THE SOIL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 21 May 1914, Page 3

THE SOIL

IMPORTANCE TO FARMERS. (By W.S. in Auckland "Herald.") The oat crop is one of very great importance to New Zealand farmers. Oats, as the stapte food for horses, will always hold a place of high importance among our farm crops. Besides being the mamstay for horse feed, they are extensively u<=ed for the feeding of cattle, sheep, and pigs, as well as for human consumption. Therefore this crop receives a good deal of attention among our farming eommunitv, and holds an important position in the rotation of cropping. Oats can be used in so many different ways, which makes them all the more useful. They" are extensively grown for green food for stock, and as a valuable addition to our rotary they are a good supplementary to Che pastures, which enables the farmer, especially the smau holder, to carry more stock per acre. They are sown as a catch crop to com? n between two x cer6al or other crops, and are fed off by stock in their green tate. This, instead of impoverishing -he soil, as is usually the case when the crop is allowed to "ripen-, tends to increase the natural productiveness of the f.oll A HARDY CEREAL.

The oat is a, very hardy, -robust plant, and will withstand cold and severe <veather "better than any other cerea.. In wet districts or where the temperature is generally low it has the capacity for ripening that other cereals do not possess; in fact, the above-mentioned conditions are more favourable to its development, though the oat will thrive •inder almost any circumstances. Nevertheless, in hot, dry districts the grain 'ends to become thick in the husk and *.hin and light in the kernel, thus renderng those grown under such conditions* '.ess valuable, especially for milling purposes, when a plump eample with a comoaratively thin skin is essential. Be■ides, when grown on a dry soil in a dry climate,.. the etraw is less nutritious. whereas when soil and climate are. both -noist the- crop yields abundant and.more nutritious straw, but with a lower pronortion of grain, hence in many parts cf the South Island the oat yields a larger vield of etraw in proportion, to the grain han in the middle and northern rarts. the latter yielding a larger percentage of vuperior grain; to the- proportion of straw.

CONDITIONS FOR GROWING OATS

Abundance of soil moisture is essential to the proper development of the oat crop, and it is especially necessary that the supply of soil moisture should continue right on until near the end of the ripening season. Deep and thorough cultivation is one of the principal means of preserving soil moisture. On soils of a light, non-retentive character the surface should never, if possible, he allowed to become caked. The only .remedy for this is to harrow the crop after each heavy rain in the spring, until the heisrht of the! crop prevents this operation being continued further. A deficiency of moisture injures the "at -rop more than either wheat or barley ; *.berefore, in districts'with a low average rainfall, generally, speaking, the later crops are to he preferred. Though oats -annot be grown successfully on dry, tight soite, with a light rainfall, they nevertheless will not continue to thrive under an abundant and continuous raintall, neither do they thrive on wet, undrained soil, sodden and soured by excess of stagnant water

SOILS FOR OATS. The crop will grow on thin arid poor soils and on soils overcharged with iron better than any other cereal. The oat is very partial to nitrogen, although it will give a fair,crop on soils eo deficient in nitrogen as to be practically incapable of oroducing crops of either wheat or barley. Oats do specially well on land rich in organic matter, and nourish on deep, loamy soils with a clay, retentive eubsoil. The finest crops of oat«, alike in weight and quality, are grown on clay loams, and seed from soils of this character is - much superior to that from lighter soils. Those from the latter contain a much ler6 percentage of kernel to ruskj and as the nercentaie of kernel ranges from 75 to 95 per cent, it is apparent that the quality of grain should fv? taken into consideration. Weight per bushel has a correspond in sly wide rancre. varying from about 321b to 481b r>er "bushel. The chancing of such from otia district to another is most important and cannot be too highly recommended ; especially is this so when the change is taken from a colder climate +•« a warmer one. Oats, like potatoes, like a complete change, not only of soil, but- aleo of. climate, and will usually handsomely repav the extra., cost of freight occasioned bv obtaining seed from a distant district.

CULTIVATION OF OATS., The oat. thonprh cauable of srrowine and- viel diner cood crop.« on litarlit s°il. nevertheless responds well to cultivation and liberal manuring. This <»s "most other?, must have in liberal ouatties if it is to come to perfection the following three general, fertility elements :—Nitrogen,-ohosphoric a<"id, and ->otasb. It frequently occurs, that the soil is rich enough in one or two of these, and in that ca*e it is not npce-sary to anply all of the three. This in where a little scientific knowledge of

the chemical composition ot a sou comes in useful, as it enables the farmer to manure more profitably. If a liberal application is made of one or more elements the plant must use more of tne other elements in order to balance up its growth. It may result, therefore, that ihe addition of one element exhausts the soil of some other element. For example, ■.f heavy growth is obtained by the addition of nitrogen, the plant may need to t.raw so heavily upon the store of available phosphoric acid as to deplete the soil of that material. ' HOW TO MANURE FOR OATS. To manure profitably and successfully it is essential that that analysis of the crops taken from the land should be carefully studied and the principal ingredients restored to the soil in some i.iorm cr other. It is not always necessary to add these ingredients to the soil at "the time of sowing the said crop as for the immediate use of the crop, but it is nevertheless necessary in order to maintain the fertility of a soil to add •certain ingredients (above mentioned) in the ordinary rotation of cropping. It may be that there is sufficient of certain ingredients already in the soil to • produce the crop growing thereon, but chat in the production of that crop the I soil will be left so depleted of certain ! elements as to render it almost incapable of producing^,a full crop until those elei ments' are restored.' !