Agriculture.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1188, 30 October 1882, Page 8 (Supplement)

Agriculture.

STATION, FARM AND GARDEN. BY OLD COLONIST. FEED FOR TIMES OF SCARCITY. The certainty with which serious turns of dry weather come upon us in Australia have to be calculated for by all classes, and by none more closely than settlers upon new land. It is not only scarcity of water he has to provide against, although an abundance of that will be the very first consideration of every thoughtful man. Wc have but to look around us, in all parts of the colony, to see the disastrous effects of not having water in such positions for stocks that they can have all that is necessary without exhausting themselves in the efforts to search for water. Even in cases where it was obtainable at a distance, by travelling three or four times a week, the effects of such journeys, upon both cattle and sheep, becomes painfully evident. Investigation will prove that a very large proportion of the losses amongst small flocks of breeding sheep, and milking stock, are traceable directly to the travelling of the animals to and from places where water could be got for them. This is a fact which cannot be too strongly impressed upon selectors. In the case of breeding sheep, it is absolute destruction to travel them longer than a week or two. It is really much better to bring to them the small quantity of water with which they can get along, even if it has to be carted at considerable labour.

Water, then, is a first consideration. We have but too many occasions for seeing what follows when the precaution is neglected. Then comes the question of feed. Hay is a good stand-by during times of scarcity. It is surprising with how little lucerne hay stock will pull through upon, even during long and trying droughts. Hay, of oats and mixed grasses, also have their recommendations in times of scarcity ; and, when nothing better is available, it is neither loss of time nor the expenditure incurred to put up a few stacks of bush hay. And there are places where, by fencing a small paddock, and sowing the grass until it is fully grown, the mowing machine can do good service in cutting it down for bush hay. Where there is no machine, the sythe is no mean substitute; but, at this work, like many other things in colonial experience, it is a good line always to remember that where horses can be got to work, men are at a marked disadvantage. The hay stack, then, if it can be got up by any reasonable effort, is worthy of a very prominent place on the homestead of both the station and the farm.

There arc some who already grow roots for winter feed, and the number increases where the good effects are seen upon the live stock of one or two neighbors. The most valuable of roots, mangolds and beets, are grown in many parts with great perfection, both in the quantity and quality of the yield. But, successfulrootcrops, means a higher degree of farming than can be got without considerable outlay upon new land, and this description of feeding stuff cannot be expected to progress so rapidly in the newer districts. Some time since, another, and, at that time, a novel, sort of winter feed was recommended. This was cut up maize-stalks, with cobs, <fcc., in the green state. We are more than glad to bring this sort of feed into notice again, and with more practical details than were possible, until the suitability of the system had been fairly tested in this country. In those parts where maize can be grown—and districts sufficiently warm are more extensive than seems to be generally supposed—it is doubtful if any feed grown in any country equals maize when preserved by the silo system. The process of operating, it will be recollected, is very simple. To prepare maize for the purpose, it is sown thickly. Broadcast sowing has been recommended, but, for our climate, and in rough land especially, drill sowing proves the most suitable. Drills are opened with the hoe, or with the plough if the land is clear of roots. But even on rough land, or amongst stumps, drills deep enough and straight enough, can be drawn with the hoe. The drills may be about three feet apart, and into them the corn iA dropped quite thickly, so that the seeds may lie about an inch apart all over the furrow. Cover up the seed at once, and, if the soil is dry, pack or tramp it down over the seed. If there is moisture in the land, the plants will be up in a week, and they require no attention until the leaves begin to spread over the ground, or unless weeds begin to press them and stop the growth. Then the hoe has to pass over the ground and loosen the soil between the rows, chipping over the weeds at the same time.

Maize grows very rapidly. During showery warm weather, the crop will be covering the ground seven weeks after the seed was sown. Two or three hoeings may be necessary to keep it clean and growing during that time, but after the plants hang over between the rows, until the whole space is covered, the corn wants no further attention, until it is ripe for cutting. To preserve corn in the green state, it is cut just as the grain is beginning to form. At that stage the sap of the plant is sweet, and of a cream-like consistency, and from the roots to the flower at the top of the stalks it is rich in sweet sap. At a later stage, when the grain has fairly formed, the stem becomes woody, and dry, and contains very little nourishment. The plants, therefore, are cut just as the grain begins to form. It is left in the sun to wilt and dry a little, but not longer than is necessary to dry the watery sap of the leaves. The whole is then passed through chaff-cutting machines, and reduced to half-inch slices, or even finer than that. At this time, when cut green, probably there is no feed in existence of which cattle, horses, and sheep are so fond, Pigs, also, like it, and are said to fatten on this cut up maize. Of course, feed of that rich kind can be got only during hot, or, at least, warm, summer weather, as it is during such time only that maize comes to maturity. Many efforts have been made to preserve this feed. It has been dried like hay, and stored away in barns, but without cutting up the plants into chaff, and during dry weather dried feed of this kind has kept very well. When cut up, the dried stuff made very good feed, although by no means either so juicy or nourishing as in the green state, even when wetted with water. The drying, too, is a risky operation, for, should damp or wet come on, the stuff is very liable to mildew or ferment.

It was a valuable discovery that when cut up in the green state, maize could be preserved during months, or even years, and when particulars of the operation reached the colonies, there was considerable attention aroused. The process of preserving, as carried on in Southern Europe, is very simple. Tanks, or “ silos,” are made in the ground. These tanks are about six feet across, six or more feet in depth, and any length that may be desired. They are built, or fenced with stone, in some cases ; in others they are cemented—the object being to keep out the moisture of the damp earth. Into these tanks, or “silos,” the green stuff is packed as soon as it is cut. It is trampled or rammed down as solid as possible, the object of the packing being to retain the juices, and to keep out the air, and so prevent fermentation, The filling goes on until the top is reached, and the contents are as firmly bedded as they can be, without injuring or reducing the cut stuff to pulp. Then a layer of dry straw is spread over all, and heavy boards are put on as a covering. The arrangements, so far, are very simple. Indeed, they seemed so much so, that there was a general hesitancy, about adopting the system, under an impression, that something else must be necessary, in order to preserve green feed in this climate. Several experiments have, however, been made with the “ silo” system, carried out as stated. And they have been so successful, that there seems no necessity for holding back further, but that the system, as being well adapted to this country, might become general. One of the best proofs of success, comes from South Austialia. Messrs. Bake Bros, of Enfield, made and filled two “ silos,” one being

cemented, as preferred, in Europe. The other, was merely a pit sunk in the soil. On opening up the “ silos,” which was done in the presence of a number of persons interested in furnishing winter feed for live stock, the contents of the cemented tanks were found to be sweet, with the exception of an inch or so on top, which had been acted on by the air and damp. It smelled sweet, too, and stock, to which the greener stuff was offered, “ went for” it greedily. The contents of the other tanks were injured slightly to a depth of three or four inches on top, and round the sides. But the remainder was good and sweet. Being the larger bulk of the two, the contents of the second tank were judged to be the sweeter. Great satisfaction, however, was expressed concerning both, and the process is likely to be adopted by several who were present. The very gentle fermentation to which the cut and packed feed is subjected in the tanks has a beneficial effect both in developing sugar, and in making the feed tender. Where sugar cane or sorghum can be grown, an addition of that kind would seem to be valuable in the contents of a silo, which might, with such rich material, contain quantities of poorer stuff, and even of bush grass cut up with the others. Feed of this kind would be very welcome in such times as the present.