FIELD PEAS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1975, 26 September 1889, Page 6

FIELD PEAS.

Probably the main reason why the value of the pea crop has been bo entirely overlooked by Southern farmers is that there has been nodemand or convenient market for the pro duct. Many sufficient reasons can, however, be adduced in favour of the cultivation of the field pea to some extent on every farm on which mixed stock are reared and kept ; and while the season is not too far advanced for sowing it will not be amiss to point out how beneficial and profitable the crop will be found in itself, even when necessarily restricted to consumption on the farm. In the first place, no other seed surpasses peas in nutritious qualities, and they have the further recommendation that by their use, when crushed or ground, the farmer is enabled to utilise much waste produce which otherwise would be unprofitable save as manure. A small daily ration of peas crushed or ground will rapidly fatten piga running on clover or grasses ; pea meal is of especial value when mixed with skim milk or whey for rearing calves, because the pea contains much farinaceous and saccharine matter, and as a counteractive of laxative food given to stock, save beans, peas are unequalled. Young clover, tares, mangel leaves, &c, fed to pigs in the spring are likelyfco induce scour and waste of condition, whereas were a small allowance of peaß given daily at the same time as the greep stuff, the animals j would grow and fatten satisfactorily. : The following table shows the food composition of familiar feeding materials, and clearly indicates the hight feeding value of peas : —

Peas are most successfully grown in a moderately moist climate, such as is favourable to the growth of oata, and therefore their cultivation in this province, where they might advantageously take the place of a fallow, should prove satisfactory, as they are not only non-exhausting but a recuperative crop, and if drilled and kept clean during the early stage of growth on foul, or broadcasted on clean land, are, as far as the soil is concerned, rightly regarded as recuperative, and an excellent preparation for wheat. Only seed pure of its kind should be Beleoted in order to ensure equal ripening of the crop and to avoid the inevitable losses from shedding when mixtures of early and late maturing varieties are sown. A strong recommendation of a pea crop is that given a thorough preparation of the soil and a fins tilth, no manure is needed on moderately good soil. As a matter of fact, under such circumstances the application of manure ia injudicious, as it stimulates the production of ■nperfluousatemfl and haulms, thereby lessening the crop of pods, If grown on foul land where

fallow was intended the seed should be drilled in double rows, 13in or 14in apart, with a spaed sufficiently wide between the double drills to\ admit of horse-hoeing. When the seeding is nn. v avoidably late, the seed should be steeped a few hours in order to cause it to vegetate more rapidly By this means a braird earlier by a week will be obtained in dry weather. On foul land tha hand hoe must be used between and near the plants, One hoeing is generally found sufficient, as peas make rapid growth, and Boon smother weeds— annuals more particularly. In the wide spaces repeated horse hoeings should be given until tha peas have attained sufficient height for moulding, when the earth may ba slightly thrown up to the plants by the double mould plate plough. The slight pressure of the earth gives a lean inward to the rows of plants, which Boon grow sufficiently to come in contact, when the tendrils and foliage intertwine and form a continuous growth which is for some time self-supporting. The slight earth ing of the rows has also the same effect while keeping the stems from the ground, thus permitting the free circulation of the air and the development of pods. When broadcast sowing of peas is purposed— a practice excusable only when the land ia comparatively free of perennial weeds— the customary plan adopted is to sow on the surface and plough the seed in to a depth of from 3in to sin on heavy, and from Sin to 7in on light, soils in order to prevent the depredations of birdß. Harrowing completea the work. Aa already stated, precautions mutt be taken to select pure seed, and furthermore it must be sound, else the crop will be weak and scanty and liable to suffer trom mildew, blight, and the worm. When attacks of theae are apprehended, a dressing of newly slaked and finely powdered quicklime harrowed in befo:o eecd-sowing is advised by experienced growers of peas. The time for haryesting.the crop will be indicated by the ripening of the pods on the lower parts of the stalks. Before these pods have thoroughly ripened reaping should be completed, otherwise during the harvesting process, which involves frequent turning of the small heaps into which the crop is gathered for drying thoroughly, much loss will be entailed by the bursting of over-ripo pods. The reaping is performed in various ways. Some farmers nave the crop pulled by hand, or by two reaping hooks, one in each band of the workman. In the colony of Victoria a specially designed rake for the purpose, known as a pea raka (wooden), is used for the purpose, and where the spaces between the drills are sufficiently wide, the turnover horse-rake is employed to gather the crop expeditiously. When cut and gathered the heaps must ba turned over frequently, m if lying neglected the peas are apt to sprout and rot. Rather than stack, the better plan is to cart and thresh out at once in the barn, or on cloths in the stackyard. By these means all waste will be avoided, and growers should know that chopped pea haulm is much relished by sheep especially, and all kindß of stock. Great care, therefore, Bhould bo taken in otacking it after the peas have been threshed out. The following table shows the nutritious qualities of straw, clovers, and grasses, &c. : — Flesh-formers, Heat-givers, Material, per cent. per oant. Straw of wheat ... 1-79 31-06 Straw of oats ... 1-63 3786 Straw of barley ... 1-63 3998 Straw of rye ... 229 37"15 Straw of Scotch beans 825 65*85 Straw of peaa ... 1255 2193 Red clover ... 3*60 1378 White clover ... 4-52 lu'26 Yellow clover ... 4-48 15 94 Alsike clover „, 4*82 13 62 Lucerne „, ... 4*40 19 11 Sainfoin ... ... 3-31 1743 Vetoheß ... ... 356 1274 Italian ryegrass ... 8 - Bcs 52'3ij Perennial ryegrass ... 10-16 3892 Green rye... ... 2705 10026 Green rape „. 3*13 4.649 NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

All the horses, cattle, and sheep at Home that have any pedigree worth menBseutratton tioning are duly classified and of Fiook s. registered in the respective herd

and stud books belonging to the different breeds. It is also now becoming fashionable to have what is called a flock book, in which entries are made of all the best flocks of a particular breed. For example, there is a flock book for the Shropshire breed in Britain, and at the great annual sales of this breed many foreign buyers attend, and as they know that all the best Bocks of this breed are, or should be, registered in the flock book, they will not pay any attention to any Shropshires that are not entered therein. I presume that eligibility for registration in a flock book does not necessarily include a long pedigree, but simply a guarantee that the flook is true to name, is somewhat above mediocrity in quality, and has obtained some degree of reputation by its known character for purity and excellence. It has been suggested that the .southdown breeders should establish a flock book for that breed, as it. is aa fashionable as any other breed in Great Britain and Ireland. I should think it would bo a step in the right direction if some of our colonia 1 breeders were to endeavour to establish a flock book for the purpose of registering flock 3of good reputation for purity and excellence. There are plenty of that description which do not boast of long pedigrees or fetch very high prioes, but which nevertheless are of superior character and a great credit to their owners ; and from whioh anyone who may be desirous of commencing to breed up a flock, and who cannot afford to go in for very high-priced Bheep can purchase the nucleus of what in good tinn may also be worthy of a place in the flock book of that brr oi.

In this connection it might bo mentioned that the Canterbury Agricultural a General an( j Pastoral Association— Herd Book, whoso energetic secretary, Mr M. Murphy, might poßsibly take the hint thrown out above — proposes to make a departure in the forthcoming issue of their shorthorn herd book by extending its scope, should sufficient inducement offer, to the whole of the colonies. The editing committee have also, in accordance with a request made by several large breeders, determined to publish a new herd book to embrace all breids of cattle already entered in thejaesooiation'.* herd books. It is proposed that no animal shall be eligible for entry unless its sire and d»m have been entered in some recognised herd book, or whose pedigree can be traced for some generations. As showing the amount of Support given to the society's previous efforts it may be mentioned that the nerd book of shorthorn cattle issued in 1884 contained particulars of 619 bulls and 1439 cows. The conditions for the proposed colonial shorthorn herd book are the satne as Coato'a — viz., "no bull will be eligible for insertion in the herd book unless it has five oroases, and no cow unless it has four crosses of shorthorn blood, which are, or are eligible, to be inserted in the herd book." I wißh the society success in both their efforts.

For a good many years past ifc has bees thought by those who take a great in' Prite F«mi. terest in the progress of agriculture in the colony that the agricultural associations should offer prizes for Bmall farms is order to improve the syetem of farming by encouraging competition anCl

emulation among the occupiers of farms within the respective classes. After a great deal of discussion and hesitation, the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association has decided to offer fairly good prizes for farms acoording to area. So far, how9ver, theassociation has not met with much encouragement from the farmers, as very few entries were received within the allotted time, and though the time was extended only one or wo additional farmers came forward to compete. This result is certainly not very satisfactory to theassociation, and it is not very likely that another attempt will be made ia that direction. I suppose one reason for tho indifference is that the prizeß are not considered good enough to make it worth while to go to the small amount of trouble necessary to comply with the rules of the competition. One of the arguments in favour of giving prizes for the best farms is that the prize money, together with the publicity of the honour of gaining the same, is an incentive to good farming ; another is that these prize farms are an example to tbe farmers in the neighbourhood, who are thereby induced and encouraged to go and do likewise. There may be a good deal in this view of tbe matter, but I think that if a man is naturally inclined to farm well, and take an interest in keeping the farm and all its accoutrements in good order, he is just as likely to do it for his own pleasure and pride as he would be to gain a prize.

A queer practice obtains in Danish buttermaking, whereby the cream to Artificial be churned each day is brought mpening. to the proper degree of sour-

nesß or "ripeness " by artificial means instead of by keeping it until time and tbe state of the atmosphere has effected the desired change. The Danish dairy farmers, in order to do this, prepare what is called a " fermentation starter," which operates upon the fresh cream in much the same way that baker's " sponge," or leaven, works upon the dough. As much milk as will yield about 2 per cent, of the whole to be churned each day ia set in the evening and skimmed in the morning. This cream is warmed to 72deg Fahrenheit, and placed under cove; so as to retain tbe heat. By the following morning, or 24 hours after, it has become sour and is fit for use as a " fermentation starter." The bulk of the cream is, of course, separated, and then heated also to 72deg Fahrenheit, and placed in tin-lined cream tubß together with the " starter." The whole is then allowed to cool down to about 58deg, and in about 18 hours it has become soured or ripened, and is in the right condition for churning. As it seems to be very necessary that cream should be ripened by fermentation before being churned, this ingenious dodge of the Danes must save a lot of trouble. It is manifestly easier to bring about a rapid souring by the means above mentioned than to keep the cream for a week, especially when the dairy is large and churning must be done every day.

A rather bold innovation has been brought forward by a farmer at Home. onsiing He says that under the present tiio I'loneh- system of plough cultivation the margin between expenditure and 'receipts is so very narrow that it is too close a shave to be depended upon through bad and good seasons. He therefore suggests cultivation by mechanical power. The following is the innovator's proposal : — " A tiny 3 horse power engine is capable of rolling 20 acres per day and of sowing artificial manure and clover in the same operation if required. The same implement is capable of thoroughly etirring 4in or sin deep — land broken up in the autumn and depositing barley or oats, together with manure and clover, and rolling the whole all in one operation, at the rate of 10 acres per day, consuming only 4owt of coal and requhing only a man and a lad to attend to it." All this looks very nice and feasible in print, but whether it can be carried out in practice iB another question. The British farmer has so many competitors that it is quite certain that the time is not far distant when he must reduce the cost of production, or increase his yields in order to be enabled to carry on his operations with any advantage to himself. If-fchere is anything in the scheme for abolishing the plough in favour of mechanical diggers, why the problem is solved at once ; for the digger, according to all accounts, both increases the yield and reduces the cost of working the land There is not the slightest doubt that ploughing is a very heavy item in the British farmers' expenses, for what with horse feed, labour, harness, wear and tear of plough and fittings the cost is altogether pretty considerable, and as much of the arable land of Britain requires to be reploughed a number of times, it is no wonder that wheat at 303 per quarter does not pay, and that is the average price of English wheat in the London market,

The American Department of Agriculture, has

recently issued a report upon Tim smait itinU the sparrow question in that in America, country, and it is rather in-

teresting and consoling to note to what a fearful extent the pest has increased there. The birds were introduced there pretty much the same way as here ; idiotic sentiment being at the bottom of it. Emigrants longing for the familiar chirp and twitter of the house sparrow conveyed them to the New World in some way, and thus the pest had spread all over the continent before the people realised what a great; mischief had been done. The Bparrow waß unknown there prior to 1850, when eight pairs were sent to the Brooklyn Institute, and turned loose in the spring. Atiutarvals Jarge numbers wer9 tent over, and as late as 1869 birds to the number of 1000 were liberated at Philadelphia, bo that it can be easily imagined how these importations, together with those taken over by emigrants, stocked the eastern States so thoroughly that at this date the nuisance has become so alarming that the report above referred to advises American farmers to proceed :;gainat the sparrows by every means in their power. The report says : — " The English sparrow ib a curse of Buch virulence that it ought to be systematically attacked and destroyed before it becomes necessary to deplete the public treasury for the purpoße, as has been done in other countries. 'By concerted action, and by taking advantage of its gregarious habits, much good may be accomplished with little or no expenditure of money." It seems to me that this extract is rather a queer jumble. It Btarts off with very queer and vigorous statements, but gradually tapers off to a very tame and somewhat contradictory ending. If the pest is likely to deplete the treasury it is not possible that much good can be done at little or no expenditure of money. But that is a fair specimen of the reports often published upon matters with which it is difficult to cope ; they comprise a string of vague assertions and Btatetnents dealing with the Bubjeot in a general sort of way withont actually committing the f aimers to any particular policy, much after the fashion of a Governor's Speech. •

The American Department of Agrioultnrein compiling the report from which Damnatory j quoted in the foregoing nole, *Ti<ienco. made searching and exhaustive

inquiries throughout the country respecting the damage done by the sparrows ; —the pest does not include other small birds,

but seems to consist of the sparrow only. They sent circulars through the States requesting opinions regarding the character of the birds with reference to the different branches of agriculture. By a large majority of votes the birds are charged with injury to bads, blossoms, and fruit of various kinds. In the grape growing districts of California settlers are loud in their complaints. Under the heading of " garden vegetables " the evidence against the sparrows is very strong though not unanimously condemnatory. Regarding grain crops, 750 replies were received, of which 183 were favourable and five doubtful. The Yankee grain grower must be very queerly constituted to be enabled to look upon the sparrow in a favourable light ; the 183 friends of sparrows mast hayo very small cornfields or exceedingly large minds capable of seeing "sermons in stonos and good in everything."

This operation is not, I think, very frequently^ performed in this country, ncr is Spaying it S q common nowadays in Cow«. Britain as it used to bs — for all

I know it may be considered an illegal (practice there, as dishorning has been adjudged to be. At all events, the advantages attendant upon the removal of the ovary from the cow are such that it is a wonder that spaying is not more universally practised by dairymen and others who keep cows exclusively for the sake of their milk. Cows thus treated have been known to give milk continuously for seyeral years in nearly uniform quantity, there being a slight falling off in the winter months. I cannot speak from experience on thia matter, but it is held by good authorities that by proper feeding and attention a cow's milk supply may be kept up until it ceases from old age or disease of a serious kind. It is will known that spaying greatly assists and hastens the putting on of fat, and not only that, but a spayed cow will continue to give milk during the fattening process, and may be milked — as has been done — on the morning of the day she is killed. Of course there is a considerable amount of risk attached to the performance of this operation, even in the hands of a duly qualified veterinary surgeon; and that, together with the fact that there is also a risk of a cow losing her milk and being unable to breed, may be considered a sufficient counterpoise to the reputed advantages of the practice. Be that as it may, however, I merely touch upon the matter in order to draw attention to it, and do not venture an opinion as to the advisability of its adoption or otherwise.

A correspondent of the Field otfers a suggestion, which meets with the approval Award, of rHzcn of the editor, to the effeot that orrercd for Batter agricultural societies instead of nmi choose, offering a few premiums which are secured by a limited number of persons, many small) premiums — Bay medals' or certificates — should be given to all exhibitors of butter and cheese whose articles sent for examination could be held to be of the first class. For the purpose the judges should mark all the lota sent according to their quality — i.e., first, second, and third class. Every exhibitor would then know what, in the opinion of competent and unbiassed judges, is the quality of the article produced by him, instead of, as is generally the case at shows, the great majority of exhibitors going home without any additional information and believing they had exhibited first-class articles, and probably also not highly contented with the awards. It is argued that were owners of private dairies to obtain for their produce such a certificate of having shown a first- class article, they would be greatly, helped in obtaining first-class customers to be supplied regularly and direct. It is quite possible for agricultural societies to do good service in bringing consumers and producers into direct communication by some such measure as that indicated. The proposal certainly deserves consideration from the committees of agricultural societies in the colony when drafting the schedules of prizes for the approaching snows, AOEIOOLA.

lomposii ion. Material. Mon-nitro- ' genised matter, per cent. ,Nitrogenised: matter, per cent. Water, per cent larley )ata leans ...j 'tas ... dnseedcaka... Jape cake ... Jottoncake „, Hover hay ... Iwedss langels Carrots 56 0 55-5 48-5 50-0 13-62 H-3 30-4 40-0 8 474 8-19 10-0 130 136 23-3 23 3 28-56 33 7 42-9 9-3 1-44 1-81 1-5 14-83 128 14-8 Ml B'6 6'B 7-9 14-0 S9'o 86-0 850