LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

Southland Times, Issue 22728, 2 November 1935, Page 12

LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

(By

“Rambler?’)

TILLAGE AND PRODUCTION.

The area of ploughed land in Southland this year appears to be appreciably bigger than usual. No doubt this is due in some measure to the adverse weather conditions which resulted in less bountiful crops and consequent feed difficulties during the past winter and spring. While a more extensive area in supplementary feed is certainly an insurance against a shortage of food supplies, the maximum production of a crop an acre is perhaps of more vital importance, particularly on well improved farms on which the farmer is reluctant to break up really good pastures. It. is generally recognized that weather conditions during the season constitute the greatest single factor affecting the growth and production of crops. However, many other conditions influencing growth can be controlled to, a large extent by the farmer himself. Evidence of this can be seen from year to year throughout the countryside. Some farmers produce good crops consistently, despite unfavourable weather. What, then, is the reason for the regularly higher yields of their crops? Conversation with these men reveals in the first place that they have made a close study of their particular local conditions and, based on this, have adopted a thorough method of cultivation in the preparation of the beds for their various crops. Close observation of the results obtained from different methods has enabled them to find that which is the most suitable to their conditions. Similarly, they have arrived at the choice of the most suitable variety of seeds and type of fertilizer together with the most economic quantities of each. They have particularly studied the fundamental principles of the action of lime, phosphate, potash and nitrogen upon plants. In these modem days farmers place a great deal of reliance on artificial fertilizers, whereas down through the ages, the agriculturalist was taught to rely almost solely on thorough tillage of the soil. Present day farmers could with profit give more serious attention to tillage, because, although the use of artificial fertilizers is essential, the most powerful factor influencing the growth of crops which can be controlled by the farmer is the working of the soil. Thorough tillage ensures that all the latent forces of nature are brought to the assistance of the crop, particularly the organisms which constitute the life in the soil and without which no plant can grow successfully. The first essential to thorough tillage is early ploughing, enabling the frost, rain and wind to break the soil up into small particles and then the sun and air to produce more rapidly the necessary mellow condition in which the soil bacteria can multiply. Subsequent working of the soil in a wet condition must be avoided; every farmer knows the detrimental effect of poaching. The working down of soil to a fine tilth in early spring promotes an early growth of weed seeds which can be destroyed by subsequent cultivation. This can be'practised with profit on all classes of land except that which has a tendency to set like cement. On heavy ground almost any type of implement can be used for cultivation purposes until within a short time of sowing the seed. On lighter lands, particularly those in the drier districts of Mossbum, Five Rivers and the Waimea Plains, it is most important that all deep working of soil should be finished at least a month before the sowing of small seeds. Light harrowing can be carried out to kill weeds during the last month. Deep working in these last few weeks is fatal to the conservation of soil moisture and should be avoided at all costs. In the dry districts of Canterbury the writer has seen an almost complete failure of crops entirely due to the fact that the land was heavily cultivated to within a short time of sowing seed. Yet adjoining paddocks, the owner of which had acted on the principle of avoiding deep working during that time, produced most successful crops.