THE RUAKURA RAPE CROP.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 4, 15 April 1913, Page 397

THE RUAKURA RAPE CROP.

Primrose McConnell;

I. have pleasure : in reporting another successful rape season, due to a great extent to early sowing, the use of the double ridger, repeated cultivation, and 1 liberal manuring. : . ' 1

In the last-named connection it may be permissible to impress upon readers of this report that on this new poor soil we are compelled to manure with the object of improvement, riot .merely with the object of maintenance c of ; fertility, -as is ■ sufficient’ on’ rich virgin- soils. If manures were not: applied in sufficient quantities, cultivation would, in a manner,, be thrown away, as the yield would .not be sufficiently large to’, pay for the cultivation alone. This, of course, refers more to that part of .the farm which is in a raw state; .Improvement of. this land is slow work, but it:• is : trusted that discoveries will be . made that .will tend.to. shorten the process. ... ; . c ■?../

The first paddock sown was drained during the last winter, and a considerable, . portion stumped, the latter being ,a c fair sample of some thousands of- acres- of adjoining uncultivated swamp. • It was -ploughed with the swamp-plough in June to a . depth of 7 in., Cambridge-rolled in July, double-disced, tine-harrowed, double-disced, and tine-harrowed in August, and the seeds and manures sown with the double ridge in

the last week of the same month, the seeding being at the rate of 3 lb. Essex rape and 4 oz. mustard per acre.

, Through the; ravages of small birds part of the paddock had to be resown, and this was fatal to any exact account of manurial experiments ; but in this paddock the best result was undoubtedly obtained from basic slag alone. The rows were horse-hoed at intervals during the growth of the rape. ’ .

Taking all circumstances into consideration the crop was satisfactory with the exception':, of portions of the newly stumped land, and with this particular class of soil there is undoubtedly ' much still to learn as to the' proper manner ;of treating it/ At the same time good results cannot reasonably. /be i expected 'in the initial stages of - cultivation of such soils. Experiments are now being undertaken ■to determine the best. manurial treatment.' . .

*' The crop was fit for feeding by the end of November, the second growth being fed off in January, and the remains ploughed under

in March. The other paddock devoted to rape was f of an entirely different class of soila strong loamand had previously grown a very heavy crop of oats. It was twice ploughed during winter to a depth of 7 in., and afterwards rolled, twice double-disced, twice tine-harrowed and rolled, cultivated, and the seeds • and manures sown during the first week in November. The double ridger was used as in the former pad dock, the rows being 27 in. apart,, to admit of horse-hoeing, which was several times done during the growth of the crop. The rape was fit to feed off seven weeks after the date of sowing,' at which time there was an excellent crop all over the field, the mustard on portions of the paddock reaching a height of 7 ft. Even in the driest of weather there was no trace of blight. ... . .. At the ■ date of writing (29th March) the crop has been fed off four times, the fifth crop being reserved for ploughing under. This paddock has fattened off an average of fifty sheep and lambs to the acre. - In the manurial experiments the' most notable feature is the good results from the “ no-manure ” plot, the yield from which is a record on this station. In my opinion this was due to the drossing of lime in 1911, the double ploughing, repeated deep cultivation previous to sowing the seed, and surface cultivation during the growth of the crop. It should also be remembered that this paddock is entirely different from the average poor swamp soil in the neighbourhood.

It must be at once admitted that the above results lead to the conclusion that a slightly less quantity of manure would probably have given more profitable results ; but such results were unlooked-for and could not have been foreseen by drawing conclusions from former experiments, and, as already pointed out, the soil is much better than the average soil of the farm.

With, respect to the addition of mustard to the rape, its value as a corrective cannot be doubted, and in this ‘ instance, ( although some of the lambs were fed entirely on the crop for several weeks, there was no trace of swollen ears or other bad effects that usually arise from feedingon rape alone.

Plot. Manures per Acre. Tons per Acre.Gain by Manure. Tons. 1 No manure .. .. .... - 20-7 .- 2 Seychelles Island guano, 2| cwt. ; basic slag, 2| cwt. 35-0 14-3 3 Basic superphosphate, 5 cwt. .. .. 35-2 14-5 . 4 Superphosphate, 5 cwt. .. .'. .. 33-6 12-9 5 Basic slag, 5 cwt. . . ... .. 32.5 ■. 11-8 6 Seychelles guano, 5 cwt. .. ... .. 27-9 7-2 ' 7 Slag, 2 cwt. ; superphosphate, 2 cwt. ; steamed Slag, 2 cwt. ; superphosphate, 2 cwt. ; steamed bones, 2 cwt. , 27-9 7-2 7 - 37-5 37-5 16-8 16-8

The following table gives the results of the manurial experiments :-