One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered

by Edward J. Wickson

At what time of the year should I plant kale, Swiss chard, etc., so as to have them ready for use during the months from February to June?

You should plant Swiss chard, kale, etc., as soon as the ground is sufficiently moist from the rain in the fall. In fact, it would be desirable for you to plant the seed earlier in boxes and thus secure plants for planting out when the ground is sufficiently moist. These plants are quite hardy against frost, and in order to have them available by February, a start in the autumn is essential.

A Summer Hay Crop.

What can I put on the land after the oat crop is taken off to furnish hay for horses during the coming winter? I had thought millet would be good. I have water for irrigation.

You could get most out of the land you mention during the hot season by growing Kafir corn or milo, cutting for hay before the plant gets too far advanced. If your land can be flooded and takes water well, so that you can wet it deeply before plowing, the sorghum seed can be broadcast and the crop cut with the mower while the stalks are not more than half an inch in diameter. This makes a good coarse hay. If you have not water enough or the land does not lie right for flooding, you can grow the sorghum in drills and irrigate by the furrow method, being careful, however, not to let the crop go too far if you desire to feed it as hay.

Teosinte.

What about "Teosinte," its food value, method of culture, and adaptability to our climate, character of soil required?

Teosinte is a corn-like plant of much lower growth than Indian corn. It may be of value as a forage plant on low, moist, interior lands in the summer season. It is very sensitive to frost and is, therefore, not a winter grower. It abhors drought and, therefore, is not a plant for plains or hillsides. It was grown to some extent in California 25 years ago and abandoned as worthless so far as tried.

Bermuda Objectionable.

Bermuda grass as pasture for summer to supplement burr clover and alfilaria in winter on the cheap hill pasture lands along the coast or the foothill ranges of the Sierras. Stock like it and do well on it, and I have noticed it growing in places where it had no water but the little rains of winter in southern California. So the question occurred to me, why should it not be a profitable pasture for the dry summers on the coast or foothill ranges of the State?