FARMING METHODS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19476, 4 November 1926, Page 16

FARMING METHODS.

CULTIVATION OF LAND. MEED FOR THOROUGH WORK. PREPARATION OF SOIL. BY VV.S. The cultivation of land being the mainstay of modern agriculture, too much cannot be said in favour of thorough tilInge. Faulty preparation of the land is the cause of more failures than the subsequent treatment of the crop. In field conditions, this preparation cannot be so thorough, or so ideal, as in garden areas; nevertheless farming is somewhat similar in many respects to gardening, but on a much larger scale. The object of cultivation is practically the same. The genoral condition of the farm work dictates, to a great extent, the particular time when the seed shall be sown and the amount of preparatory work which shall be put on the land, therefore it is very important that the farmer fully understands what is required in order that he may make no mistakes. The preparation of the land for seeding should be governed bv two factors, by the needs of the particular plant which is to be grown, and by the character of the land. To prepare a seed bed for any crop, the habits, likes and dislikes of the plants should be studied, that is, it is not enough that land be well prepared—it should have the kind of preparation which is demanded by the crop. The preparation of the seed bed differs with the way in which the plant is propagated. Some plants are propagated by a juice or part of an underground stem or tuber, as the potato. In all these cases, the buds or eyes are surrounded by food for immediate use. This stored food gives them power to send out strong shoots and to grow for some time without having to secure moisture from the soil, but nearly ail of our cultivated crops are propagated by tiny seeds. Starting the Seed.

These start in life with little stored food, except that which is stored up in the embrayo of the seed, and therefore must quickly secure nourishment from the soil, and the land, therefore, must be very well prepared. These seeds should be planted near the surface. Generally speaking, the smaller the seed the lighter should be the covering, for if sown too deeply there will not be strength enough iu the infant plant to push its way through, or even if it does succeed in coming to the surface, it may become well nigh exhausted in doing so, and the plants under such circumstances will not thrive so well as if sown at the proper depth. Nearly all of our cultivated plants, being comparatively quick-growing, secure the larger part of their nourishment and moisture from the first, or surface foot of soil. This being so, it is seen how necessary it is to prepare the soil in the best possible manner. If the upper soil is not well prepared, the roots must search wide and deep for food. Most of the smaller plants require but a few months, in which to grow and to fruit. If, in order to secure nourishment- and moisture, the roots are Obliged to descend into the cold, hard sub-soil where the plant food is likely to be least available, neither growth nor fruitage can be satisfactory. Different plants require not only to be planted at different seasons of the year but at different depths. They demand differen methods of cultivation of the surface soil. Some do best when placed in a somewhat loose, warm soil, as for instance, oats sown in late autumn, ot early winter, while others do best when grown on fairly cold and somewhat compacted surface soil, as winter wheat. The Surface Soil. In preparing land for spring and summer sown crops it is important to start the surface-working implements at the very earliest possible date, not simply to save moisture by developing a mulch, but to aerate and warm up the surface soil, so that the nitrates may begin to develop and thus be placed in readiness for the crop which is to follow. It is this saving of moisture and the early and abundant development of soluble plant-food which is invariably associated with and the direct result of a tKorough preparation of the seed-bed, which has always led the most successful farmers to insist' upon the importance of a god seed-bed. It should ever be borne in mind that it is the early stirring of the soil rather' than the early sowing of the seed which is the all important point to be insisted upon. Nothing is gained by putting seed in a toil which is too cold or has been badly tilled. But several days may often be saved in bringing the soil to the right temperature by stirring a sufficient depth of it for the seed-bed and getting rid of the surplus water which it contains by cutting it loose from the wet soil below, and at the same time concentrating the heat from the seed in this stirred surface lavei', because loosening has made it a poor conductor to the unstirred, cold soil below it. Making an Early Start.

Even when land is not to be sown until late in the season, it is far better practice to plough as early as other labour will permit, than to leave it unstirred until near sowing time, because the early tilling develops plant-food, and gets it in readiness for the crop, because it saves moisture, because it prevents clods from forming and ensures a more perfect tilth, and because it allows one and'' sometimes • two crops of weeds to be killed before the planting. This last advantage is a very important one, because weeds can be killed much more cheaply and effectively when there is nothing on the ground in the way, and because it is very wasteful practice to permit weeds to start in a field and to use up both the moisture and the plant food which will be needed by the crop. It is much better to have the planting a little late and take 'imti enough to nave everything in the best possible condition than to rush tho seed in early and expect a full crop, Respective of the tillage. •The. importance of observing the practice here pointed out increases more and more as we pass irom the more humid climates to the semi-humid ones. Be it remembered s that it is important, not simply from the soil-moisture side, but from the plant-food side as well, for plantfood cannot be developed in the soil without the right condition of moisture, temperature ,and air, all of which are sscured by early, thorough and frequent tillage before the seed is in the ground. Frequent cultivation gives freer access of »ir, besides benefiting the root system of the plant, which also influences the bacterial processes, humification, nitrification and other beneficial changes are hastened, and injurious substances accumulated, while the soil was in an uutilled state, become harmless by oxidation.