9 March, 1908.] Farm Re-ports. 137 



FARM REPORTS. 



Quarter ended 31ST December, 1907. 



Heytesbury Farm. 



0. H. Call, Manager. 



Crops. — A small plot of ra-pe was sown early in October and has done 

 fairly well, growing very fast after the first cutting. On the 6th October 

 three acres of oats were sown, half each of stout white and Tartarian, but 

 the crop not promising to turn out well, was used as green fodder. 

 Had the crop been put in at the end of August as intended the 

 result w^ould have been very different, but it was impossible to get it in 

 then. This is to be regretted as an experiment with the local marl wab 

 being tried on this land. Two and a half acres of dun peas were sown 

 about the middle of the month and give promse of a fair yield on the 

 average; some portions being very good. Half an acre of tick beans 

 planted about the same time gave excellent promise up to about the middle 

 of December and then failed altogether, in fact almost died out. The 

 next sowing of these will be made about April and good results should 

 follow. 



At the end of the month an acre of Japanese millet was put in and 

 is doing remarkably well. Experiments as to the best quantities of both 

 seed and manure to use are being carried out. An acre of maize was 

 also put in about this time. Three varieties were tried, viz. : — White 

 Horse Tooth, and Minnesota King, which are doing well, and North- Wes- 

 tern Dent. This latter seems to be too susceptible to frost to do well here ; 

 in Deceml>er it was blackened to the ground bv a frost that only slightly 

 affected the others. During the middle of November two more acres of 

 maize were drilled in viz. : — Flat Red, Ninety Day and White Horse 

 Tooth ; all varieties are doing equally w^ell. 



During November half an acre of cabbages was planted out and 

 although the plants had been tadly eaten by the moth, they are coming 

 away well and promise a favorable yield. Half an acre was tried in 

 root crops. Swede turnip, half sugar Mangold and Yellow Globe were 

 put in, half of each varietv with stable manure and half with a dressing 

 ot superphosphate. At the time of writing those treated with animal 

 manure are far in advance of the others. 



Four acres of potatoes were planted during the latter half of Novem- 

 ber. Several varieties are being tried ; they look remarkably well and 

 promise to give a reallv heavy yield. I-ast season the most successful 

 crop grown was that of potatoes. It gave a return slightly under four 

 tons to the acre and from the appearance of the present crop this result 

 should be nearly doubled. There have been many failures and partial 

 successes on the farm and therefore it is verv gratifving to have a crop, 

 like the one referred to, that any visitor however critical cannot find fault 

 with. 



The crop of Algerian oats has been harvested and returned a ton and 

 a half of hay to the acre. A strip of wheat sown at the same time also 

 did remarkably well, being very clean and well headed. These crops 

 were sown in June and last year in August, wdth practicallv the same 

 return. It is hoped to get a far better result by sowing in April, which 

 will be done this vear. 



