NOTES RURAL TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 6 May 1903, Page 7

NOT ES RURAL TOPICS

"Farmer, Hawca Flat," tella me that he has

about 20 acres of land inCoucii. fested with couch, which is

giving him a lot of trouble. I do not think it is the real English 2ouoh grass, frjni what be says. The proper coufli I'a3 large, white, running ioots (underground fctems is the correct term) like binding twine, which throw up shoots frcm every joint or knot, and the ;eaf is like a blade of wheat, to which it is allied, the botauical name for wheat bciig Tnticum saUvum and for couch Tnlicum repe^. "Farmer" says his

pest is a fine couch, and therefore I think it must be one of the creeping bent grasses, such as Agrostis vulgarie, Agrostis stolonifera, or Agrostis canina. These bent grasses go by the narre of "twitch," and their creeping roots are much smaller than couch, but send up ptems from jojnts m the roots just as couch does. I have been bothered with ooueh in my garden for years, but have been able to keep it from getting into the farm land. I have, however, a good deal of twitch, but I do not find it anything like such a troublesome pest ais couch would be in arable land. "Farmer" has tried numerous implements on his couch, or twitch, and says that he is quite at a loes ac to the best way to tear it out of the sod. He hae ploughed and crossploughed, tried Massey-Harris jultivators, dice harrows, roller, and other means, but the Eods are so hard and tough that nothing seems to make any impression upon them. He says he hae hoard that a heavy clod-crusher would have the desired effect in crushing the sods, so that the harrows can work the soil into a tilth in readiness for receiving iseed. I have not seen or heard of the wood-en clod-crusher he refers to, unless it be the sample contrivance one sees illustrated in American papers for smoothing small, hard clods on the surface, and that is simply a few planks eet in a frame with a slope backward, but 1 do not think it would answer "Farmer's" purpose. The Acme harrows used to be in general use, and were useful for a tough sod, as they had a cutting and .sliding motion which raised a tilth without turning up the furrows. I have not eeen or used them for some years, but they may be obtainable from local agents of American implements. It seems to me that "Farmer" has oaused all the trouble by croEts-ploughing the tough furrows and making square sods, which turn over and roll about, whereas a long furrow can be sliced with the discs and rolled and harrowed without turning the gra.«s up again. A year ago last spring I ploughed a paddock of twitch a good depth, then gave it a good chopping with the dit>M, tine-harrowed, rolled, and then drilled turnips. These were not good, because it was a poor turnip year, but last spring the land was stirred with the Massey-Harris cultivator, and plenty of grass and clover sown, which has now made a good sward. I thmk "Farmer" had better leave the land for a winter fallow; the frost and rain might make the pods easier to break down in the spring, and then he e?n sow red clover, cape barley, rape, or some such thick-grow-ing crop that will overcome the twitch for a while. I may add that I have used heavy jripod harrows with good effect en a tough &od. They have short teeth, which tear up the surface soil without lifting the furrow, as tine harrows and grubbers do. In working tough land the chief object is to keep the gra°sy side downwards until it w well rotted and troden by stock, after -which it can bp reploughed and worked with more facility.

"Farmer" says the couch, twitch, or whatever it is, got into the land by sowing bad grass seed. Now, here is a glaring example of false economy. For every shilling ho thought he was sa\ing by buying cheap seeds he has had 20 shillings' expense in worry and labour endeavouring to undo the mischief caused by inferior sowing down. Moreover, there is. in addition, the loss of the use of the lamd while battling with the <=elf -imported pert. As "Farmer" says that hia is the only patch of the pest in the district, it would be good policy for all the neighbouring farmers to assist in overcoming it, and prevent its encroachment on other farms or along the roads. The twitch I have- come for miles alone: he roads, and is now to be seen in ali directions over hill and dale.

I am sending to the editor, to be Forwarded to "Farmer," Hawea Flat, samples of long roots of cour-h, roots of Poa piatensis. and some heads of the brown twitch I have mentioned.

A Scottish farmer has been making an ex

periment for the purpose of Tlie Standing- find.ng out vhich of ihe Qnnlillts ne-.v and popular varietiev of of Oats. oats will gjve the bc^t up-

fctancTinjj amd prolific vcrop, fo many of the crossbred, heavy-yielding kinds being liable to lodgment. He sowed the =-eed in a field that had been out in grass for five years, and, besides being good Foil, had been manured by heavy stocking owing to the consumption of feeding stuff on the land. The results showed that there ■was a good deal laid in each lot, and that there was not much difference in the varieties in that respect. It is interesting to pote ; however, that while .all were Bown at

the same time under similar conditions, they did mot all ripen together, there being three - wecka between the ripening of the earliest and the latest. Gartou's Storm King was i Iho first to upen, and gave 59 bushels grain and 3 tons 15cwt of straw, Gartou's Exceii sior ripened a week later than the Storm King, yielded 79 bushels gTam and 3 tons 7£owt pi straw per acre. Garten's Tartar King gave 100 bushels grain and 3 tons . 15ewt straw per acre, and was a week longer | than, the Exee's.'or. At 2s 3d per bushel 1 for tho oats and £2 per ton for the straw, this oat gave a return of £18 15s per acre. The last to ripen was the Canadian Banner I oat, which yielded 79£ bushels and 3 tons 7ewt of straw per acre, value £15 12s 6d, according to Scottish prices. All the oats but the Excelsior were valued at 18s per quarter of 3361b, the Excelsior being valued at 20s per quarter, or 2s od per bushel. The straw of the Exoelsior was valued at £2 10s per ton, and that of the others at £2 jnly. Though the Tartar King gave 21 bushels per acre more than the Excelsior, the higher value of the straw and

grain of the latter made its total value per acre only 8s 9d less than the other, co that quality counts as well as quantity.

So many aew varieties of potatoes are being introduced, and each one reVarieties of ported to be better than the Potatoes. last, that it is difficult to know which are /he most profitable to grow. A few years ago the Bruce was largely boomed, and considered an excellent tuber for quality and yield, but it is now quite in the background compared with the popularity of nev.er kinds. According- to a Home farm journal an experiment has been made with a view of ascertaining the names of the most popular varieties of potatoes grown in England. Thirty well-known growers of potatoes in different parts of England were asked to send in a list of what they considered the best 12 varieties. When the replies came in they were tabulated according to the votesgiven by each of the 30 farmers. It appears that 26 out of the 30 put down Up-to-dates as one of the 12 best varieties. This is an American potato well known in this colony as a good tropper and -a good eater. Windsor Castle had 23 votes, Sharpe's Victor 19 votes, Sutton'e Ringleader 14- votes, votes, Early Puritan 11 votes, British Queen Snowdiop 14 votes, Button's Satisfaction 13 11 votes, Duke of York 10 votes, Sutton's Ninetyfold 8 vote-3, Beauty of Hebron 8 votes. All the other 72 varieties mentioned had leas than five votes, and, is already stated, old favourites of a few years back were scarcely mentioned. Of the 11 potatoes in the above list I have only grown two — namely, Up-to-date and Beauty of Hebron, and I have been pleased with both, and taken prizes with them. It would be interesting to obtain a referendum on potatoes hero in the same way. If the agricultural societies were to get a number of farmers to send in lists containing the names of what each considered the best 12 varieties, the result might be useful,- as showing in what estimation different varieties arc held in various districts. Different potatoes suit different coils, and it is said that the Vilh\ge Blacksmith succeeds in heavy, damp soils whfe other kinds would rot. Strange to say, I have never yet met two men of the Bame opinion ac to the identity of this potato, and some aver that the real Village BlacHmith is mot at all the same as that which commonly goes under that name here.

I have heard a 'good many complaints of potatoes being worm-eaten Worms in this year, and I have found Potatoes. a few worm-bores in my own crop. The worm is about l^in long, and has brownish rings on it. It cats a hole right into the tuber in much the same -way that the codlin moth larva tunnels into an apple. 1 notice, too, that the same pest has attacked the potato crop in some parts of England, and a Home paper, in replying to a query as to best means of preventing the attack, advises laying some green food soaked in Paris green between the drills. It is thought that poiBoned bait of this kind — clover, lucerne, etc. — may kill the worms, which are said to live on the surface of the ground chiefly. Poisoned bran may be laid, but grain or other seed may prove dangerous to poultry, etc. These worms are called "out-worms," or erubs, in America, and have for Borne time done considerable injury to potatoes there. AGRICOLA.