ON THE FARM

Northern Advocate, 23 May 1928, Page 7

ON THE FARM

FIELD NOTES FOR MAY

(By J. W. Deem, Instructor in Agriculture, Wanganui.)

The rain that has fallen recently has done a wonderful lot of good both to pastures and the softening of the land to allow ploughing and other cultural operations to proceed-. May is a splendid month for sowing oats for early spring feed and for cutting later for hay or chaff. Algerians should be sown. Quantities and suitable manures were dealt with last month.

j STUBBLE LAND The ploughing of all stubble land should be pushed ahead. The stronger types of land are greatly benefited by a winter fallow, and where this is intended the furrow should be laid up rough, so as to expose as great a surface as possible to the weather. The lighter lands, that are inclined to leach with the heavy winter rains, should be sown in pasture, or if required for cropping again next year, in a quick-growing cereal, like Black Skinless, Russian or Cape Barley, or mixtures of rye-corn, oats and barley, to hold the land together and incidentally provide spring feeding.

PREPARATION FOR ROOT CROPS Where it is intended to use lea or virgin land for the mangel or carrot crops next spring, it is good practice to plough it lightly now and let it lie all the winter in fallow, to be followed with a good deep ploughing in the spring. There is not much danger of this land leaching to any extent, as the sod will hold it together. TOP-DRESSING This subject was fully discussed in notes for March and April. May is a splendid month for this work, par- j ticularly for the application of slag, basic super and mixtures of super Nauru and super bone. Super may also be put on, but if not applied before the middle of May so as to help a little with late autumn growth, there is no hurry until July and early August.

i PASTURES On many pastures, particularly dairy farms, there has been considerable accumulation of droppmgs during the past three or four months, and now that sufficient rain has fallen to soften these, the fields should have a harrowing with the tripod and chain harrows to scatter the .manure. This harrowing should not be too, severe, just ehbligh to scatter ■''the manure about. Later in the winter, these harrowings should be as severe 3s possible.

FEEDING ROOT CROPS In most districts tile root crops are going to be limited this year, and every care should be taken to see that there is as little waste as possible. Where there is any danger of a shortage, farmers would be well advised to pull and cart out instead of turning the stock on to the fields, to waste a great deal by over-gorging and tramping the roots into the mud. Swede crops should be watched carefully for dry rot, and, if there are signs of this spreading rapidly, it is best to get the roots into the stock rather than let them rot in the field in the endeavour to hold them for late winter feeding. Generally while roots are being fed pasture is resting.

GENERAL This is a good month to give attention to gateway crossings and drains so that the water will get away as quickly as possible when the real wet weather sets in. Special attention should be given to drains, particularly to mole drains, to see that the outlets are free. If this is done water will get away as fast as it filters in and save the water-logging that one so often sees on the stiffer lands. It should be recognised that there is little sense in having drains if the outlets are blocked.

dituiv next your. Congratulations were also extended by Cr J. A. 8. Mae Kay. One phase that might be viewed with a degree of alarm, he said, was the large amount of reduction in valuations, for it would affect ratepayers all over the county. Tt was generally known that the selling values of all properties had decreased during the past few years, and it was doubtless upon that account that the special valuations had been made. A solution would be to have a. general revaluation of the whole counhe generally lower and tjio rates would have to be adjusted accordingly, but it would lead to more uniformity'Mn

rating. Or F. McDonald regretted that the motion had been put, as there was a iot in it that ho did not agree with, and unfortunately he felt that he -.must, vote against it.

The motion was then carried. Or McDonald dissenting. Arising from the report, Cr L. A. Johnson proposed that stops bo taken to have a revaluation of the county made, and the* chairman agreed that it was a matter that might well be taken in hand. He and Or .1. H,'’Hayward, however, submitted that it required a good deal of preliminary consideration, and at their suggestion Cr Johnson agreed to defer the matter until a future meeting.