FARMING NOTES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 260, 29 December 1914, Page 1

FARMING NOTES.

(From the "Journal of Agriculture.") THE FARM.

The past four months will long bi remembered as the most abnormal on record, aa lar aa the weatbtr is concerned. At Ruakura no rain of consequence has fallen for fourteen weeks, and the most careful caclulationa as to the providing of forage crops have bsen completely upset. Such seaso. s, however, tully demonsrtate the value ot lucerne or a reserve of ensilage. Lucerne may be sown in January or February with every chance ot aucceas, provided there is sufficient moisture to geminate the seed, bat if the drought still holds it ia wise to delay sowing until ten daya alter the iirat good rain, so as to give the annual-weed aeeda time to germinate and be destroyed by harrowing. If the seed is sown during the drought it will germinate at the aame time as the weeds, with the result that the latter may take complete possession. On light, dry soils that are foul with weeda the sowing may be delayed until March, the weeda in the meantime being completely eradicated. Harvesting will be proceeding in many diairicta, and aa the atraw, gtneraily speaking, ia very short, the binder should be set aa near the ground aa poaaible. Oata are better cut on the green aid*, aa it ensures better quality chaff and less waste of grain during harvest operations. The same applies to wheat. On the other hand, barley must be ripe when reaped, particularly malting barley. btooking ia work that demands greater attention than is generally given to it, and in bad weather careleaa atooking means very considerable loss. The man on the binder can make the work of atooking much eaaier by unceasing attention to the adjustment of the binding table. A good atook cannot be made if the sheaves are tied too near the stubble end, aa the weight of the ears and the long length of atalka between eara and band causes a portion of the ears to hang down and leaves the whole sheaf open at the top. If sheaves are placed with a good elope, the ears pressed firmly together so as to form a sharp top on the etcok, at the same time giving the sheaves a downward pressure with hand and knees, the stooks will resist much wind and rain. Stooking is an art which few men now possess. In a badl> made stook the sheaves are simply dumped down close together, with the result that the top of the stook is left quite open, thus giving rain easy access. Under these conditions the grain Boon commences to sprout, and a slight puff of wind will blow the whole over. Of course, any kind of stooking does for good weather (in fact, if the weather could be guaranteed there ia no necesaity to stook at all), at the same time it is always wise to make the stooks aa if the worst weather were a certainty. The main point in stacking is to keep the centre always well filled, and before commencing to top out in particular. (Jatch-crops should be sown immediately the grain crops are harvested, and ol these there are many to choose from. Where there are dairy cowa, Cape barley and tares (one bushel each an acre) is one of the best mixtures. Western Wolths grass will also give excellent results, and may be cut or fad off several times. As a crop for ploughing under, crimson clover is one of the best, and little cultivation is required. In loose, clean land, if the stubble is tine-harrowed it is quite sufficient. A liberal seeding is advisable—say, 151b an acre. For ploughing under, mustard ia also ecxellent and a very quick grower. The seeding should be at the rate of 101b an acre.

Spare time will be well occupied in trimming hedges, cleaning open drain*, grubbing noxious weeds, etc.

In many districts lambs will now be weaned, and everything possible should be done to prevent a check in their development, particularly in the case of stacks, or lambs intended for the butcher. For the latter nothing is better than rape, but in the writer's opinion «tud lambs should never be put on this feed. In low, datno country, where internal parasites are prevalent, the studs should fce enticed to eat a little dry feed m the shape of oarta and chaff.

The use of tobacco is also undoubtedly of value as a parasitepreventive. At Ruakura a pupply is always kept in tbe salt boxes. Lambs will commence to nibble the tobacco when a few weeks old. The greatest difficulty was at one time experienced in raisicg stud lambs at Ruakura, but with the aid of dry feed and tobacco the trouble has been absolutely prevented.

For early fat or stud lambs the ewes should be mated at the end of this month, and where possible it is a good plan to remove the rams during the day and. turn them among the ewes at night only. It will also be beneficial to give the rams a handful of sound oats every dav right through jhe mating season. For fat-lamb production the crossbred ewe mated to the Southdown ram gives excellent results. The Border Leicester ram on the crossbred ewe also gives a good lamb, but it is not so early as the Southdown cross.

Young foals should be haltered before or immediately after weaning, as it saves a great deal of trouble later on, and if a foal is completely mastered in haltering it never forgets it.

Storage of Soil Moisture.

HOW IT WORKS. The idea that continued cultivation will accumulate water in the soil has no foundation. The only thing that cultivation can possibly do is to hold the water already there; it cannot create water. When there is sufficient water already in the bo il to cause an upward movement of water to the surface, cultivation will check this movement, and there may be an accumulation of water juat below the cultivated portion of the soil. The cultivation is, however, to prevent the escape cf the water arLady there, and not by any mysterious means to create water. It is simply reducing evaporation from the surface and killing the weeds to prevent their use of the water. The fact that this water already present in the coil, has been held, while in an adjoining field, where no cultivation was done, it' has been lost, has been the basis of ceitam misconceptions. .Some experimental farms have be;n led to think that the stations are trying to teach that by continued cultivation we can accumulate water in the soil even though it does rot rain. The fact is, if the soil is already dry and no precipitation comes the moisture content of the Eoil cannot be increased by anv amount of cultivation. We can, however, by stirring the surface and killing the weeds, conserve moisture after it has soaked into the soil. The condition of the surface soil has an important influence on the amount of water that will be retained from a certain rain. Water runs of more freely from a smooth, dry surface than from a surlace which has loosened by culttivation. The smooth, compact or dry soil offers more resistance to the penetration of the water than does a .soil that is more open or more moist. Where the surface has been cultivated the water runa into the openings until it can soak into the soil. Where the surface has not been stirred there are no such spaces to catch the water. A loose, sandy soil offers so little resistance to the penet'ati

of water that there is very little run-off even during heavy rains. The soil particles compos iug the sandy soil are larger than those of heavier soil, and consequenlty the

open spaces arc larg-r and water readily penetrates into the soil It is only riuri'g excessively heavy rains that run-oil' ia teen in wry sardy soil. The resistance tc the penetration rt water incicasrs re the coil becomes heavier or more like clay.

The character of the ian h s also i an important influence on the j amount cf safer which will be retained frcm any given r?in. The m re open ar.d porous the surface is, tiie mor<> water it will admit from any rain. !t is a matter of common observation that a heavv downpour of rain frequently docs I:ss Kood than a much liehter ram that falls more slowly. The type of rain that is really most beneficial is the rain of sufficient amount, and falliig slowly enough to bs carried into the soil to a depth where it will not be exposed to the rapid surface evaporation. Of equal importance with the two factors above-menlioned in governing the amount of water be-ld in the soil ftom sny given rain is the amount of water present in the soil when the rain ccmes. A very dry soil offers much greater resistance to the downward movement of water than does a moist soil. In a very dry soil the movement is so retarded, and the amount of water required to moisten it so great, that the water from a single rain, coming alone, is generally held near the surface. From here it is soon lost through the rapid evaporaticn which takes place at the surface. On the other hand, where tbe toil is already moist when the rain comes, it is much more quickly carried away from the surface, and distributed to lower depth? in the soil. Frequent observations have been made along this line on the nativesod. This is usually hard snd dry. It is seldom wet more than a few inches by the rains that come singly. The lower depths receive moisture only during "rainy" or "wet" spells, when a second rain comes before the moisture from the preceding rain is lost. The loss by evaporation from the surface is to a certain extent under the control of the farmer, fbcre will always be some loss, even under the best system of cultivation, but it can be reduced to a minimum. The water that evaporates from the surface reaches the surface in much the same way that oil from the bowl of the lamp reaches the flame. The water pa°ses from one soil particle to another until it reaches the surface, and is lost by evaporation. If the surface of the soil is cultivated, it becomes loose and dry. Both the looseness acd the dryness tend to retard the further movement of water to the surface. Water moves very slowly through a loese or dry Boil.

In order to reduce evaporation fiou the surface to a minimum, it is essential to have on the surface, not a dry soil, but a loose soil. Cultivation stirs the surface soil, causirg it to dry uut more quickly, and leave the soil kernels not so close in contact. The (ewer the points or contact between the small particles of soil and the drier they become, the more effective is the mulch in reducing evaporation. The objections to a very liue or dust mulcb are ihat it will blow, acd that it offers too great resistance to the penetration of rain water. Weeds are u serious cause of depriving the soil of its moisture. Considering only tha moisture content of the soil, the water used by any plant is lost. From the standpoint of the farmer, only the water which is used by weeds is lost. This is, of course, real loss, since the needs have but little practical value. Tte little value they have is furnishing organic matter to the soil. The water that is taken up by the roots of the crops, passed through the plant, and exhaled by the leaves, has served its purpose. It is for this purpose that we strive to store the moisture in the soil.

As much water is required to grow a pound of dry matter of weeds as is required to produce the same amount of dry matter of some of the farm crops. From the standpoint of crop production, weeds are the worst enemy of the farmer who is farming under a limited rainfall. Any water used by weedc is lost to the crop. It is hardly practical to keep all weeds down, but the crop is usually cut short to the extent that it has been robbed of the water by weeds. It is found that where weeds are allowed to grow throughout the season they dry the soil as thoroughly as doss a crop of grain. Cultivation is the one practical means that the farmer has for conserving moisture. It is by cultivation that the surface is put in condition to catch and hold the water until il can soak into tte soil. Weeds are killed by cultivation, acd thus prevented lroin using and wasting the water which falls in the rains.