GREEN MANURING.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 670, 27 September 1921, Page 5

GREEN MANURING.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. WITH LUPINS ON PUKEKOHE HILL. ( By A.M.C.) Quite an interesting experiment in green manuring and probably a new one as far as Pukekohe is concerned, is being conducted on Mr Gathecole’s little farm on the sunny slopes of Pukekohe Hill, a few particulars of which may be of interest to local potato growers and farmers generally. Recognising that the heavy call made on the hill soil by continuous cropping and artificial manure was evidently impoverishing the land, Mr Gathecole decided that some form of green manuring would show to particular advantage, and after exhaustive inquiry determined to give lutoins a trial.

W Securing a fine sample'of seed, with strict instructions that it was to be drilled, into well-worked ground the owner departed a little from the laiddown rule and simply harrowed the seed into a plot of fallow land at the rate of one and a half bushels to the acre. Though a considerable amount was lost by premature bursting through wet weather and also by the ever" certain ravages of bird pests, a magnificent hit resulted’ and the crop, which was sown about the end of April last, is now just flowering at a height of about four feet, and looks remarkably healthy. The stalks are particularly luscious, and are about as thick as an ordinary candle, some very full of sap and are as brittle as thistles. This latter feature is a special advantage, as after bearding down the whole crop lies flat to the ground, and though the patch writer examined wsa ploughed with a rotary plough hardly an odd stalk was showing on top. On pulling a plant the roots are found to be one mass of nodules, showing the splendid nitrogen-intro-ducing properties of the plant. Mr Gathcole’s experiment is being eagerly watched by numbers of adjoining farmers, and it is generally consid will have a much better chance of ered that potatoes grown in this area will have a much better chance of resisting blight, from 'the fact that potatoes grown in new ground have always the best chance of resisting ■the blight pest, and the green manuring will doubtless show the same result.

Herewith it may be mentioned that there are some splendid-looking crops cn this .portion of the,hill, and on the occasion of the writer’s visit spraying operations were in full swing on. the potato patches. sfix acres of onions on Mr Duffy’s fafihr are worth special mention, and are a crop that any owner can be justly proud of. These are jusx now beginning to bulb, are absolutely free of all weeds, and should show a phenomenal yield under even ordinary weather conditions. One small farmer in this area interviewed, is betting any odds that he wiil nett £ISOO off his 10 acres before Christmas—a nice Christmas box—and no cows to milk, thought I. However, all work has been carefully and thoroughly done, nothing shirked, and the knee drill that has been put in would doubtless get on the nerves of a dairy farmer.