ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 22 May 1919, Page 43

ON THE LAND

THE ■' HONEY CROP. The Director of' the Horticulture Division of the Department of Agriculture has received from the apiary instructors the following report concerning the honey crop prospects : —■ y rvpi ...,■.:.; u- aui !^' Auckland.— prices have dropped slightly in sympathy with the fall in prices on the Home markets; best prices offering locally being from 6d to 8d per lb, according to quality; latest Home prices between £7O and £BO per ton. Beeswax is in demand at from 2s to 2s 6d per lb. Wellington.—All the honey in the district has now been gathered, and considerable quantities are coming forward to the various grading stores for export. The quality of those lines examined has been exceptionally good. Prices are in the vicinity of lOd per lb for bulk lines. Very little comb honey is in evidence this season, the producers having confined their attention to extracted. Beeswax is scarce at 2s 3d per lb. Christchurch and Dunedin. There is little fresh to report. Beekeepers are busy preparing their consignments for export. In some localities extracting is not yet finished, being delayed by unsettled weather. There is little forward for local supplies. No pat honey is offering; sections are scarce, and are quoted to 8s per dozen, bulk honey is in demand, and sales are being effected at 8d per lb. Beeswax is in strong demand. Prices are firm. SYSTEMATIC DRAINAGE. As one traverses almost any district in New Zealand he is convinced of ' the great- need there exists for the systematic drainage of not only agricultural but also pastoral lands (says Mr. McTaggart, writing in the Journal of Agriculture). An extensive carryingout of adequate drainage will of itself vastly increase production from the pastures and cultivated areas of the country. How many of our pastures are growing plenteously rushes, sedge grasses, and other inferior and worthless vegetation ; whereas these could be replaced by superior profit-producing grasses and clovers. True it is that the capital involved in carrying out adequate drainage in many instances is a barrier, but this is not always the trouble. It has been demonstrated over and over again that within a reasonable time drainage pays for itself in the increased carrying capacity of, or enlarged crop returns from, the land. Apart from the question of lack of capital, it may be asserted that vast areas of country could be better drained, and so have their productiveness greatly increased, were landowners to give" more thought and attention to this important subject. They would find that there has already been designed and successfully used labor-saving machinery that could materially assist them. The drain or mole plough, for instance, has done extensive valuable drainage work for Southland, and to a lesser degree for other districts. Its use, particularly on pasture lands of stiffish subsoil, is of very great economic importance. In North America the traction ditcher has been used extensively, its function being to dig daily long stretches of ditching, and place pipes along the ditch bank ready for subsequent placing in proper position. This laborsaving machine is of much importance for certain types of country, especially where extensive under-drainage is badly needed owing to the stiff nature of the subsoil, where the land is otherwise of high value, and where no stumps or buried timber exist. Again, where labor-is^fairly abundant, how much . more , drainage of land could in many instances be effected by using ordinary farm implements, such ; as the single-furrow plough and the subsoil plough, and, employing manuka, stones, or rough timber for placing in these ditches when completely excavated k Further, as a? last | resource, the system of providing good surface drainage, particularly for- land to be laid down to pasture, could be employed. This 1 method consists of ploughing the paddock , in .comparatively narrow ' lands; high in the

centre and low at r the sides, running with the natural slope of the land. Under drainage in addition makes, of course, for greater soil efficiency^. /andlis! of permanent benefit to the pasture and other crops. As a final emphasis of the importance of this subject, let it be stated that drainage .is ; . ; the - first essential <in the treatment; of , any soil, f; and without adequate 1 draining the j land cannot respond to ; any extent to any subsequent treatment it may receive. , It cannot grow crops —pasture or otherwisesuccessfully. It v may, then. well be asked, Are New Zealand soils as a whole growing as they should ■' the staple crop of the country pasture? .' '."-.' ~" '■'.'"'"'" '"\ *jt —— j WHEAT SOWING. . ''/ f^ [, ..„;.-. One of the most important points to which farmers can give attention in sowing the wheat crop; is the proper covering of the seed. The remark «was once made by an officer of the Department (says an Australian exchange) that one of the reasons for the averages of the farmers' experiment .plots being above the average for the districts in which they are located, is that methods of cultivation are adopted that ensure the seed being well and evenly covered. Certain it is, at any rate, that the final cultivation has a considerable influence on the covering of the wheat seed. Whether harrows or cultivators are used at that stage, shallow furrows and ridges . are left, and if the. hoes of the drill run along the furrows there is a strong probability that a good deal of seed will be left on the surface. If, on the other hand, the drill is ; run across the final cultivation the hoes or discs cut through the furrows and ridges, and an even covering is ensured. The final cultivation, therefore, should be at right angles to the direction in which the drilling is to be done. Farmers are often in doubt as to which class of drill they should use. In practice there is not much difference so far as the cevering of the seed is concerned, but there are certain soils in which one will do better work than the other. If the land has been fallowed and well cultivated so as to free it from weeds and rubbish, there is no doubt that the hoe drill will do the best work. But if the land should be somewhat cloddy or covered with killed weeds and stubble, the disc drill is the implement to use, for the reasons that it will cut through the clods and rubbish and deposit the seed at the right depth. The hoe drill, should be preferred wherever possible, not only because it is the less expensive implement, but also because the parts are less liable to wear than in the disc. It is often an. advantage to set a drill to sow "zig-zag." Many farmers urge the objection to the method that with zig-zag sowing the result will not be as even as when the tines are set in one straight row, and while there is some force in the objection, it is not so serious as might be thought. As a rule, where the ground is cloddy and contains roots or other material that is likely to be caught and dragged by the hoes, a more even covering is obtained by setting the hoes alternately forward and backward—or —more room being then allowed for the clods and vegetable matter to clear. '