MANGOLD GROWING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 246, 14 September 1935, Page 4

MANGOLD GROWING

FEILDING COMPETITIONS. EXTENSION' DESIRED. A lengthy discussion took place at a meeting of the Feilding branch of the Farmers’ Union, yesterday afternoon, regarding the mangold growing competition conducted by the branch. The opinion was expressed that whilst the competitions had done an immense amount of good, an extension of the activities was desirable so as to reach those farmers who up to the present have not availed themselves of the experience to ho gained from participating. The outcome of the meeting was a decision to appoint a committee to confer with the officers of the Department of Agriculture as to the host method of extending the competition for next year.

Mr J. H. Mason (president of the branch) was in the chair and among those present were Messrs R. P. Connell and O. Galpin (Department of Agriculture, Palmerston North). The report on the result of the competition was published in yesterday’s “Standard.” Mr Mason said it had been most successful, both from the point of view of entries and the yields. For the coming year he understood that the departmental officers had suggestions to make for the extension of the competition and all would he glad to hear their remarks. At this stage the president introduced Mr H. A. Hancock, the winner of the present and the past year’s competition, and congratulated him on his success.

Replying, Mr Hancock said he hoped to be successful next, year as well, the honour of winning being one he was very proud of. At the request of the president Mr Galpin read the report to the meeting at this stage. Enlarging on his report, Mr Galpin said there was no doubt that the competitions were doing good, as witness the steadily increased average yield. Recently, however, lie had been wondering whether enough interest was being maintained in the competitions and after four years’ work with them he had come to the conclusion that there was not. This was surprising for, in other districts, such competitions created wide interest; yet in the Feilding area only the same consistent competitors seemed to come forward. Mr Galpin did not wish to he critical and hoped his remarks woidd be accepted in the spirit in which they were offered.

Mr Connell congratulated the branch on the success of the competition, hut none the less he felt that there was much truth in Mr Galpin’s remarks. To the speaker, however, talking to those present appeared to be like lecturing the converted for practically all of them were competitors. All knew, however, that there were hundreds of crops grown that did not reach even 40 tons per acre and these farmers were the ones he hoped to reach. Whether anything could be done for the coming year remained to be seen, and possibly some guidance could be obtained from other districts. In themselves the records of the competition, carried out in a season that presented ' exceptional difficulties, had been v#ry i enlightening and instructive, and served to show what a valuable fodder root , the mangold had demonstrated itself | to be. It had always been the speaker’s firm conviction/ even during the grass fanning boom, that there was a real need for crops, and he claimed that the past season alone had borne out his contention. Mr Connell went on to quote figures obtained from experiments at Mur ton to illustrate the need there was for cropping, particularly in the case of the dairy farmer. It did not matter, he said, how good the pasture was; it would not grow grass when it was cold and wet, although of course the good pacture responded better than the poor pasture when growing conditions improved. It showed, however, that there was a general need for a levelling up of the conditions to meet stock food requirements during the dead period, and this could

only be obtained, by good and consistent cropping. Touching on the enlarging of the local competitions, Mr Connell suggested that an effort we made to gel more competitors and also to branch out in fresh ventures. For the dairymen, for instance, there was the question of crops for pigs, this in itself offering a wide field of choice, particularly at the moment when every attention had to he paid to the pork and bacon industry. For the sheep farmer there was also room for development and extension by way of' the improvement of pasture lands. It was a big question and one which the speaker felt the branch could profitably make investigations into. Speaking to Mr Connell’s remarks, Mr A. J. Baxter said the feature which appealed to him in the whole matter was that it was only the good farmers who took the trouble to go in for the competition. If there was a field day for farmers the good farmers generally wont while those lor whom the demonstrations would be most useful remained at home. ,

SOWING OF CROP

At tlio request of Mr J. B. Bradley particulars as to how lie sowed his crop were given by Mr Hancock. The manure, he said, was put in the drills by a potato sower and the mangold seed sown later by hand. Every attention was paid to keeping weeds down, Mr Hancock being convinced that in many cases half the good of the manure went into growing weeds. Mr Connell supported Mr Hancock’s remarks regarding hand sowing, stating that on many farms where the labour was available splendid results were being obtained by this method. The president mentioned the fact that Mr Hancock used four cwt of salt betwen the drills. It was well known, he said. that mangolds were a coastal crop and the use of salt appeared to be beneficial to them. Mr B. McLeod supported this view and spoke also on the need for implement makers to produce a machine that would allow several rows of mangolds to be sown at 22-in width. Mr Hancock’s results had shown this to be a satisfactory width and implement makers should recognise the lact. Mr Baxter queried whether all the horses could negotiate a 22-in row. A lot of damage would be done to a grown crop by the hoyse in a 22-in drill.

Giving further particulars of the cost of his crop, Mr Hancock said he liad used five cwt of manure per acre, this costing £7 10s; 4cwt of salt at £3 per ton, and five pounds per acre of seed at 3s 3d per pound. 'The labour of sowing and thinning, etc., had been done by Air Hancock and his two sons, and tho cost of this he estimated at £25 10s, the whole lot costing about £l2 per acre. The yield of the crop was 144 tons per acre which worked out at 12 tons of mangolds for £l. Mr Bradley said ho estimated the cost of his crop at about £l2 per acre, and ho obtained a yield of 50 tons per acre. Soil conditions of course were vastly different but the value of. tho returns was easily seen. If every farmer could be got to enter the competitions he was satisfied that the yield in- the district would easily double.

At the suggestion of tho chairman i the meeting then set up a committee I consisting of Messrs Mason, Baxter, and Bichardson to confer with the departmental oificers with a view to bringing down recommendations for the enlarging of the competitions. On the motion of the chairman a vote of thanks was accorded the departmental officers for their assistance in the competition. It was also decided to forward a letter of congratulation to the first seven placed competitors. The meeting agreed not to accept an offer of a seed company to conduct a competition for a cup donated by it, conditional upon the company’s seed being used. HA LOOM BE COMPETITION. A report was furnished by the departmental officers on tho results of

the competition sponsored by the Hal(combe branch uf the Farmers’ Union, the competition being open only to Halcombo members although run in conjunction with the Feilding competition. The results were announced as follow:—E. W. Barnett. Tokorangi (2114pts), 1; P. Green, Stanway (199ipts), 2; W. J. Mills, Tokorangi (178pts). 3. The winner’s success was attributed to good cultivation phis liberal seeding and manuring. The winning crop was sown with 71b of seed per acre. Superphosphate was given in two dressings of 2ewt per acre each, one with the seeding and the other after thinning. The crop was handliocd at thinning and horse-hoed eight times. The report concluded with the statement that the competitions were a valuable and practical means of giving publicity to the possibilities of cheap fodder production bv the utilisation of certain crops and there appeared to he room for further expansion of the smveinent. | ======