WATER-LOGGED WHEAT FIELDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3250, 28 June 1916, Page 10

WATER-LOGGED WHEAT FIELDS.

Some considerable time has elapsed since the autumn wheat sown areas have experienced soaking rains; and one is apt to neglect the very important work of arranging the get-away of surplus surface water. Immediately a paddock is sown in wheat all the low lying areas should be attended to, and a plough furrow run, so that the rain water wii! do no harm. Even as early as the present time, in certain districts, wheat has suffered to some extent through neglect to provide water gutters in low lying areas. It is poor policy to neglect this important farm work if labour is available. The difference between a waterlogged wheat field a-nd a dry one is very real, and effects the yield of whea-t very considerably. A sack an acre may be lost in not just making provision to get the water away, and ten sacks to the acre is a very fair yield. Tt is the difference between nine »k*?.r' },Q acres, and an extra acre costs much nioYt to grow than the water guttering on nine acres. Land that is liable to be wet and sodden is apt to be held by frost, and the life of the wheat plant is endangered. The constant wet, too, breaks down the rough clods, which in a rightly laid out wheat field protect the plant from the cold winds of winter; and very likely also, that particular water-logged area sets in a. cement-like manner, and subsequently will giyg the cultivator an infinite amount of

trouble in getting it back into a state of good tilth. The air cannot enter the soil if cemented over, and an airless soil is an unhealthy one, and tend.; to make the soil sour, so that it would be most unwise to neglect taking some simple precautions, and clear the outlets, etc., of the fields sown out in cereals at this season of the year. The . necessity, of course, is the more obvious on the heavier lands, and if neglected the wheat will die out in places during winter. Latest reports from England in regard to their autumn-sown wheat are somewhat gloomy, more especially is this the case on heavy land. It is considered that the continuous heavy rains must have washed out of the soil a large proportion of the manurial substances which the young plants would have utilised. The plants look anaemic and weak; in many cases probably hungering for suitable nourishment. " With the warmer weather the young wheat will grow rapidly, as there is an unusual amount of moisture in the soil to start it; but the roots wi.l] seek in vain for food, and the plant in consequence will be weak and fall a prey to any adverse circumstances. What sriotlld be" done to assist it? Farmers at Homo are told in such a ca.-e to top-dress with a dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser and soluble phosphate of lime. The manures to be harrowed in. This practice of lop-dressing wheat in the spring is not appreciated by farmers generally in the Dominion; but there is no doubt that if the lands are continually lessened in their fertilising ingredients, artificial manuring will become more commonly adopted.