WORK ON THE FARM.

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 40, 16 August 1919, Page 11

WORK ON THE FARM.

In the Timaru Herald, "Koradi" writes as-follows:—

The work on. the farm is fairly well forward for the time of the year. The plough has been going most of the winter, except now and again when frost and rain have called a halt for a few days at a time. Indeed, on some farms tho ploughing is all done, and as soon as the land is dry enough the spring sowing will bo pushed on. Even the land that is intended for turnips and rape next season has been turned over on some holdings, so that there is very little more to do with tho plough except to turn over laud that is now in turnips. Thore is not a great deal of that about, unfortunately. Many of our sheep flocks have to got through tho winter without any roots at all, and it is most fortunate for them that the weather has, on the whole, been so good. Certainly some of the ewes and hoggets that one sees about are on the thin side,' but thoy appear to bo healthy, and they will do all right when the feed comes away again. They would have been in a much worse condition if the -winter had been a really hard one. Hoggets that cannot get turnips or fresh grass feed at the,, present time are faring tho worst. They need a change from the half-dead grass that is now in the paddocks. Their teeth will be going in a few weeks' time, and thoy will then require some green feed. The wheat will b© available some time next month, and somo oE the_ early oats that were sown for sheep feed in the autumn should be ready shortly. As soon as conditions are right there will be a busy time for the teams putting in the spring crop. The work should not be undertaken, howover, until tho le-nd is sufficiently dry for proper working. If tho implements smear the land, instead of working through it freely, tho horses had better be put on doing something else. There is no use trying to do anything in tho cultivating line when the land is wet and slushy. Unless tho harrows, the discs, tho cultivator, and tho" drill can _ work easily and freely through tho soil the .teams will do more harm than good. This is especially the case when the drill is being used. If the land is too wet the seed is'not properly covered;_ neither is tho manure, and the result is that the birds get the grain and the expensive fertiliser is more.or less wasted. If the land is on the wet side it will be cold also, and the seed will not .come away well. In fact, it is possible for the later sown crops to beat early ones put in under bad conditions, just as sometimes early lambs are passed by the youngsters that arrive later when there is more feed for the ewes. The use of the digger plough is to bo recommended for winter ploughing of land that is intended, for spring crop. For one thing, the land can be ploughed wetter than when an ordinary plough is used, and it can be got at earlier when the timo for cultivation comes, because it is better drained, and dries sooner than the ground that has been turned over with the customary furrow. The digger has a, fairly wide vogue in South Canterbury, but it could be given a still wider hearing with advantage. '■ It should be used with caution, it is true, until it is seen what effect the turning up of some of the clay has on the land. In the majority of cases a little clay now and again would do tho land good. The depth of tho soil would be increased, and the hard pan that is usually to be found under the cultivation that has been going on for a long time, all at practically tho same depth, would bo gradually broken up. The digger -leaves the land in nice condition for working, and improves the land for several years. If possible, tho spring wheat should be sown by the end of tho month. It is not often that it is all in the ground by that time, but an attempt should bo made to get tho wheat sowing out of hand by that timo If the weather continues fine, it will probably be sown in good tune, as most of tho ploughing is already done. Tho Tuscan varieties are usually sown at this time of the year, and they should be drilled at the rato of not less than two bushels per acre. If tho land is very rich a smaller quantity may be used, but as a rule tho two bushels fa not too much at this timo of the year. Spring wheat runs up. with a straight stalk, and; there w little- or no .tillering as there is in the autumn sown stuff. Less seed is required in tho autumn because the plants thicken out in a way that they' seldom^do in tho spring.- Thero are several kinds of 1 uscans.- Somo varieties suit one distnct and some another. It is only by experiment that one can find out what kind of wheat will suit one's land, and by looking.ovei tho fences of one's neighbour one m_T get some knowledge of what suits and what does not.

As an illustration of the "cosy corner to be found in the P<*earahe VaU *_ (says'a writer in tho Taranaki Herald), 1 Lw on Mr. Greig's property a patch,of potatoes, some of -which we dug and found quite a good ywld of "e^P°' at°^ The whole valley was verdant sree. n..=f, d stock was looking sleek with good feeding On Mr. Esmond Greig's farm near by sheep and young stock were ewarmmß on a paddock of turnips, -while a really wonderful paddook of mangolds wa.as yet untouched, and it would be interestrng to know how many tons there were £ i-h« acre Mr Granger, a returned solder wChastoughtllr'. J. *™™*'\ ___i, says he has been practically a" ££_ Now Zealand, but has never seen any district comparable with He believed he could shut up a Paddock tor hay ttlny time of the year with good results, so persistent is growth. ,

If the wheat can be got _in early the oats stand a chance of being drilled in decenttime. Usually they are left tiU the last in a wheat growing locality, ana t is sometimes October .before the last of them get sown. They do not stand nearly .the same chance as when sown in September. Tho earlier thoy are put in the better, chance they have of becoming established before the dry weather of sprang sets in. Last year, the oat crops did well because the season was a com and damp one. If a dry time should come they are almost sure to be a «>»- uroif they are sown late. Two bushels of seed should be sown, as in wheat, in fact many farmers put m more than two bushels, especially if Gartons are sown, and that is the usual kind nowadays. Both wheat and oats should be dressed for smut with either formalin or bluestone. This is necessary for spring crops as well as for the autumn sown cereals. Indeed, it is more necessary to treat the seed for smut in the spring than it is in the'case of the autumn sown crops.