SMALL FARMING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 168, 17 June 1936, Page 17

SMALL FARMING

COLYTON SETTLER’S SUCCESS. SEEL) GROWING ACTIVITIES. DISEASE RESISTANT STRAIN. Claimed to constitute record returns for production income per acre in New Zealand, a Colyton fannlet consisting of 11 acres of rich silt deposits on river terrace land and thirteen acres of thirdrate grass-covered shingle bed, returned a gross income of £550 to its owner last year. The owner is Mr C. Wileock who, by his peiseverance, industry, and complete attention to detail, has found the key to success in small farming practice by specialising in the raising of disease-free seed. WONDERFUL RETURNS. Last year he received a cheque for £315 for ‘2 tons 16 ewt. of swede seed taken off three acres. Disease-free beans grown on If acres of land brought him another £7O, and with ten cows he took 30001 b of butterfat off the poor class land. Eleven tons of potatoes to the aero were produced on another part of the property. This intensive cultivation has proved to be so profitable that its exponent has not the slightest intention of reverting to farming on a butterfat basis as long as he can dispose of his seed, which is stated by research officers to be superior in quality to that of importations. This outstanding success has not been achieved by mere ploughing and cultivation. There are many other factors, not the least of which are patience and the steady acquisition of experience. The seed growing on this property has been carried out with specially selected mother seed obtained from the Plant Research Station, and has been grown in strict compliance with instructions. This year some 3f acres of disease-free swede seed have been under crop, last year’s paddock used for this purpose having been ploughed and sown in oats for feeding off in the spring, after which it will be planted with potatoes and beans. Following upon this it will be sown in grass, after which it will have recovered sufficiently to be ploughed up again for the growing of swede seed. Labour charges are comparatively light, and the work involved, it is stated, is hot nearly as arduous as for other phases of farming operations. WINTER FODDER CROP. Because it is fed out in the critical month of July, the swede provides the most valuable fodder crop in New Zealand. It does well almost every(Concluded in next column).

where, from the light pumice soils of Auckland province to the heavy clays of Southland. On mixed fariiis it is an essential crop in a balanced rotation, and on pioughable hill country it is unrivalled as a provider of winter feed. The full utilisation and maintenance of pasture depend on an adequate supply of stock to cope with the spring growth, and swedes provide one of. the best and cheapest fodders to carry that stock over the lean winter months. The swede is thus of great national importance in maintaining the average stock-carrying capacity of the Dominion. Of" recent yea.s, however, the area sown to swedes has steadily declined, and this for one reason only—the fear of disease. The two diseases of swedes—dry-rot and club-root—have become so widespread in incidence and so destructive in effect that the swede has become a risky and often unprofitable crop, to be replaced where possible by other less satisfactory but more certain fodders. Owing to disease it is no longer safe to grow more than one crop of swedes in several years on any piece of land, ar.rl tiie continual breaking up of established pasture, even where sufficient pioughable land is available, makes the cost and inconvenience of the crop more than it is worth. Investigations into the problem of these two diseases, extending over many years, have now brought certain facts to light:— (1) Dry-rot infection is carried in the seed.' If seed free from the disease is sown on land that has not carried a diseased crop for the past two seasons, nor is in the neightbourhood of swedes or turnips grown from infected seed, then the resultant crop will remain free from dry-rot. ( l 2) Club-root can he practically controlled by the use of certain varieties or strains of swede which are highly resistant to the disease, if certain precautions are taken in the sowing. It is therefore of great importance that adequate supulies of guaranteed dry-rot-free seed of club-root-resistant strains should be available to the farmers of New Zealand. SPECIAL MOTHER SEED. Based upon personal investigations made bv a New Zealand mycoiogical expert m England, experimental work was undertaken at the Plant Research Station in Palmerston North to discover the best methods for the production if high quality disease-ine> seed, the outcome being the Wilhelmsburger strain, the result of selection of good type bulbs that had shown complete freedom from c üb-root on very heavily artificially infected land. This is the seed which has been used by Mr M'ileock. AVilhclmsburger swede is a g ren top yellow-flesheu swede of good shape, sitting well out of the

ground, firm texture and excellent keeping qualities. Its foliage is less subject to insect attack than most other swedes, though eaten readily by sheep. It is a good cropper, not so heavy as varieties of the Superlative type on rich land, but as good or better where conditions suit it. Its special claim to notice, however, is its. quality of resistance to club-root disease. In Denmark, where the variety originated, and in Great Britain, . Canada, and New Zealand repeated trials have shown that it possesses this quality in greater measure than any other swede in commerce. No swede lias yet been found which is absolutely immune to this disease, and, on heavily infected land following a diseased crop where conditions favour the onslaught of the disease, Wilhelmsburger may show a high degree of infection, hut there will be some feed at least from it iilicie there would he none from any other variety. Under conditions of moderate infection. Willielmsburger will show very little loss of feed where most other varities will show almost a total loss. This swede is therefore held to be the safest to grow, even on freshly broken ground, on farms where clubroot has obtained a hold. MARKED POSSIBILITIES.

High per-acre value, large requirement of family labour, and low cost of equipment, make seed-raising under specially supervised conditions an eminently suitable and profitable activity under the small farm plan. It is amazing how little it has been realised that here is being laid the foundation of a new industry of great potentiality. With careful control, and active Government encouragement, this is an industry which not only could make New Zealand independent of imports of seed, but be developed into an export trade, apart from reduction of the enormous annual economic loss caused by seed-borne plant diseases. Seed from the Colyton farm, when sown at the Massey College experimental area, demonstrated its vitality and high degree of immunity from club-root disease in a striking manner. It was put down in every third row with other varieties. To-day the latter are all rotted or decaying root husks, but the Wilhehnsburger swedes are still flourishing, though subjected to an equally strong disease attack. It is a convincing exhibition of their resistance powers, because their cruciferous heads stand out like an oasis in the desert. During the Inst two years swedes have been attacked by a new virus disease known as turnip mosaic, but once again the Wilhehnsburger strain has shown its resistance by continuing to grow where swedes grown from other seed have wilted and rotted. There should be a very strong market demand for a seed of such capabilities now that a start has been made in producing it on a, commercial scale.