NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The summer season now passing away has been exceedingly unfavourable for the wheat crop on account of the preponderance of wet and cloudy weather. There have also been sudden transitions from heat to cold and from wet to dry, conditions which generally cause disorder in the vegetable world and are especially injurious to the growing wheat, which delights in warm, dry weather after the plant has become once well rooted in properly tilled ground. I have heard complaints of smut, rust, and mildew in the wheat. In some cases rust has only appeared in the straw while the grain has not been affected ; in others, the crop is rusted to such an extent that the grain is shrivelled up and fit only for fowl or pig feed. Many botanical authorities assert that rust is mildew in its earlier stage of growth, and that may be true in England, but with us rust alone appears quite capable of ruining the most promising crop without any further developments whatever. I have seen splendid looking crops of wheat on heavy, rich land which have been attacked and spoiled by what the farmer called mildew, but so far a3 I could see it was simply blighted by incessant wet, and there did not appear to be any sign of the red rust (Vredo rubigo), which generally makes its presence pretty apparent upon one's boots and clothes when walking through a rusty crop. After all, we cannot control the seasons, and it is some consolation to those who have suffered most this year to know that they have not themselves to blame in anyway, for good seed, early sowing, and thorough tillage do not appear to have saved the crops — in fact, the most deserving and promising crops have suffered the most. There have been rumours, too, of crops being attacked by caterpillars, which seems strange in the face of the starlings and sparrows, for sparrows will devour insects, grubs, and caterpillars when they cannot get good corn, though I fancy they much prefer the latter. The Hessian fly has made its appearance in some few localities of this island, but is not so mischievousas it was reported to be last season, and I am thankful to be able to say that it has not been seen or heard of in the district in which I am personally interested.

The Brighter Side.

Though the wet and changeable season has been bad for wheat, barley, and potatoes, it has favoured the growth of the oat crop, which is generally very good — I will say nothing of the laid crops — and if harvested in good order will be a payable cereal. Turnips have made a good start, and are now safe from the troubles and disasters which usually beset them in their infancy, and jprass is more plenti-

The Past Season.

ful than has been the case for some years'. In 1 ordinarily dry, or even moderately wet seasons,* the grass and clover sown with a grain crop only just keeps alive till the crop is removed, and gives no feed worth much until the following spring, but this year the clover is pushing' up through the crop and causing much trouble in reaping and in drying the sheaves. It cannot be said that the sheep are thriving in proportion to the quantity of feed available, for' the grass has been too soft and washy, and' when that is the case a large quantity does notequal a lesser bulk of better and harder quality. The lambs should have the run of the stubble' land as soon as the stooks are off, for there is nothing so good as a picking of grain and grasstogether for bracing up weaners and stopping' the nasty scour which has been too prevalent among them this summer. There will be nc bare pastures to begin the winter with, and the grass will harden later on, and there will be a> grand bite of faggage to carry us through, the* winter. Some heavy crops of hay have been> cut, but I'm afraid the quality has suffered! somewhat in the making on account of the broken weather. Better, however, a lot of. inferior hay than none at all, as was the result of; the ternbly dry summer in England. Notwithstanding the drawbacks of the superabundance of rain in many districts and the damaged crops and indifferent prices, we havemuch to be thankful for, and I venture to say that no gopd farmer in a fair way will find himself, all things considered, any worse off than he was a year ago, and that is much morethan many a British farmer can say if all thedoleful reports anent British agriculture b& true. I do not presume to teach good and experienced! farmers how to conduct harvestHints on operations, but rather to offer aHarreHting. few useful and practical hints to' those who are not so well! primed in all the ins and outs of their calling.. For the matter of that, the best and most qualified men are sometimes glad to pick up a small wrinkle which they havemissed in all their experience, and therefore I shall, without further apology, offer the following for the benefit of all whom it may concern. First and foremost, have everything connected with the reaping in good order for commencing immediately the crop is ready, and for continuing uninterruptedly until reaping is done. Begin reaping wheat while still a little green, and don't run the risk of a playful nor'wester catching your orop " dropping ripe" and robbing you of a year's work. Have each day's cutting stooked before night, if possible, for a flood of rain may come at any time, and a sheaf set up has 10 more chances of escaping serious damage than a sheaf lying on the ground to get sopping wet before being stooked. See that the stooks are well set tip, and will not Bag down to one end in a few days ; also, that they point north and south, that both sides may get the sun during the day. Twelve sheaves make a safe stook ; many more than that will cause sagging, and with a less number a stook cannot stand a puff of wind. Large sheaves are a mistake, either in hand or maohine-tying ; small sheaves are sooner fit for stacking, are sooner dried out after heavy rain, and are more easily and quickly handled, though perhaps requiring a little more twine per aore. Don't allow yourself to even think about threshing out of the stook — the thought is a slur upon good farming and the gain is absurdly disproportionate to the risk. Don't by any means begin carting if you are in doubt about the orop being fit to go into stack, and, moreover, don't judge of its fitness by the time it has been cut, for that entirely depends upon the weather, but rather use your jadgment and see that the grain is hard and the Btraw sapless before making a start. Bnild the stacks yourself, if possible ; if not, employ somebody in whom you have complete confidence, and if he does not keep a hump in the middle of the stack send him going. Better to run a risk of leaving the grain in the field a little longer than be sure of having it spoiled in a wet stack. Secure the tops of the stacks so that a capful of wind will not knock them about and cause double labour in retopping. Few stacks can stand a regular gale unscathed unless well sheltered, but a well-packed and securely tied roof will not Buffer much from any weather.

Sulphate of Iron for Sheep.

Moat people are aware, or have had experience, of the value of salts of iron as medicaments in medical practice, but it will be a matter of surprise to sheepfarmers in the colony to learn that sulphate of iron in mixture with common salt is largely used by flockmasters in the Home country in order to maintain the health and thrift of their sheep, and that very extensive experiences certify the beneficial effects. The method of preparation of the mixture generally adopted it as follows : — Take a bag or more, if required, of salt, empty it on a floor in a shed, and in this put the requisite quantity of sulphate of iron (71b or 81b per cwt of salt) ; if the salt is dry sprinkle water on it until it becomes damp all over. Then with a piece of board, or wooden spade, stir the lot well up, breaking any lumps of either sulphate of iron or salt. After being well stirred, pack in a heap like a sugar loaf, and leave until next morning. Then stir up again, when the mixture will be ready for use next day. When thoroughly mixed it has the appearance of yellow sugar. It is claimed that sheep supplied with the mixture are not subject to attacks of indigestion, or of diarrhoea, and rarely troubled with internal parasites. When regularly supplied the flock may have free access to it, but in the old couutry it is usually mixed with the chaff, ground cake, and corn foods.

IJyJjrid Oral*.

Attention is again called to the improvement of oar chief cereals by cross-breed-ing, from the fact that the Geraldine County AcclimatisaSociety have introduced several parcels of hybrid cereals. It is only of quite recent years that anything of this kind has been attempted ; although crossbreeding is a science with the florist. The possibilities that lie before the patient hybridiser are great, as is shown by the wonderful development of our most common fruit. Compare the plums of to-day with the hips and haws from which they originally sprang, and we can well see that the possibilities of great things lie before us in the improvement of cereals. So far most of the improvement has been brought about by careful selection of the largest and plumpest grain for seed. {Doubtless occasionally hybridising has been effected by insects, and improved samples of grain have in this way been accidentally produced. But it is clear that when human intelligence with fixed purpose is brought to bear the results are calculated to be much more satisfactory. Darwin long ago proved that in all plants and animals there is a natural tendency to vary, and by taking advantage of beneficial variations marvellous changes can be made. He dearly demonstrated that all of the varieties of the domestic pigeon, from fan-tail to pouter, or carrier to tumbler, originally sprang from the European wood dove. By selecting birds that had a slightly greater expanse of tail than the average, and breeding from these, always selecting the broadest-tailed birds to breed from, the fan-tail was gradually evolved :

and so on with the other breeds, new strains being introduced by judicious crossing. Had a similar process been followed out with wheat Bince the days when the famine-stricken lands went to Egypt for corn, the grain in our day might well have been many times larger than it is. However, now that the work of hybridising has been taken seriously in hand we may expect to see a marked improvement in good time. What the scientific agriculturist has to keep in view is not the perpetuating of every hybrid variety produced, but the persistent cross-breeding of grains, rejecting all but the very best, and retaining these only when they prove superior to existing grain. It is a pathway beset with difficulty and disappointment ; but if one individual experimenter succeeds in the coarse of a lifetime in producing a single head of improved wheat his labours will not have been expended in vain. The field is an inviting one, and the harvest if once successfully garnered will give a rich reward. Before leaving this subject I should once more like to impress upon farmers the duty they owe to posterity in keeping up the quality of the grain grown. It is almost criminal to sow rubbish when it should be an article of faith to sow only the very best grain procurable.

The Dec adenco Of Natural Pnstnre.

The serious diminution of our inland flocks leads up to the query, What has become of our natural pasture ? The grazing lands of Otago, at any rate, were chiefly hillsides and rolling downs or upland tables ctvered with the white silver tusscck or the more vigorous growing .brown tussock. Between the tussocks there grew a rich sward of succulent grass possessing high feeding qualities for either great cattle or sheep. This natural pasture has gradually disappeared, and the cause is not far to seek. Let us take New Zealand as we found it. There were no hoofed animals to tread the soil down, consequently it was always in an open condition, free to admit rain and air. Every succeeding crop of grass but made the soil the richer to support the aexb summer's grass. The weka and the moa, while they delighted to seek shelter in the rank herbage and the tall bracken, did not browse upon the grass. Bat in process of time the white man appeared upon the scene, with his hoofed beeves and lusty cows, and soon changed the face of the landscape. Fires repeated every year swept the country, and much of the natural pasture fell before the devouring element, never to reappear. While as ytt great cattle only were depastured there was an abundance of natural feed, bat when the flocks of sheep came the close-cropping soon killed out the wild grasses, and what the sheep left the rabbits finished off. The constant treading of hundreds of thousands of hoofed animals has beaten down the surface soil till it is no longer in a fit condition to grow the native or any other grasses. But the same soil is there ; all it requires is a stir up to restore its pristine fertility. This is the solution of the problem. Subdivide the runs into smaller areas, and the new generation of runholders will become sheepfarmers. The days of crude methods are past, and even the steep mountain slopes require to be stirred with the plough or some other implement, if we do not desire to convert our fair land into a sightless desert. The native pasture has gone the way of the weka and the moa and the Maori rat—disappeared before the advance of civilisation. Sheep runs must give place to sheep farms, and none but the roughest mountain tops can be left as we found them. This is how I read the signs of the times, and I speak from a good long colonial experience, and a knowledge of a large area of pastoral country.

Fertile Grass Lands.

Every farmer kaows the difficulty of keeping bis grass lands in a state of efficient fertility for a lengthened period of time. The general experience is that the best kinds ot grasses die out, their place being taken by weeds or inferior grasses. Much of this could be averted by top-dressing grass lands with a suitable manure. To begin with, the soil laid down to grass should be in good tilth, wellworked, and well manured, as grazing takes the good out of the soil quite as certainly as does ordinary cropping. The grass takes a good deal of soil constituents away, and most of this is removed by the stock unless great care is taken to return it in the shape of manure. Top-dressing is a good method of returning to the soil what the grass eaten off removes. Three things have to be considered. The grass requires phosphates, potash, and nitrogen. All of these are fairly well blended in farmyard manure. Phosphates are essential to the clovers, and nitrogen favours the grasses. A good way to determine the question of topdressing is to select a corner of the paddock, and try that as an experimental division. The result can be noted, and successful operations extended when the best method of procedure is ascertained.

Whilst roaring has been for long recognised as a hereditary disease by all veteCnre for rinary authorities and experiRoan'nsr. enced breeders of horses, it is

also well known to them that the disorder may be induced by the injudicious feeding and management of horses subjected to fast work. However inherited or acquired, the affliction has heretofore been regarded as irremediable, but quite recently Veterinary-captain Fred Smith, of Aldershot, claims to have discovered a curative, and has been voted the sum of £30 by the National Veterinary Association in aid of further research and experiment to determine the value of his new operation for roaring. Captain Smith proposes to obtain confirmed roarers, on which he is prepared to operate gratis on certain conditions. The operation consists of dividing the recurrent nerve of the larynx and joining it to a sound motor nerve so as to supply power to the originally paralysed portion of the larynx. The experiment originally proved so successful that there is every inducement to follow up the investigation, and it is satisfactory to know that the National Veterinary Association have given the grant in aid of further investigation into the curability of a disease so destructive bo the usefulness of the horse. Agricoia.