A DAY AT WEREROA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 511, 19 May 1909, Page 10

A DAY AT WEREROA.

' WAIKANAE FARMERS VISIT STATE FARM. .. A party .of members ofV tho Waikanae Farmers' Union visited Wereroa State Farm on Friday, and'spent a pleasant and instructive day. Among the matters/.of interest discussed,'was a heavy "swamp plough" at work on land v whero. stones or stumps wero occasionally encountered. It was a singlefurrow plough, and cost £22. A powerful spring, sis or eight inches long, between the swinglc-trco and the plough, prevents the plough from breaking when an obstruction, is struck, and also saves the horses from the jar. Tlie teams at work wero all bred on the farm, from maros by the imported State stallion, Sir Talbot. They wero. three years old, and therefore only recently broken .in. ; . .■."■■" The manager, Mr. Drysdalo, strongly advocates Russian barley' for spring forage lor lambs.' .Ho considers it better' than Cape barley or rye, or oats. " It is strong of growth, endures frost, and has threshed 6d busnels per acre at Levin. Ho does not know if seed can bo purchased locally. Of oats, ,the manager "praised" Dakota, and ?aid that, while Algerian was the best for chaif, the soil there was father too rich for it. Eig Four was a heavy/cropper, and gave a,good straw; Ga'rtb'h was too'coarse in.tho straw, hut was otherwise 1 good. Of tho , grasses, tall foscue was ■■ declared 'undesirable,! and paspalum was/said to bo unsuitable to agricultural land, . because it mats, tbo much' for ploughing. :For tho destruction of couch' grass, he' advocated winter ploughing, when .it, had scarcely any growth. Mr. Drysdalo spoke in favour of stack ensilage as', being moro easily distributed than from a silo.