BUSHFARMING

Woodville Examiner, Volume VII, Issue 659, 30 January 1891, Page 2

BUSHFARMING

(By E. T. Eendle, Woodvillo.) (Continued.) LEAVING SHELTER. This is an important subject, and one that receives too little consideration from settlers. It is an easy matter to chop down trees, but not quite so easy to replace when wanted. According to the acreage of a section, and the intention of the owner to lay it out in paddocks, the shelter should be left. To leave- it in a convenient corner is best so that it would not check the fire. Cattle need shelter, and by having it keep themselves in better condition during the winter. The price paid for bushfelling varies from 18s to 455. A good time for felling is from August to November, especially for felling light bush, as the thistles do not get so much start as when felled earlier. Thereby tho fire is not checked so much and can spread over the ground muph better. Under the heading “ bushfelling ” a few words may be said on tree and stump extractors. Doubtless improvements have been made on those implements and they may yet prove so successful as to greatly reduce the labour required on a bushfarm. BURNING OFF. This is an important subject, and one upon which no really definite rules can be laid down. The seasons vary so much that to burn in March one year may be a success and another year it is successful in January or February. From my own observation I should say that a heavy fire running over the ground is best and not injurious to the soil. Grass seed takes better after a good fire and grows richer. After a heavy rain the dust and ashes cover the seed causing it to strike or germinate quicldy and regularly. If a neighbour has a grain or grass seed crop, and tho weather has been, and still is favourable for an early burn, it is far the best to come to some understanding before a person fires his bush. For tho information of beginners I would say, that it is well to give the bush at least six weeks' grace from the time felling is finished before a fire is lighted. Choose a day on which a steady breeze is blowing in a direction in which there is an opening to which tho area ot bush to be bunk is exposed, In igniting bush keep the tire ns much on an even face as possible. Tho closer bush is ignited the better, as it prevents the fire from run. ning in ah directions, and the chances of a good burn are greater. Over-anxiety spoils many a good burn. If a clearing has been badly burnt, and more bush is to bo felled, and when burnt the fire is likely to spread over the clearing and destroy the grass, sow cocksfoot and clover. The cocksfoot is not so easily destroyed and the clover will not let the fire run so much, Other grasses, if required, could be sown where the logs aro burnt from. No building of value should be erected before a space of two chains at least has been logged up and burnt off.

PEBMANENT PASTUBE. The foundation of a grazing farm is the laying down of a permanent pasture—one whjph will prove nutritions ami productive, and in vhich a better sole is formed and the root;, increase every year. Many of the grasses we have will provide a good pasture for a few years, but after that they die away. Little remains to be seen of the original mixture, they having what is

called “ run out.” This is n serious matter in a bush district, because when grass leaves the ground what is the hushfarmer to do ? Ho cannot plough up the land, and to surface sow again is a hazardous undertaking, as it is very difficult to get seed to germinate a second time without breaking up, in ground covered with weeds and unproductive grasses such rs Yorkshire fog, goosegrass and couch. As yet these grasses have not given much trouble in this district, but they are speading and the time is aoming. To eradicate conch is a great trouble and expense—ploughing, harrowing and grubbing during the summer and then perhaps not all destroyed. Certainly a crop for winter could be obtained. ENGLISH GRASS SEED.

Great Britain produces valuable grasses adapted to all climates, but the high price is a drawback to the struggling settler. The most common and cheapest way to obtain these seeds is to purchase a small quantity and sow it for seed, and keep on sowing and saving until enough is obtained to sow tho land required. Care should be taken in selecting grass seed, and nothing but the purest of each sort obtained.' I would hero impress upon all new beginners that bad grass seed is dear at a gift. English rye grass alone, as a pasture will not stand. What is wanted for a good pasture is a number of mixed grasses of, or having, different habits of growth, and coming with' greatest luxuriance at different periods during tho summer months, so that through spring and summer there is a supply of freshly-grown feed. Timothy is a valuable grass, but one thing against it is that it is liable to be destroyed by caterpillars. Cocksfoot is a good grass, and growing more in favor with many. It grows in denseness every year and is green during the dry weather in summer. A clearing laid down with cocksfoot for tho main pasture with other grasses in less proportion makes a good pasture.