TURNIP GROWING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1497, 20 July 1912, Page 8

TURNIP GROWING.

CULTIVATION OF LAND,

Turnip-growing has become a very tlifficult problem of kte years, especially on tlio lighter lands of th,e Canterbury Plains says Sir. Ii: E. Alexander, Lincoln College, in tho Juno number of tho college magazine. Tho difficulty is generally put down to the ravages of the blight, viz., attacks of aphis and diamond-backed moth. Undoubtedly these two pests do <tn enormous amount of damage, and so far no means of dealing with them has been discovered. As u rulo there are two , ways of dealing with a pest:—One is to exterminate it, and the other is to so foster tho crops attacked that they will be enabled to withstand the pest raid produce at least moderate returns. In regard to tho above crop, the question mißht bo asked—have the best means of fostering it been adopted? The reply would bo that it is doubtful—at least there are some points in connection with tho cultivation of the crop that might be considered and possibly improved on. Of course it is quite apparent to anyone that the attacks of such persistent pests can only bo minimised, and if the methods suggested in regard to cultivation are'an improvement, the best they can do is to give the turnip, a better.;chance of surviving attacks' of "these pests..

Ploughing. . . : If the average .individual, is asked what is the object in.ploughing,-the reply will l>3 to provide a seed-bad. Such an answer is finite incorrect. Tho object in ploughing is not only ■ to privido a seed-bed, but to provide an anchoring pround for the plant, to enable it to .resist drying winds and droughts, and to send out its root hair.? in search of fcod and water— the greater the anchorting ground, therefore, the better the chance of getting a crop. Tho supply of food in any soil is dependent on the supply of water. The water used-by a plant is not retained in. the crevices or holes in the soil so that the roots can dip in and take a drink; it is held by surface tension or capillarity around, the particles of soil, and it is from this capillary water that the plants obtain their supply, and the supply ig maintained in an, ordinary''soil for many weoks in the time of drought by the movement of the water upwards from the subsoil, in a similar manner to the movement of kerosene in the wick of airordinary lamp, always provided that the texture of the subsoil allows of such a movement. Kow, if the water is held on the. surface of the particles of the soil, then' the finer tho soil.is the greater the number of particles, and consequently the more water it contains, but these particles must be closely packed to retain the water and maintain tho capillarity. Neither very loose soils nor solid soils contain or yield enough water to supply a growing crop, <nor do they permit a free movement of the water. To obtain a proper texture, thorough cultivation is necessary, as even our very lightest soils may become so solid as to contain very little superfluous water for a crop. The- best means of obtaining; a greater area of soil with a good texture is to plough deeper—this may have a 'double effect; it brings more moisture within reach of the plant and it enables the roots to penetrate deeper and so get away from the withering- influences of dry winds, etc. 'Again, the general practice is to plough Into in the spring so as not tj loss 'the winter grazing; but dees the little grazing obtained compensate for the 10-s that may op.cur: J It is questionable It is nearly impossible to properly pack the bottom of late ploughed land, and badly packed land cannot retain water easily; nor is this the only objection to late, ploughing. Tke verv act of ploughing in the spring, when drying winds are ' prevalent, .exhausts-ithe,.moisture.;from the land turned over, and leaves 'a 'most unsuitable seed-bed. 'Early winter ploughing. should, therefore, l;o resorted to; the land can tlien settle down and .pack itself with.tho aid of the natural weathering agents. Again, lands which have been stirred, absorb and retain more moisturo than those with a compact surface. Numerous experiments carried out in various countries have proved this fact, conclusively, so that early ploughing not only does away fith tho risk run of losing moisture by the drying winds, but it enables us to catch and retain tie moisture which falls, ,

Cultivation. • To make sure that nono.'of this captured moisture escapes By' evaporation, the harrow should be run over the ploughed land before drying commences and at intervale up. to sowing of tfc? turnips, l'he.-vo liarroyrings on clean land should bt a. sufficient preparation for turnips,- but when land is inclined to bo weedy, a etroko of the cultivator might be neces.sary to tear the weeds out. The common method of preparing a seed-bod' is to disc harrow and roil the land, so as to make a.i compact a surface as possible. This has the effect of encouraging the moisture to come to the surface, but unfortunately it does not stop.there to help tho young seedling— it is evaporated and gets lost at once. This, evaporation continues so long as there is any superfluous m'oistnre, and the young plant never gets a fair chanco —the supply of water is limited, and the b;d on which it is growing is mado colder by the evaporation going on. Thero is a second objection to cultivating so .as to get a. compact surface, and that is tho danger from crusting if any rain falls. I his is a very real danger m this country, with our semi-tropical rainfalls. This crusting further increases the rate of .evaporation, and at the same time, practically smothers the seedling. Many of •the poor "strikes" last season were due to crusting following close surfaco packing, and nothing else. '

General Points. /The seed-bed for turnips should, within limits, bo as loose as possible, to prevent escape of moisture and risk of crusting—the subsoil closely packed to absorb and retain moisture and draw the water j up by capilliarity as tho plant requires H. I'urther, tho seeding should be heavy enough to provide sufficient plants to make up for those pulled out by subsequent harrowing.:'lt-is always good practice to liarroh- turnips; not only does it keep the ground clear of weeds, but it prevents any loss of' moisture by evaporation till the turnips cover the ground.. The .suggestions in. regard to cultivation would, therefore, be:— (1) Deeper ploughing to increase the nrea for holding moisture and to eneourago deeper rooting. ' . (2) Early ploughing to get better subsoil packing. More moisture in the ground and better movement of the moisture. (3) Early and continuous cultivation to prevent loss of accumulated moisture. (■1) LoosB i seed-bed to hinder evaporation and minimise crusting. (. r i) After cultivation to keep down weeds and hinder evaporation. A'o doubt, Mr. Alexander adds, exception will bo taken to the above suggestions by many farmers, and the statement will bo inndo that some years «.«o there was no difficulty in growing turnips, no matter how rough tho cultivation. The answer to this is plain. Most of the best crops were grown on new soil which contained the accumulated plant-food and vegetable matter of centuries. This has been more or less exhausted, and now we have less plant-food and less vegetable matter (which is a very important factor in oniibling a soil to v ,ret;\in moisture) so that the present-<lay fanner has to provide artificially what las predecessors found waiting for them.

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There is nothing new under the sun. Wiekerwork coffins, which our burial reformers advocate for sanitary reasons, wero in u=e in aqcieirt Egypt. Certificates of naturalisation or of readmission fo British nationality were issued diuring 1911 to aliens to the number of 1537. Of those 731 cam* from Itasio,