FARMING NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXV, Issue 11744, 6 August 1913, Page 6

FARMING NOTES.

(By "Agricola.")

Growing of Carrots. A large number of farmers in the Wairarapa and forty Mile Bush districts are giving more attention than omcriy to the Vowing of carrots for itock. Some of the crops have given t.Sy satisfactory results. Mr C Hold* w ay, of Ballance, hud a very fine crop, lome of the carrots weighing trom seven pounds to eight and a halt pounds. The area sown down was an acre, Sinclair's Champion being the B ecd shown. When the seed was being sown three hundredweight of superphosphate was distributed broadcast over the plot. A crop of oats had been ,-rown on the land in the previous year. Mr W Mitchell, another Ballance settler, had also a good crop of carrots from the same class of seed. Ihe carrots had been grown on land from which a crop of oats hud been taken.in the previous season. As the soil was rich alluvial deposit no manure was used. \lr Ii Tanner, a Bush farmer, sowed Sinclair's Champion and White Belgium carrots, and also obtained splendid crops. The land on which the crops were grown is a loamy clay, and two crops of oats had previously been taken off tho plot. Mr Tanner ploughed the land in October, disced it, and in November sowed the seed with two cwt ot smper-phosphates and one cwt. of Kainit to the acre. Swedes and Mangolds. Sowing operations last season were considerably handicapped owing to the wot weather. There were a few parts of the Wairarapa where the meteorological conditions were somewhat more favourable than in others, but tho general opinion was that tho wet season would have a detrimental effect on the root crops. Despite the adverse conditions, however, some very good sweed and mangold crops have been obtained in the Wairarapa. Tho Mammoth Long Red and Yellow Globe appear to have been the favourite kind of mangold among farmers, the latter having given particularly good results. The Wairarapa farmer ts now paying more attention to the matter of providing "hard feed* for his stock, and consequently a very much larger area of these root crops will be sown next season. While on the subject of swedes 1 think it would be a step in tho right direction were the Masterton Agricultural and Pastoral Association .to institute an open swede-growing competition; a competition in which all classes of seed were used, so that the farmer could eventually judge for himself which was the best kind of swede suitable to his land. A competition on these lines would, no doubt, draw a large entry. * * * * Cow-Testing. The Woodville Cow-testing Association did splendid work last season, and it is to be hoped dairy fanners in Wairarapa will follow tho example set by their northern neighbours. Last season tho Association tested 40 herds. As tho Dairy Department could not see its way to do the work this year, Messrs Wright, Fletcher, and Tlitchneid were appointed a committee to interview farmers as to whether they would support the Association so that its works could be continued. The cost per cow for the season will be two shillings. The number of cows tested last season was 9SO, and the average yield was 200.18 lbs of butter-fat. The best herd averaged 296 lbs per cow, and the average for ten herds was 271 lbs per cow. The best cow tested produced 4481bs of but- \ ter-fat, and the best ten cows averaged oSUlbs. The worst cow in the lot had i-ineen milked for 230 days, and outproduced 80.771bs of butter-fat. The ten worst cows made an average of 114 lbs of butter-fat. The best herd, milking 210 days and over, averageg 3231bs of butter-fat, and the worst herd, milked for the same period, averaged 1231b of butter-fat. The cows in the ten worst herds averaged 14">lbs of butterfat. The following is a comparison of the best and worst cows in four herds, the cost of each cow being ec'.imated at £9: —No. 1 herd: Best cow, milked 252 days, produced 339.521bs butter-fat, and made a profit of £8 19s Gd—a difference of £9 5s Od. Worst cow, milked 244 days, produced 154.041bs of butterfat, and made a loss oi lis. No. 2 herd: Best cow, milked 255 days, produced 334.371bs butter-fat, and made a profit of £S 14s 4d—a difference of £7 15s 7d. Worst cow, milked 265 days, produced 178.751bs of butter-fat, and made a protit of 18s 9d. No. 3 herd: Best cow, milked 274 days, produced 308.031bs of butter-fat, and made a profit of £7 8s — a difference of £0 13s. Worst cow, milked 274 days, produced 175.051bs of butter-fat, and made a profit of 15s. No. 4 herd: Best cow, milked 248 days, produced 293.661bs of butter-fat, and made a profit of £0 3s Bd—a difference _9S I«3}lF 'Avoa 1-uoAV *l'f* sn 93 jo days, produced 152.451bs of butter-fat, and made a loss of 7s 7d. * *• * * Effect of Sub-soiling. Mr Coggins, assistant inspector in the employ of tbe New South Wales Department of Agriculture, writing in the Department's "Gazette,-' in a forcible manner pointed to the necessity for the conservation of moisture in the subsoil, especially where the top soil is very shallow, and the subsoil is stiff, practically impervious clay. Too often the ploughing of the soil is done along the surface of it, thereby forming a hard pan under the surface soil, which acts as a water trap. Instead of the water percolating through tho subsoil, and thus dissolving the plant food stored to a considerable depth, the moisture is practically confined to the topsoil, and it is on this that fruit trees root, and all crops are, in a very large degree, forced to subsist. The soil may be made the chief source of plant food, and there, also, should be the home of the