TALKS WITH PEACTICAL DAIRY FARMERS.

Northern Advocate, 8 May 1914, Page 2

TALKS WITH PEACTICAL DAIRY FARMERS.

SOME "ISHMAELS" OF OUE PAS

TURES.

(By Alan McNeil.)

And how niauy "Isbmaels" there are in New Zealand pastures, and they are ever on the increase.

Grasses and plants that have all the evil distinguishing features of weeds —

in that they come without' our leave and stay against our wills, and often our persistent efforts to get rid of them. They are against every man and every man's hand is against them; they monopolise our lands to the exclusion of more valuable grasses, and the pasture that they give often appears insignificant. This talk shall be devoted to the consideration of some of these "Ishmaels," and in the course of our remarks we propose to show that there is more good iv the "Ishmaels ,, than is generally supposed in the first place, and in the second place the wrong method is generally adopted for getting rid of these unwelcome visitors.

Of the whole "Ishmael" tribe perhaps no member has been so cursed as the '' Couch.'' How greatly has it added to the expense of breaking up a field —the presence of this grass? How often has the succeeding crop been

KUiothereil by its incomplete eradication. in the process of cultivation? Those awful roots, that appear to possess a thousand lives, surely this grass might be almost named the "Deathless Grass," .and how it is hated; yet in India Couch is venerated. It is considered sacred on account of its great ability to resist drought. So great is its vitality, and so dense isits net work or roots under the ground that it is able to defy week after week the burning rays of the mid-summer sun. When other grasses are burnt biscuit brown, Couch is green —observant farmers will have noticed this., A field of Couch has ofteu saved the situation for a farmer in a bad drought. It has to be remembered too,/that Couch will grow on very light .poor soils —soils which burn up quicker.than richer and more loamy ones. Couch may not prove particularly obnoxious to the farmer until he starts to break up; then it shows its teeth and no mistake. In this respect it is very like the Paspalum-—a friend to the grazier and a plague to the agriculturist. There are four ways of exterminating this grass, and it depends entirely upon the circumstances and conditions surrounding each particular eaae, which is the best. It depends largely upon the sort of farming that is bemcT gone in, for on a farm.

We, will begin with the first method because it is very simple, and is the one frequently adopted. It is called the summer fallow. The land is ploughed and well worked. The Couch brought to the surface for summer sun to wither. The disc, however, plays an important part in this operation. The land should be skimmed, ploughed about Christmas, then crossed ploughed to cut the sod into squares, and bring it on to the surface.' The disc can then be got to work to cut these sods into ribbons and finally the tines used to work everything to the surface. For this purpose the adjustable tines are preferable because, for one thing, they bring the roots and sod particles to the surface much better, the tines being adjusted to a slight forward pitch —and for another thing the harrows don't get blocked with rubbish, as by moving the lever the tine points are thrown back and the rubbish left behind. It is necessary to give a turn of the harrows every few days, and especially after a shower of rain, until every particle of root and sod is absolutely dead sxnrl withered. Bape can then be sown, cr.'.l generally doas splendidly, because in the first place' the ground has been thoroughly well worked, and' in the next place all the deacl particles, of. sod and root begin to rot when the autumn showers commence and decay very rapidly when the broad leaves of the rape plant shade the ground. This decaying sod supplies the young rape with an . abundant supply of nitrogen, and enables it to make a strong and rapid growth. What was an enemy then, is converted into a friend in the shape of a valuable manure. ' If cocksfoot and red clover are then sown in the spring with 3cwt. of basic slag after feeding the rape off with sheep, the Couch will

•hot trouble the farmer .again for many a long year. Of course this # method of eradication cannot be adopted if the summer is a damp one. Something of a drought is needed to make a thorough success of the summer fallow.

The next method is the cleaning crops, and the success of this method depends largely upon the kind of summer. It also depends largely upon the crop put in. Perhaps one of the best is maize. It is no good planting it in rows, however. The field must be marked off like a chessboard and the maize planted at the intersections. The cultivator can then be worked both ways. A very great deal depends, too, upon how the land is prepared before the maize is put in. The land should be treated in the same way as in the first method,, only it should be broken up earlier. The harrow can be worked fr*om time to time until the end

Loud rolls the drum, with a rum-tum- ' turn,

The bugles blare, but our boy's not there; c He is home in bed With an aching head. He did not parade (By the 'flu' delayed)— Big musters assure With Woods' Peppermint Cure.

of November, when the maize is planted. After the plants are well up and got a good hold of the ground, the harrows can be kept going, and if the weather is dry, as is likely, a lot of the Couch will die during the first few weeks of the crop's growth, and the regular use of the cultivator afterwards will settle the rest. This sec eond method is the best, or one of the best, for the dairy farmers, because he cannot afford to do without a dry weather crop for his cows.

The third method may be described as the "Smothering Method." There are several crops which can be successfully used for this purpose, and one of the best for the dairy farmers' purpose is the vetch. After it has done its work it can.either be ploughed in to enrich the. ground —first putting the roller over the crops to flatten it—or it can be used as a soiling crop, or made into ensilage. Tn this case the land must be worked up in June or July, prepared in the same way as described before, and a good thick seeding of summer tares or vetch put in, about eight bushels to the acre. If the land is very light, the sand vetch, instead of the golden, should be sown. Buckwheat is also a grand crop for smothering weeds, and has this advantage that it will nourish in poor soil. It should be sown at the rate of three bushels to the acre, after all danger of frost is over. The seed is a splendid poultry food. It thrives well upon similar land to Couch—that is to say, light, poorish dry soil—and for this reason is worth considering as a smother crop. This method, too, is a good one for the dairy farmers inasmuch as it provides them with a lot of cow food. Buckwheat can also be made

into ensilage.

The fourth method is a much slower one, but is a convenient one in many respects —especially if the farmer does not want to plough up the field. This may be described as the "Topdressing" method. It consists of concentrating a large number of animals in the field—using it as a night paddock, a gathering paddock for the herd when they are waiting to be milked —a paddock for feeding out green crops in winter. The object, in fact, is to gather as much animal manure as possible on the surface and keep the harrows going (chain) from time to time, scattering this manure. A top-dreSs-inv ( of basic slag in winter, too, will help immensely. It will then be found that every year the better grasses and clover will become more numerous and the Couch will gradually disappear. It is very much more quickly got rid of on a farm where soiling is practised because more stock can be kept, and there is always some crop being fed out to the cows; obviousely, where this is so the whole herd can be concentrated on any particular field, whether there is pasture there for them or not. The presence of Couch is an indication generally of deficiency of humus in the soil, so the farmer must set to work to make

good this deficiency, because - all the best grasses must have this valuable substance to thrive, and as the supply runs down, so do inferior grasses and weeds make their appearance. If the strength of the soil is kept built up the best grasses will -be sufficiently nourished to enable them to retain possession of the field. A surprising number of weeds and inferior grasses are only really troublesome when the condition of the land has been allowed to run down. Just as a body covered.with boils indicates poverty of blood —so does a pasture full of weeds indicate in the greet majority of cases a povertystricken conditions of the soil. This fact was brought home to the writer with great force many years ago. A

' oor pummice paddock had been laid down in best grasses, but weeds were very soon in evidence more than grass —Hawke weed —rib grass, fog, and sorrel. In disgust we converted it into a gathering paddock, and 50 cows congregated twice a day for four years. It was then pure rye grass and clover. No artificial manure had been put on."N.Z. Dairyman."