NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2394, 18 January 1900, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The early-sown root crops are now making good growth, but weeding and Summer hoeing should not be nogleeTillage. ted until the danger to the crops is over. In a showery season such as this has been weeds grow faster than the roots, and if left undisturbed will smother the crop, or s>o exhaust the soil as to give the latter a poor chance. The presence of weeds is not without some advantage, as the hoeing and scuffling necessary to cope with them is of groat benefit to the growing crop of roots. If land is quite clean it is still necessary to break the crust occasionally, and the more the surface is stirred

and moved the better, so long as it is in a fine, pulverised condition. Gardeners know how beneficial it is to keep the surface from caking by frequent hoeing and stirring, and what applies to a garden crop is also applicable to a field crop, as gardening is fanning upon a small scale. Jethro Tull, the inventor of the drill and the father of horse-hoeing husbandry, used to say that thorough and constant working of the soil supplied the place of manure, as the fertilising elements could then be drawn from the atmosphere. If I remember aright, he wrote a treatise many years ago upon "High-farm-ing Without Manure," but he was a little too positive and sanguine as to the success of the principles he inculcated, and though %iis system was carried out for many years in what were called the Tullian and Lois Wcldon experiments, the practice has now been abandoned. The plan carried out at Lois Weldon was to put in three rows of wheat lft apart, and then a space of 3ft was left between each triplet of rows. These splices were cultivated deeply, and kept stirred through the summer, which treatment was to feed the wheat plants and also prepare thes>e vacant spaces for three rows of wheat the next season, and thus the land was alternately I occupied, and in this way wheat was pretty j successfully grown upon the same ground for nearly 20 years ; but the labour involved wa^ found to be more costly than the application of manure, and the plan possessed no advani tages over the ordinary rotation of crops from I field to field. There is no question, however, of the benefit conferred by summer cultivation among a growing crop, which has also beon suitably manured in the beginning. Though j Tull claimed too much, perhaps, for his 1 system, there is no doubt that very much del fiends upon ihoroi'gh tillage and proper culj tivation of the soil. The best soil in the j world may be rendered almost unfruitful un1 der bad husbandry, and an indifferent soil be made to give good returns under the treatment of £> capable farmer. The appearance of a good crop is not always to be taken as showing natural fertility of the soil, but rather as a proof of the farmer's ability to till the land properly and make it produce good crops. I have frecmently had queries sent me anent the use of lime in conjuncEffects of liiinc tion with some other fertilioii sers, and it may be useful to Some Fertilisers, give a little more information upon this point. Without going deeply into chemistry, in is generally known by farmers that lime is a powerful base, which means that it acts upon certain other ingredients and sets them free, so as to be available as plant food. For example, lime has that effect upon potash and soda when bound up with silicia. Lime is also an active agent in promoting the retention of ammonia and potash in the soil in an available form. Clay is composed chiefly I of silicate of alumina in an insoluble form, but lime can turn out most? of the alumina and take its place, thus forming what is known as double silicates, and then potash or ammonia replaces the lime. Potash or am.monia would be easily washed out of a soil were it not for the alumina, which holds them in such a way as to be available to plant life, and yet not readily washed out of _the soil by rains. Notwithstanding all that is "said in favour of lime and the valuable functions it discharges, .there is still much difficulty in ascertaining when it may be profitably employed. Dr Bernard Dyer, an eminent analytical chemist, is of opinion that the question of deciding whether a given soil should be manured with an acid manure like superphosphate of lime or dissolved bones, or whether it should be treated with a non-acid ' manure such as bone meal, basic slag, or guano, can best be answered by testing the soil for the presence of carbonate of lime. This can be done by adding a mineral acid to a portion of the soil, and if it then effervesces it is a proof that the soil has an appreciable quantity of carbonate of lime, and therefore that' lime is not required. There was a large area cut for seed last year, and as ihe yield was good, Kye- the market was glutted and grnss. prices fell very low. The cheapness of grass seed, combined with the fall in wheat and rise in sheep, ! was the cause of a large area being sown i down to grass this season, and as there will I probably be a good yield of ryegrass seed again this year, there is not much chance of much improvement in the market value. Ryegrass seed is ready for cutting about a ', month after the bloom disappears, but there is, of course, no rule in this matter, as the period of ripening depends upon the soil and climate. It can be cut on the green side. ' and should be, as it is not then so liable ito shed seed in the handling. If long enough i it is best cut and tied with a binder, and 1 stooked until ready for stacking ur threshing ,on a sheet on the ground. Although largely I used,' ryegrass does not give satisfaction as ' a permanent grass, and seems to be unable to • stand good for more than a few years. It ranks low in nutritive qualities, experts say- ! ing that if the nutritive value of cocksfoot ! is estimated at 18, meadow fescue at 17, and i' meadow foxtail at 12, then ryegrass stands in the relative proportion at 5 only. That is, cocksfoot 'and .meadow fescue are more than three times as nutritious, and meadow foxtail more than twice as valuable in nutritive qualities. .Ergot does not seem to be 1 so prevalent in -ryegrass as it used to be, and I that is the more strange, as damp seasons and | low-lying pastures are more readily affected, ; and the last two seasons have certainly been on the damp side in southern districts. i Last year there were 45.600 acres in barley, ( estimated to yield 36| bushels Barley. per acre. Canterbury had 14,600 acres, supposed to yield at the rate of 46i bushels per acre, and I Otago 14,063 acres, with a yield of 31 1-3 I bushels. "With these yields and a fair price, 1 barley is a more profitable crop than wheat, jif not spoiled in the harvesting. This cereal I will grow in an}" warm and friable soil, and i is not so exhaustive as wheat, but it requires* careful attention in harvesting. Having a ' very sappy straw, it must not be cut until thoroughly ripe, and care is required in seeing that it is not carried too soon, or heating in the stack will result, and the sample be ruined for malting purposes. A good bright malting sample is generally saleable at a remunerative price, but damaged lots ai c only fit for stock- feeding. Barley likes a good start, and is a fast grower and good yielder under favourable conditions. I have £>rown 50 bushels per acre, and harvested it within four months from sowing. In the ! early days it was very liable to the attack of caterpillars, but nowadays that danger is not so great, owing, probably, to the efforts 'of starlings and other insect-eating birds. Nelson and Marlborough grow nearly 10,000 acies of barley per annum, and the climate and soil in these districts are eminently suitable for producing a bright, thin-skinned mailing barley.