The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2474, 19 May 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Kijual Aiid oxuet justice to all men, Ul ,vliati:«ever state or persuasion, religious or political. XATITJIDA V, MAY 10, 18SS. «> . — TiiHitK can be no doubt but that in turning their :i(.tnntiou solely to the gro.wih of spring Tuscan our wheat growers have been barking up the. -wrong tree, in one Auckland mill where two thousand sacks of Anc'icland grown spring wheat have over .supplied requirements for some time to come, one thousand sacks per week of winter wheat are being iri',ported from the South to mix. and work off the local suppjy,

all of which money might have been secured by our own farmers but for their having devoted their almost exclusive attention to the growth of spring Tuscan. Is there any valid reason that they should continue to do so 1 Let us see.

The system of growing wheat after turnips is the sole cause which prevents the Waikato farmer from raising winter wheat. The turnips are not off the ground in time for the sowing of winter wheat which should take place in May or June. It is clear then that tln-re must be a change in the rotation. Turnips they must grow to maintain the fertility of the soil, but these may take some other place in the rotation, and the effect of increased fertility upon the land will be all the same whether they are followed by one crop or by another. The old Norfolk four course rotation contains after all the principles underlying every system of rotation, providing as it does alternate white and green crops, and ensuring that the whole, of the growth of the green crop is returned in manure to the soil as food for the white crop which succeeds it. That rotation consists of, first year, turnips (or swedes rather) followed by barley in the second year, with which ryegrass and clover are sown, and this crop which is called " seeds," occupies the land for the third year, and is then ploughed in for wheat in the fourth, in this country, or in Waikato at any rate, little attention is directed to the growth of barley, but in its place a crop of oats might be substituted, sown with red clovers and rye grass. In some cases the "seeds" are allowed to stand for two years, making a five course rotation, but the principle is the same. Now there is no reason why this course should not be largely followed in Waikato. The greater portion of our lands lie dry enough naturally through the winter for the wheat plant, and if the openness of the winter season does promote too early a growth of the plant, making it " winter proud" as it is termed, thero is always opportunity for keeping it down with sheep. Again, in this part of New Zealand the farmer might take two crops of turnips where the English farmer can only take one in the four years' rotation. The wheat is off the land in (juiie time enough to sow a crop of early maturing turnips, which may be fed off in plenty of time to prepare the land for the regular crop of swedes, thus stealing a crop between the wheat and the swedes, and so further increasing the stock of animal manure supplied direct to the land for the use of the succeeding crops of the rotation. We have heard it urged against the four course and other rotations, and against the growing of winter wheat, that the sorrel and other weeds would make too much headway and interfere materially with the success of the wheat crop. This, however, would be the fault of the farmer, either in the past or the present. The good old maxim that " one year's seeding makesseven years' weeding," is too often forgotten, and as a matter of course, a matter of husbandraanlike procedure indeed, the turnip and the wheat crop, the latter drilled, must be kept thoroughly clean by the use of the hoe. After a good crop of turnips fed off upon the land, and a suitable tilth, the " seeds" sown with the oats should be a severe check upon the growth of weeds, smothering and dwarfing even the sorrdl, which in a, clean kept crop of wheat succeeding, would never get a chance of asserting itself. Land properly farmed under such a course, even in this climate, would become cleaner and cleaner every year.

But tliere is no need for the farmer to tie himself clown to this particular rotation, or system of cultivation leading up to the growth of a fair proportion of his farm in winter wheat. To paraphrase an old adage, wo may say "as many kinds of land so many rotations." There can t>n no hard and fast rule in this matter, which may be even affected by the particular local demand for special kinds of produce. Each farmer of experience should be able to work out his own rotation. This subject, however, is one to which we need to again refer, and in throwing out suggestions of the kind we are now doing, we desire the readers of this journal to understand that we have less in view the attempt to air any particular crotchet of our own on agricultural matters, than to awaken the farming community to the broad question of making the most of their land, and of their opportunities. If our discussion on these matters shall have the effect of calling forth from the more experienced of them, an exchange of opinion on those subjects and of eliciting valuable suggestions and useful information for the less experienced, our chief object will have been gained. We need scarcely say that our columns will be cheerfully open to such correspondents.

What we desire to sec is, that our farmers should take the fullest advantage of the opportunity which wheat-growing offers them. There is no crop that will pay them so well, and as yet the local market (for the right kind, of course,) is far and away in excess of the supply. What is needed is, that we should grow not only sufficient wheat for the consumption of this provincial district, but for export also; and we believe it would be to the interest of the millers as a body that we should do so. They have to suffer from a most severe competition with the millor.s of the South Island, who, while keeping up the prices at home, ship oil" surplus stocks to the injury of rivals in other districts. Till the time comes when more wheat is produced in the Auckland district than we need here, enabling local millers to export flour to Australia and the South, so long will the keen Southern competition exist, and Northern wheat-growers and millers too, feel the pinch. Let us once turn the tables, and the war of keen competi-

tion will be carried out of our own into the enemy's country. It is to the interest of farmer and miller alike to work hand in hand in this matter. The substitution of locally grown winter wheat for spring wheat will fffect this object, and, at the same time, open up a large market to our Waikato and North Auckland farmers of which the South now enjeys the monopoly.