SURFACE-SOWING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 6

SURFACE-SOWING.

The above term is usually employed to denote the plan of sowing grass ami clover seeds without previous cultivation of the ground, and applies moreparticularly to the sowing of swamps, steep sidlings, and rough, broken gullies, or any waste ground whatever where the plough cannot turn the sod. There are large areas of such land in Otago in the aggregate, and probably few farms or estates that have not a good many acres of unploughable patches which can only be improved by draining, burning, and sowing seeds on the surface.

First, as to the waste places that do not require draining— such as the steep sidlings (or side lauds, which is the more correct term) which cannot be ploughed and the broken gullies which divide the ridges in all undulating country. It is a remarkable fact that nearly all the ridges have a long, gentle slope to the north or north-west, and a steep drop to the gully on the south or south-west — and well it is that such is the case, for one acre that lies to the sun is worth three that lies in the shade the greater part of a winter's day. The steep terraces on the south side of the ridges have generally a poor, washed-out looking soil on the surface, as if the hard south-west rains had scoured all the best top soil into the creeks, which in their turn have borne it to rivers. On these steep banks or terraces the hoar-frost lies for many weeks in- mid-winter -without thawing, and gets such a coating of it as to look like a light fall of snow. It is useless to sow any grass of a delicate nature on such places, and nothing is so suitable for, nor takes so well, as cocksfoot. It should be sown early in the spring of the year, as soon as the hard frosts are gone — say, in the first week of this month (September), and without any -labour than the mere scattering of the seed it will in a year or two form a considerable addition to the native feed. Ryegrass will succeed in taking root, but never comes to much good. I make a practice of sowing all my sif tings or tailing grass seed on such places, and find that by sowing a liberal quantity I get a good deal of feed in the summer time, and as there is no chance of the grass being required for seed, any tailing rubbish that will grow answers the purpose as well as the best dressed seed. On the banks and in the bends of the creeks which generally take such a tortuous course that the plough cannot follow all the windings I sow ryegrass, timothy, and white clover. Where the banks of the creeks are broken and liable" to scour I find it a good plan to sow the seed of the cape broom. The whins bind the soil and prevent scour, and the stock are very fond of nibbling the tops ; they seem to like the bitter taste, and probably derive good from it as we do from takiug a tonic. Should the whins get i any size in spite of the stock, they are worth cutting for firewood for heating the copper or for kindling fires. I don't find that the seed spreads much, and I think the more it spreads the better as long as it keeps to the waste ground. The only objection that I know of is that it acts as a harbour or cover for rabbits, but it need not be sown in rabbit-mfested districts. Of course if sown too extensively it may get to be a nuisance Jo the owner and to hi& neighbours also, by seed floating down stream ; but, as I said, I orjly sow here and there in small patches to. prevent the bank from being washed away. Willows would answer the purpose if fenced, but willows cajanot make any way against stock. With regard to surface sowing swampy land it is of little use to sow any seed until the water has been drawn off. I have had a good deal of experience in connection with shallow swamps of limited area, formed principally by the water oozing from numerous springs at the foot of low terraces, and spreading over the low-lying land. Such land is very much more easily and economically improved than the large flax swamp along the sea-board of this Islarid. The swamps I speak of run in streaks and patches and are intersected by tongues of dry land, oftentimes gravel. For the most part the swamp overlies clay, or gravel and clay, and sometimes gravel alone, none of which sub-strata lie more than a few feet from the surface. The native herbage consist of toi-tois, rushes, small maori-heads, and a kind of sedgy water grass. I find that neither grass nor clover will do any good until the laud is pretty well drained, after which the seed takes readily and thrives very well. A good burn is the first step, and this can be done most successfully in the last week in August or first week in September. A day or two after the burn the seeds may be sown. Any grass or clover that requires wet land may be sown, and two men walking abreast guided by poles, or by the open drains can sow a large slice in a day. I look upon surface-sowing in this way as only a temporary resource until such time as the land may be ploughed and worked down into a condition to form a really

godd pasture. By looking after the drains, and stocking as much as practicable, and also burning off the coai'se native rubbish as often as possible, the swamp will in a few years be dry and firni enough to admit of being ploughed, The first ploughing will, of course, be rather troublesome and ill-looking when done, but each succeeding time will make a vast difference, and after the third ploughing I consider that one acre of the land thus treated will be worth for summer pasture as much as three or four of dry land of medium quality. When once drained properly the, treading of stook, especially cattle, is of great benefit, and the only way to make it fit to carry stock is to sow seeds on the surface, for the native seed on such land amounts to very little. But cattle are very apt to block the draing by treading down the sides, and unless the drains are cleaned out the cattle will do more harm than good. . Colonial Farmeh.