NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2605, 17 February 1904, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS

1 A Berwick farmer, using the norn de plum© of "Cabbage-tiee,'' Twitch. sends me two specimens of grase, and aska me to tell him which is couch grass and which is twitch. There are many varieties of twitch, and though the specimens are slightly different th-ey are both twitches. Couch grass is very different, and if "Cabbaq^-tree" nad once oeen it he would not be likely to be in any doubt as to its identiiy. It belongs to the wheat family, "triticum," and the botanical name of couch is "Triticum reopens," the last word meaning creeping, in illusion to its rooti, which lun underground and farm a thick network or bed of roots ; hence, tho name couch. It has a long, broad leaf similar to w heit, and the head is like coars-e ryegrar-s. My "B-yrv. ick friend is very lucky if he has had no experience- of this pest, which is much more tioublesome to deal with than the brov.n bent giass, or twitch, that he sent me. I am sending him a speoimsii of couch grass, in ca.se he may have some on his form without knowing it. He wants me to tell him the eheapeifc and best way to destroy the creeping grasses. If he has nothing but the blown bent grasses, as pe-r san>ple, to contend with it should not be a very difficult matiei, but couch ie a much more formidabk antagonist His best plaji is to sknn-plough the twitch-infested land, and give it a fallow during dry weathe-r, ploughing v\ide furiows and laying them, quite fiat so that the roots may bo parched by the sun and wind. After being exposed in this way 101 some time he should plough again dee£ enough to bury the first sod and turn up sufficient new soil to make a good ,?eed bed, and then sow as soon as possible a thick seeding of a quiok-grovving crop. YVhen the- crop is off plough ag-im anO -ow down with plenty gra-s and clover ijecd, which v. ill smother any twitch that may havo appeared. Of rrm-e, the success of any method of elr.mr.ig land depends greatly upon getting suitable- weather jU-^t when required. A few ivcks o{ hoi weather after skim-ploughing is o-^cntial to good results at the fi:»t attempt. T'lO' ploughing must be carefully don>\ with a vvid°. and *=harp ploughshare If 1, i-f litik use to try to hairo'v tho twitch after one ploughing, l.ocat:-e tho hariows or grubbers will pull the tough .••od together into heaps and do more hum !;an good. If the present cliy wcath-tr contiiwce, "Cab-bag'j-iree" might plough hi- tv. itch at once, and after a mte-ival ie plough and sou thickly with dun oats Feed tbr-.e till end of spnng. re- plough, and sow down m already .usgesled.

I An American paper says that the landa in

Land with Steam.

the valley of tho Potomac River have- become, co foul with weeds that th& farmers decided to adopt drastic-

inoasuTe-3 for their destruction. The Government is assisting them, and an entirely new process is to be tried. An implement, similar in appearance to a large, harrow, is drawn by a" powerful traction engine — not that much power is required, but abundance of steam. The implement, in place of ordinary teeth, will have short steel tubes and t\ill carry a steam chest. This chest is conneotcd with tho engine by a steam-tight hose, similar to that used in the Weetinghouse brake. From the ■iteam chest oti the harrow similar hose carries the steam into the steel tubes which take the place of harrow tinee. As the engine draws this harrow-like implem-e-nt along steam and boiling water are forced through the tubes at a high pressure. It is said that these, jets of steam will kill ovory weed and also insect life, and that a crop oan then bo- eov, n in absolutely clean sail. Experiments ha\e already been made with this apparatus, and the results have surpassed the n;ost sanguine expectation. Isot only does the steam kill all living wecd=, but ako all weed seeds th:it sro not buritd too deep to feel the effect of tho steam blast. _ It is albo said in the report that tho soil treated by the s team process ie considerably cmiched, the explanation being that the animal and vegetable life destroyed is converted into niU-ogenous and other fertilising elements. Bo this as it may, the wholesale destruction of weeds and weed seeds will revolutionise farming, provided th 3 resuUs are a, satisfactory In general practice a^ the initial trials are reported to have been. Thou^ind.3 of acres of good land in this colony are so foul that by the ordinary methods of eradication the cost almost equals the value of the land, but though the process I have described is, no coubt, pretty costly the cost cannot be prohibitive. I hope our Agricultural Department will take oteps to obtain particulars cf the results on the Potomac fiats, and if successful, obtain the necessary apparatus, and, as a preliminary step, clean «ome of their reserves. I question, however, whether the blast of steam would destroy lite in the roots of the Californian thi&tle as- they run too far below the surface AGRICOLA. ■