RURAL TALKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10680, 29 January 1913, Page 2

RURAL TALKS.

(By RUSTICUS.)

A correspondent in Cliristchurch has written to rcio for my opinion land ii£ tho East Oxford district! lam not very well acquainted with that portion of Canterbury, and in any case I do not think it would bo wise for ma to commence answering queries regarding tho quality and tho value of land in different localities. Therefore, I must respectfully decline o give any opinion on the district in question and tho "particular locality tfamid in tho letter. Perhaps my correspondent may find better and more expert advico nearer to his hand. In any matter appertaining purely to agriculture and agricultural methods I am always willing to givo_ my opinion aa a farmer for what it is worth, but I thinW I had better keep clear of land and land values. , We have passed through a week, with the thermometer higher than, one sees it very often, fortunately

for us. Sometimes the heat was almost unbearable, but the best way to face -it was to strip-down to shirt ,and trousers and keep at it. Thero is nothing like keeping up a good sweat in such weather. One always feels a Sunday in hot weather worse than a week day, and rSunday, January 19, was tjuite beyond the limit. No wonder rough weather was brewing in the back country, and culminated in unprecedented floods in the high ranges. The crops havo ripened up .very fast, quite be? yond anticipations. We fmcl ( therefore, Jkhit harvesting worlc has to he piislied on all vigour in order to chop the crop down as quickly as it is ready for us. Oats were the first thing, and now the wheat being taken in hand, especially on sunny facings. The early crop® are nice to handle, just long and heavy enough in the straw to bo dealt with in comfort, while there is no undergrowth worth mentioning. The late-sown crops will not, in a great • many cases; bo of sufficient length to be, reaped frith ease, and rain, even if it came-low, would do them little good, as the n.ost of tliem are w.ell shot out. Luckily blights, fsts and smuts are so far absent. tlie straw is clean and

bright, 'and the grain, though not plump, will be of good appearance.- The > dry- weather has reduced our yield very considerably. Crops this year are very patchy; some very flood, some very had, but the average-will be lower than ill late years. i ..Turnips and rape want rain badly at tho time of writipg. A few more weeks, of this weather and\roots lor winter feed.will be short-ill jsupply, and have to be roado, a,? it some years ago, to -pats and other Fra;agp crops grown in- tho * aut'nmn 0 hen the rains set in; Blight is commencing to make its appearance in the though, not to any great extent up- to the present. Still it must spread if dry* weather continues. Tmv nips and --swedes aro-never quite tho: sflQio once they have had a setback, avau if rain comes, but seniotimes they .<na3te a wonderful recovery.- Mangets sfra doing well.'' They like \ln; weather; Lafct year - was fry too v,*e'fc for them. Those roots, which hacl a good deal of

forking among in- ihg early siAinmer are lpctkhig the best. . Cultivation in ilia crop; combined' with earlyplqughing ajid thorough tillage before sowing, are twp' f?,ctqr-s that wake for success in growing root erpps in a dry yesir. "We have not yet,got to the-*end. qf our knowledge .of . the- .requirements incultivation fbr dry farming. (h:e thing is-pretty certain ihaa iii Canterbury, as well as in several other, places in-New Zealand,:, we can always prap'ue for 'a dry spell, even though- appearances may -be. '.quite the other wayLook tit tliia season; for instance, .(No. one would have thought a tew weeks . sgo that we were in ror a lengthy hot and dry spell. We wanted dry weather . .ihen,* and we have had 6ur' wish more than gratified.

.There is a going the rounds that one farmer remarked to another: ,f f .Your land is'no better than that o? p.tfyeiy farmers in your district, yet you . - always produce bettor'crops than we •do. "What is the secret of your success £' The reply was:- "I always tell my man to harrow the land until it has bean harrowed twice much, and • then I tell, him that it has not, been done half enough." Tiiero is a great deal in that- reply, - particularly when dry weaklier is about. ' No doubt land can he worked to too fine a .tilth if wet lyeaiher is'to, follow. . It runs together like, cement, and then bakes and cracks ' Vhen.'4?y weaiher comes unon it. You have got to take a risk one way or the other. A pretty safe rule is to leave the land nice and curly, lumpy, but not with clods as 1 big and rough as a horse's the land Jws 'to lie over wint'ery but in sumtuer work it down to vft fine tilth. The-particles,of soil being j will more nioisturo than j >vhen fhe land is cloddy. , The hnrVows put the surface in good, condition , to retain' the moisture, while the'disc j and the grubberj particularly the lat- • ;ier/ is ngedec| to put the land into a < tine state of tiltli underneath. The - roller must also be used to compact the ?oilj particularly on light land. - ■ In .the annual, report of the Live Stock Division Qf the Department of Agriculture, Mr 0. J. Reakea, the Chief Veterinarian, states that in - a country -like New Zealand," where * wool" jarid meat especially form so great a proportion ot. our total exports, the maintenance of a high standard of quality in live stock is an absolute essential if we are to continue to hold, our position against our competitors in the worlcl's markets. " That is, no doubt, true, and for more reasons than one. Generally speaking, the best bred stock will do the best, all other things being ; 'equal, Of course, a starved well-bred animal will be beaten by -a well-fed mongrel,"almost every time, but if they are both, given the same chance it is not difficult-to see which will come out on top. Badly bred animals usually take a great lot of feeding, while well-bred animals, especially those noted for their flesh-forming proclivities, will con:»j out- ahead even on inferior feed. At any rate, a well-bred animal will not be bo long on the ground as a badly-bred one, though they may both be on the same feed. Then the market for wellhred animals is always better than that for ill-bred 1 ones, and the former will usually accommodate themselves to existing circumstances much better than. the latter. . Well-bred dairy bows give better returns than nondescript, . lightlyrformed animals with no particular breeding or stylo, and will sell better when their milking dayp are over. Nq doubt the truest economy is to go in for the best, though the expense at first may seem to be a bar. In order that really good . animals should be introduced into the dominion and should be available to farmers at reasonable rates, the Government should do all in its power to give concessions to importers of higholass stock. Top-dressing is yearly becoming more common, particularly on pasture land. Basic slag is at present employed,, but it is rather too* dear at present to allow the recniisite quantity to be put on. If the Parapara ironsand is worked into iron, no doubt there "ill b-i a great deal of slag available annually at a comparatively low price. If 1 opdressing were moro extensively induced in our grass lands need not be dis>turbed so often as is the case now, and more cultivation could be devoted to arable lands. Considering what it costs to grans down a paddock properly, it does not.ftay to take it up again in "thro? or four years' time, particular!?'if the expenditure of a few shilling's an acre will make it as good as 'liiev/. - of . a dvessir-a

of slag will last for years in the land it-self,"and a big improvement will also be noted in the stock grazing oij it. Top-dressed grass land will carry more stock than undressed land, and that stock will put on flesh more rapidly. Cows will give more milk, and both cattle and sheep will bo improved in both health and condition.

It may seem somewhat absurd to write anything about the proper method of stooking. The operation seems such a simple one that there is surely very little to say about it. Yet < there is a right and a wrong way of doing it, and the wrong way is frequently uspcl. In the first plaoo, the Gtooks should point north and south. The sun, morning, afternoon and evening, will be sinning on one or other of the, aides of the stooks if they are pin cod in this way. The rows of stooks shoxi'd bo kept straight. This rule should bo observed as far aa possible even in carrier rows. Somo raking may have to be dono in these crops this season, and this operation is rendered the easier if tho stock rows are kept, straight in line. Then tho stooks themselves should always be set as uprightly as? possible, _ so that they mdy not get unduly wet if rain comes. A" badly leaning stook will get wet and keep wet, whereas a,well-built stook will turn a 'lot of rain, and if, any sheaves do got, wet they will soon get dry again. Tho sheaves should be placed with the binder knot inside the stook. This is tho hollow side of the sheaf a.nd will allow the rain to enter more easily than the straight sido opposite the knot. Ten sheaves in a sfco6k aro ample. Moro thnn a dozen should never be allowed. Tho greater tho number of sheaves tho more chance there is of the stook falling down.