THE CROSKILL ROLLER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 230, 31 January 1880, Page 3

THE CROSKILL ROLLER.

Year by year I become more and m te -convinced of the ml vantage of solidifying.thr land f<>r wheat,espccially on light land, Beth last year and this year I very fine crops of wheat on poor light grjmi'.l. Very early in March, tx as soon R 3 the roll t would go without clogging, we croskilled the wheats, first oneway, and then again crossways, to make the land as firm and almost as hard as a board. We then how about sixbushels 0 f salt on it, which also solidify the land. The result is that wc have a fine upstanding thick crop of •wheat and few weeds, for they cannot thrive or grow in such thickly compressed soil, which is absurdly hard and impenetrable. We do not disturb the land by hoeing, until after the crosskilling and salting and then only lightly scrape off or pick out any weeds. When we bow wheat on light land as late as the -middle or end of January the quantity •of seed is considerably increased, and the space from row to row reduced to six inches as it is never horse-hoed and has not much time to tiller. _ Last year I <*rew quarters of Golden Drop wheat per "acre thus treated, and this year the Golden Drop sown in January is estimated at six quarters, although I ■doubt owing to the season, that it will yield near so much. Altht ugh it is a very thick crop, it is only bent, not laid; and I attribute this upstanding strength to the compactness of the surface out of which it grows. My wheat crops are generally "only arched, not l?id. We are all agreed that the half-arre drilled at two pecks on the heavy land is a better crov than the adjoining four pecks per acre of club-headed rough chaff white wheat. Loose land for wheat is a great mistake, I once crosskilled a field heavily before drilling the wheat. We could scarcely cover the wheat after drilling, it was deposited so shallow. The result was seven quarters two bushels per acre of fine wheat—a heavy crop of stiff straw, not laid, merely bent. The larks helped themselves to some of it being so near the surface. I accidentally discovered by two years of experience that where I cro»skilled the land before the turnip seed they escape 1 Hie fly, while on the portion of the same the plants were destroyed J|y My crosskill has 5 cwt of iron iSach'ed to the back of the frame, so as to balance the weight of the shafts, and ncM to the pressure-power. Does the polidifying of the land prevent the fly from hiding itself in the soil ? Slugs abound this year. Before I plough my clover land for wheat T shall dust it on a warm night with slaked lime—a rertain cure. They rorae out on a mild night They have been devouring the clovrr leaves —a wet season is generally a slug season*—J. J- Mechi.