AGRICULTURAL NOTES. ROOT CROPS.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 594, 11 March 1876, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL NOTES. ROOT CROPS.

At a meeting of the Blandford Farmers' Club, Mr Burtt said :— From what little experience I have had I believe the great secret in growing a regular crop of turnips is deep ploughing in the autumn, as soon as possible efter the crops are cleared off, to allow the frosts and winter rains to descend, so as to thoroughly pulverise and afford nourishment through the following summer, ard never to disturb the depth attained the previous autumn, but plough shallower every time, letting the ground lie long enough each time to pulverise the knobs and let all the seeds of wwds vegetate. I like to plough shallower every time for this reason— if tlw last time or two is deeper than the first it k difficult (even with rollers) to get so fine a mould as is necessary. Without a fine tilth we can do nothing. " Where clods prevail the t»rnips fail." I never plough more than three times if I aan help it ; but of course that must depend on the description of soil at»d its state as regards cleanliness. It is to be ranch regretted that the root crop is so 'liable to be injured, very often destroyed by flies, and in some land very subject bo olub-root, which renders them perfectly useless ; -but I hope aomc one present will be able to tell us the "perfect cure "for these things. There are lots of things recommended, such as sowing quicklime, rolling with a heavy roller through the night with a light harrow behind, but I think our labourers would not care much about doing that now. The plan I try to adopt, and generally with success, is to get th» land ploughed and thoroughly dressed down and made fine about three weeks before I want to put the drill in ; then if the weather is warm and dry the flies will be produced in great numbers, being hatched from their eggs by the sun, and there being nothing tor them to oat, they must either go away or perish. Ido not think we chalk our hands half enough. I should like to know the opinion of gentlemen present as to the best time of sowing swedes, and also as to what quantities of manure they recommend. After the land has been lying dressed About three weeks I generally put in the Bental, with the ■ drags and roller behind, two or three days before the drill, so as for them to keep ahead well, which will cut up and destroy all weeds,- charlock, ■ kc. I know knd so managed ia a good deal finer and moister when sown than if ploughed just before the drill, Tor it gets dried quicker when frequently turned up than when allowed to remain quiet. I never sow with ashes if it can^e helped, but mix the manures wanted together and sow clean, generally bone and superphosphate of lime mixed, about one sack "of the former and 3cwt. of the latter per acre. Some people have a thing on tho drill to bury the weeds. I prefer the seed' harrow, and if it is & very light soil put the Crosskill roller behind. As soon as the plants are strong enough I like to harrow acrdss the drills "with a V harrow if the land is firm enough, and single as soon as possible, leaving them 10 or 12 inches apart, and keep the horse-hoe -at work as long and often as I possibly can, for I think it keeps the mildew off. That may bo in a great measure prevented in swedes by not sowing them too early. I like to sow about June 9, or after. If it is possible I try to bring in my late swedes on the ground that is coming into a second round of turnips, und sow two or three drills to rape for the lambs. Ido not think we pit our late swedes enough ; if we did it more our ewes would not be half so 'light looking in their jackets as they generally are the latter part of April. As a rule the swedes grow away to green, which the lambs have, the poor .mothers behind having nothing but a lot ef stuff not much better than wood to eat. I know it is a very expensive thing to do if done up into heaps ; but I havo known it done with great success by ploughing up a furrow as deep as possible, stucking the swedes close together, then ploughing one or two furrows up to them. A great number of acres are sown to roots after oho or two years' lea, which will do very Veil some seasons, but are "not to 'be depended upon. For the main crop,

crown after lea or \ etches, I always use he Norwegian harrow. There is no other "drag or harrow with a. roller to -beat it, nor to do so much good even three times in a place as the Norwegian will once. It never bring 1 * up any thing, and makes a famous seed bed. If any one present has not on« or cannot borrow one, 1 recommend him to get one at once. I always borrow. For vetch ground it is invaluable, pressing it firm and moist, and bringing in. none of the haulm after it is ploughed in. "Respecting mangols I like <o giow them after wheat, on ground that is coming into two years' tmnips. I have '.ennd hauling out 20 or 30 caitr loads of n ng per acre, and ploughing it in before oh risbmas, answers very well, the gt ound being only dressed well and Bental'ed m the spring before drilling. I then put in about 3 cwt. of ruang«l iramuo and o cwt. of salt per acre, the latter bioadcast, and consider if the hovse-hoe is kept at work, and the land in anj thing like condition, there always should be a crop. I put in, as a rule, one-haif the quantity lam going to sow to long and the other half to yellow globe, the long ?ort for early feeding. I do not think there are many farmers round this part who grow kohl rabi. I cannot think how it is, for it is a most, valuable root, and requires no labour to peok tfhem up for the sheep, which is a great 'thing in these days of high-priced labour, I have known tegs do well on it all the winter -and spring without a handful of hay ; and to my mind it is the best thing out for ewes and lambs in the gpring., keeping them far better than swedes or 1 turnips will at that time. The land should be prepared the same as for swede", and the same kind of manure used ; but as it grows slov, ly it should be sown the iatne time as mangel, the first week in May. I* will do iirst-rato on land that is at all turnip-Bick or given to finger-and-toee.—Mr R Fowler considered the best way to insure a good root crop was to have a good seed-bed. Formcily it was the custom'to plough the land four oi five times, but they had lived long enough to see that plan given up. Ho thought it was useless to expect a good crop with a oul bed. Tho land must he well prepared. In the days of their forefathers it was the custom to allow the land to lie fallow before preparing it for the root crop, but now they knew it was possible to grow roots after a previous spring crop, and that with one ploughing, and they got as good roots as their forefathers did with four or five ploughing. After they had a good seed-bed, their success depended so much upon tho season that it was impossible to say whether or not the crop would be good. A good reason for turnips was generally bad An hay and corn harvest. If they got a rainfall of about half-an-inch regularly through the summer they might depend upon a good root crop ; but the chief point, as he had said, was to have a good sesd-bod. The proper time to sow and the manure to use was the next co.isidtration. He found the List week in May or about the first, and, second in June answered very well for swedes, common sorts to follow; and with regard to manure, he considered they must depend chiefly on hai ing that from a thoroughly ■honest and respectable manure merchant. He gave the preference to tint made from boucs. For mpngel a certain amount of bait was wanted. Ho generally used about from 40s to "JOs worth of urtifici.il manures for mangel, 10s worth less for swedes, and for turnips he took another 10s worth off. Jle began with eaily turnips, then followed with pui pie undafterwards thegreen-topswedes, sowing the different sorts according to the time of year and the season when they were likely to be •wanted for feeding j and the result was he had generally grown good crops. They heard of extraordinary growths of root crops, but they were not seen about here such as 50 tons per acie. He had grown himself four mangels weighing 1 cwt, but this was in drained bog land in another county. What would do for some soils would not answer for others. Refering to Mr Mechi's theory as to thin sowing, Mr Fowler remarked that the quantity of seed used must depend upon the nature of the soil ; what would do for one climate would not foe another. About IJ-lb did there, while in Hants it required 31b. Probably it might be found where the largest quantity of seed was sown there would bo the smallest crop of plants. If a person came into a fresh neighbourhood, be advised that he Bhould consult his neighbours, and most likely he would find they were not all fools who lived there. In all things they must bo guided by the soil and practical knowledge, and not trust too much to what they read in books. The successful culture of the root crop could only be attained by having a good seed bed, and, when they had that, ask for and depend on God for hie blessing. Mr G Groves said there was one subject in connection with growing root crops i Which had not been touched upon — namely, the use of liquid manure drills. In other parts of the country the use of these drills had been found very beneficial, and lie once heard a Gloucester farmer say ho had gained several thousand pounds by the use of a lquid manure drill. With respect to preparing for mangels, he (Mr Groves) thought he had lost through not preparing the ground before spring. — Mr 0 0 Richards (the chaii man) said it appeared to him they were all agreed as to the advantage of autumn cultivation and deep ploughing. With regard to tho question of water drilling ho wished to state that for 'the last 14 years he lived in Hampshire ho had used a water-drill with great success, and he much regretted he did not bring it with him. His experience was that it could be used to very great advantage. Ho had never lost a plant when lie used this drill. When he had a dry drill ho did not succoed ; but thost remarks applied more to Hampshire than to this neighbourhood, as here they suffered less from drought.—" News of the World," 2nd January, 1876.

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