4-° Joiinml of A^rici(lti<rc. [lo July, 1909. 



oats remain in the ground before the rain comes they practically never 

 suffer serious injury from the drought. 



The Mangold. — The two crops which make their main growth during 

 the hot weather in summer are mangolds and maize. Mangolds should be 

 sown from June to August. On the average, the best plan is to transplant 

 from a small seed bed. In this case, about the middle of June is the best 

 average time to sow a seed be(J, say 15 or 20 feet square in a warm corner 

 of the garden. The transplanting should be done on rainy days in Sep- 

 tember. In order to make a success of this crop an acre of land should be 

 deeply worked and heavilv manured with farmyard manure. It .should 

 be ploughed early in winter, manured and cross-ploughed about the end of 

 June, harrowed and scarified once or twice when the friability of the soil 

 is just right, and planted in September. The mangolds should be trans- 

 planted, when about the thickness of a lead pencil, into rows 3 feet apart, 

 the distance between the plants being either 8 or 16 inches. In the former 

 case, the intermediate ones may be removed and fed to the cows early in 

 the summer. The others will then continue growing through the summer 

 till the following winter. "Long Red'' and "Half Sugar" are the 

 best varieties for the average farmer, and, on the whole, success 

 is to be measured by the total weight of the crop. Fortv tons to the acre 

 at the least should be aimed at. To insure this requires a liberal supply 

 of farmyard manure and hoeing or scarifying several times during the 

 summer. The differences in the sugar content of the mangold are just 

 about equalized by corresponding differences in the tonnage per acre. An 

 additional reason for aiming at a very heav\ weight has been disclosed In 

 the recent discovery that the fresh juice of green leaves and tubers or fruit 

 acts as a powerful assistant to the digestion of hard, dry food. The in- 

 direct benefit of the mangold is therefore probably greater than its direct 

 value in furnishing food to stock. Another reason for selecting the man- 

 gold as the standard root crop is the fact that it is the hardiest of all this 

 class of plants. It stands transplanting, drought and excessive heat better 

 than any of the others, and in addition is practicallv immune from attacks 

 of disease. 



Maize Crop. — Maize crojis for fodder should lie grown on every farm 

 in the south of Victoria and, wherever water is available for irrigation, in 

 the north. Under average conditions maize is to be preferred to Japanese 

 millet or the sorghums. I am willing to admit that under special circum- 

 stances one or other of the latter may be preferable, but my advice to the 

 beginner is to make a success of maize first and then try the others. Like 

 the mangold, maize should be planted on similarlv well prepared and 

 heavily manured land. It should be sown thinly in drills 3 feet apart, and 

 16 lbs. of seed is sufficient for an acre. For the main crop the proper 

 date, subject to slight local variations, is from the middle of October to 

 the middle of November. The seed should be dribbled in by hand mixed 

 with from i to 2 cwt. of superphosphate or other similar manure to the 

 acre. The paddock is then rolled and harrowed, and the harrowing may 

 l)e repeated when the plants are a few inches high. Subsequently, the 

 care of the crop consists in scarifying between the rows 3 inches deep at 

 intervals of a fortnight to three weeks — depending upon the soil and the 

 incidence of the rainfall. With this treatment a g(x>d crop will be grown 

 even in the driest season on record. Under average conditions of 8 or 10 

 inches of rain during the growing season the yield per acre should average 

 20 tons of green fodder. Our object is to grow large thick stalks and to 

 secure as heavv a weight of cobs as possil>le. The disappointment which 

 is often expres.sed as to the food value of maize fodder is chiefly based 

 on experience with thin s])indl\ stems and a great number of small leaves. 



