NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3098, 30 July 1913, Page 14

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

When sowing' down with an autumn-sown crop the harrowing breaks S-Munir T> mi the orixst, and will do nowilli a Crop. thing but good when followed bv the roller. With the spring-sown erop the frosts arc risked, and the grasses are sown immediately after j the sowing of the crop is completed. Those 1 who are afraid- of frost nipping the clover wdl wait till the crops arc overground; but I the chances are generally taken, and with ' the best results. A thoroughly successful let of grass is .generally obtained when the soil is fresh and uncaked, and if land is sown down with a crop at all this is the best time to do it. The ground has been well worked bv the time the seed-sowing is finished, and is in the best possible cond ; - tion for the germination of small seeds 'ldie crop also grows quicker than tlm clover, and protects it to some extent from the frost. A more even braird is obtained than when it is sown later. The finer and smoother the surface the better for the growth of the grass, and but Wile covering is required. light rubbing-in followed bv a firm rolling i- all that is necessary. Care, however, should be taken to roll the ground perfectly drv. When the roller forms a crust it is impossible for (he young grass to get through it. and the feeble shoots will fail to cover the ground properlv. i There is no department of farm work rw.ll- - for better treatment than the young grass. A top-dressing of to 2ewt of superphosphate would not only help to fill un the head of grain on what is general! v the, last crop of the rotation ; but it would also impn-vo the quantity and quality of the resulting grass. Coarse grosses and weedy herbage would disappear under its influence, and when the erop was ent such an amount, of early grazing could he had from it that the manure would be more (ban repaid. A dressing of superphosphate causes the free development of wlr’te clover and other leguminous plants, and these make its use, remunerative. The condition of the young grass is a point demanding

the close attention of every farmer who wishes to succeed. Subsequent crops depend on heavy carrying capacity. If an even braird is obtained, covering the ground nicely, the practical man controls the situation, and can make anything out of his pasture he to; but if new sowings are full of blanks and patchy, immediate stops should be taken when tins is eecn to repair damages and secure good pasture for all the years it will bo down. The cultivation and treatment of the poach tree requires bringing up to date, and if Mr Boucher issued a new leaflet on this •• subject I have reason to know that it would be acceptable. Before the days of blights, die-back, and other bacterial diseases—for these troubles arc of comparatively recent development in this country—peach trees grew splendidly in tho neighbourhood of this city, and carried excellent crops of highly useful and presentable fruit. It certainly could not compare in size with the samples which arc now sent in to special order from Central Otago; but more luscious fruit than the pick of it could not have been desired by the most aesthetic. It is therefore nothing short of a misfortune that all tho information' available in reference to this fruit should bo scattered through so many leaflets and pamphlets that it might bo described as useless for practical purposes. What : s wanted is a comprehensive leaflet embodying the treatment of the tree before and after it bears fruit, the most approved manner of pruning after that, and tho spraying necessary to keep the tree in good health and bearing a full crop. Messrs Blackmcre and Fitch in leaflet No. 47 indicate that n most vital condition of success is to choose the proper stock for grafting to suit the ground in which tho trees are to grow. The peach loves a warm, deep, sandy loam on a sunny, sheltered face, and when grown on heavy ground reeiuires to bo grafted on to plum stocks. Fla bo rate instructions arc given to prune the trees nearly all the year round. Wo quote their remarks in reference to starting the trees, but must refer inquirers to this leaflet for further information. When the trees are planted they should bo cut back to within 18in or loss from tho ground, and all side shoots cut off. Three of the remaining buds should bo selected to form the new top, set stepwise on the trunk. At the next season cut back these branches to one-half their length, and from each select a shoot to continue the branch and one to form a second branch. Other shoots produced are checked to prevent them interfering with the growth of the lead’ng branches. In the autumn of the year we have a tree with a number of loading branches and some bearing shoots below. ICach of these branches is again shortened one-half or more in order to obtain more secondary branches on tho lower parts. All young or old shoots, whether fruit branches or not. should be cut back one-half (more or Ices) to cause the wood budi> at their base to make shoots to bear next. The formation of the tree goes on as describ'd, and when it : s completed every part of the branches will be furnished with bearuig shoots, and these will require antmally at the winter pruning thinning-out and .shortening-iu to produce bearing wood. Particular atrer.t'op, might be drawn to Mr Boucher’s instructions in last month’s Journal in regard to spraying twice dur : ng July and August with the 10-10-40 Bordeaux mixture. If young trees are neglected for two years there will be nothing left of them but a skied umbrella head about Bft from the ground and bare polos. In response to a circular from the American Sheep-breeder, a largo number of farmers gave their experience in growing lucerne. A few extracts may bo permitted. An Indiana grower states that “it is an ideal feed for sheep. In comparing the home-grown alfalfa with clover hay I would say that it is worth from a fourth to a third more in feeding value. The main difficulties experienced by farmers in this part of tho country in getting a permanent stand arc —not proper drainage, inoculation, liming, cultivating, and seeding; you can get tho stand all rigid, but without inoculation or liming it will not stay. Also you can easily get tho seed too deep.” An. Ohio farmer states that “to sum up successful alfalfa-growing you want a suitable soil well drained, as it will not be a success unless well drained. A good seed bed is necessary, and our beet success has been early sowing. Clip ns often as weeds appear, and leave a good growth for winter protection. If it comes through the first winter you have a bonanza for several years. Our first lot of alfalfa was sown in April, with beardless bailey for a nurse crop, which was very satisfactory. Have s'nce seeded with oats for a nurse crop, also have sown without a nurse crop and have found one method about as successful as the other. There is nothing so strange regarding the culture of the alfalfa plant, and if given a fair chance it cannot help but? grow, though for myself I would as soon have medium clover as to have tho alfalfa, and do not think that alfalfa is any better for tho soil than our common clover, and find it'nevt to impossible to break up a good set, of alfalfa roots. I have been rasing alfalfa for six years, and consider it one of the best-paying crops on the farm. .A ton of alfalfa : s equal to a ton of bran, which generally sells at about, 30dol per ton. I prepare the soil in the following manner: First requirement is to thoroughly till it. Plough the ground as early in tho spring as : t is dry enough. Harrow and cultivate until the first of July; by that time tho weeds will all be killed. Then drill or sow broadcast 201 b per aero of good seed. After the alfalfa comes up, if there are any weeds showing, din it with flic mower about every 30 or 40 days. As a rule, the fiivt crop is ready to cut the first week in Juno in this locality. When the second growth starts, or when about one-third in blossom, I cut it, let it lav over night, and rake in small windrow?. The same day I hunch if about like clover and let. lav over n : ght again. Then it is ready to haul in. The hnv is then dry and as green as tea. and the best feed ever fed to a cow. horse, sheep, hog, or chicken. I have 10 acres, and get from 25 to 75 toes per year. I always feed it in racks. The hay ’is ns easily cured as rod dover. As a soil-builder it is far ahead of red clover, as it adds more nitrogen to the land, and, then, its great root system roaches far below where oilier crop# do, and brings mineral matter to the surface that no other crop wc raise would get. When an alfalfa field is ploughed up these decaying roots leave tho soil in a fine physical condition for following crons. Tho feeding value of alfalfa is higher than any other forage cron we can grow, as it contains a. relative high percentage of protein and is easily digested. It is the best pasture

G:o«ins Ponclr s on the Coast.

Success with IjiKenie.

for hogs that I have been able to find. It is not a safe pasture for sheep or cattle on account of the danger of bloat. I behc\c it is better than clover, for in changing from clover to alfalfa with the /ndk cows one can notice an increase in milk in two or three feeds. The sheep seem to like it better, and the mules beg for it until vou oan hardly leave the barn without giving them a little. I feed it to the sheep m racks with very little waste when proper.y spread out in racks. After the plants are well up, say 6in high or thereabouts, wc cut them down just as close to the ground as we can cut with the mower, leaving rue cut grass on the field and repeating tno process whenever we consider it necessary during the entire season, and at the • ginning of winter tepdress with about six loads of .manure, free from grass or weed seeds, per acre. The following season wo have a right to expect from three to four cuttings of hay, the crop of hay increasing each year for about five or six years, when it begins to run out. Our method of cutting and curing is about the sanie as that given to clover, it being just a little harder to cure than is clover; but at the same time wo have thought that it would stand storing away with more moisture in tho hay than would clover, and come out in a nice bright condition. I wish to repeat the statement that I believe that it is very difficult to over-estimate tho value ot a good alfalfa field, giving, as it does, from three to four cuttings per season, every one a good grop. Of course, the film cutis the best, hay of the most nutritious miality and relished in preference to any other hay by sheen and lambs; and hence must of necessity produce most rapid growth of fleece and carcase. Tho enormous waste of leafage in tho use of lucerne hay under anything but the most auspicious circumstances has induced tho Americans to convert the hav into meal or flour by passing it through “a disintegrator. In tins form there is no waste, and a feeding stuff of great value is cheaply produced, "c are rapidly coming to the use of feeding stuffs in this country. At the present vames of beef, if labour was anything reasonable, tho use of them would pay now. Mr Primrose M'Oonnell, B.Sc., tho only ’ i runrose,” states “ that it is only necessary to remember that by analysis lucerne hay is quite comparable with any of our meals or cakes, and a long way ahead of ordinary fodders. Thus 2 b of lucerne contains as much food as lib of bean meal, and l£ib of lucerne is as good as 11b of cotton cake. These figures show, thorefoio, its value as a meal, and oven as a dry foddci a value enhanced by its comparative cheapness.” Mr M‘Connell’s experience with lucerne In England would probably be .similar to our own here. Ho says wc have long known the great va ue of lucerne hay above other sorts "of fodder. It does not do well as a pasture plant, because when the stock bite off the head of the root stock tho plant is weakened and eventually killed by repeated grazing—especially by sheep, which bite so closely; but when cut for hay the crop is really improved, for the deep roots go deeper still, and yield a crop independently of surface weather. Tho wastage in handling the crop is very great, however, and when a field in hay lies cut for some time in bad weather it is oniy tho stalks that are saved. Hay from this crop is so rank and green that it takes a lot of making, more so than clover, while cnee made the mere handling in the Hack and stall causes waste. This extract from the Farmers’ Gazette is more likely to be our coastal experience than that of lowa or Indiana. The grinding up of the lucerne hay into meal at an early sta"e would provide an excellent home-made fodder, and utilise the whole of liiis valuable crop. Some time ago Mr Watson Shennan, of Puketoi, emphasised tho point that flock-owners should endeavour to suit the sheep dealt with to the country they had to run them on, and stated that until that was done there could bo no hope of making satisfactory progress with them. Exactly the same contention holds with mi’king cattle. It would bo tho height of folly to put weighty milking shorthorns on poor, light land, or expect them to rear heavily-limbed calves on tho food obtainable on such country. The dairyman requires to keep the class of cattle that will thrive on his farm and pay him tho most profit. It is well enough known that an Ayrshire wou’d milk heavily and thrive on country which a shorthorn would starve on. V\ hen it comes to purebred cattle pedigree cannot be neglected; but the general run of dairymen have no moans at their disposal to indulge in pedigree cows. They want the pedigree of performance —cattle that will fill tho bucket, the make of which, genera! appearance, and milking capacity denote breeding sufficin'.* iy good to make them valuable dairy cattle; and if at the same time they can produce calves which will increase their owner’s income, so much the better. There is no reason why first-class dairy cows should not also produce good stores for fattening purposes—young stock which when old enough end fed would put on flesh smoothly. There is no reason why anyone having suitable country should not look to both sources for revenue. Those who wish to dispose of their calves at 10 to 12 months old must have bone and weight in them, or they are unsaleable for the grazier. If they also

I.nrrrre Steal.

The Kind of I'nttle to Use.

show some breeding and are nicely haired and in good condition, they bring in quite an appreciable amount. Dairy breeds do not produce such stores. In order to get them the cows must have weight and substance, and the bulb some pretension to breeding. Careful records have been kept of the weights of calves at birth from milking shorthorn cows of the ordinary dairy typo got by a two-year-old shorthorn bull. In over 19 cases the weights ranged from 75ib to 1151 b each, and 63 per cent, of them were over 801 b each, and over 30 per cent. 1001 bor over. How old would the calves from the fine-limbed dairy breeds be before they attained 1001 b live weight? Many farms on low-lying country, with a heavy spring of grass eminently suitable for milking and fattening cattle, are now given up exclusively’ to milk-production, partly because prices for milk are high, and it pays bettor, and also because it is extensively difficult to get suitable store cattle worth the money for fattening. Ret the price of beef and the value of desirable young stock arc putting another complexion on the matter, and it will repay the owners of such farms to use dairy cattle which will produce young stock suitable for fattening on the grass. Home-rearing and hand-fording produce results unheard of from purchased linos of mixed cattle, and these are pretty well the only kind available now for the grazier. A correspondent who signs himself “ Farmer.’' lleddon Bush, writes Silver Beet, asking for information about silver beet, such as the price of seed, when to sow, how to prepare the land, how it is fed off, and if the beet will grow well in Southland. The only man who lias bad any experience with silver beet as a forage crop is the Field Instructor of the South Island, Mr A. Macphcrson, who has experimented with it successfully at the Belfast Freezing Works Farm. The land there is rich, and has been we’l topdressed with thousands of sheep Mr Macpherson used 3cwt of mangold manure, which is a suitable fertiliser. It has the appearance of being a gross feeder, and, like cabbage, enormous returns could bo secured from it if liberally treated. That it responds to liberal treatment on good soil was clearly shown by the specimens exhibited in the Winter Show. But it has not been grown yet in the field to any extent, and Mr Macphcrson advises that “ tho best results will only lie obtained where tho soil is good and is well prepared for the crop. Tho crop appreciates a deep loam, well cultivated, and free from other plant growth. It should bo sown in spring, when, tho ground is warm, and again in the autumn. From 6’h to 31b of seed per acre, sown in drills 21:n apart, should be employed. The seeds should bo steeped for 20 hours in cold and clean water prior to sowing. Experiments have indicated that it is desirable, to sow the seed on the flat in order to prevent too close feeding. Tho plants should be thinned out to 12in in the row.” It will stand transplanting. It requires careful management, and only an area should bo grown that can bo fed off quickly. Caro must bo taken to prevent it seeding. It is fit for feeding in about four months, when tho leaves beg’n to tinge yellow. Each brake given shou’d be fed off in seven to nine days, or loss, so os to preserve tho young shoots, which come away rapidly after feeding. Tho principal foeding-off is not secured the first season, but in the second season; therefore tho crop should bo well nursed. If tho feeding has occurred in March, the second feeding would be obtained in June, and in tiro following spring it provides its best and most abundant forage. Carrfuilv treated, it will come again the following March. Tho silver beet with the p’ain dark leaf, broad stems, and wide midribs succeeded best at Belfast, and that variety should be procurable from seed merchants or the Department of Agricu’ture, Wellington. Mr Macphcrson’* description of tho plant appeared in the June number of the Journal of the Department of Agriculture. AGRICOLA.

SILVER BKKT. "Referring to tho photograph published of tho variety display at tho Agricultural Department's exhibit at the Palmerston North and Ilawcra Winter Shows, the Journal of Agriculture states that tho. principal varieties shown were crown by Mr J. C. Anderson (Stirling) and at tho tv craroa Experimental Farm. As a number of inquiries have been received as to the correct varieties to be used and where seed of these may be obtained, it may be mentioned that the varieties which have proved to bo most valuable for stock-fodder purposes arc Nos. 1 and 2 illustrated in tho last issue of the journal, page 591, both being entitled Swiss chard, or silver beet. 'Hie plants were not fully matured at tho time tho photographs wore taken. Both varieties are characterised by a plain leaf with a broad white stem and thick midrib. There are other varieties which may prove equally good, these having. a broad stem and thick midrib, but with a curled leaf. It is impossible to give any information as to how seed of these special varieties may be secured at tho present time. A difficulty is presented that it is only in New Zealand (and this through the agency of the department) that tho value of silver beet as a forage plant has been demonstrated; therefore seed is not known to commerce in any is to purchase silver beet seed from a quantity. All n grower can do at present reliable seedsman and select his future seed himself. The procedure should be to oat

off the crop several times, and, to prevent cross-fertilisation, dig out all undesirable plants, and allow the desired varieties to seed. It is expected within, a few seasons that some of the loading seed firms of the Dominion will be able to supply seed of silver beet of the best variety for our purpose.