AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 57, 17 November 1896, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS

XVII J. Exi'l'.i:tmi:nts AVitii HirrKiiKXT CULTIVATIONS I'i'i; Wiikat. YVnol.i: field s-uii with pearl wheat. A pint ploughed unci: in April ami sown 10th May yielded 2." U bushels per acre. A plot cultivated with tlio MasseyITarris cultivator (nice, and ploughed twice, sown on the sth June, yielded 27'J bushels per acre. A pint cultivated with the MusseyHarris cultivator twice, and ploughed once, sown o:> 10th May, yielded 27'J bushels per acre. A plot ploughed twice and sown on sth June yielded 27; bushels per acre. The above, experiment shows a difference of 21 bushels in favour of extra cultivation. XIX. ExrKttiMKNTs With Biiterest On/nNATIONS FOH Ii.UU.KY This experiment consists in the different methods of preparing land for bailey after roots. The field in which all the experiments took place is twenty-five acres in extent, twenty-four acres being set aside fir experiment, and one acre being taken up by headlands. The history of the fifth! for the past six years is as follows : —ln 18SS it was broken up from thrcc-yc.ir-old pasture and then sown in wheat, which was followed suco-.ssivcly by turnips, oats, oats (again), wheat and then turnips, followed by the present barby crop. [N.B.— The continuous cropping was occasioned by the grubs attacking the young grass for two seasons, thus necessitating the sowing of two other crops]. It will thus l.c seen that the treatment the field received for the past bix years was one of continuous cropping, so that if there is much to be learned from the different methods of preparing the barley crop after turnips, it is certainly in such an instance as the above. The turnips preceding the barley were an excellent crop, and were all fed elf by sheep, which received also a liberal allowance of ryegrass hay. The land was in no way poached through the feeding of the sheep thereon-- though the winter was wet—as the sheep were always removed to grass paddocks when the land was too wet for feeding them on the turnips, it was late in the sprint; ire all the turnips were fed off, so that the preparing of the land for the barley crop was begun somewhat late. The held was divided lengthways into live strips--three contiguous strips containing six acres each, and the remaining two strips three acres each. Jt was sown with Chevalier barley (drilled in) at the rate of two bushels pa- acre, the barley being previously dressed with bluestotie at the rate of 1!,07.. in one quart of water per bushel. We give the dates and the operations taking place on these dates : Plot No I.—August 22-23—-Skimmed, 10in by 2.'.in. Oct. I—Tine harrowed. Oct. 3*4-Ploughed, lOin by 4.'.in. Oct. 11-12—Tine harrowed. Oct." 12-13-Eolled, (hilled, and Inn rowed. Oct. 13-15—Grass sown broadcast, harrowed, and then rolled. Plot No. 2.—August 22-Stirred twice by Massev-liarrH cultivator. Oct. I—Tine harrowed. Oct. 8!) Ploughed, JOin by 4J.in. Oct. 11-12 Tine harrowed. Oct 12-15—Treated in the same way as No. 1. Plot No. 3.—August 2?—Stirred once by Massey-Harris cultivator. August 24—Skimmed, 2'.i:i by lOin. Oct.'l Tine harrowed. "Oct. 10-11—Ploughed, lOin. by l.lie. Oct. 11 12-Tine harrowed. Oct. 12-15 —Treated in the same way as No 1.

Plot No. 4—August 23 Spade harrowed, twice. Oct!)—Spade harrowed, twice. Oct. !'2-l.")—Treated in the san.c way as No 1. I'lotNo. ;">.—August 23—Stirred twice by Massey-llarriH cultivator. Oct. !) Stirred twice by Masscy-H.uvis cultivator. Oct. 12-I.j—Treated in the s.ame way as No. 1. From the a! ovc it will lie seen that, generally speaking, all tiie conditions to obtain a fairly correct result were pie sent. The field was carefully surveyed, and was broken up on precisely the same days (August 22 or 23), and the subsequent operations on the different plots were performed as nearly as po-siblc on the same dates. The results are as follow :—Plot No. J yielded 27 bushels per acre. Plot No. 2 yielded 211, bushels per acre- Plot No. .'! yielded 2.3 bushels per acre. Plot No. •! yielded 2.")' bushels per acre. Plot No. 5 yielded 27 bushels per acre. The yield per acre is only fair, but tiie relative yields of the different plots are just what we expected. The whole question is one of tilth and position of plant food. Take ['lot No. I : The skimmed furrow lay exposed to the atmosphere for seven weeks, and though this plot was then [louglnd deeper on Oct. lib the skimmed p rt was not buried in the bottom of the furrow, but became evenly mixed with the soil of the larger farrow. In the .skimmed furrow the barley fed on the food prepared by atmospheric agents, and also left from the urine and droppings of the sheep., and in the loosened part of the large furrow the barley could send its roots comparatively far down in search of more food. Take the case of No. 2 : Plant food was in process of preparation for the eanio time seven weeks and the amount of mine and droppings on it pre KUiuably the same, but on Oct. the Sth and !)lh it was ploughed with a deep furrow, and the whole surface, containing the valuable ingredients for plant growth, was buried in the bottom of the t.itrow, owing to the loose earth of the siil red surface falling freely into tiie bottom of the furrow when the furrow slice was being turned over, and thus being placed too far from the roots of the barley. In Plot No. .". one gets a partial re currencc of the same Let as stated in No. 2. Tim; .Massey-Harris cultivator was put over it. once, and then it was skim ploughed, and afterwards, when it wus ploughed with a deep furrow as in No. 2, there Mould be a great tendency for the surface part to become buried in the furrow, but net to such an extent as in No. 2, became there would always be a proportion ot the skim furrow that W'juld on the second ploughing be kept near the top. Ju No. 2 the whole surface soil would be buried, ;ind r* No. :; only a part of it. , Plot No I : This plot is an example of cheap cultivation. If we try to justify the difference in yield between No. I anil No. .">, L may be found in this -lint the spades, although producing a line tilth and keeping the manured section of |],e s')il to the surface, did not go so deeply as did the Massoy-liarris cultivator, or a., did the piougli in plot hoi. Plot No .-» : 'I his was also a cheap method, as litre the .-oil worked by the cultivator was loose, fine, and sufficiently deep, and the manured section was kept on the lop. The only drawback to this method is, that more weeds came up than i'i the plo's that were ploughed. sr:>iMA7;\ . I. The results obtained were only fair, owing, first, to the fact that the land was rather heavy for barley, and second, the memorable south-wester of the last days of January em tin- heads off many of the stalks/ thus diminishing the crop by at least two bushels per acre. 2. The results of the different cultivators are true to science. Barley is a comparative shallow feeding crop, and therefore it is necessary to have the manure and available pi na food i■ m :ir < observed, a free, open tilth to, say, a , depth of four inches. '1 id ■ is \\ by in plot I. I, .">, and oven i '.'), the results, were almost identical, <■ while in plot 2 thin. w 0... cue of the

two conditions wanting, through the partial absence of available plant food, owing mainly to the manure from the slice]! lieing buried. In the oilier plots i either of the conditions was wanting. :>. Willi Hie Massey-llarris cultivator, and i'.vvn with the spade-i there was a tendency to have a greater growth of weeds than with the other implements of eiillivation. I. K very thing considered, No. 1 may be looked on as a good method ot cultivation, especially where the land is

somewhat still*. Should the land be free from weeds, and light in character, we fully believe that the methods adopted in plots Xos. -I and ."> would do admirably.