FARM & STATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1640, 28 April 1883, Page 6

FARM & STATION.

EXPERIMENTS WITH MAIZE.

That inaizo or Indian corn can be successfully grown in Otago as an herbage or forage plant admits of no manner of doubt. To be of much value in this respects, however, it requires to be tised in the earlier stages of its growth, as on its beginning to flower the stem becomes too hard for the cattle. Its rank as a food for producing fat or quantity and quality of milk requires a considerable amount of careful experiment to determine. Cows eat the blades and soft stems with great avidity, and available analyses show it to be very nutritive. In the altered circumstances of climate and soil in this province the constituents of the plant may undergo a change which can only be tested by practical and scientific experiment.

Whether it can be profitably ripened as a "corn" for the different preparations into which it is converted in America also requires further and more extended experiment. So far back as 1849 Mr Pliny Miles, an American, who visited Britain in that year, brought with him a barrel of seed procured from the farthest north latitude in which it is ripened in that Continent, aud which he distributed for experiment among several scientific agriculturists, amongst whom were the late Prince Albert, the Duke of Norfolk, and others, who succeeded in ripening the produce. Experiments made in Scotland were not successful, nor have they since succeeded there. Neither in England nor the south of Ireland has the growth of the plant taken a firm footing. With the superior climate we enjoy, and considering, moreover, that in the southern portion of Canterbury successful results have beon attained, it is well worth the attention of Olagan farmers to give ie a fair trial. With the advantages of climate the Oamaru, Dunstan, and Lake districts possess over our seaboard south from Dunediu, the acclimatisation of the maize should be a matter of course, as in our experiments here, although not absolutely successful this year, the result is so far favourable as to induce continued and more extensive trial. The high winds which so often prevail are the worst enemies with which we have to contend, but to overcome this difficulty sheltered situations must be selected.

The maize is supposed to be indigenous to South America, and certainly it was the only cereal grown there at the time of its discovery. Wheat is also considered to have been originally a native of Africa and Southern Asia, although now it is the most generally diffused of all our grains, not only being cultivated in temperate latitudes, but in very hot and very cold climates, extending in Europe even to ths inhospitable shores of Lapland. Maize has similarly been extending in the range of countrios in which it is aucccbaf ully produced, being a staple among the products of Canada. There is, therefore, every reason to expect that it may be so far naturalised here by repeated growing as to thrive as well as other hardier plants, provided sufficient shelter is given.

As a short detail of * our experiments may be interesting and useful, we will submit them to our co-labourers in the field of experiment. Four different descriptions of corn were obtained, including a few seeds of White Flint, from Mr W. D. Satherland, of George streat, and which had been ripened by Mr Connack, in South Canterbury. Through Messrs Law, Soinner, and Co. three different sorts were received from Sydney — viz., Ninety Days. Swan River, and Indian Beaked.

The soil in which the different lots were so wn was d eoay ed vegeta ble, approachi ng to peat, and which wa* dessioated and pulverised by a liberal admixture of sea-shore sand, but had' no manure of any sort applied. There was also the disadvantage of being in an orchard, the trees of which prevented to a considerable extent free exposure to the sun's influence, and which undoubtedly caused the plants to be drawn up taller than they would have been in more open ground. Thirty pickles of each sort were sown on the same day, November 9th, in drills 30 inches apart and 12 inches betwixt each seed. The first to germinate and show above the soil was the Ninety Days, next the Swan River, then (the third and la«t) the Beaked. Eight days elapsed between first and last. The flowering and formation of the cobs or spikes occurred in similar rotation. In height the stems of each sort ranged from four to 10 feet, a peculiarity for which we cannot account, as each pickle sown seemed alike in quality. The cobs varied from one to three on each stem, although in many instances the arons, which are apparently the fertilising medium, do not appear to have received sufficient pollen from the flower on the top of the stem, as on opening the sheath of leaves in which the cob is enclosed few perfectly-formed corn seed were found.

Everything went on as favourably with the growth as could be desired until Good Friday, when the furious gales levelled or broke every stem in the plot, and so destroyed the prospect of a successful termination to our experiment. But partial failure in this instanco will not deter from future trials, and in those it is proposed to 6ow one week earlier. Steep for 48 hours before sowing, select an opener situation, with a stiffer and heavier soil, and apply artificial manure in measured quantity. Specimens of the cobs of each variety may be seen at the Witness office ; and the following peculiarities of each may here be noted :— The White Flint in each cob stripped invariably shows eight rows, whilst the other three vary from ten to eighteen rows. The number of pickles* in each row rates from 30 to 46. Very few of the cobs were perfected, a varying portion at the tip of each not being completely formed.

We strongly advise farmers to make a trial in the growth of maize ; it will prove more proiitable than experiments in tea, olives, sorghum, or ailk-pioducing, all of which are beyond the province of agricultural labour here. The following table shows the particulars resulting in each case from two cobs of each sort : —

Mvdzo. Rows. Pickl's. Total, v*™'u *™' 10 days. No. 1 .. 13 30 510 7 „ No. 2 . . 10 31 -100 7 Swan JRivor, No. 1 12 40 480 s „ No. 2 IS 42 700 10 IVhico Flint, No. Ji 8 30 240 G „ No. 2' 8 ' 35 280 ' 7 Boakud, No. 1 I Not Bufficicnt i y n poncd. )t riO. v ) Wijt Oz. 8 7 S !) T 7