MARTON EXPERIMENTAL AREA.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXVII, Issue 3, 20 September 1923, Page 182

MARTON EXPERIMENTAL AREA.

OPERATIONS FOR SEASON 1922-23.

J. W. DEEM,

Fields Instructor

The spring of 1922 was very good in the Marton district, and all crops at the experimental area were sown under favourable conditions. Average strikes were obtained, and the prospects for good crops looked bright. The weather, however, broke in December and continued wet right through the autumn, consequently crops did not ripen evenly and harvesting operations were' very trying. The cereal crops were saved in fair condition, but later-maturing crops such as peas and tares suffered badly.

OATS MANORIAL TRIAL

Ten acres of Algerian oats were sown at the end of April, 1922, fed off once in June, and harvested in December. The area was divided into five 2-acre blocks, a different manure being used on each area. Following are the different manurial applications, together with the weights of chaff per acre secured from the. different plots : —

Plot 1—1 cwt. superphosphate and | cwt. sulphate of potash per acre, 2 tons 4 cwt. chaff; plot 2, half super and half bone char, at i| cwt. per acre, 2 tons 7 cwt. chaff; plot 3, half super and half Nauru rock phosphate, at ij cwt. per acre, 2 tons 5 cwt. chaff; plot 4, cwt. Nauru phosphate per acre, 2 tons 10 cwt. chaff; plot 5, 1J cwt. super per acre, 2 tons 6 cwt. chaff.

It will be noticed that Nauru rock phosphate shows rather the best return, but all the manures gave very even yields.

WHEAT.

Three acres of Major variety were grown, 2 of which were sown on 7th September—1 acre after peas and 1 acre after rape, both the peas and rape having been fed off with sheep ; the other acre was sown on 2nd October. Marquis and Yeoman, 1 acre of each, were sown on 7th September. The following table gives yields and dates of harvesting :—

The following averages have - been recorded at the Marton Area : Major, four years, 43 J bushels ; Marquis,, three years, 35 bushels ; John Brown, three years, 28 j bushels per acre.

Yeoman is purely a winter wheat, and as the seed was not received until August it had to be spring-sown. It germinated and stooled out well, but made very little growth until after Christmas, when it grew very fast. In the later stages of its ripening it was the only grain standing in the district, and birds played havoc with it. This accounts for the low yield.

BARLEY.

An area of 3| acres of Black Skinless barley was sown on 6th October and harvested on 21st January. It yielded 26-3 bushels per acre. Owing to the abnormal season even this crop was longer in ripening than usual, and was considerably knocked about.

PEAS.

The three varieties grown were Grey Partridge, Early Minto, and grass-pea. The two former were badly attacked with collar-rot and yielded poorly. The samples were also very poor. The grass-pea was a long time in maturing owing to wet season. At time of writing they have not yet been threshed, as it has been impossible to get the machine on to the ground.

FEEDING-TESTS WITH. SUMMER FODDER CROPS.

Four acres of fodder crops were grown, consisting of I acre grasspeas and tares, 1 acre Japanese millet, i acre Japanese millet and rape mixed, and 1 acre Hickory King maize. These were fed off with sheep and lambs, but owing to the class of stock available (mostly cull Lincolns) the results are of no moment.

HAYING-PASTURE.

Five acres of temporary pastureItalian rye-grass and red clover in: its fifth yearwere cut for hay on two occasions. This field was limed with 10 cwt. per acre of carbonate of lime at end of July, 1921, and 1 acre was top-dressed with 2 cwt. per acre of superphosphate in September of the same year. The field, with the exception of that part which received super in 1921, was in August, 1922, divided into plots and top-dressed, part with super and part with Nauru rock phosphate, both at the rate of 2 cwt. per acre, while two small areas were left untouched as controls.

The whole field was closed up on 16th October, 1922, and cut for hay on 2nd January, 1923. During practically the ■ whole . time the field was closed the plots which had received superphosphate could be picked out easily, the pasture being of a darker colour than that on the other plots, with much more clover showing. Prior to cutting several average areas were weighed on each plot, the following being the average weights of green material per acre : Plot top-dressed with 2 cwt. superphosphate in September, 1921, 8 tons 7 cwt. ; plot top-dressed with- 2 cwt. superphosphate in August, 1922, 9 tons ; plot top-dressed with 2 cwt. Nauru phosphate in August, 1922, 7 tons 11 cwt. ; control area, 7 tons 14 cwt. The average weight per acre of green material, over the whole area was 8 tons 3 cwt.

It is interesting ’ to note that this area was sown in temporary pasture in November, 1918, with 25 lb. Italian rye-grass and 5 lb. red clover. Each year since it has been cut for hay, and in addition has grazed on the average two and a half sheep per acre for the whole period. At the end of four years the stand is still fairly strong, both the rye-grass and clover being good. No doubt the rye-grass has done considerable reseeding. The results from this area demonstrate what can be taken from heavy Marton land by careful treatment.

Following are the returns of pressed hay for the past four seasons, also the amount of green material required to make ■ 1 ton of hay : 1919-20— tons 10 cwt. hay per acre, 4-3 tons green material to 1 ton hay 1920-21 —3 tons 15 cwt. hay per acre, 4-7 tons green materia] to 1 ton hay ; 1921-22 —3 tons 14 cwt. hay per acre, 4 tons green material to 1 ton hay ; 1922-23—2 tons 12 cwt. hay per acre, 4-3 tons green material to 1 ton hay (the figures for this season are calculated from green material).

A further area of 11 acres sown with a mixture of 15 lb. Italian rye-grass, 10 lb. perennial rye-grass, and 5 lb. red clover per acre on 6th April, 1921, and top-dressed with several different fertilizers in September, 1921, was closed up on 19th September, 1922, and cut for hay on 8th December. It was then closed up again, and cut a second time at the end of February, 1923. Prior to each cutting average weights were taken, and the following table gives the quantities of green material’ per acre on the respective plots:—-

LUCERNE.

The lucerne stand of 2 acres was cut three times during the season. Owing to the exceptionally wet season it was not possible to cut this crop on the dates when it was at its best with any degree of certainty of saving the hay. Had the weather been favourable at these.times a fourth cutting for the season could have been secured.

As the Marton land is not considered very suitable for lucerne the record of the last three years is interesting, and indicates what can be done on . such land if grazing is avoided. A comparison between this lucerne area and the adjoining temporary pasture previously referred to (which was sown the same year) shows that up to the present, and taking into consideration the grazing, the temporary pasture has given the better returns. The results per acre from the older area, sown in December, 1918, are as follows : — .

The later area, sown in December, 1919, in 21 in. drills, has given the following results : Grimm variety, with manure, 1921-22, 16 tons 12 cwt. ; 1922-23, 14 tons 1 cwt. ; average of two seasons, 15 tons 6| cwt. per acre. Grimm, without manure, 1921-22, 14 tons 12 cwt. ; 1922-23, 12 tons ; average, 13 tons 6 cwt. per acre. Marlborough variety, with manure, 1921-22, 13 tons 17 cwt. ; 1922-23, 13 tons 3 cwt. ; average, 13 tons 10 cwt. per acre. . Marlborough, without manure, 1921-22, 14 tons 12 cwt. ; 1922-23, 11 tons 10 cwt. ; average, 13 tons 1 cwt. per acre.

It should be mentioned that it has not been possible to cultivate the lucerne on the Marton Area, the land being either too wet or too hard.

GENERAL.

One acre of grass-peas was grown for seed purposes, but the crop has not vet been threshed.

Tares self-sown in the autumn were fed down twice with sheep during the winter and harvested early in the new year, yielding well. On land like that at Marton autumn sowing of tares should be good practice, for in addition to the benefits of early maturing they provide quite an amount of good sheep-feed.

A further area of 13I acres has been sown down in temporary pasture for soil-fertility purposes. It is also proposed to sow an area of imported wild white clover when the seed which is on order comes to hand.

Chewings fescue threshed out very well last season, and at the Department’s seed-testing station gave higher germination tests than for many years previously.

Compensation for Condemned Slock. — During the last financial year compensation to the amount of £12,986 was paid out for 5,183 animals condemned in the field under the Stock Act, and in addition' the sum. of £12,657 was paid for carcases or. parts of carcases condemned on inspection at time of slaughter under the provisions of the Slaughtering and Inspection Act, making the total amount for which the Consolidated Fund became liable £25,643.

Nauru Phosphate. Since the acquisition of the Nauru and Ocean Island phosphate-deposits by Britain, Australia, and New Zealand the importation of phosphate-rock from that source into this Dominion has been in the hands of the Department of Agriculture. The business having become well established, with the Dominion now absorbing its full quota, arrangements were made for its conduct to be placed in the hands of the Phosphate Commission as from 30th June last. The arrangement between the Department and the commercial agents terminated at the same time, the a.gents now acting for the Commissioners only.

: ‘ Variety. Date of Harvesting: Yield per Acre Major (after peas) ist February .. ... Bushels. 46-6 Major (after rape) ... . . ist February 42-0 Major (late sown) . . 12th February • .. 30-0 Marquis . . ... ist February . . . • ■ 29-2 Yeoman ' ... ist March . . 13’3

Top-dressing. , ... First Cutting. Second Cutting. ■ Average. Tons cwt. Tons cwt. Tons cwt. Basic slag at 3 cwt. per acre, on 5/9/21 - .. Tons cwt. . 14 2 Tons cwt. IO 16 Tons cwt. 12 9 Nauru rock phosphate at 3 cwt. per acre, on 12 13 8 9 IO II 2/9/21 50-per-cent. phosphate at 3 cwt. per- acre, on 13 1° 7 12 . 10 II 13/9/21 Control (not top-dressed) . . . . . 12 15 8 7 IO II Average weights per acre over whole field 13 5 8 16 •

Season. . Broadcast. 7 in. Drills. 14 in. Drills. 21 in. Drills Tons cwt. Tons cwt. Tons cwt. Tons cwt. cwt. 1920-21 . . 17 u17 17 5 5 17 17 b 614 14 14 1921-22 (four cuttings) . . . . (four cuttings) . .25 25 xo 10 19 19 14 14 22 22 12 12 21 21 8 1922-23 (three cuttings) (three cuttings)18 18 15 1.5 17 17 13 13 17. 17. T8 18 l6 16 13 Average of three seasons of three seasons20 20 8 818 18 4 4 ' 19 19 5 5 17 17 12