said Mr Lowrie, "for making an effort to provide a larger area of green crops for early spring reed. The spring sown grasses of last year • have failed extensively and are so thin where they have not failed as scarcely to be worth saving. These young grasses will be missing in the spring for they would have offered the earliest bite on the pastures, and an awkward break has therefore to bo met. The main crop of turnips even where they have survived the want of moisture and those supervening pests —the aphis and the diamond backed moth — will grow woody and in-nutritious. They will keep stock alive, but their carrying capacity and fattening value will be much impaired. Of course the fine soaking rains that have just fallen will help to save late turnips where a plant has been secured, and will, help to save late turnips where a plant has been secured, and will, help to justify the I sowing of turnips on the heels of the first rain so late as the end of the first week of March, as was done 'on , some farms, the College farm among them, this year. But on the whole there is' urgent need for going full steam ahead with the work of sowing green crops. Every week's - delay considerably lessens the value of such' wops in the spring now that the soil has a sufficiency of moisture in it, and an extra effort with the teams will bo well repaid. "I take it that two of the essentials towards a successful and profitable catch i crop for spring forage are early sowing and liberal manuring. The plant gets going while the soil is warmer, and encouraged by the manure, it roots most freely and grows most vigorously throughout, but. especially in the coldwr weather. This is no doubt partly accounted for by the fact that at, say six inches deep, the mean temperature of the soil is higher than at one inch deep during the colder half of the year. The cost of the manure (9s or 10s) per acre bulks largely against the total value of the forage, but the outlay is well justified, as every week earlier in the spring the crop can be fed, the higher is its value. The cost of the manure, hoivever, is really to be debited only in small part to the catch crop, as the processes of nitrification proceed slowly during the winter months, and the phosphates not assimilated ,are not leached from the soil. The residual value of the manure passed forward to the succeeding main crop is considerable; and further, as the crop is fed down generally on the land, the. increascd'weight so fed correspondingly benefits the land. Of manures which might be used, a top dressing of nitrate of soda when the crop has started, to force tho vegetative growth, and superphosphate or basic slag with the seed, would be the desirable treatment, but tho price of nitrate of soda is practically prohibitive, and until the demand for it grows to an extent to justify the importing of it direct from the Pacific coast of South America, it is out of the question. It may be that ere long some of- our rivers will be harnessed, and a cheaper supply of nitrates for farmers made available, but in the meantime it is needless to talk nitrate of soda. The manures to be, recommended as things are are superphosphate, basic slag, and the mixtures/ supplied by the freezing companies, and I would suggest Igcwt per acre of either superphosphate or basic slag, and jjewt of kale manure, carefully mixed, as a suitable dressing on the average. The mixing is desirable, as tho freezing companies' manure with superphosphate makes the mixture run freely in the drill, and saves annoyance and delay through coulters blocking. " Of varieties of seed suitable for catch crops, the range from which one may select is wide, ■ and a variety is an advantage. I may mention theso among others: — 1. Italian rye grass. . 2. Sutton's giant rye corn. 3. Cape barley. 4. Cape barley and vetches. 5. Dun oats. 6. White- oats and vetches. 7. Garfon oats and mustard.- " Of these crops, Italian ry,e grass on this farm proves invariably the most valuable. Its grazing capacity is much greater than any other crop or mixture that I have* tried, really more than double that of any other. Indeed, it will carry nearly as many stock as barley or oats for the time that these are being fed. and will- continue to carry them right through till Christmas, when the oats or barley have long been fed out. For • good land there is nothing yet introduced to equal Italian rye for spring feed, and one cannot recommend it too strongly. On .the College farm we have nearly seventy acres of it sown so far, and about thirty acres still to sow. It is a mistake, however, to sow Italian rye grass as a catch crop to be ploughed up for, say, turnips when first fed down, as it grows so vigorously, takes so much out of the land, and exhausts the moisture in the spring so thoroughly that the turnips following it rarely succeed. As against this, however, it has these great advantages: while giving a big bulk of forage in the spring, it can bo left to be grazed for two years, when its carrying capacity up till midsummer will far exceed the best permanent pastures, and after that time will equal perennial rye. The stock can be taken out in November, and a heavy crop of hay secured, or- it can be saved for ■seed, when the return from it will nearly equal that from a fair crop of wheat, while the heavy .stocking that it will carry from the middle of August J till the beginning ' of November eases the pastures and admits of their getting a good start for the seasan. I take it that Italian ryegrass on good land in good heart (and if not in good heart it should bo made so) is the alpha and the omega of tin- matter of spring feed. But it must for best, results be sown early—in the end of, February or in March —and sown thickly. " When sown up to two bushels or over per acre it seems to shelter itself, and without question grows better through the winter. When wo can get going in the autumn in good season with our ryegrass sowing we generally sow clovers and cocksfoot with tho Italian for an ordin- j ary, temporary, or three years' pasture, but in that case tho quantity of Italian must be much reduced; say to one bushel or at most 251b, as it smothers when sown more thickly tho clovers and slowgrowing young grasses, but after the middle of March we generally sow Italian rye straight to be cut for hay or seed after spring feeding , , and lifted after one year, and in that case thick seeding- is desirable. "Dun Oats. —Next to Italian rye this is probably the most desirable crop to sow for spring feed. Stock eat it readily, and it stands more grazing than most other varieties of oats. Last year we sowed a mixture of Italian 'rye and Dun oats, but found that thp sheep cropped the Italian to the ground and passed the oats, while the oats grew but poorly, being beaten by the Italian, and wo came to tho conclusion that Italian alone would have been more satisfactory. -~ On another field we had Dun oats without admixture. .They offered good grazing, though later, and after being heavily feJ down and fed relatively late thev harvested over 70 bushels to the acre. But- these oats must be sown early and have a good dressing of manure under them for best results, and in a good season, when growing rankly, there is danger of their going down at harvest. The risk

can be lessenecf or avoided by.... feeding" so much the later,. though Aould dry wsather- supervene the yield,, oi course, will suffer by late feeding. Of the cereals I think Dun oats ar<?_ to bo preferred when they can be got k» early and the l'and is in condition -t'o , germinate them right away. It is an' advantage that this crop can be fed! in the spring and yet be more than a catch crop in that after prolonged feeding it will still return a useful weight of finest quality oatsheaf for chaff or can be threshed. Varieties "of white oats will not stand the feeding that Dun oats thrive under, and although they come quicker they do not yield in the end as much feed, and if fed hard must be ploughed up, and the land must be devoted to another crop. Oats of the Tartarian varieties, some of the Black oats and Sparrowbills' and Algerians, givo a big buLk- of feed- in the spring, but the feed is apparently not so healthy. Stock- scour more readily on such oats than on. Duns, and some of them, when green, are unpalatable to sheep. I have had to take ewes and lambs off Black- oats, as the feeding of them was drying off the ewes through their doing so badly on them. Algerians, also, are not palatablo to stock when green, and Algerian chaff, when cut on the green side, is certainly unpalatable" to horses. Of all the oats I know Duns seem preferable, but they require, I will say again, early sowing and a good helping of manure. "For poorer soils Giant rye corn is well worth a trial. It is worth two of ordinary. rye corn for the- purpose of ! spring feed, as it comes earlier—very nearly as quickly as Cape barley—and yields much more feed. Rye must be kept fed down as long as it is wanted for grazing, as stock pass it when it g*cts beyond the shot blade. On the light turnip lands and colder shallower soils, this variety of rye will be found to yield a useful amount of feeding, and to justify the trial of it. Ordinary rye I would pass. ■' ■ "Cape barley offers perhaps the earliest spring feed, and while it lasts is much relished by stock, and is a .healthy, useful feed, but it.will not carry the quantity of stock that Dun oats or Giant rye will carry, and, like white oats, is not satisfactory to leave for grain after being hard fed. It generally succumbs to the dry weather of spring after such feeding, and is not worth saving. If fed lightly it will, how6ver, yield a heavy harvest of grain, but when sown early enough to be of value for feed in the spring, if fed lightly, it comes into ear "ahead altogether of other crops, ' and draws birds from all points of the compass to the extent that it cannot be allowed to stand to ripen, as the birds !.wilt talie the lot. A small aroa of Cape barley is useful for first feeding ior for soiling for cattle in the spring; I indeed, for dairy cattle, from this point of view it is probably the most useful of the cereals —and when sown at 3 bushels per acre, with 2cwt of manure under, it, it will yield a most valuable cutting for cows to keep the early calves going until grass is a good bite. But it is more usefulto the dairy farmer than tho sheep farmer. ( "Oats and vehicles. —The mixture is more useful for dairying than sheep husbandry, a.3 by feeding down the full value*of the vetches is not obtained. There is no question, however, that mucli more use of the vetch should be made than now obtains. It is a most valuable forage, and at tho same j time has a marked improving influence ' on the soil. The high price of the seed, and the wholesome dread of wild tares in the wheat, have accounted for its neglect, but now, with the cheap pea harvester attachment, which, can bo fixed on the ordinary grass mower, there is no reason why a small area of vetches for seed should not be sown on most farms, as they can be harvested as easily as peas, .and with sheep so general on every farm now there is not the same danger of fouling the land that held in the past, when cereal growing was more extensive, and sheep a less important adjunct. On every dairy farm a block of this mixture should bo sown for cutting into hay for chaffing and steaming, and for the sheep-farmer the grazing of oats and vetches will be found very fattening and forcing. Though from the point a little, it may be mentioned here that with seed available of his own growing, vetches might be sown with rape- for summer forage with admirable results. The most useful .vetch to sow is probably the large or *" Gore vetch.

. " Oats and Mustard.—For the mixture an early oat is, of" course, to be preferred, and I have generally used on this farm the Garton oat. The mixture sown last year as late as the 20th of April nroved most valuable in tho spring. We sowed a full seeding of o«at3. drilled with 2 cwt. of superphosphates, and broad-casted over this 41b or 51b of white mustard. The feed proved very healthy, and came in in the spring and early summer in great good stead, as .things eventuated. It 'carried ton owe hoggets to the acre till some weeks after shearing. T-he mixture is to be preferred to mustard alone, and when sown early it will be found well worth recommendation. Dry sheep will keep the mustard from seeding , without being pinched on it, and it will help to shift worms, Jfrom . wjiieh, on heavy land, hoggets are apt to suffer. If fed hard down and ploughed up for turnips, this mixture will be found to injure the following crop less than almost any other catch crop, as it comes so early as to allow of the land being worked before the winter's moisture has been lost. As a catch crop proper, this mixture deserves a prominent place. "There is thus plenty of variety Jiom which to draw for winter catch crops, and this year undoubtedly every farmer will be alive to the importance of [>rovidintr, as far as lies in his powflr, ■ something to fill the hiatus in feed likely to occur in tho spring He will do that the more successfully if he begrudges not the manure, and gets his seeds in early, and will uncloubtodlj- find the outlay profitably returned in due time."