THE FARMER'S YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 475, 6 April 1909, Page 2

THE FARMER'S YEAR.

BEGINNING THE NEW SEASON. April may usually bo counted the beginning of the fanner's year. In arable farming this is the period when the harvest of tho past season meets tho seed-time of the next; when, accounts may bo balanced up, and bookkeeping begun on farms where that aid to • good business has hitherto been neglected. It is recognised by all tho best farming authorities that an adequato book record of operations is very desirable. Tho system of bookkeeping must not bo elaborate; tho more simplest is tho more effectively does it serve the purpose for which it is intended. Its purpose is to let the farmer know his financial position nt any time, and to let him know in which of his operations, if any, there aro leakages. At this time a considerable amount of grass seed-sowing will bo dono where it is not already completed. In places where frosts come early, .earlier sowing is desirable. After the rains that have fallen there will bo no ground that can bo considered too hard for ploughing. The pity is that soil is ever considered too dry for this work, for tho crops on land ploughed • dry aro always better tliau th'oso grown after tho land has been worked wet.. Tho working down of land after ploughing is usually not desirable till tho seed is to bo sown, as the fine soil is soon beaten into a smooth airtight surface by rains. Deep ploughing, even for a shallow-rooting plant liko grass, is labour that is well repaid. On nearly all soils'it is safo to recommend-limo followed .by superphosphate as tho best manuring. This is particularly the case where there is clover in tho seed mixture, which the farmer needs to encourage. In (ho case of old pastures there is often nothin'g better than tho snmo succession of limo followed by superphosphate. Even if there be no clover to bo stimulated, tho grasses themselves will benefit, for it is very rare to find a soil in New Zealand that will not profit from applications of a phosphntic manure, nnd the lime on most soils is a necessary preliminary to fir tho phosphoric acid of tho super. Loss of phosphoric acid, by tho action of heavy rains, after it has onco penetrated the soil is not to l)o feared. There may, however, bo loss by flooding on steep land by heavy rain immediately after application, as would bo tho case with ouy manure. Top-dressings with in-! soluble manures, such as boncdust, guano, basic slag, etc., aro often advised, but they are essentially manures that need to bo ploughed or harrowed into the soil, as they remain where they are placed. If they are topdressed on'the surface of an old pasturo they remain on tho surface, and very little, good is received by tho more valuablo deeper roots. It is in this very largely that superphosphate is so superior in its effects as a top-Dressing. Nitrogen is a less necessary manure, oil land that occasionally carries a leguminous crop, for that crop gets it (through tho aid of its root .nodules) from the atmosphere. And potash is rarely needed by any New Zealand soils. On the whole, if a farmer desires to spend all his money on ono form of manure, it will be-)best spent on phosphates. On the dairy farm's a, great difference in tho carrying capacity of the pastures would in all pro--"bability bo noticed next spring if 30s. per aero wore spent on top-dressing, now with limo followed by superphosphate. Field -'beans, not largely grown in New Zealand, may bo sown this month. They are held in high "esteem by Scotch farmers, and the straw is ranked far before tho straw of oats, wheat, barley, or rye as fodder,, and is held equal to good hay. The Scotch horse bean (3 bushels per acre), the smaller English tick bean (21 bushels), and the llussian or winterfield bean, which is the most -frost-resistant, are three varieties recommended. For forago crops, vetches, oats, rape, Capa barley, and ryo i?ivc pood results. A mixluro of oats and rape (and a liUlo mustard as a cor. reotive) sown now would give good forago for sheep and lambs next September and October.' Where rams aro put in with tho owes this month tho lambs would be due in September, ( and tho crop as suggested would then bo ready for them.