ASHBURTON EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXVII, Issue 3, 20 September 1923, Page 175

ASHBURTON EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

NOTES ON OPERATIONS, SEASON 1922-23.

F. E. WARD,

Instructor in Agriculture, Christchurch

In this review of the past season’s work at the Ashburton Experimental Farm : much of the subject-matter is naturally a continuation of the two previous years’ reports, and those interested are advised to study it in conjunction with the latter, which appeared in the Journal for September, 1921 and 1922 respectively. As in previous years, the notes have been compiled from the reports of Mr. J. G. McKay, Farm Overseer, who has carried out the work in his usual able manner.

PASTURE EXPERIMENTS.

Permanent Pasture.

Tall oat-grass having proved a failure as a permanent-pasture grass, this area was ploughed to the depth of 4 in. in the spring (1922), with the idea of trying another permanent grass - mixture. Owing to the presence of yarrow in the old sward the infested areas were cross-ploughed and grubbed once, , the balance of the area remaining summer-fallowed on the one furrow.

The eradication of twitch and yarrow is a question’ of considerable importance in Canterbury, and no definite instruction can be laid down, on this matter owing to variations of climate and soil. In the field under consideration, however, most of the yarrow was killed on the cross-ploughed section, and this method has much to commend it. Cross-ploughing cuts the turf into blocks which are thrown up in a rough state, thus allowing them to dry out during favourable weather. Continuous grubbing of yarrow and twitchinfested lands tends to consolidate the ground beneath the surface. Should wet weather then set in, stray pieces of roots are more likely to strike than if confined to the blocks as thrown up by cross-ploughing.

. With the idea of ascertaining the subsequent effects of a deep ploughing on the growth and life of cocksfoot and clover, a portion of once-ploughed land was deep ploughed to a depth of 7 in. An application of 2 tons of carbonate of lime per acre was made to a portion of the field, a seed-bed was prepared, and the following mixture sown on 20th March last : Perennial rye-grass, 61b. ; cocksfoot, 15 lb. ; crested dogstail, 2 lb. ; red clover, 5 lb. ; white clover, 2 lb. It is intended to carry out top-dressing experiments on this area at a later date..

P asp alum.

An attempt was made to establish Paspalum dilitatum. A mixture of 5 lb. paspalum, 20 lb. Italian rye-grass, and 2 lb. ‘ red clover was sown on 22nd September, 1922, but, though a good strike of rye-grass and clover has resulted, there is no sign of paspalum at date of writing. It is probable that the climate of Canterbury is too. cold for this grass.

Contrary to the previous season's experience, the effect of lime and manures was very noticeable during spring and early summer. The growth of white and suckling clover was remarkable, especially on the lime and super plot, where all previously vacant spaces were occupied by clovers. Similar spaces on the control plot were filled by hair-grass, moss, and hawkweed.

These plots were grazed in conjunction with an adjoining paddock of young rye-grass and red clover, and the sheep at ’first preferred the old top-dressed pasture. In subsequent grazings both pastures were about equally favoured, with the exception of the control plot on the old pasture, which remained practically untouched. Right through the season the line where the control meets the manured plots has been clearly defined, especially so by the amount of roughage which remained on it during the autumn and winter. . It appears that the plot which received lime and superphosphate was most relished by stock.

Temporary Pasture.

[This consisted of two plots of 5 acres each—plot 1 being springsown with rape, and plot 2 autumn-sown after rape.

In the 1921-22 report it was stated that plot 2 showed the better sole of rye-grass, but plot 1 the better strike of clover. Plot 1 is now a much-improved pasture, considerable filling-in of rye-grass having taken place ; the clover, however, is rather scanty. Plot 2 (autumnsown) is better in this respect, particularly at the southern end, where the previous pasture contained a predominance of cocksfoot. This end of the pasture is apparently much relished by - stock, all ryegrass, including heads, being closely cropped. The good stand of clover is probably accounted for by the heavy cocksfoot turf which was ploughed in, but that the incorporation of vegetable matter improves the palatability of a pasture has not previously been noted.

COCKSFOOT-SEED PRODUCTION.

As related in a special note in the Journal for July, 1922, cocksfoot grown on the Danish system wide drills and intercultivated —has done exceptionally well on the Ashburton Farm. This area was closed in autumn (1922) after having been cultivated, and was again cultivated during August. The seed-crop was harvested on 26th December and threshed last month. The area of 2-4 acres yielded 490 lb. of seed,

or 204 lb. per acre, not. machine-dressed. The straw was shorter than that of the previous season’s crop, and the heads apparently not so well filled. The weather was dry during the filling and ripening period. The aftermath has been grazed with sheep.

CEREALS.

Wheat Selections.

Crop results of wheat selected by officers of. the Department and members of the farm advisory committee from 180 varieties grown on the farm in the previous season are tabulated below-. The date of sowing was 30th May, 1922. Seeding was at the rate of i| bushels per acre, and the manuring superphosphate at 1 cwt. per acre.

Oats.

A number of varieties'procured from the Irish Department of Agriculture have been sown for two seasons, but none of the samples of grain produced has as good an appearance as a well-grown sample of many clean commercial lines. The variety Victory showed promise of being a good green-feed oat in the early stages, but it rusted badly later. The varieties, being pedigree strains, were Black Tartar, Banner, Black Mogul, and Victory.

Barley.

Five varieties received from the Irish Department of Agriculture were sown, and several useful samples procured. One variety producing a long berry of the Cape-barley type was culled, but the following are being given a further trial : Archer, Archer-Goldthorpe, Archer-Sprat, and Goldthorpe.

Cereals and Seed Vetches.

This experiment was planned to ascertain which is the best cereal to sow with vetches to prevent lodging of the latter, also to find out if any cereal would ripen and cast its seed earlier than the vetches, thus leaving a comparatively clean sample of vetch-seed. Four quarteracre plots were sown on . the • 25th August with Scotch vetches at 11 bushels per acre, together with the following cereals also at i| bushels per acre : Plot 1, Solid-straw Tuscan wheat ; plot 2, Cape barley ; plot 3, Emerald rye-corn plot 4, Garton oats. Superphosphate at 2 cwt. per acre was used for manuring. The plots were harvested on 3rd February. As a holding-up crop the order of preference was—(1) wheat, (2) rye-corn, (3) oats, (4) barley. None of the cereals had cast all its grain when the vetches were ready for harvesting, although probably two-thirds of the oats in plot 4 had shaken out.

TURNIPS AND RAPE.

A comprehensive experiment was planned with these crops, both manurial and seed tests being embodied. Owing to the ravages of aphis and diamond-back moth during a dry spell the crops were practically ruined.. In the early stages, however, New-Zealand-grown rape and turnip seed both compared very favourably with the imported. Every plot which had an application of manure grew larger plants than were grown on the controls, but, as related.in the Journal for May last, heavy applications of either superphosphate or basic super in contact with the seed lowered the germination considerably.

LUCERNE.

The first growth of the season showed great promise, the manured portion being particularly forward, but the crop was caught by a late frost when almost ready to cut, and was practically ruined. In all subsequent cuts the manured plots gave heavier yields than the unmanured plots. Grazing-tests were carried out on an area of 8 acres, the lucerne standing heavy stocking quite well. The carrying-capacity of this area, as represented by the sheep grazed during the growing season, gave the equivalent of 6-73 sheep per acre per annum.

There is evidently a certain amount of danger from bloat in grazing lucerne, particularly in the case of ewes and lambs, and lambs just off their mothers. Over a period of five weeks’ pasturing five strong forward lambs and one store lamb died out of a total of 160. In the case of the five forward lambs death occurred on a morning following rain. The sixth lamb was scouring rather badly, and would possibly have died on any strong feed. Similar cases were experienced' when pasturing ewes and lambs on the lucerne. Rain had fallen on two nights only, during the pasturing-period, and on each day following one ewe died. Good-constitutioned wethers with some condition can be pastured safely enough on lucerne, and they do well.

It was also noticed that sheep’s burnet growing in an adjoining gully was eaten more readily than the lucerne by all ages of sheep, and even the weed grasses and gorse hedges came in for their share of attention. It seems evident that lucerne alone did not satisfy the sheep, but whether this preference for other food indicates some deficiency in lucerne or simply a desire for a change of diet is largely a matter of conjecture.

It will be noticed that only in the case of Bresee's Prolific and Up-to-date did the cut seed exceed the uncut in yield. The' New Era variety was tested but not dug in the 1922-23 season.

Plot No. Top-dressing, per Acre. Date of Application. Top-dressing, per Acre. Date of Application (io cwt. slaked lime 19/8/21 5 cwt. burnt lime 2/6/22 ( 2 cwt. superphosphate . . 7/9/21 2 cwt. superphosphate . . 31/8/22 2 Control (no dressing) Control (no dressing) 3 2 cwt. superphosphate 7/9/21 2 cwt. superphosphate . . 31/8/22 4 31/8/22 4 4 cwt. Nauru rock phos4 cwt. Nauru rock phos- ' 7/9/21 7/9/21 4 cwt. Nauru rock phos4 cwt. Nauru rock phos- 31/8/22 phate phate 5 31/8/22 5 i cwt. blood, i cwt. super i cwt. blood, i cwt. super 7/9/21 7/9/21 1 cwt. blood, 1 cwt. super 1 cwt. blood, 1 cwt. super 31/8/22

Top-dressing Old Pasture. This pasture was sown down in 1917. It was divided into five plots in 1921, the subsequent treatment being as follows:-

Variety. Date harvested. Yield per Acre. Firsts.. Seconds. Snowdrop .... .'. 19/1/23 Bus. lb. 41 34 Bus. lb. 3 25 Pearl . . . . . . IO/1/23 ' 40 51 3 35 White Tuscan (Cheviot) I0/1/2 3 37 59 1 4 Velvet (Ngapara) I9/1/23 37 16 2 52 J umback . . . . 8/1/23 ' 36 54 2 -.9 Red Fife . . 10/1/23 36 54 . 3 35 Johns Winter. Fife .. . . . 10/1/23 36 33 ' 2 52 Essex Conqueror 19/1/23 36 1 2 52 Turretfield Eclipse . . 8/1/23 35 1 • 2 30 Queen Fan ... 8/1/23 35 50 4 18 Queen Fair . 8/1/23 ■ ' 35 32 2 9 Kin Red 19/1/23 35 7 . 2 52 Velvet Chaff . . ' . . I0/1/23 35 7 Major ... 8/1/23 34 24 2 9 Burbank . . IO/1/23 30 48 3 13 Zealand . . . . ■ ' . . 10/1/23 30 26 . 4 18 Echo 30/12/22 30 6 4 18 White' Fife 8/1/23 29 23 2 30 Marquis 8/1/23 29 23 1 47 Salter's Early . . 30/12/22 28 40 2 9 Triumph . . , . IO/1/23 Not taken Bayah . . Cut out (poor) Bunge Federation . . •>

Variety. Uncut Seed. Cut Seed. Table. Seed. Pig. Total. Table. Seed. Pig. Total. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Dakota 5’05 1-52 O-30 b-93 3-95 o-8o 0-24 4-99 Arran Chief . . . . 3’47 4’23 i-86 9-56 2-98 2-48 0-87 6-33 Reading Russet 10-44 4-48 1’99 16-91 9-07 3-24 i-49 13-80 Snowflake 11-31 2-87 o-99 C 5 -I 7 10-70 i-74 .0-23 12-67 Snowdrop 6-47 6-24 2’74 15’45 4'97 6-84 i-86 13-67 Bresee’s Prolific 7’34 2’74 o-99 11-07 8-30 3'55 ■ 1-42 I3-27 Manhattan . . 3-36 2-24 o-75 6-35 3’20 i-39 o-49 5'O8 Up-to-date '. . . . i-86 i-74 0-86 4-46 1-84 2-48 o-74 5-06 British Queen 4-00 2-46 0-96 7'42 3-25 i-44 0-62 5-31 Average, 1922-23 . . 5’92 3-16 1-27 10-36 5-3 6 2-66 o-88 8-91 Average, 1921-22 . . i-68 2-66 1-07 5-42 i-37 2-13 1-87 4-37 Average, 2 years 7-65 6-41

POTATOES. Continuing the previous season’s trials on cut versus uncut seed the following results per acre were obtained:-