FARM EXPERIMENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10679, 28 January 1913, Page 1

FARM EXPERIMENTS.

AG RICULTU RAL DEPARTMENT'S SCHEME. THE WORK AT "GRASSLEA." The scheme of the Department of Agriculture, initiated some two years ago, of conducting experiments on farms for the beneiit of tho owners is being taken advantage of at present by tho owner of "Grasslea," a farm situated about a mile from tho Yaldhurst township. Tho experiments consist of sowing certain varieties of crops of which a test is required as to their suitability for being groivn on the farm ■orvwhich they are tested, and the conditions are that the Government supplies. seeds, sprays and manure, and skilled supervision by the officers of the Department, whlio the farmer provides the land and the labour. The experiments are carried out in connection with all branches of agricultural work, including fruit growing, and any farmer is ablo to demand that experiments_ shall be conducted on his land if he is willing to fulfil the conditions. The paramount' importance of tho experiments, of course, lies in their value to the farmer, who is able, by their means, to ascertain what varieties of the different grains and root crops are best suited for his land, and is also given the benefit of watching the' agricultural methods of the departmental experts. The field experiments are carried on under the direction of Mr A. Maepherson, of the Agricultural Department, who is the instructor in the field division, while Mr W. J. Courtier is the expert in spraying and in fruit growing.

A "Lvttolton Times" reporter who visited "Grasslea" yesterday 1 found Mr Courtier and Mr Scott, of the Agricultural Department, busily engaged in spraying experimental, plots of potatoes with the soda-Bordeaux mixture. There were several varieties of potatoes, but tho test was not one of variety, but of tho kind of manure best suited to the land. There were six plots, and they had been manured according to the scheme of the chief agricultural chemist of > the Department as follows:

Plot 1: 2cwt of superphosphate and Ijcwt of bone dust.

Plot 2: 2Jcwt of superphosphate, ljcwfc of bone dust, and Kcv.'t or dried blood. 1

Plot 3: 2cwt of superphosphate., JJcwt of bone dust, J.§cwt of dried blood, and lewt of sulphate of potash. Plot 4: No manure.

Plot 5: 2c\vt of superphosphate, liewt of bone dunit, fewt of sulphate of ammonia, and 'lpwt of sulphate of potash. .

Plot 6: 4rwt of superphosphate. The potatoes all looked in a very pood, condition, but any deduction fromtheir appearance as to tho relative merits of the manures used was impossible at this early stage. The valuo of tho .different manures would, as Mr Scott explained, difrer in different seasons, and the experiments would require to be carried out for-a number of years in order to definitely ascertain what wero the best manures for each class of land for each particular description of season, whether wet or dry. > AN EXPERIMENT IX GRAINS.'. , * Y On » different piit of iho farm, an experiment of a rathe: exhaustive nature waS being made with different varieties of wheats and oats. Strips of' land a yard wide were sown with several different species of the" grains in .the ordinary way, the idea being to fipd out what description grew best on. the land. The sheaves will be threshed in the ordinary way, and the„yield from each variety compared. iTliis, Mx* Scott explained, was also an experiment that would have to extend over some years. 1 Tl]e different varieties of wheat were as follows':— 1 ' M'Callum's Solid. Straw Autumn. Red Marvel. ' ' ■ Solid Straw Tuscan. White Straw Tuscan. , Purple Straw Tuscan. Red Tuscan. Comeback. Red Fife. White Fife. Swedish Pearl. Imperial Amber. Turkey Red. ' Yandilla King. John Brown. Velvet Ear. The experiment was not. yet sufficiently advanced to enable one to judge of the relative values of the grains. At present M'Callum's Autumn was seen to compare very favourably with the others, and the Red Marvel also looked very well. The Solid, Straw Tuscan gave great promise, a'iid the other Tuscans all looked fairly well. The Comeback had .ripened early, and had been badly damaged by the birds. An interesting grain was the Swedish Pearl, from the famous ' Svalop breeding station in Sweden. It looked well, but the heads had not properly filled up, possibly because it "was not, yet properly acclimatised. The Imperial Amber was the most backward of all. being still quite green. The Yandilla King had ripened early, as had also the John Brown, which' had been badly attacked by the bird*!. The Velvet Ear was also looking very well. The following varieties of oats were being experimented with : Goldfinder, Algerian. Danish. Sparrowbill. , » Dun. Black Tartar. Black Excelsior. Beslier's Prolific. Triumph. Carton's Regenerated Abundance. Black Challenge. Rosebery. Black Arrival. Short Tartarian. It was still more difficult than with the wheat- to judge of tho pats at this stage of the experiment,' but nearly all the crops were good, the Gartons looking especially well. The Algerian was a very fair crop, and was already quite ripe. ' The Black Challenger had done very badly, however. There was a good crop of Black Excelsior, but the straw was very rank and coarse. The Black Tartar also looked very well. FRUIT UobTURE. Mr Courtier gave a very favourable account of the results ef the experimental acres of orchard which had been established in different parts. He recently visited tho West Coast, where, lie said, the farmers were showing a gratifying willingness to take advantage of the assistance offered by the Department. The experiments in fruit were extended over a period of seven years. The greatest aim of experiment on the West Coast was to find an apple which would thrive in spite of the wet. With regard to fruit generally, Mr Courtier said that this was a bad year for fungoid diseases, owing to the wet earlier in the season. Good 'crops of tomatoes were promised, and the frui' crops might also be expected to be well up to all reasonable expectations.