LUCERNE FARM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 123, 11 February 1918, Page 8

LUCERNE

FARM NOTES

It is the continually repeated maxim : 'of tho Agricultural Department that , tho ground should never be manured ! ior lucerne, aa this makes a surface i root growth which interferes with the • downward progress of the taproot. A ; Cashmere (Canterbury) farmer, however, differs from this view, and his experience is therefore given for what ; .it is worth. He possesses a field with a hard clay pan subsoil, quite distinct from the washed clay on the hill area of liis property. On his lucerne area tho plant has made little progress, and investigation shows that the roots are not succeeding in their efforts to pierce the clay pan. There' arc exceptions to this rule. On small patches of the field wher6 he had previously had stacks, and where cows had been bailed, the lucerne was a rich green and showed a luxuriant growth distinct from the rest of the field, which was stunted and yellowish in colour. Investigation showed that on these small patches the tap root was succeeding on its downward progress, whilst on the rest of the field this did not apply. The farmer's theory is that the taproot cannot be brought to a sufficient strength and thickness to penetrate through a haul' l subsoil such as described, unicss.it is fed bv line surface root growth. A rich soil conduces to this. He admits that on light lands with an open subsoil, the root should be left alone, as quite ilnaided there is no difficulty in its seeking immunity from 1 drought conditions deep down. He adds that lucerne-growing cannot be claimed as the exception to tho general rule in farming that conditions should always vary procedure, and that there can be no defined policy,to suit all ■ classes of soil.

The general opinion amongst farmers throughout the Terauka district (says a Christchujch paper) is that crops are going to thrash out .very poorly. It is Reported that'.in the'Waitolii district the mill has pulled out of two farms, as the oats were oniy yielding 10 to ;12 bushels per acre l . Farmers also state that, it is costing Is. jx>r bushel' to thrash whrat this'year. Mr. G.'W. Vennell has lately sold his farm. Ohinemuri, Dry River, Martinborougb, the purchaser being Mr. O'Kcefe, late of Taihape. Mr. Vennell is going into camp in April, and will be leaving Martinborongh. at the end of this month.

Mr. 0/ Branigan, fields inspector, Ashburton, rreently sent some specimens of blighted- wheat to the Government Biologist,'who reports that they are affected with ear blight (Cladosporium herbarum), and also badiy rusted. Both these diseases can 'account for the shrivelled condition of the grain. Mr. Branigan, who is collecting the threshing yields, states" thnt the wheat crops are threshing out much below expectations.