NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 2419, 26 July 1900, Page 6

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

' Although colonial farmers occasionally suffer I loss from the wire worm, its

Wire Worms.

ravages are much more persistent and disastrous in. Bri"tain, where it is considered

one of the worst of the insect pests. in times gone by I have had wheat crops greatly injured by the worm at the root, but of late ' years much more damage has been done above ground by the insect pest known as the Hes- | fcian fry. It may not be generally known thai | the wire worm is the grub of the click beetle, ; which is so* named from the clicking sound |it makes in some of its movements. This < beetle is brownish-black in colour, and lays 1 its eggs close to the ground, in ths sheath of a plant, or in the ground close to the rootp. The wire worms are hatched from these eggs, and "continue in the grub for a number of yeai\s before they assume the insect form. As each generation remains in the ground for from three to five years before taking wing it can easily be seen that they can make themselves a great nuisance in foraging for food the "while. For the purpose of identification I may mention that" the jvorni is 'a yellowish-white, and from half to three-quar-^ ters of an inch in length. - It "has three pairs of feet near tho head and a sucker foot near the tail. When Lho time comes to take the | chrysalis form they burrow down into the soil, and in a few weeks issue as beetles, and are j ready to lay more eggs, and &c perpetuate ! their undesirable species. Like many other [ j>ests its actual food requirements would not i cause so much injury if it would confine ils ] operations to what it devours, but it eats < just enough of the root, of a plant to kill the latter, and then proceeds lo the next root and thus, in its progress, docs ten or 50 times as much harm as there is any need for. It will eat any farm crop, but, sxf a rule, its ravages are confined to wheat, grass, and clover. In England its chief ravages appear in old pastures, but with urf the white grass grub's depredations are more troublesome in grass than the wire worm. Miss Ormerod, who used to be consulting entomologist to the j H.A.S. of. England, gives .much good advice ' in a leaflet about preventive and remedial

The controversy seems to have been set going by a letter in .which the writer deprecated the use of wheel ploughs, and deplored the decreasing use of the old high-cut swing plough?. This, brought out a number of correspondents who took sides, and the champion of the' swing seems to have been defeated at every point. I can remember how, years ago, ploughing matches were very much more common than they are now, and every young farmer's highest ambition toj to win prizes at the local matches, and then proceed farther afield and ultimately to carry off the prize as the champion of the district. In those days everything was sacrificed to appearance, and the " high-cut " or false-cut style was all the fashion, and a good, honest, plain, and square furrow would not have been looked at. This fancy ploughing looked very nice, and the feather-edged furrows laid in perfectly straight feerings were the admiration of all onlookers. It used to be thoushl by practical men that the false high-cut formed a desirable high comb to the furrows for guiding the seed into drills, and that there was more soil, also, for harrowing down on to the seed. After a time, however, this idea lost ground, and, moreover, it was found that competitors carried the high-cut to extremes, that the furrow was a mere sharri, and the system was debarred. In the controveisy referred to in Scotland, the advocates for the 'high-cut admit that a limit of l£in should be made, that is, the bottom Df the furrow should not be more than that much off the square. In order to increase the high comb of a furrow without infringing rules against high-cut the straight coulter was slightly bent in at the point so as to cut a little more on the land side. -All this dodgy work and fancy .ploughing prevailed in the days of single-fur-row ploughs' and the advent of the double plough, with circular coulters, resulted in a more matter-of-fact and useful styls of work, not 'but that some very nice-looking and serviceable work can be done with the double ploughs under the guidance of a. capable man. Now that corn drills are so common we do not require to throw up high furrows to form a seed-bed, and the chief object is to slap over the land as quickly as possible when we - get the chance. I believe there are a. few old Scotchmen still extant who will not use a wheel plough in j>ref erence to the swing plough to which they wore accustomed in their boyhood. I have not had much experience with .swing ploughs, but I believe they work verywell when properly set, and the angle of draught accurately adju&ted. But for preference give mo a plough with wheels and a sole-plate to counteract the pressure of the mould-board. Of course, lam only referring to single ploughs in these remarks, and many a hundred mile have I followed in my young days. Here we now use single ploughs so little that it is not worth while discussing them, but in Scotland the double plough is not so common, and great interest still centres around the performances of single-plough competitors at the annual ploughing matches. Ploughing has ceased to be an art, hence the neglect of ploughing matches. Scrambling about on hillsides is not conducive to pretty work, and the ploughman has liftle time to think of high-cut or plain-cut when ploughing around a steep sidling.

"Southland Farmer" sends me a auerv. and

is good enough to. say that he has frequently referred to me for advice and found that

Manning Oats.

my replies have been very useful to him, and - concludes with the wise and commendable statement that when in doubt he always seeks advice. In this instance " Southland Farmer " wishes to know whether it is advisable to drill in artificial manure with oats which he intends to sow in a paddock which has been three years in grass!. The soil, he says, is a deep loam, but inclined to be wet. The manure mentioned by him would be suitable so far as I can judge from the description of the soil, but I cannot advise "Southland Farmer" to go to the expense he suggests, for I do not believe it will pay him to do- so. If ho has read my notes regularly he cannot have failed to notice that various experiments have been made in Britain with artificial fertilisers for oats and other grain, and it has invariably been proved that the results have not justified the extra cost. Quite recently I referred to the same matter in connection -with experiments made at tho Lincoln College farm by the director, and it was proved there also that the additional yield from the manured plot's did not make up for the cost of the manure — in fact, in some cases there was no increase of yield at all. Surely a deep loam that has had a three years' rest in grass should be able to throw a first-class crop of oats without any artificial as&iotance whatever. However, there is nothing like gaining experience in one's own practice, and if my friend i» anxioiis to try the manure I would siiggest that instead of spending seven ->r eight shillings per acre over the whole field and running the risk of throwing his money away, he should sow a 'portion with the super and guano, and see whether. the result is pufßcienlly encouraging to induce him to try the same practice on a larger scale next year. I have not found it Xoay to manure grain, and it seems to be the case that if the' land is not in a fit condition - to- grow a fair crop without manure it will not do any bettei if manured. With roots the case is different, and the expenditure generally makes all the difference between success and failure. I hope "Southland Farmer" will adopt my suggestio.il, and jnsl make a few experiments on .his Qwn v account. . The results ma^ nob be the same at Wendon&ide

as they were at College farm, and, in any case, he will be the gamer -by the knowledge thus acquired. It is to be regretted that farmers do not go in for more tests on their own account in place of depending upon those made by professors and others under, perhaps, t&fcally different conditions. If land is wet, drainage is much, more important than manuring in the case of any grain crop, and without a reasonable amount of drainage no soil can do justice to-itsclf. " Southland Farmer " also wishes to know how much seed I would recommend in his, case. There is a general rule that the better the land the less seed is necessary to make a full crop — that is, to fully occupy the ground, because strong and healthy plants tiller out and throw up a targe number of stems from each root, whereas in light land there is not so much tillering, and therefore more roots are required. Two bushels per acre should be ample seed, but then, again, much depends upon the seed. If it is good and well-dressed a large percentage will germinate, but inferior beed with much tail corn in it should be sown at least 25 per cent thicker, which means a clear waste of grain which is put into the ground to rot instead of being screened out for fowl and pig feed. One of the most successful grain growers of my acquaintance always puts his seed corn through a good seeddressing machine, and thus removes everything but sound and plump berries. He then know? exactly how much to sow, because all will grow. "Southland Farmer" also wishes me to recommend a good work upon tile-draining. I have an excellent one upon all kinds of draining, but it Js not now obtainable. I will make inquiries and reply later on.

I have received the following letter from a

A Large Orfleiv

resident of South Canterbury, and as the information required is lather too much to

expect from one mortal I have asked the editor to print a copy of it so that all interested in dairy matters may sec it, and perhaps some who have had a lifelong experience in dairy-farming will be good enough to furnish some information upon one or more points in the query. I have always gone in for mixed farming myself, and have never made a specialty of dairying. Of course, it is impossible for anybody to say what outlay, area, plant, and ptock will be required to produce a profit of £200 per year. It is something similar to a request for particulais as lo how deeply one should go into mining speculations in order lo come out with a good profit each year. If I could answer " Interested " on that point off-hand I should knock off hard work, and set up as an infallible oracle upon all questions under the sun. However, I shall, in the course of a week or two, endeavour to go into the matter as fully as I can, and I should like other farmers to put forward their ideas as well. Dairying is an important industry, and, in view of the rapid growth in closer settlement of the country, is destined to become a very large and flourishing factor in the progress and prosperity of this grand little colony. The following is the letter:— "To ' Asrvicola,' care Fxilitor Otago Witness.— Dear Sir, — I always read with great" interest your remarks in the Witness, and have been wondering whether you could give me, through the columns of your paper, some practical information in regard to ' dairy-f arming.' What I should like" to know is : To what extent a man would have to go in for dairying to make a profit, sAy, of £200 a year. If lam not asking too much I should like you to show a table of what would be, approximately, the total receipts and expenditure per annum, and also the amount of outlaj- at commencement. Some of the principal things I would like to know are these: The required area, approximately, of the farm ; the probable rent per acre ; the number of cows that would have to be kept; the number of pigs ; the cost of labour, reckoning on my own ; the amount of winter feed to be grown; cost of feeding pigs— in fact all necessary expenses as near as you can estimate, and also value of receipts. I trust I shall not be taxing your time too much, but. l am thinking of leasing a dairy farm, if. after I havereceived somefproctical information. I consider there is sufficient inducement. — I am, etc., Interested." AGEICOLA.