Agriculture, STATION, FARM AND GARDEN. BY OLD COLONIST.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1619, 18 November 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agriculture, STATION, FARM AND GARDEN. BY OLD COLONIST.

I'EKD FOX TIMKS OF SCARCITY. The certainty with which 'serious turns of dry weather come irpon us in Australia have to be calculated for by all classes, and by none more closely than settlers upon new land. It is not only scarcity of water he lias to provide against, although an abundance of that will be the very lirst consideration of every thoughtful man. We have but to look around us, in all parts of the colony, to see the disastrous effects of not having water in such positions for stocks that they can have all that is necessary without exhausting themselves in the eiTorts to search for water. Even in cases wheie it was obtainable at a distance, by travelling three or four times a week, the effects of such journeys, upon both cattle and .sheep, becomes painfully evident. Investigation will piovc that a very large proportion of the losses amongst small Hocks of breeding sheep, and milking stock, aie tiaceable directly to the travelling of the animals to and from places where water could be got for them. This is a fact which cannot be too strongly impressed upon selectors. In the case of bleeding sheep, it is absolute destruction to travel them longer than a week or two. It is really much better to bring to them the small quantity of water with which they can get along, even if it has to be carted at considerable labour. Water, then, is a first consideration. We have but too many occasions for seeing what follows when the precaution is neglected. Then comes the question of feed. Hay is a good btand-by during times of scarcity. It is suiprising with how little lucerne hay stock will pull through upon, even dining long and trying droughts. Hay, of oats and mixed glasses, also ha\c theii lccommendations in limes of .scarcity ; and, when nothing belter is available, it is neithei loss of time nor the expendituie incurred to put up a few stacks of bush hay. And there sue places where, by fencing a small paddock, and sowing the glass until it is fully giown, the mowing machine can do good sci vice in cutting it down foi bush hay. Wheie theie is no machine, the sythe is no mean substitute ; but, at this work, like many other thing? in colonial experience, it is a good line always to lemeinbei that wheie horses can be got to work, men are at a marked disadvantage. The hay stack, then, if it can be got up by any reasonable effoit, is worthy of a "scry piominenl place on the homestead of both the station and the farm. There sue some who aheady giow loots for winter feed, and the number increases wheie the good eilccts aie been upon the live stock of one or two neighbois. The mont valuable of roots, mangolds and beets, aie grown in many parts with gicat pcifection, both in the quantity and quality of the yield. But, successful root ci ops, means a higher degree of farming than can be got without consideiable outlay upon new land, and this description of feeding stuff cannot be expected to pi ogress so rapidly in the newer districts. Some time bince, another, and, at that time, a novel, soit of winter feed was lecommemled. This was cut up mai/2e-stalkb, with cobs, iVc, in the green state. We aie moie than glad to bring this sort of feed into notice again, and with more piactical details than were possible, until the suitability of the system had been faiily tested in this country. In those paits where maize can bcgiown — and districts sufficiently warm aie moie extensive than seems to be generally supposed — it is doubtful if any feed giown in anj countiy equals maize when preserved by the silo system. The process of opeiating, it will be recollected, is a cry simple. To picpaie maize for the purpose, it is sown thickly. Broadcast sowing has been lecomiueiidcd, but, foi our climate, and in lough land especially, drill sowing pio\ os the most suitable. Drills aie opened with the hoe, oi with the plough if the land is cleai of loots. Ihifc even on lough land, oi amongst stumps, drills deep enough and straight enough, can be diawn with the hoe. The chills may be about three feet upait, and into them the coin is dropped quite thickly, so that the seeds may lie about an inch apail all over the furrow. Covei uj) the &ocd at once, and, if the soil is diy, pack 01 tramp it down o\oi the seed. If there is moisfcme in the land, the plants will he up in a week, and they luquno no attention until the leaves begin to spiead over the ground, or unless weeds begin to press them and stop the growth. Then the hoe has to pass ovei the ground and loosen the soil between the lows, chipping ovei the weeds at the same time. Maize giows \eiy rapidly. During showery waim weather, the crop will be covering the giound se\en weeks after the seed was sown. Two 01 thice hoemgs may be necessary to keep it clean and growing dunng that time, but aftei the plants hang ovei between the lows, until the whole space is covered, the coin wants no fuither attention, until it is lipe for cutting. To preset ye corn in the green state, it is cut i just as the grain is beginning to form. At that stage the sap of the plant is sweet, and of a cicam-lilvG consistency, and from the roots to the flower at the top of the stalks it is rich in sweet sap. At a later stage, when the giain has fairly formed, the stem becomes woody, and diy, and contains very little nourishment. The plants, therefore, arc cut just as the giain begins to foim. It is left in the sun to wilt and diy a little, but not longoi than is necessary to dry the watery sap of the leaves. The whole is then passed tluough cliait-cutting machines, and l educed to half-inch slices, or even finer than that. At this time, when cut giccn, piobably theie is no iced m existence of which cattle, horses, and sheep aie so fond, Pigs, also, like it, mid aie said to fatten on this cut up mai/o. Of coiusc, feed of that rich kind can be got only during hot, or, at least, warm, summer weathei, as it is during such time only that maize conies to maturity. Many elloits have been made to preseive this feed. It lias been dried like hay, and stored away in bains, but without cutting up the plants into chaff, and dvi ing dry weather dried feed of this kind has Kent vciy well. When cut up, the dried stuff made very good feed, although by no means tuthei ho juicy or nourishing as in the gieen stale, even when wetted with water. The diying, too, is a risky opeiaJon, for, should damp or wet come on, the stuff is very liable to mildew or ferment. It was a \aluablo discovery that when cut up in the gieen state, maize could be preserved during months, or even years, and when particulars of the operation reached the colonies, there was considerable attention moused. The p iocess of preserving, as carried on in Southern Europe, is very .simple. Tanks, or " silos," arc made in the giound. These tanks are about six feet across, six or more feet in depth, and any length that may be desired. They are built, or fenced with stone, in some cases ; in others they are cemented — the object being to keep out the moisture of the damp earth. Into these tanks, oi " silos," the green stuff is packed as soon as it is cut. It is trampled or rammed down as solid as jjossible, the object of the packing being to retain the juices, and to keep out the air, and no prevent feruentation, The filling goes on until the top is reached, and the contents are as liimly bedded as they can be, without injuring or reducing the cut stuff to pulp. Then a layer of dry straw is spread over all, and heavy boards are put on as a covering. The arrangements, so far, are very simple. Indeed, they seemed so much so, that there ivas a gereral hesitancy, about adopting the system, under an impression, that something else must V>e necessary, in order to preserve green feed in this climate. Several experiments have, however, been mxia with the " silo" system, carried out as stated. And they have been so successful, that there seems no necessity for holding back further, bitf, tha.t,,the system, as-, being j'welL Adapted to.tbisc^untry, might beep me general. >

cemented, as preferred in Euiopc. The other, was merely a pit sunk in the soil. On opening up the " silos," which was done in the presence of a number of persons interested in furnishing winter feed for live stock, the contents of the cemented tanks were found to be sweet, with the exception of an inch or so on top, which had been acted on by the air and damp. It smelled sweet, too, and stock, to Avhicli the greener stuff was offered, " went for" it greedily. The contents of the other tanks were injured slightly to a depth of three or four inches on top, and round the sides. But the remainder was good and sweet. Being the larger bulk of the two, the contents of the second tank were judged to be the sweeter. Great satisfaction, however, was expressed concerning both, and the process is likely to be adopted by several who were present. The very gentle fermentation to which the ' cut and packed feed is subjected in the tanks has a beneficial effect both in developing sugar, and in making the feed tender. Where sugar cane or sorghum can be grown, an addition of that kind would seem to be valuable in the contents of a silo, which might, with such rich mateiial, contain quantities of poorer stuff, and even of bush grass cut up with the others. Feed of this kind would be very welcome in such times as the present.