A SUBSTITUTE FOR ESPARTO GRASS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2894, 5 July 1882, Page 2

A SUBSTITUTE FOR ESPARTO GRASS.

It appears’that 'some four years ago Mr R. Strattan, of the Duffereyn, Newport, Monmouthshire, a well-known farmer and shorthorn breeder, finding corn-growing very unprofitable, looked about him to see if he conld not grow something else that would lead to better financial results. Fate threw in his way Mr Eeed, the manager of the Ely Paper Works, Gardiff, and the two related their respective troubles. ‘ One had a desire to find a new crop for farmers, and the other was anxious about the probable failure of Esparto grass, and the result of their conversations led them to think that flax fibre might make a' good substitute, and might also be a help , to the suffering farmer. Mr Stratton agreed to grow a crop for trial, and Mr Eeed determined to make the experiment of its use, and further to pay £4 10s per ton for whatever flax straw Mr Stratton could send him. The result has proved, after two years’ trial, perfectly satisfactory to both parties, and therefore a brief account of the crops grown may be useful. : : “In 1880 Mr Stratton gave it but a small trial, selecting an eight-acre field that had. grown three white crops in succession, and this ho dressed with nitrate of soda, the* only manure used. The land had been manured in the winter with about 15 tons of farmyard manure, and was tolerably clean,. It 'was ploughed in February, twice scarified, and drilled with bushels of seed per acre in the second week in April. The crop was weeded at a cost of 2s an acre, and nothing-more was done to it until harvest, which was about a week after wheat. The result was far in excess of expectation. The crops yielded 22 bushels of linseed per acre, which was sold at 8s per bushel—or £8 16s per acre ; and 32 cwt of straw per acre, which, at £4 10s per ton, yielded £7 4s. The total value of the crop was thus £l6 per acre. The first trial having resulted so satisfactorily, it was determined to grow more in 1881, and consequently a field of twenty-one acres, very similar to that on which the previous crop had been grown —a sandy loam on a gravel, and anything but strong—was selected. It had grown wheat in 1880. a small crop of 24 bushels to the acre, and that, too, after eight hay crops. It had been planted to seeds (Italian rye-grass and red clover) in 1875, and had been mown twice every year, nitrate of soda having.

been once or twice applied, and no farmyard or other manure used; In a word, the field was thoroughly worked out, and very foul when the wheat came out. It was partly cleaned in the autumn, and well finished off in the spring, the couch being burned and the ashes thrown over the land ; seven hundredweight of damaged decorticated cotton cake per acre was thrown over the land, the seed drilled as in the previous year, in April. A: sum of 5s per acre was spent in hoeing. The crop was magnificent, yielding as:4t; did 40 cwt of straw per acre, or £9, and" 20 bushels of seed per acre, or . £B, the total value of the crop being £l7 per acre. Arid yet Mr Stratton says mat “ bad it not been for tho ■ teprlbly wet 1 harvest which prevented thcir pulling it in the proper time, and which washed the weight out of, the straw, and also prevented the seed filling as should have done, the result would have been better still; but barring this, no ldamago whatever was sustained by , the bad weather, excepting where ~a/small bit was tied when wet.” But this was not the only piece grown last year. Another ten acres was planted after roots fed off late on a stiffieb, nasty piece of ground on the red . sand stone. The land worked badly and should not have been planted, but that it was wanted to bring the whole field into

clover. The seed was drilled in the first week in May. but as dry weather set in, some of the'seed never came'up, or sprouted only to wither immediately. The result was that the crop was but a small one—ls bushels of seed pep acre, worth £6, and 16 cwt of straw/worth £6, and. 16 cwt of straw, worth £3 12s, the total yield''having been but £9 12s. This poor result, however, > was better than that of the wheat grown .in the remainder of the field, also after" roots fed.off, which was a miserablei failure. The clover came well after the flax, and now bids fair to bo, a good crop. ■ All these experiments—made,/, be it remembered, on poor, light soils-in the West of England—show conclusively that flax bids fair to be a very useful help for the farmer, if only a sale can be found for the raw: straw,, without all the preparation which it ! has hitherto required before it Was fit; for the market. But we have also last year another experimentr-also on. poor soil —made by a farmer on the Cotswolds, He grew, at Mr Stratton’s suggestion, three acres of flax, which realised £l4 10s per acre. His 20 bushels of linseed per acr? sold for £lO, and his one ton of straw at £4 10s. This also must be considered as, very satisfactory. In growing flax, it is worth while noting that a good seed bed is essential to success, and also that it is advisable to let the ground remain worked down for a week or 'two, to allow the small wbeds to germinate before drilling the seed, when' the harrows and drill will destroy; them. Mr Stratton pays £1 per acre for pulling tying and stocking, so the crop.casts about 10s an acre more than wheat to harvest. It is also more expensive to thresh, and it will not pass soi readily through the machine. But £1 an acre will well cover this extra expense as compared with wheat. On .the other ■> hand, it is far less risky to harvest, and whether pulled a week; before (til ripe or a month after,; never sheds/