CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 697, 2 December 1876, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Tiie usual monthly meeting of the above Club was held at tho National Ho 1 el on Tuesday lost, the 2bth ult. The following membors were present : Mp^srs E Maclean, President, John Fish- < Robfc Fisher, John ltunciman, Battle, H H D Fergmson, Hunt, Clark, W L Martyn. Ilickß, R Reynolds, and Captain Owen. The minuted of the provioui mooting haying beon read and confirmed, the Secretary said that as there wore no members to be ballotod for, the next business was to hoar Mr John Fisher's essay. Mr John Fisher then read the following paper on

WHEAT GROWING-. Whkvt being the niont important of our coroali, the growing of it intimately nfFeots the whole community, }ot among maoy of the farmers of tin* district there seems to be a btruag aversion to the cultivation of this useful coro.il. Tho opinion seems to prevail that it will not pay, and that it taken more out of the ground khan auy other crop, thereby diminishing tho produoing power and tlso the vnluo of the land. All hough my exporieiica m a wheat grower hu noQboen large, le bus been contrary to these opinions, a* I have found it to pay and improve the land as well. I have not fitoxvn wheat as a rotation crop, but for the purpose of paying for cultivating and renewing worn out graas lands. Very fuir crops of vrhoat hare fat-en grown in tlu» district, from such lands only once ploughed, I have always ploughed twice the first time in Apul or earlj in May, removing with the harrows as much as possible of the rubish, und cross ploughing about 4J inches doep for the seed lurrow in Juno ior winter and early iv August for spring wheat. By sowing early there u less danger of the caterpiller injuring the crop as in ordinary seasons. The grain too will be commencing to harden before this pest geti into full swing. Next to a clean seed bed, it is important to hare good aoed. I prefer spring to winter wheat. It 11 less time in the ground, ripena nourly as soon as winter whoat, and 1 hare found the average yield to be larger. As it does not tiller so much, it required more seed to the acre, but the growth is more rapid, therefore more elfectual in keeping down weeds. The time of lowing has a powerful influence in changing the nature of wheat as by repeatedly growing at any one season a wheat can bp| easily changed in its habits as rogards ths time of r. pomng. "Wheat is liable to certain diseases, of which smut is one of the most common, a great number of preparations are recommended for preventing this diseaso. Bluostouo, being amon^ tho surest. My practice has been to place the wheat in u heap, and to every bushel of wheat, apply 1£ oz of blucstone dissolved in water at the rate of one gallon to five bushels of seed, turning over tho heap until it is thoroughly well mixed, the grain will absorb the whole of the moiiture and be read} for sowing in the course of two or three hours, and will keep as long as if it had never been steeped at all. It is eighteen rears since I tried this plan, and although my crops have never been entirely free from *mut it has bcea confined to an odd head here and there ; and, as far as I have noticed, answeis as well as the more luboriouß one of steeping in tanks or disks. It has this great advantage, there is no danger of tho wheat sprouting if the sowing is delayed by wet weuther, or o'hor causo. Of rust, I cannot spoak aa I have never been troubled by it. Sowing broadcast by hand, requires so ne cure to spread the seed evenly over the ground not overlapping, or laving a vacant space between the oasts. Tho drill is gradually coining into use in tho noighbourhojd of Auckland. By it tho farmer i« enubled to regulate the oxact quantity of seed, to sor it equally all ort-r the field, at a regular deptn, to cniure it boing properly oovcrcd, thereby securing it, from the attacks of tho sparrow. Jhhblmg and even triLinpUnling urn cumpulod wuh the drill in the old country.

The amount ol lolnng required will depeud on the n.itnn» of the *oil. The b.st time, 1 thiuk, is shortly after the piuut cominenuen to dr<iw its support from tho soil instead of tho seed. Soring wheat requires to he * li'tle riper wtieu out thau winter wheat, l>it J Amwod ton^eufuliy, though not so apt to shake aa winter wheat, yet tho straw becomes very brittle Mid the ear is apt to break off I have come aurosi earß of spriug wheat m which onaof the rows was entirely blind. The following peculiarity is noticed by Mr Hallett, the Cblobiated grower of l-ciigree wheat, who, in his description of h« plan of teleotiou, sayu : — "No single circumstance has struck, vie more foicib y, than the fact that of the grainy m the same «ar, one is found greatly to . oxtel all the others in vital power. Thus, of two ears contaiuing eighty-seven grains, plautod singly, one produced ten earn, containing nix hundred and eightyeight grains, aad not ouly oould the produce of no single grain oompare with them, but thu finest tea ear* which oould be collected from the product) of the whole of the other eighty-six grains, contained only five hundred aud ninety eight graius. The following year (he grams from the laiyetit oar of tho tinedt atool were planted singly one foot ap.irt. One produced a stool consisting of tifty-two ears, thoie next to it, on cither aide, twenty-nine aud seventeen respectively, and the finest of all the others only forty ears. The harvesting and thrashing bing tho heaviebt work, has be«o, with me, the moat fruiful in drawbacks, cuufly from tho scarcity of Usurers. The yield during three years averaged 28 bushels per acre, and the price 6« per bushel, or £8 8-t per acre, which £ consider paid, aad then I had tho atmw for fodder &c. I found that the bett plan to use the straw, for fodder, is to »llovr tho cattle, free access to tho stack, to help themtelvcs, with a little care to keep them from destroying it, they will consume the greater part, whioh they would not do if carted out to the field. Almost immediately after reaping, the the stubble should be ploughed. I find a marked difieience in the grata ou the land where it has been allowed to lie for some time after reaping — The gias-j producing power of the land, 1 consider, greatly improved by the process the paddocks have undergone, and as I have not used manure of any sort, this may be taken as an index that the greater part of our lands will be able to bear a wheat crop, Bay once in five or cix yea», without being the worse for it. From an article by Professor Anderson on the exhaustion of soils, 1 extract an analysis of wheat, straw, and hay, the quantities being the average produoe of the United Kingdom :—: —

The President said he wUhed to ask one question before the dißoussion was taken up by the members, Mr Fiiher, had laid he had given the land two ploughings, one in April, and one in Jane. Did ho speak of grass land ? Mr Fishsr, said, he mast be understood to speak only of grass land, he had only triod this sort. President, do you only take one orop form the land ? Mr Fiser, only one. The President, said, ho was ezoeediog his bounds, but, he would|jj ike to know if Mr Fi»h«r had tried burning the stubble instead of ploughing it down. It was profitable in other ways than being a great saving in labour. This method of burning the stubble, produoed nitrogenous manure. He was very sorry that he did not know the subjeob of the oseay before he came, or he would have prepared bimielf to sty something on the matter. Wi h refrenoe fen wheat exhausting land, had Mr Fisher ever grown roots ? He thonght that one orop of mangolds, exhausted the land as muoh as five crops of wheat in saooeision. Mr Fi«h"r, in answer, said that aa they had always out their wheat with a machine (baok delivery) they had not hud an opportunity of burning their stubble. He wou'd like very muoh to try this plan. Ho believed it to he a good one. They had taken oare to plough the Hubble as soon as possible after the grain had been reaped. This was a most im porUnt thing, as the grass was not nearly so good where the stubble had been 1 ft standing for some time. He had'neytr grown mangolds, so that, bo could not speak of them from exp< rienoo, but they miglic Htaud m.viu'c, whilo, for wheat, it waa better tot to manure, tho laud did

iio t stau'i it well, and tho difloi«-noo wm hi tlio straw, nut tbu gi/un. If any manure waa put, ptrhap*, bone dust was the best. The President said that he felt the subj'jcc to be a most important one It was tuts o piuion th*t it t-hould be JiLle to supply the district with bnad, Mid lie could have wished that Mr Fisher had ahowu how this oould be done without any great expense to the grower. He, himself, was sure it would not be very great. If every settler grew, say teuacroa, it would be found to be u very profitable crop. Mr Jamed Runcunau wished to know if the President thought that mangolds grown on land previous to wheat would injure the wheat ? The President said ho would not think of growing wheat after mangolds. If mangolds were grown in part of a field used for whoat, one could trace distinctly where the former hud grown. Mr J<is Ruuciinan said that if that was the ense, grusi would sulfur u« well after the root*. Mr Clark belierod it was the duty of everybody to grow a small quantity of wheat. Ho thought it could be grown profitably, >nd it was a most Taluable crop for mauy purposed. List year wal the first ueason in wlnoh he had grown it, and he felt the benefit of it. Last year was a favourable one for wheat ; but they should not judge by one year, but tbe average of several. He was pleased to hear that it was not an exhaustive crop. He bad found that m grpwiug mangolds thin year after wheat they did very well. With rogard to mangolds exhausting Jthe land, he might say that he know a piece of land m the eld country which had grown mangolds for ten years, and it was apparently in as good condition at the end of that time as at first. He would be glad to hear more ul thus matter at tjomc iuture time. Mr James ftunuiman aaked if Mr Fuktr's rea»ons for preferring spring to winter wheat were that it yielded bettor, and that it wus so short a time in the ground, and consequently did not suffer so much from weens. Mr Fisher said those were his reasons: The jield of bpnug wheat was muon superior to winter wheat ; ho hud threshed sixty bushels of grain from the ' former, and not more than fortj five bushels from the latter^ Mr Clark asked if Mr Fisher rcoommended skimming and ploughing or two ploughings? Mr Fisher— Two ploughings, the seoond rather light. Mr Clark said his reason for asking was that ha thought the land would not stand two deep ploughmgs, if it was ploughed twice six inches deep, it was very hard to get it together again. Mr Fisher said he had nerer ploughed so deep as that. Mr W L Martyn said he had put in twentj-five acrea of wheat, a portion was on very light sandy land and the rest on heavy flux land, and although the part on the light land did not look irell at fir*t, i* turned out infinite. y better than the heavy pjrtion. The President — Lost ysar wa* very unfavourable f r wheat. Mr Martyn thought tbo season affeoted light and hi'avy land equally . the grain waa of a wry superior quality and he had secured for it a good price. Mr Hunt asked if any gentleman had tried tho press roller. Mr Fisher, said, a farmer at Pukerimu had used a loaded dr.iy for this parpose,takiog jit after the plough with one wheel on the farrow. The President, s»id, he had in th« " Mark Lane Express" seen one artiolo on this eutijeot, whether land should be tight or loose for wheat. They mast ha' o noticed how well wheat grew in tb« cart rut* on tho fields. As Mr Clarke had aaid, one year im K ht be good, and another bad, now 25 acres was rather too large an amount to experiment on, and he was afraid that Mr Martyn wuuld bo discouraged, and would give up wheat growing. Was he growing soy this year ? Mr Martyn s»i<i be w«« not, bat his reason for this, waa, that he had no suitable land tlii* year. .Neat year h* hoped to try again. The President, said, in England they Judged by the average of so yon years. Where ho came from, it was absolutely necessary that they should grow wheat, it was what they depended upon. The rental was paid by the wheat, and wages] were rultd by the prioe of it He bad never failed to grow wheat for the last thirty years. The land waa ploughed for wheat <n England just after the harvest, and the seed sown about September or October. Mr Hioks said it was very gratifying to wheat-growers to know that it oould be grown without injuring the land. Ha wai happy to hear that it did not injure it to the extent he had supposed. He intendod to grow some, but act much. He did not like to grow anything thai affeoted the land for the worse., A' neighhour of his had grown wheat, t and his land was in a very bad state indeed. Though, from what cause, he fcould not say. It was his impression* at home, that heavy land suited wheat, and light land was better for barley. Mr Clark said that such was not ths oase where he came from. JHEe had always grown wheat on light land, and the average orop would be about forty-fir bushells per aore. The land nu ploughed onoe, and had one harrowing after the seed had been put in. They went upon the four course system. Tho most suooessful crop he had ever seen was treated in this way. It was a very an wile thing to work the land too muon. Mr R. Reynolds said he believed in skimming grass land before ploughing in order to give the grass time to rot. The weeds rot much more qu okly in this country than in England. Skimming was not expensive. It oould be done at the rate of four acres a day with a doable furrow-plough. They had usually driven over their wheat after sowing. As regards mangolds impoverishing the land, he had not seen them do it to tbe extent that wheat had done it, bat he believed that if people had ploughed their land an inch or so deeper every year, they oould go on growing anything until thuy got down twenty feet, if it were possible to plough so deep. Mr Clark asked if Mr Reynolds had ever tried wheat with one ploughing and skimming. Mr .Reynolds' said that lnst year th»y had done so ; they had a large amount of straw, but not much grnin. He might mention that they had some potatoes last year, part of which were in land that had been skimmed, and they were 50 per cent, hotter than the Test which were not so treated. Tlwbest orop they ever had, had only one ploughing, but it was an old paddock. He was of opinion that the most .suitable land for w"heat was old sly ep pasture^; sheep rendered the ground for c ops much better than oattle. The President said bra experience was not in this district. It was a noticeable fjofc, however, that all the gentlemen who had addressed the meeting had g*od land. Mr Reynolds, for instance, could grow better mangolds without' manure than they could raise near Auckland with it. He belie vod that the land' wm *o good that when the top soil became exhausted nothing nioro was nocessarY than to plough d epor to r^new it. tie bolicrcd ia twico ploughing for wheat Me W L Martyn said ho hud not

grown whe.it for tho snko of the crop aloiic, hut b' o.»u><o flio ttlieep ami cvttl> hail bo. oino -ick of Witt pas'.v i. After reaping tlit> wheat ho had turned sheep on tlie -"tubble, much glass having ijrown up, aid they did very noil. Mr Fiiher, he presumed, sowed tho grass in the autumn. If lie puc wheat m again he sow grass seed with it. W The President said it would be an unfortunate plau in the oase of a wet har- > Tost Mr Martyn said he had eaten the whant down with sheep, whan it wai ■about eight inches high and he wished to know the best time for eating it down. The President said not later than September. Air Jamos Runcimnn — Then spring wheat should not bo eaten down at all ? The President — No. He had neTer yet Men sprint; wheat so rank as to require it. lie hai heard of a person ia England who mo (red his wheat down three times, instead of eating it. Mr Ferguasou said Mr Martyns idea of towing grass with wheat did not seem to bo rory well receired. He believed that, it wm a rerj good one howerer ; in Canterbury it wu done with great sua ces», and he could not see why it should uot answer here. They had wet harvests down there. It was a profitable way be Ciiuso the wheat sheltered the young km** nnd enabled it to attain an earlier maturny. Mr Jas Bnnciman questioned very muoh whether it waa a judicious plan as it served to draw those peats the caterpillars, beAides materially injuring the crop in other 9*y», he bad *°°a a crop completely e-ucn dowh through this cause, Cloror had been grown successfully with wheat, but gr&a should be kept out by all mean*. The President said it was .usual in England to grow with barley, but not with wheat and oatn. It was oonsidered that the two latter and grass had an injurious effect upon each other. Mr fuller also considered the method an injudicious one. Mr John Kunoiman must differ from the geatleinen preceding him ; he believed the *ystem to be a good, one. in many cases, espcvAUy when the laud has only boon plaughjd once, the olorer came well of itself witLoit any sowing. He had had a grass paddock which wu ploughed once before the wheat was put in, and it was his intention to hare ploughed it up immediately after the harrest, but aemng it looking so well he left it alone, and turned hus attention to new land which was more in need of it. The following year he cut this paddouk for hay, and it was now one of the best he had. In another mstauoe he had sown grass seed with the wheat, -this was in the paddock where the moca were held last February. thud not been touched since tht wheat as cut, and gentlemen could see for themselves that it had a good sole of grass. After a few other remarks from tnemberi, Mr Battle, proposed a rote of thanks to Mr Fisher, for his interesting an<l important paper, He wished he had gone a llttl* into statistics to show how much we were indebted to the sinter oolonies for onr supply of. breadstuff*, Wat he trusted that now the matter had been brought prominently before the olub that they would have more of it, he would giro wheat a trial himself Jfter what he had heard that night. Mr Reynolds, seconded Mr Clark, drew the attention of the olub 'to the neglect exhibited k>y the Waikato lium in holding over tho re|>ort of tho Auokland Show, for the pnrposs of giving two columns of a *eport of laying the foundation stone of tho M.Monio Hall, He was sorry it was bo annual duty to call attention to this) oiatter, ho hoped it would be the lust time. The piper ought to treat them >'<vlth more consideration in these matters, A,n they wore all engaged iv agriou.ture, and he did not suppose they were all Masons. borne discussion ensued, after whioh the matter dropped. The committee appointed last mooting for the purpose of carrying out the inspection of members farms, brought up their report. Inspection will Ukejplace in January next, _ Mr Furgusson gare notice, thai he ■woaid more at the next meeting, "That it is desirable to hold a show under the auspices of the olub." The following geatleraen were propored ai members : — Messrs John Martyn, Jnr., H Fergosson, and Gane. This was all the Business.

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