FARMERS' CALENDAR FOR JANUARY.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 199, 8 January 1866, Page 3

FARMERS' CALENDAR FOR JANUARY.

In ordinary seasons the corn harvest commences this month in some districts, but this year it will be later than usual. However, there will be a good deal of work necessary in preparing for harvest, that men daring the busy time next month may not be taken from their work. Yards, granaries, and buildings generally must be cleared out ; straw should be in readiness for thatchers, rick bottoms formed, rick steddles repaired, and implements got in readiness for work. Arrangements should be made for reaping and following the machines. Hay-making will require a good deal of attention. Turnips, mangolds, potatoes, and other root crops must not be neglected, now that weeds are growing rapidly. Grass seeds should now be saved, and likewise sown. Turnip seed may still be sown, and land broken up during winter should be cross-ploughed. The great end to be aimed at in the making of hay is to cure it as quickly as possible, and with as little exposure to the weather and as little waste of the natural juices as circumstances will allow. When this end is gained, the hay is sweet, fragrant, and of a greenish colour. The grass should be protected as much as possible, both day and night, against rain and dew, by cock. There should be no more hay in hand than can be managed properly. Those who wish to save hay-seed, may do so with the least trouble in the field, before the hay is ricked. A moveable floor of boards is placed upon a large canvas cloth. The hay is lightly thrashed upon this, the seeds being put into sacks and carried to the granary, where they are spread upon the floor and turned over, as occasion requires. If ripened well, dried thoroughly, and. kept in a place which is cool and airy, and not damp, the seeds are easily preserved from one season to another. The best time for sowing grass-seeds in this province is from January to March. The following information as to the properties ofthe principal grasses, from " Law, Somner, and Co.'s Calendar," may be of use to some of our farmers : — "AU grasses and clovers used in pasturage, excepting Lucerne, attain their greateat development during the spring, and were it not for the occurrence of dry weather, as the season advances, they

Ld might all be sown as in England. Lucerne ;t being a hot- weather product, should form part of every permanent pasture; but L where grasses are sown in rotation with j. other crops, the propriety of using it will depend upon the nature of the crops with which it will have to alternate ; for Lucerne, once established, is with difficulty eradicated, and this, which forms its great claim to participate in a permanent pasr- ture, may be highly objectionable under jx other circumstances. The presence of Lucerne is no obstacle to cropping with wheat, oats, or barley ; the land may be ploughed and sown irrespective of its pre--18 sence, and when the grain has been cut, * the Lucerne will soon attain strength k again, and form a valuable ,pasturage on which to fold sheep for the purpose of en- *•*■ riching the land for another corn crop. ?■ Lucerne, ho^ ever, grows but little during -j winter, or even in cool weather, when £ other grasses are abundant. It requires good land, which should be subsoiled, s unless it be naturally open to a consider- ! ' able depth. When sown by itself, the * best course is to drill it at intervals of c eighteen inches and upwards, according s to soil ; some growers leave intervals of only a foot, but the plant never grows so ? finely or yields so much feed as when it ' has more room ; and thus it happens that * it always does better when sown by itself, * when it can be kept clean by hoeing, than ? when growing in mixed pastures. 3 Amongst grasses that withstand our driest " summers on ordinary farm land, are Soft 3 Grass, Cocksfoot, Cow Grass, Rib Grass, * and Alsike Clover ; all these remain green, i * and yield a satisfactory amount of feed, ' when most of the other kinds have ' withered ; though even when as dry as 1 hay, many grasses are excellent feed, and * possess good fattening qualities. The Bib ' Grass grows freely, even in the poorest soils, and all the year round 1 it is relished by sheep and horses ; cattle, " however, rarely choose it until other 1 herbage fails. As general pasturage, for ' all seasons, there are no grasses so much 5 sown as the Perennial and Italian Eye r grass, and the White and Red clovers, '■ and though in very dry seasons they are ' af)t to burn up in certain localities, yet b even then, if not previously overstocked, * they furnish an abundant supply of dry ' feed, on which stock thrive amazingly. The grass now very well known as CaH--1 fornian Prairie grass, is one of the most ' valuable forage plants we possess. Though ' not so reliable on uplands and during hot '■ weather as Lucerne, it is unequalled in low situations, such as alluvial flats, and will maintain a fair growth even on up- ' lands, if the land has been specially pre- ' pared by subsoiling, as mentioned for Lucerne. This grass, if sown in drills from two to two and a half,feet apart, and on rich land, will afford seyeral good cuttings of green fodder in the course ofthe season; the weight of crop per acre must be great, ! and as all kinds of stock are fond of it, ' both green and as hay, it is an eminently 1 desirable ingredient in any pasture." The weather being favourable, turnips, white and yellow, should be sown. Drill them in, either on the flat or on raised * ridges. Mangolds will require a hoeing at intervals during this month. Blanks '. may be filled by transplanting roots. ' Carrots and parsnips will require thinning and hoeing. — Otago Daily Times. ♦