CROPS FOR NEXT HARVEST.

Waikato Times, Volume XL, Issue 3259, 18 May 1893, Page 3

CROPS FOR NEXT HARVEST.

Undku the above heading a Southern writer gives some practical hints on growing winter beans, and also green food for early spring feeding. The time is at hand again for deciding as to the next season's crops, and wo certainly think our Waikato farmers might do worse than try a stretch of beans in addition to the other cereals. Whether for export or home use, beans arc always valuable, and the necessity of sonic change from the everlasting wheat and oats is, in view of harvest difficulties and prospective prices, becoming very apparent, It will soon be time to turn attention to ploughing up the stubbles for winter crops, and I hope that our farmers ot strong lands will prove to the world that South Canterbury can grow its share of winter beans to help to make good a deficiency which has for years been felt in the London market. It is not only a sure and most abundant crop, but is less liable to damage from weather than any other, and comparatively safe for warehousing and shipping. It is far better that a variety of marketable crops should be grown than continually resorting to white straw cereals, as satisfactory prices mav rule for one while the other is depressed, and the beneficial effects on the healthful productions of the soil in future crops can only be appreciated by those who follow out a system of tillage. If a proportion of our present crops consisted of winter or spring beans, they would bo a great boon to the growers in the present depression which rules the Home wheat market. Not only have they ruled as high, or higher, than wliea, for several years, but another great advantage would be the saving of sacks, as they are perfectly fafe for shipment in bins or compartments in ships holds, from whence the hydraulic elevators lift them into the warehouses at a small cost. To do duty to winter beans, and Rive them a fair chance, a wheat stubble on heavy or medium land should be ploughed as soon after harvest as possible, to a depth of fivo or six inches, with a wellpicked furrow. The invaluable skim is of great importance to deposit the weeds and stubble in the preceding furrow; and consequently ipaok the furrows more closely, and prevent the growth of thistles and other weeds between them. This can remain ti'.l a favourable time offers, when it will require bieuking down prior to drilling. All drilling should cross furrows where practicable, and for winter beans two bushels per acic is quite sufficient on medium land, and half a bushel less on rich land. The distances between drills must vary from two feet to two feet six inches, in proportion to the strength and quality of the land, as plenty of room is required for horsehoeing between them m the eaily spring, at which time they stool and grain so rapidly that, 011 rich lauds, I have often seen the drills soon after the drill has left the field. An April crop will require harvesting about the middle of December j but once it is in the stook 110 further anxiety is called for till all tho other crops needing more care are safely stacked and thatched. Once the horny bean becomes hard, encased in its glazed shell, it takes a great deal of bad weather to injure it seriously. In old England I have seen tho November snow 011 the stooks in a late season, and they eanie out all right for market. Of course, in exceptionally wet seasons the bean with repeated wetting and dryiug will shed a few of the most exposed, but those need not be lost where the feeding of pigs is one of the farmers' sources of income': Indeed, all stubbles should be gleaned by pigs, provided they bo provided with suitable snout jewels as a guarantee for their good behaviour. That with the acorns, etc., constitutes an important item (often a half) in tho transition of the English store pig to the heavy bacon. At the same time as beans are drilled is the most favourable season for putting in a sufficiency of vetches, rye, or Cape barley for early green feed in spring/and finally a second or third crop for seed. If for green feed only, I prefer drilling a bushel of tares with half-a-bushel of rye per acre, as th« latter acts as a support to the former, and is an excellent mixturo for green fodder or hay. 1 know of no other kind of green crop which will equal April sown tares (with above mixture of rye. Cape barley, or even oats) for weight pi produce extending over five or six months. Where tares are grown with a view to supplying the market with seed, they require to be drilled alone at tho rate of one and a-half to two bushels per acre, varying in accordance with the small. or large varieties. If drilled in April the first crop can be cut for green fodder, and the aftermath will furnish a fruitful crop for seed-not so long in the haulm but thickly podded, which is very desirable for a good yield from a smaller bulk,