THE BLACKBERRY PEST.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 1 August 1925, Page 14

THE BLACKBERRY PEST.

ERADICATION METHODS. At a recent meeting of the Chinemuri County Council the following interesting imormation was contained iu a letter from Mr. R. L. Harris, oi Avondale: Personally I am of the opinion that up to the present there is but ont way to exterminate this obnoxious growth, and that is by cutting the blackberry down during the early part of February and, if possible, get- a good burnoff’ and’plough during the last two weeks of th© same month, the furrow to be no more than 2in. to 2iin. deep. About the end of March put the harrows over, and again, on collecting, burn the roots. Again plough and crop with grass, when you will discover that few blackberry shoots will appear. When th© berry is turning black, that is the indicator of the bulb—which, as of course youi well know, is just im-, mediately under the soil —being at its weakest, because the greater part of the sap has gon© to feed the -berry and new foliage. Consequently, by treating the blackberry as I have already outlined, the bulb, which in turn also feeds the roots and. has already exhausted th© sap, generally dies. The removal of the bulb is the main aim, and it must be don© when the plant is at its weakest. By ploughing shallow the sun will have an opportunity of thoroughly drying that turned over. Deep ploughing in this cas©, is of no advantage; in fact, it is a failure, because the blackberry bulb containing sap sends down new shoots. When the land cannot be ploughed a light mattock or adze can be used. One© the sap commences to return to the root or bulb there is little use in then ploughing or grubbing. In my opinion they can, if properly treated at the right time, be killed.

MECHANICS ON THE FARM. Do. not begin bv trying to do big ; obs. It is by doing the very easy lobs that you learn to do the more difficult jobs without any appaifcnfb areat effort. Do not be discouraged if your neighbour speak s of your work as “tinkering.” You may spend five shillings’ worth of time doing a job worth sixpence, but .you have gained four and sixpence worth of experience. Anyhow, we cannot afford to despise the tinker till we can do all that he can do, and all we can learn in addition. When we look at an implement at the agricultural show, or in a maker’s catalogue, do we .really appreciate the oains that have been taken to evolve ;-,M« implement to its present standard of efficiency ? It is only by doing so that we learn that we also have problems peculiar to certain districts repuiring careful study and experimental work to get the best possible results out of every implement, however successfully they may have been used iri other countries and under other conditions. SCARCITY IN EUROPE. HELPS DOMINION PRODUCERS. The butter market js maintaining its firmness mainly because of the continuance of dry weather in Europe checking production. Not with,standing this the imports of butter into the United Kingdom for the first half of the.year show a substantial increase. The imports for each month compared with the corresponding months of last vear are as under:—

There is liero shown an increase of 697,257 cwt, equal to 34,863 tons, or an average of 5810 tons per month. It seems fortunate from the Dominion’s point of view that the European production has contracted, otherwise with the enormous expansion in output prices would have eased. The increase shown above is mainly due to the expansion of exports from Australia and New Zealand, and the ixroducers in the two countries have secured the advantage. New Zealand’s produce year closes at the end of this month, and the figures for the eleven months to June 3<) show that the exports during the period amounted to 2,556,307 boxes, or 63,907 tons, as compared with 2,002,326 boxes, or 50,558 tons, in the corresponding eleven months of the previous year, so that the increase from New Zealand alone in the season amounted to 13,349 tons. A review of the prices shows that the. highest point was reached during the month of October when for the last fortnight of that month 225. per cwt. was obtained. Prices then began to recede, reaching their lowest level during the third week in January, when the aver, age price was 1585., or 68s. ]X?r cwt. Ixdow the top price of October. Prom then onwards prices ranged between 163 s and the present figure of 1945, and it seems now that the prices in August will be on “about the same basis as in August last year, when 190 s. ruled, followed by sharp advances on a rising market. If the new season is as. good as the one just •closing 'the producers will have ho cause for complaint.

FROM AMERICA. A 3000-acre farm at Dundurn, southwest of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has been sold as a going concern for 150,000 dollars to a group of ten Mennonites, who will subdivide th<» land and carry on operations with existing equipment. Mennonites have also purchased 3757 acres improved farm lands, part of which is located south-west and part north-west of Portage la Prairie, for the sum of 225,000 dollars. Thirteen families are interested in this purchase. These Mennonites have recently arrived from Russia, and are negotiating for other tracts for relatives who arc to follow. 'The lands here referred to are situated on lines of the Canadian National Railways.

cwt. c*w t. 792-7 7925 Jamiarv 540,875 425,770 .February ...... 020,724 453,053 March *189,558 455,737 Apri 1 034,7)00 375,400 May 570,000 587,000 .7 ime 575,000 472,000 3,399,557 2, ,702,300