SOWING OF CLOVER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2609, 18 January 1894, Page 3

SOWING OF CLOVER.

(Continued.) Mr Outhwaite oontinuos i —" There are many plans adopted for sowing Bmall seeds and also different times for doing so. Twenty-one years ago I got a horse hoe and also a seed box put to it, barrel of which was driven by a strap from the nave of the wheel with a pulley on the end of barrel. I unci thiß machine until two years ago. The seeds fell about two feet in front of the knives, the hoe first cutting the weeds, if any, and afterwards thoroughly covering the seed. I generally allowed one day to iuterveue and then I ran the Cambridge roller oyer. I never 1ob1; an acre of clover by this process, but I often noticed the seeds were thinnestwhere the land was lightest and it is f ai: to suppose the seeds had been burried the deepest. I also noticed that where the land waßthe hardest the plants looked the best. This induced me to hoe the land first, the day foPowing sowing the seeds by the same machiue, raising the knives. It took a boy, a man, and a. horse to do 16 acres a day, so I employed the hand barrow drill with which the man can sow the same quantity without a horse and boy. I put on the Cambridge roller the day after the ser ds were sown. In this process the seeds fall on the loosened soil and do not get buried so deep as when sown before hoeing. I tried a singlo drill last year upon another plan. I left one drill unsown until I had usel the Cambridge roller. I then sent tho seed drill over and a light one horse roller after that, I am satisfied that the seeds ; -e thicker upon this than upon any other part of the field, although they are a'l looking well. I am certain from my ow,i observation that a great quantity of suia'l seeds :r:e wasted from being buried too deep. I think the seed should not be deposited more than 'i of an inch from the surface. White clover is a very wwkseed, aud I have no doubt that when bmiedlito2 inches dc.p it may germinate, but has not strength enough to send its leaves to the surface. It is essential that provision should be made for covering all small seeds with soil and as ue.ir the depth I have stated as possible. It is well known that the headlands become considerably firmer than other parts of the hold from coutiuual turning of tho horses and implements. 1 can scarcely remember over having seen a field miss clover whore the headlands were not good enough to stand for a crop. Now I think the best plan of ensuring tho seeds beiug sown at an equal depth with a linn bed, is first of all to horse hoo tho land, ihon run tho Cambridge roller over, which makes a beautiful groove for tho rocoption of the seed which I now bow with the hand, barrow drill

If the slides are looked to each time the box requires filling to see there is no obstruction to the seed coming out, great accuracy can be obtained. I then commenced a one - horse chain harrow being run over. Mojt of the chain harrows are made to divide in the centre, and those that are not are easily cut across, and a row of crooks put between, when you cin have either a one or two horae harrow in a few minutes. I am satisfied it is the best implement I have ever used to give a nice finish iu covering seeds. 1 do not recommend clover being sown oftener than every 8 years. I am Batiafied that one acre of good clover will feed more mutton than 2 acres of indifferent, and I think it impossible to get from the same land a good crop of clover more than once in eight years. If we can produce as much mutton off one acre Bown every 8 years as we could from two sown every 4 years, I am quite sure the farm would be kept in much better condition. My experience has taught me that whenever I saw a good clover pasture, a good crop of grain was pretty sure to follow, and an adundant crop of weeds after a bad one. I should always recommend the very best seeds being sown. If I determined upon only spending a certain sum per acre, I should buy the best seeds, and sow less of them. I only let my clover pastures lay one year, If I intended feeding them for 2 or 3 years I should mix a lot of grasses suitable for the purpose, with the same seeds I sow for one years' feeding. I never sow more than 3 or 4 acres for my carfc horses during the summer ; upon this portion I only sow alsike, red clover, and cow grass. Upon the lightest part of my faim I run the Cambridge roller over the seeds in the autumn, and again in spring, upon both strong and light land, as early as it will work. lam satisfied a great many fields of seeds lose root-hold with the frost we have during the winter, and die off in Februaiy (August N.Z.), in March .(September N.Z.), if solidity is not givem them. The next part of Mr Outhwaite's paper treats on permanent grasses. (lo be ontinued.)