340 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo June, 190Q. 



■rhitshiiig may I)e done with an ordinary grain thresher by adjusting 

 the cylinder and ha\ing a special set of screens, but the practice in New 

 South Wales seems to be to thresh with a special machine. This looks 

 /ike a grain thresher and several makes are in use, one being made in New 

 Zealand, and others in England. The charge for threshing is 12s. to 14s. 

 for a sack of 300 lbs., or 40s. a day if the crop is poor and less than 

 four sacks a day are secured. This charge covers the use of engine, and 

 thresher and the wages of three men to operate them. 



The straw which comes from the thresher is badly broken, and not 

 equal to hay, but it finds a sale as food for fowls or dairy herds. 



The growing of a seed crop does not seem to affect the vitality of the 

 plant, as it starts growing as quicklv after the removal of a seed' crop 

 as after the removal of a hay crop. The ) ield varies from next to nothing 

 to over 400 lbs. to an acre, but varying as a rule between 150 and 300 lbs. 

 It pays well at 6d. per lb. and will be exceedingly lucrative at the prices 

 which have rirevailed in this State for the last five years. It needs, how- 

 ever, enough growers of a district to warrant the purchase of a thresher, as 

 these are expensive, costing about ^300. 



0.\ SFACIv. 



Professor Buffum, in his book on Arid Agriculture just published, makes 

 the following reccmmendatic.ns about sowing lucerne tor seed : — 



" Lucerne for seed should not be sown as the ordinarv hay crop. To 

 secure plants which are far enough apart to make strong, thrifty growth ; 

 to secure i)rnper fertilization ot tne tiowcrs ; to prevent crowding ; to favour 

 cultivation and irrigation, seed should be thinlv sown in row^s from two and 

 one-half to three and one- half feet apart. The method recommended is 

 to take off the shoes or stop up the holes of a drill to make the rows as wide 

 as wanted, and then ])lant as little seed as possible (2 or 3 lbs. per acie). 

 The small amount of seed may be mixed with ashes or .soil to help spread 

 it evenly. When iIk- plants come up. if thev are too thick in the row, 

 thev mav be spaced uiih a hoe. as with sugar beets, or when very small 

 ma\ be harrowed crosswise to take out part of the plants." 



Varieties. 

 On its experimental farm at 'i'atura, the Commission has the follow - 

 in" varieties now growing. \iz. :- Turkestan. Arabian. Hunter River, 



