SECOND OR STOLEN CROPS.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1517, 25 March 1882, Page 4

SECOND OR STOLEN CROPS.

In'- the intermediate cropping S3'stem, which simply means the cheap production of stock food, it is obvious tares could have no place were there no other •'alternative than the purchase of seed at high rates. The crop, is however, is just as easily harvested as field peas, and therefore,' under existing circumstances, a portion should be grown specially for the purpose of providing at least a sufficient supply for home requirements. The sheep farmer will experience no difficulty in the matter ; many substitutes which wiH equally well suit his purposes can be made available, but where cattle have to be provided ior tares are indispensible. For spring food, and an abundant supply until the pastures have acquired sufficient strength in the ensuing season, sowings of winter tares should be made now, and may be continued during April. On strong lands ploughing will be necessary, for tares require fine tilth, but where the soil is friable the seed may be broadcasted on the stubble, a good working with a cultivator given, and then rolled. With the tares should be sown a mixture of wheat, oats, or English or Cape barley. These serve as a climber for the tare, and further add materially to the weight of the crop. As the winter tare has smaller foliage than the summer variety, the seeding should be heavier, and therefore, according to quality of the soil, should vary from one and a-half to two bushels to the acre, with from a bushel to a bushel and a-half of grain. Where the grain crop has been much shaken, provided a supply of home-grown seed were available, and a sowing of tares made and grubbed in, the previous loss would be more than repaid by the heavy and valuable yield of early spring food for the stock. The crop from autumn sowings should be ready for use late in August, and ample supplies .should be available throughout September and October. As the tares arc fed oil", the preparation of the laud for turnips, or other green crop, should be proceeded with, and by ordinary judicious management the necessary operations may be completed in due time. Valuable as are the winter taics under certain circumstances, the spring or summer varieties are, and should be, legarded by every farmer as indispensible, for it is questionable if any other forage plant will give as heavy returns of food so nutritious and so much relished by every kind of live stock. Although the necessary cultivation is simple and familiar to most fanners, it should be carefully and thoroughly done, for the additional weight of crop will fully repay any extra attention. Fiist sowings should be made as eaily as possible in spring and continued throughout the summer, or, in any case, till the end of February, for we cannot too strongly advise the farmer to provide an abundant supply of these for cutting until as late as possible in autumn. In the early districts, whore harvesting is usual at the end of January or the beginning of February, it would be most advisable to seed down a portion of the stubble lands with spring tares. By so doing at the e\piration of four months, heavy cuttings would bo available for the stock, and the loot ciops would be economised for later winter use. All the earlier summer crops of tares can be successfully followed at a nominal cost in cultivation by late or stubble turnip, so it must be obvious that an immense weight of cattle or sheep feed may in this way be raised fiom even a few acies of land- As the foliage of the spring tare is more prolific than that of the winter variety, about one and a-half bushels, mixed with a like quantity of grain, will be a sufficient seeding per acre. Tares are at the very best for feeding purposes just when the seed pod begins to harden, and in order to have a suppl/ always ready in this stage of growth, successive sowings must be made. We frequently hear superior pastures l.iudcd for stock raising or feeding ; wo place our faith more on a variety of sujx > tor Jowl. Rich pastures, no doubt, matin c stock rjmckty, but we hold that an alternating feed of lucerne fed to depastured tattle would be beneficial, and that still better results would be obtained jf a f Hither change of a feed of tares daily were practicable. This would be high feeding carried into practise, and wo merely give this as an illustration of our idea, and which is capable of still further c\ tension in practice were the stolen crop system adopted. With the present ruling prices for seed tares, it is not, pei hit ps, advisable to go extensively into their cultivation this season ; at all events, a beginning should be made, and on every stock farm a portion should be specially set apart for growing a full supply for the future. There are mnny districts in which this season's turnip crop is a comparative failure, and, in consequence, stock farmers must experience vciy sci ions difficulties in wintering their cattle and sheep. The only solution of the difficulty will be found in the growth of quick growing fodder crop-j or roots, so that the farmer may be enabled to husband his stock of turnips for use during the the severe winter time. In addition to sowings of rape, as already advi«ed, we would strongly recomincndiinmcdiate seedings of Cape barley, and the smaller vaiieties of stubble turnip. Once the stocks have been carted, Cape barley .should bebioadcasted, scarified, and rolled. The growth is so vigorous that in a few. months a heavy cutting of green stufl will bo had, which, with straw, will l.cep cattle in excellent condition, or it can be fed oft" with sheep. Cape barley has long been successfully grown in Austialia for soiling and sheep feeding purposes, and obtains a decided piefercnce over other varieties of grain ; where, however, it is not possible or difficult to obtain this seed, English barley, oats, or wheat must be raised. All of these aie frequently and profitably grown for soiling or feeding purposes under the stolen crop practice, and so as to in nowise interfere with the main crops. The Cape barley, however, grows so rapidly, and, if thick sown, produces such a weighty crop, that it deserves especial attention and preference. Put in for spring feed, it soon affords a reliable supply to supplement the scanty and backward pastures ; sown with summer tares, it keeps them up off the ground, and increases the weight of the crop considerably. In such exigencies as arise from failures in ( the main crops of oats, it may be relied on as a very excellent substitute, or as affording the means of tiding over the difficulty. To prevent any after evils, however, care should be taken to have the seed perfectly free from weed, and it would be, perphaps, advisable in most cases to have it screened. It is not generally known that the smaller varieties of stubble turnip coutinue their growth until well into winter; but such is the fact, and were extensive sowings made now, a failure of the larger "varieties would not be so seriously felt. On very free soils the seed may be broadcasted on the stubble, aud lightly harrowed and rolled in; but .on heavier lands grubbing or scarifying must precede the seeding. Finally we have to repeat our advice that the seeds of tares, rape, and stubble turnip, at least, should be grown on the" farm, and a stock in reserve always kept on hand. There need not then be any unoccupied lands on the holding, and failures of leading -crops will be unfelt, b'eoauae promptly provided for.— Wttnest]