1873? Chapman's Settler's Hand-book to the Farm and Garden - FARM MANAGEMENT...By Joseph May, p 51-66

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FARM MANAGEMENT,

ARRANGED FOR THE

SEASONS AND CLIMATE OF NEW ZEALAND,

BY JOSEPH MAY.

JANUARY.

This is the harvest month in the northern parts of New Zealand. Farmers should be careful not let their crops get too ripe before they commence the reaping, if left till quite ripe a strong breeze of wind sometimes shakes out a great quantity of the grain. Wheat should be cut when the stalk is yellow the whole length, and the head still upright. The advantages of reaping the wheat crop early are, the grain is not shed, and the sample as compared with that cut dead ripe is brighter, it contains more flower and less bran per bushel, and the straw, if used for fodder, contains more easily digestible nutritive matter. Oats frequently ripen unevenly, and should be cut early, if any unripe heads are left in the straw after thrashing, it will be better fodder, but if left until the whole of the crop is ripe, the first ripened will be shed on the ground. Barley has not succeeded well in new land, but after turnips fed off with sheep, fine samples have been produced. Many of our volcanic lands are to all appearance soils adapted to the growth of barley; it is probable that the grass lands now brought under the plough would grow good even crops, it does appear strange that the Auckland brewers are still obliged to import their barley. Handreaping in the mother country with the sickle has given place to the scythe, the latter being more speedy; but the scythe is now fast giving way to the reaping machine: the advantages of hand-reaping here are that it is cut higher than it can be done with the scythe, causing a saving in carting, stacking, and more particularly in thrashing, their being much less straw to pass through

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the machine. Some farmers harvest oats and barley in the same manner as hay, without tying it into sheaves; but it is doubtful whether any thing is saved by it as it is less convenient for carting, stacking, and thrashing. In settled fine weather the stacking is dispensed with, by thrashing out the grain at once, thereby performing the work in fine weather and long days, saving the expense of stacking and thatching, and removing the grain to a place safe from rats and mice, while the roads are dry and the carting easily done. If the grain is stacked it should be immediately thatched, there is more grain damaged here through carelessness in the field, and neglect of thatching the stacks, than is lost unavoidably.

FEBRUARY.

After the grain is removed from the field, and the lands cleaned of weeds, grass, &c., with stock, the plough should be at work, a good fallow can be made here after harvest, which the farmer will find it to be his interest to attend to. By clearing his land as much as possible of weeds and insects (slugs, &c., are invariably found under stubble or other decomposing organic matter) he will at the same time be pulverising the soil, and liberating food for the succeeding crop. All weeds and rubbish should be burnt, which is an easy method of getting them out of the way, and the ashes are a good manure. Cape barley and oats may be sown this month for green fodder, they may not vegetate very evenly, but if in the ground they will be in readiness for the first rain. Continue to sow maize for green food, it may be ploughed in shallow in every third furrow, then it will come up in rows and will be more easily cleaned; sow from three to four bushels per acre; if the crop is thick the stalks will be finer and form better food. About sixteen or seventeen years ago grass and clover seed were sown in this month, but now they would be destroyed by the crickets which have lately been introduced into New Zealand and are very destructive to young plants. As these enemies of the farmer seem to be increasing, self-interest should encourage New Zealand farmers to introduce rooks and other birds that live upon insects.

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MARCH.

[Autumn begins.] Some maize may be sown in the early part of this month, a large crop must not be expected but it will come in for late cutting. Sow turnip, rape, clover and grass seed, if the land is fallowed and clear of crickets; but if these pests are even in the adjoining land they are likely to move on to young grass and do much injury; all seeds should, if possible, be covered. This is generally a dry month; all bush ready for burning should be burnt off during this month. The days begin to shorten, and the sun to be less powerful, and after rain, wood seldom burns off well. If the bush is cleared and intended for grass, it is well to sow as early as possible, if showery weather, to get the plants advanced before the heavy rains, but if the weather continue dry, the sowing had better be deferred until April. In sowing on the surface early, and in dry weather, the seed being moistened with the dew, partially vegetates, the hot sun again dries it up, and destroys it; but in cultivated lands, where the seed can be covered with the harrow, it is protected from the rays of the sun, and, if good, will do well. The ram should be turned to the ewes this month if there is to be plenty of food for the lambing ewes in August. If potatoes are ripe for digging, proceed with the work. It is a great advantage in cleaning the land to take up this crop early. Where there is a large breadth of potatoes, it is usual to plough them out, the pickers following the plough. It is not so clean a way as the fork, but where labour is high and scarce, it is necessary to expedite the work to use the plough, even if some of the potatoes are left in the soil. If the potatoes are pitted, which is perhaps as good a plan as any, for three months, they should be first covered with straw, rushes, or fern, but on no account use the haulm, as they have been found to contain the eggs of the moth, which will be hatched, and perhaps destroy the potatoes. The sides of the pits might be covered with earth, but not to the top, because the potatoes heat, and if it is not allowed to escape it will rot them, but care should be used to keep them dry during the winter.

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APRIL.

Fine weather generally in this month, with some showers; if sufficient moisture, grass grows well; the autumn is more congenial than the spring, being less subject to cold wind. The sowing of oats may be still continued for green food, more particularly on land foul with small weeds, such as sorrel, &c.; after the grain or potato harvest, such lands should be well fallowed, the weeds and rubbish burnt--the farmer is recommended then to sow such lands with oats, three bushels to the acre, to be grazed or cut in September or October; the crop of oats during the winter will rot down all small weeds, it should then, after being well grazed out, be ploughed and well laid down with grass and clover, sowing at the same time two bushels of maize per acre. This would shade the young grass and clover from the scorching summer's sun, and would be found fine feed for cattle about the following March, when green food is scarce and the ground firm. The system of grazing off a crop of oats or cape barley on seeds, with cattle, during the wet winter months is injurious to the young grass and clover plants, and leaves the land with an uneven surface. If September lambs will be soon enough for the farm the rams should be with the ewes this month. At present this appears the best month for sowing grass and clover seed, as about the middle of the month the crickets become weaker and will do little harm excepting in very warm situations.

MAY.

If the land for the wheat is in a fit state, commence sowing; about 14 bushels per acre will be found enough if the seed is good and properly covered in; this is less than is usually sown broadcast in England, but our winter being mild, no plants are destroyed by frost, and few birds to injure it. In New South Wales one bushel only per acre is sown, and found at harvest to be as thick as a crop in the old country from three bushels. There is much difference of opinion with farmers on the subject of thick and thin sowing. Some contending that poor soils should be sown thick, as the crop is never too

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thick at harvest, and that fertile soils should be sown thin as such soils seldom produce thin crops. Others take the opposite view and say that poor land should be sown thin as the soil is not able to produce a thick heavy crop and by sowing thick some plants die for want of nutriment, and by their partial growth have deprived the other plants of some of their food and consequently weakened them; and that fertile soils should be sown thick as their strength enables them to perfect a greater number of plants. This latter idea appears the more reasonable; but all early sowing should be thin, as the plans will tiller or spread according to the capabilities of the soil. The late sowings should be something thicker as the plants will have less time to spread, and will be forced on to perfection in a shorter time. The wheat crop varies considerably in different countries, and even in the same country at different seasons. The real value of the wheat crop is not found out until it passes through the bakers hands, one sample may have satisfied the farmer, another sample satisfies farmer and miller, but the baker finds the flour is weak. The value or "strength" of flour as the bakers term it, depends on the amount of "gluten" it contains. Sir Humphrey Davy concluded that wheat grown in a warm climate contained more gluten than that grown in a cold one, he also found more of the same substance in spring wheat than winter; but Boussingault again found the greatest quantity of gluten in winter wheat. Although Davy found the greatest quantity of gluten in spring wheat, this might be on account of the season or the manure applied. The probability is that winter wheat, from its being longer in the ground than the spring kinds, the roots have had more time to collect food, and consequently the grain is likely to be better developed, and more valuable than spring sown wheat, all other things being equal. It is proverbial among farmers that thunder weather is beneficial to the filling up of grain crops. Scientific men have established the fact that rain falling during thunder storms contains more nitrogen in the shape of nitric acid than at other times, and consequently would be more refreshing to vegetation. But whether the cause of this is the ammonia volatilized from

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decomposing organic matter, or from the action of the electric spark (lightning,) or the constituents of the air, which are also the constituents of nitric acid, or not, is a matter of doubt. Cavendish was the first to observe that by a continued passage of electric sparks through moist air, its volume diminished, and an acid soluble in water was formed at the same time. This great philosopher proved, by a series of decisive experiments, that the constituents of the air, the nitrogen and oxygen, united to form "nitric acid when exposed to the influence of electricity." If this is correct it is the explanation why wheat grown in or near the tropics, where thunder storms are more frequent than in the temperate regions, contains more gluten than that grown in colder climates; and for this reason, wheat grown in Australia should contain more gluten than that grown in this country, as lightning is much more frequent in Australia than New Zealand, and this is said to be the case.

JUNE.

[Winter begins]--Continue the wheat sowing; all seed should be steeped in some solution to prevent the smut, several receipts are used, composed of lime, salt, &c. Bluestone is a very efficacious substance for destroying the smut, which is a fungus. One pound of bluestone dissolved in seven gallons of water; steep the seed in this solution ten or twelve hours. Lime and salt sometimes partially succeed, but the sulphate of copper is an effectual cure. This is the first winter month, but the winters are very mild in New Zealand, in the northern parts no snow, some hoar frosts, but water is seldom frozen thicker than a penny piece; but the cold showers and frequent rains appear to injure live stock, particularly where there is no shelter or bush to run into, weak and young animals suffering the most. Farmers will find it to their interest to have sheds enclosed in paddocks, void of natural shelter, for cattle to go into in wet weather, bearing in mind always that water causes a loss of heat from animals which is equivalent to a waste of food. Although grass grows here all the winter, it is very watery and less nutritious than spring or summer grasses; most live stock require some

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nutritious food, in addition to grass, during this and the next two succeeding months, and in exposed situations they will be the better of a little good hay up to the middle of September. Good hay is found as good as anything, the grass being excessively watery, the hay will absorb some of it and prevent animals from purging. The farmer at this time will, or ought to be giving his live stock a little extra food. Open drains while the ground is soft, and the water will show the level. Provide plenty of succulent oats, or still better mangolds for milk cows during the winter months.

JULY.

Finish sowing winter wheat, not less than two bushels per acre, in good land it may do well; one advantage in sowing late is that the wheat gets ahead of the small weeds. If the land should be wet it will be better to refrain from sowing winter wheat and put in spring wheat in the following month. In clean dry land the oat and barley sowing may be commenced, from two to three bushels per acre is the quantity used. The advantage of sowing these crops early is to harvest them before the caterpillars make their appearance. Those enemies of the farmer will sometimes destroy a field of twenty acres in three or four days, eating the single seed stalks of oats, the grain falling on the ground. The barley is attacked below the head in the small parts of the straw, and the ground is sometimes covered with the heads. Plant a few early potatoes in dry soils. The arable farmer will have to turn his attention to manures, the value of which depends on the ingredients it contains, the mechanical effect it may have in the soil, and its absorbing power. For instance gypsum is an excellent manure for all leguminous plants, such as clover, peas, &c., it is only found in very minute quantities in the grain crops, but by its power of absorbing ammonia from the atmosphere it becomes a valuable addition to the soil, even for the cereal crops. Again, bulky organic manures, such as farm-yard manure, besides containing all the chemical ingredients, in small quantities, necessary for the growth of plants, effect in clay soils a great mechanical improvement, by increasing porosity, giving

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access to air and water, promoting decomposition, and enabling the clay to absorb the ammonia and supply it to the roots of plants, as required. What kind of manures the farmer ought to apply to his land will depend on circumstances, in fact, where, and how, they can be obtained cheapest. If the farmer is situated near a town, or where weighty manures, containing large quantities of water, are plentiful, it may be the cheapest food the farmer can procure for his crops, but if he has to cart manure a long distance, he will find it advantageous to purchase some concentrated manure that is easily transported to the farm. One thing all farmers ought to do,--but is not always done,--that is, to make as much manure as possible on the farm, and take care of it. This after all is his sheet anchor, all special manures may assist, but cannot supersede it. The manure made on the farm will depend in a great measure on the kind of food given to the animals, the richer the food, the richer will be the manure. Dr. Anderson says "of food generally about one-third to one-fourth of the money value and seven-eights of the valuable matter appear in the dung." The manures made on the farm are rich in the two valuable fertilising ingredients, ammonia and phosphoric acid, and that of the sheep especially. Hence the term general manure applied to farm-yard manure because it contains ammonia for the cereal crops, and phosphoric acid for the root crops, and the other necessary matter, as potash, soda, &c. In this mild climate it is not necessary to house ordinary cattle, they generally have hay or some other additional food besides the grass, from three to four months, that is, during June, July August, and a portion of September; in some sheltered situations or where there is bush for them to run into, they require none; but the allusion is to those kept within enclosed paddocks, and under such system, of course, the manure made on the farm is scattered over the grass land. If the New Zealand farmer crops much, and wishes to improve his land, or even keep up its fertility, he must make use of manures. Peruvian guano, if genuine, is a very powerful manure.

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AUGUST.

This is sometimes a trying month for stock in exposed situations; cattle require a little hay as much this month as at any time during the winter: the weather being wet, and the young grass very succulent, they are liable to the scour. Finish sowing oats and barley in all dry soils, as also spring wheat. If the weather permit and the soil is dry, plant potatoes for the main crop, more particularly the last fortnight of this month. C. W. Johnston says, "the manures best suited for the potato crop are common farm yard compost, only partially decomposed, decayed leaves, sea-weed, the potato haulm, and any organic manures, that, while they afford nutriment, have a tendency, by rendering the soil lighter, to facilitate the extension of the roots. Lime is injurious to it. Pond mud, or ditch scrapings, to each cubic yard of which a month previously a bushel of bacon salt, or other refuse common salt, has been mixed is excellent. The soils best adapted for the cultivation of the potato are of the light, sandy, drained, peaty, or loamy description. It delights in fresh soils; those of a newly broken up meadow, old bushlands, or the site of old yards or buildings. It does not do on wet clays." Large crops have been grown here in peaty soils, but the potatoes are invariably watery, and many of them hollow. Many fine crops have also been grown on broken-up grass-lands, but it is doubtful whether the potatoes are equal in quality to those grown on new lands. All decomposing organic matter evolves carbonic acid gas and ammonia, which has a very invigorating effect on young plants, increasing the branches and leaves; these again increase the means of obtaining the food from the atmosphere, hence the great crops of potatoes grown from broken-up meadow-land. Davy says, "I filled a large retort, capable of containing three pints of water, with some hot fermenting manure, consisting principally of the litter and dung of cattle; and adapted a small receiver to the retort, and connected the whole with a mercurial pneumatic apparatus, so as to collect the condensible and elastic fluids which might rise from the dung. The receiver soon became lined with dew, and drops began in

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a few hours to trickle down the sides of it. Elastic fluid likewise was generated: in three days thirty-five cubic inches had been formed, which, when analysed, were found to contain twenty-one cubic inches of carbonic acid: the remainder was hydro-carbonate, mixed with some azote, probably no more than existed in the common air in the receiver. The fluid matter collected in the receiver at the same time amounting to nearly half-an ounce. It had a saline taste and a disagreeable smell, and contained some acetate and carbonate ammonia. Finding such products given off from fermented litter, I introduced the beak of another retort, filled with similar dung, very hot at the time, into the soil amongst the roots of some grass in the border of the garden. In less than a week a very distinct effect was produced on the grass. Upon the spots exposed to the influence of the matter disengaged in fermentation, it grew with more luxuriance than the grass in any other part of the garden." This shows the advantage of the system pursued here of planting the potato under the green sod, but it requires careful management. The grass should be eaten down close with sheep before the land is ploughed, and a wheel coulter used, a good square head cut up to the furrow, and as soon as possible harrowed, to prevent the grass and weeds coming up between the furrows, and frequently harrowed until the plant is above the ground. Whole seed should be set neither too small nor too large. It has been found that cut potatoes rot more frequently under the green turf than in a well-wrought loose soil. This is what might be expected, as all decaying matter has a tendency to impart the same action to other substances in contact with them. The decomposing matter in the sward is more likely to communicate the action of decay to a cut potato than to a whole one, more particularly where the soil is anywise stiff, keeping the plant a fortnight longer before it can make its way through the close furrow. This system should only be practised in loose free, clean soils. In all stiff, strong lands, the soil should be well pulverised, and the potatoes set in drills, kept clean, and well moulded up. It has been found by experiments that better crops are produced when the potatoes are set six inches deep than when

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they are set three inches only; and here it is also found that the potatoes near the surface are frequently destroyed by the worm, while those five or six inches deep are free from this pest, and the finer the soil is pulverised the less chance the moth has of depositing her eggs near the potato.

SEPTEMBER.

[Spring begins.]--Sow oats for hay, from three to four bushels per acre; thick sowing will make a finer hay; if grass and clover seeds are sown among the crop, two bushels of oats will be seed enough. It is often a subject of complaint with the New Zealand farmer that his seeds sown with the grain crops have failed, or partially so. This is as might be expected, if the grain crop is a heavy one. The grass and clover plant will be weak, some perhaps destroyed; then at harvest the crop is removed, and the young plants exposed to a scorching sun, in some seasons for weeks, the consequence is that much of the seeds are withered up. But if the grain crop be a thin one, the grass and clover plants will have the benefit of the sun and wind, and consequently be healthier and stronger, and less liable to be injured by the sun after the removal of the grain crop. In the north, finish planting the general crop of potatoes; at this season the land should be well wrought that the plant may soon make its appearance above ground; cut seed may be used; there will be little fear of their rotting except in wet soils. Sow mangold wurzel, swedes and rape; to insure good crops the land should be well pulverised and manured. The latter crop will make good food for sheep in the latter part of the summer when green fodder is scarce, if the aphis does not attack it, which it has done for some years past. Close up the paddocks for hay the beginning of this month, if no seed is to be saved, but if it is intended to save the seed, it should be grazed during the month and closed about the first of next month; the crop of hay will be lighter, but the seed will be much better. Milch cows now come in plentifully and many wisely turn their attention to cheese-making. The average quantity of cheese from a cow in three cheese-making districts in England was 355 lbs., and in our good lands

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we may expect as much here; this if well made generally fetches from sixpence to one shilling per pound; but supposing a cow will produce 300 lbs. at one shilling or £15, it is a fair cow that will yield four pounds of butter a week for forty weeks, (which is long enough to milk a cow, the system of milking cows to within a week or two of calving is injurious to cow and calf,) or 160 lbs., this may be considered worth 1s. 3d. per lb., or £10 worth in the year--consequently at our present prices a cheese dairy is more profitable than a butter dairy.

OCTOBER.

Plant potatoes still in the southern parts, and even in the north; in low, damp land good crops may be raised from planting in this month. If the season should be a dry one, a large crop must not be expected, but they would make excellent seed for the following season. Sow oats for hay if required; new beginners will find a few tons of oaten hay very valuable to them in the winter, for working horses, oxen, and cows; serious losses have occurred to beginners in bush, by taking too many stock for the run, and not being provided with some provender for them in the winter. It was recommended in April to sow oats thick on foul land for a rotting crop: now will be the time to work the land well, use the roller, get it fine, and if it be seeded out, sow two bushels of maize, and give it a light ploughing to cover the seed, harrow in the grass seed, and roll down, not stocking the crop until February, when the green maize will be fine feed for horses and cattle,--sheep are not fond of it. Plant cabbages. This is a nutritious plant. Farmers and dairymen in particular would find a few acres of drumhead cabbages of great service to them in the summer months. From the numerous useful qualities of this plant it deserves to be more extensively cultivated as a fodder crop than it is at present. From the fact of its being richer in oil and nitrogenous matter than most other kinds of green food, and at the same time very succulent, its nutritive qualities are not to be wondered at. Cabbage is most valuable as a food for milch cows: it increases the quantity and quality of the milk, and the butter made from it is free from

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any unpleasant flavour, unless the cows are allowed to overgorge themselves with it, for other purposes a more extended use of the cabbage is to be recommended. Plough up land intended for fallow before sorrel and other weeds begin to seed, and before the ground gets hard and dry. Attend to the docks, and root them up as they show themselves. Collect them in heaps, and, when dry, burn them. They are very tenacious of life, but there is no fear of the ashes growing, although some old farmers contended that they would. Cutting docks below the crown in summer will kill some and check the growth of others; but in all cases where they cannot be rooted up, they should be cut to prevent their seeding, always bearing in mind that "one year's seeding will give seven year's weeding." Sheep kill docks, by constantly nibbling them in our dry summer. Keep the hand or horse-hoe going among the potatoes, as soon as the drills can be seen. Plant maize for a crop, in rows about five feet apart, and two feet six inches from hill to hill, dropping five seeds in each hill, cutting off all but three for green food. The land should be kept clean with the hoe, and the plants well earthed up when about a foot high, and again when about two feet six inches high. Maize is a very nutritious grain, but the ninety-day variety only should be cultivated in this province. It is not fit for harvesting until the autumnal showers come, causing great difficulty in getting it dry. The Maoris, after gathering it, strip back the husk, but, not breaking it off, tie it up in bundles of eight or ten cobs, tying two of these bunches together, and hanging it on sticks exposed to all weathers for weeks, until it gets dry; sometimes they hang it up in huts, and dry it with fires. All this is tedious for Europeans when they can grow other crops, such as oats and barley, which will answer the same purpose, and are fit for harvesting in fine weather, and the straw of more value for fodder and manure. Nevertheless, the new beginner in bush-lands could grow some maize, by planting in holes among the stumps, for his pigs, poultry, and horses, if he have any; but oxen are recommended to commence with, they will live cheaper than horses. Where grass is plentiful and much ploughing to do, horses will be the more economical team, as no driver is required.

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NOVEMBER.

The crops being now in, every attention should be paid to keep them clean, not forgetting that if weeds are allowed to grow among crops, they are depriving them of a portion of the nutriment required. Hoe the ground well between the drills of potatoes, swedes, mangolds, &c., not only to kill the weeds, but to have a loose pulverised soil, which will facilitate the absorption of aqueous vapour from the atmosphere, which is always more plentiful in hot weather than in cold. Maize may still be sown either for a crop or green food. Continue to plough foul or new lands for a clean fallow. The cleaning of land by fallow of such weeds as sorrel and couch must be done here by a clean summer fallow: little can be done during the winter to effect this object, as vegetation continues active all the winter, except it be to grow rotting crops of oats, turnips, &c. On this subject Sir Humphrey Davy says, "Fallowing affords no new source of riches to the soil, it merely tends to produce an accumulation of decomposing matter, which, in the common course of crops, would be employed as it is formed, and it is scarcely possible to imagine a single instance of a cultivated soil which can be supposed to remain fallow for a year with advantage to the farmer. The only case where this practice is beneficial seems to be in the destruction of weeds, and for cleaning foul soils." Liebig tells us that "fallow time is that period of culture, during which land is exposed to a progressive disintegration by means of the influence of the atmosphere, for the purpose of rendering a certain quantity of alkalies capable of being appropriated by plants." Cart scoria or any other material required for draining, fencing, &c. All heavy carting should be done during fine weather, we having no frosts to harden the land in the winter time.

DECEMBER.

[Summer begins.] Prepare stack bottoms and thatch for the hay, all this should be done before the hay harvest commences, as all hands are then busy. Attend to the destruction of all weeds, as they will now be running to seed, and on no account allow any of them to perfect

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seed. The plume thistle, which is now so frequently to be seen in the vicinity of Auckland, and to prevent the spreading of which a law has been passed, is a biennial, and somewhat difficult to kill the first year of its existence, for when cut below the surface, the root throws up several cabbage-like plants; but the second year if allowed to head up, and then cut off with a hook, or scythe if plentiful, it will easily be killed; but care should be taken not to allow the seed flowers to expand, for if cut after these make their appearance, there will be sufficient sap in the stems to perfect seed. Hay-making will become general about the latter end of this month. The value of hay depends on many circumstances, such as the kind of herbage, the age of the grass, the management in making, and the state of the weather at the time. Hay made from young grasses is more nutritious than that made from those approaching to maturity. The proper time to cut for hay is when the plants are in flower, so as to obtain bulk, and digestible nutritious matter. Hay-making in England is attended with much labour, the constant spreading, turning, and cocking, for several days, makes it a tedious affair. In New Zealand, in ordinary seasons, hay is made with much less labour. The weather being generally dry at this season, the cut grass is soon withered, and the swathes fit to turn the day after mowing, and turned into wind-rows before night. The second day it should be cocked, to keep its colour and prevent it from being bleached; and if not prepared to stack it, it should be made into larger cocks about the fourth day. Oaten hay makes excellent food for stock if properly made, it should be cut as soon as the milk is formed in the grain, if not before; if left until the grain is nearly perfect, the coarse parts of the straw will contain a great proportion of indigestible woody fibre, and be refused by horses; it requires less making than grass and clover hay, and is less liable to be injured by wet weather. New beginners should make some oaten hay as soon as possible; this might be done by sowing oats with the grass and clover seed, even on the surface in bush land among the stumps, but if chipped in with the hoe all the better; of course among the stumps the crop will require to be hand reaped, but

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it will repay for the trouble if the owner has a cow or two, or working cattle. Hay stacks should be soon thatched, bad management is frequently seen here by leaving stacks for weeks uncovered, and in consequence tons of hay are spoiled.