TO Oct., 1908.] The Growing of Fodder Crops, 615 



-(iairyrr.en can be added as required. Mixing feed in the bulk allows of 

 each cow getting a more even share of the whole, and a second trip round 

 the mangers is not necessitated. Every effort should be made to get as 

 heavy a crop as possible from each acre of ground cultivated, and none 

 of the produce should be wasted. 



Each plot was cut in the order in which it was sown ; consequently 

 those cut last may, to some extent, have had an advantage over those 

 sections cut earlier, in that by standing longer they n\ay possibly have 

 derived more benefit from the rain which fell in December. One trial 

 cannot be deemed conclusive in determining the correct width of drill 

 at which maize should be sown. The question to be demonstrated was 

 whether wide or narrow drilling was the more satisfactory, and the result 

 was decidedly in favour of having the rows not less than three feet apart\ 

 on account of the greater facility afforded for inter-cultivation and the 

 resultant better growth. 



Mr. W. Baker's Maize Cultivation. 



The area of 29 acres which Mr. W. Baker had set aside for his first 

 mowing has a gentle slope to the south, and is of a mixed light and dark 

 .grey loamy soil, about six inches in depth, over a clay subsoil. Tliis 

 paddock has been under cultivation for the past seventeen years, and 

 the crop preceding the experiments was tick beans and dun peas sown 

 on the 14th and 15th of March, which averaged about 10 tons of green 

 fodder per acre. About twelve years ago a few loads of peas were fed 

 as a trial. When the cows had got used to the fodder there was a 

 noticeable increase in the milk yield ; and since that time peas have been 

 sown annually by Messrs. T. and W. Baker for green fodder. Three 

 }ears ago tick beans were added, mainly as a support for the growing 

 pea haulm but the beans also proved a satisfactory addition to the feed 

 from the stand-point of quality. 



When maize is being fed the usual mixture for the day is about 3 tons 

 maize, i ton hav chaff, i\ tons brewers' grains, and 12 bags bran. When 

 the maize is replaced by the peas and beans the bran is gradually reduced 

 in quantity, as the peas mature, to 7 bags daily. Immediately after the 

 Tjca crop was taken oft' the ground was given a light dressing of six 

 loads of farmyard manure to the acre, ploughed, disc harrowed, and 

 rolled. On the 6th and 8th November this was sown with 18 lbs. of 

 seed of the ordinary Flat Red maize to the acre, with i cwt. of bonedust 

 at the same time. The farm drill was used; three of every four drills 

 were closed, leaving a space of 28 inches between the rows over the whole 

 area. The land was then rolled and left for .several weeks before being 

 scarified ; and the failure to have this work done earlier no doubt con- 

 siderably interfered with ultima,te success of the crop. 



At this period Mr. T. Baker's crop received every attention, with the 

 result that it forged ahead without check. Mr. W. Baker's crop, however, 

 stood uncultivated till the weeds were well established, and its growth 

 during the same period as compared with Mr. T. Baker's showed an 

 apparent loss of 30 cwt. per acre. On the 14th, 15th and i6th January 

 the crop recei\ed its only scarifying and the amount of actual benefit 

 which the maize would have derived from it was considerably discounted 

 by the way in which the work was done. Through the horse being hitched 

 ^p close to its work instead of leading harness and light bar with long 

 chain to culti\ator being used, the result -was that the low stiff" set bar 



