NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2927, 20 April 1910, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

The main potato crops are mow being lifted, and the question of careful “pitting” is important if the tubers are to be kept sound for any length of time. The common varieties should be lifted at a degree of ripeness which makes vigorous seed, and also firstclass table potatoes; and this stage is reached whan the say all leaves the top, at which time they are fully ripe. To leave .potatoes longer in the ground: may cause disease, and when they are lifted are likely to come out dirty, and consequently there is loss. The chief points in storing potatoes is to prevent them from sweating, and by keeping them dry and thoroughly concealed from light. It may seem a difficult task to successfully retain lull vigour in seed and nirciduoe first-class

Storing: Potatoes.

table potatoes; but if systematically carried out both of these objects can be attained. After making- the usual heaping, of potatoes —size according to quantity to be stored, —pile up a narrow ridge along the top of the heap, then cover well over with straw, so that no tubers can be seen. After the straw is put on dig a trench round the pit from 18in to 2ft wide, out from the potatoes; place about half the soil from the trench iround the base of the pit between the straw and the trench. This will have raised the wall of soil on the potatoes about a foot high; then place loose soil on the .straw, taking particular care to leave 3in or 4in wide uncovered with soil the whole way along the ridge. This space not covered with earth or sods will allow for ventilation, so that damp produced by sweat and heat cannot exist. This question of ventilation along the ■ridge of potato pits is most important. a.nd very many potatoes are wasted every year owing to lack of attention in this direction. If care is taken in storing potatoes, farmers will be well repaid, for when opening their pits the tubers will come out fresh, dry, .and clean. It is needless to say that dry straw must always be used, and that no holes should be left in the sides of the pits.

Nearly everyone is aware that the ordinary honey.bee is not only the most important factor in pollination, but the one insect which, by its form, the nature of its food requirements, and its habits, is best adapted as a means of fruit fertilisation. The bee- obtains ’ts food, nectar and pollen, from the flowers of plants, and what is a remarkable and well known fact is that a bee during each trip confines itself to one species of plant, whether in search of nectar or pollen, and a mixture of pollen is never found in any bee’s load as it enters the hive. In an article written by the president of the Victorian Apiarists’ Association to the Journal of Agriculture of that State, he stated that in America the importance of bees in fertilising flowers is now fully recognised. In the large greenhouses near Boston, where early cucumbers are grown, one or two hives of bee® are always inside to pollinate the blossoms, otherwise there would be no cucumbers unless men went round with brushes tc carry the pollen from blossom tc blossom. One of the foremost •beekeepers of the United States lives at Marengo, Illinois, and all round his apiary great quantities of cucumbers are grown for pickling purposes. These cucumbers are picked when two or three inches long and sold to the pickle factory. To grow cucumbers profitably it is necessary that the greatest (possible amount of fruit should set on each vine.. About 600 acres of cucumbers are grown in the vicinity of the apiary referred' to, and while the bees no doubt greatly benefit by the supply of pollen and honey thus provided, the success of the cucumber-growing is at the same time in a great measure due to the presence of the largo apiary. The fruit growers of many States, when (planting orchards in new and isolated places, found that their orchards yielded unprofitable crops where no bees existed in the locality. When this fact was discovered, and a few colonies of bees were established in or near the orchard, the yield® of fruit became normal. Professor Cook, of Pomona. California, who has paid particular attention to the fertilisation of fruit by bees says bees never harm blossom, but are always a help, and a tremendous help, through pollination. Many of the best fruits must be cross-fertilised to produce, while many pears, apples, and plums are utterly sterile to their own pollen; and, says the same authority, it is an incontrovertible fact that bees are the great agents in pollination. and are far more valuable to the world than for the honey they produce. An experiment has been carried out at the Farm Station, Genieva, New York State. A set of small pear trees were covered with hoods of fine gauze, the lower end ot the bag-like hood being tied to the trunk of the tree to exclude insects. On all of these' trees were a large number of buds, and all conditions favourable to a good crop, except that the flight of insects was entirely out off. The result was that, out of the whole of the trees covered, there was just one fruit, whereas on another set of trees of the same sort not covered there was A good crop proportionate to the size of the trees .

Bees and Fruit Fertilisation.

A recognised American authority on agriculture (Mr James J. Hill), while speaking at the National Grain Show, Omaha, Nebraska, upon the agricultural productiveness of the United States, said amongst other things that if America cannot feed the population it must necessarily change its agricultural methods, and that the coming population cannot be supported upon the crop yield per acre that now satisfied them. The future of the American nation, he said, political, moral, and financial, was bound up with the future of the farm. The only way to solve the problem was to bring larger areas under crop every year; and in America they could easily bring larger areas under .crop every year. Mr Hill urges the American farmer to “cutlivate only as much land as can be tilled so thoroughly that it will produce

Vmerican IVkiat Supply.

to its highest capacity, studying first the conservation of the soil. The object to be aimed at, even before trying to secure a big crop return, is to leave the ground each season better fitted for production than it was before. This can be done by proper rotation of crops, by fertilisations where land has been practically exhausted, and, best of all, by keerhng some live stock on every tract, no- matter how small, and .restoring every particle of manure to the soil. Adapt both the crop to be raised and the .method of cultivation to the nature of the soil. An agricultural chemist can give directions, and should always be consulted. There is, he said, at least one in every state whose services are at the command of the people through the agricultural schools. Select all seed with the utmost ©are. The difference between using the best quality of grain for seed and planting an inferior sort may be, and usually is,' the difference between getting a first-class yield and one barely worth harvesting. In farming the law of heredity is inflexible. Cattle for breeding, grain for planting, should be chosen as intelligently -as an investment into which a man's whole fortune is put. Finally, every crop must be treated like what it is, a living thing, sensitive to comfort and hardship, and 'returning to the culti vator a yield measured by the kind and quantity of care bestowed upon it, from the time of planting to the day of harvesting."

Dnokie Agricultural Colicge.

From time to time reference has been made in these notes to experimental work, which is being Carried out at the Dookie Agricultural School, Victoria, so that a short reference to this celebrated college, as described by a .writer to the Australasian some few months ago. may be of interest. The college is situated on the edge of the Goulbourn Valley, some 100 odd miles from Melbourne. The school is excellently organised, and eaon student daily knows his appointed task, and caries it out; and not the least valuable part of the training a student gets at Dookie is the importance of order, punctuality, and system. The great object aimed at" by the principal of the college is to turn out men who know “how” and “why ” The student must learn to do the work efficiently, and must, also know the reason for each operation. On almost all farms the “why” is entirely neglected. The reason of this is, that even if he has the knowledge, the ordinary farmer has neither the time nor the appliances' to teach it to beginners. It is said that in this recognition of “how” and “why” Dookie k unequalled as an agricultural college. During the time —about 15 years—that the .principal (Mr Hugh Pye) has been "in charge he has kept steadily in view the' idea that the student must be taught how to do a thing and also the reason for so doing. The college takes students at the age of 16 years, and the course extends over two years. In the first year the student learns to handle sheep, cattle, and horses; to milk, to prune, to take care of all kinds of live stock: he is, so to speak, broken in to the profession. After that he is given . a plough, a drill, a reaper and binder, lor a combined harvester. He learns to I shoe a horse, drive a steam engine, or build a shed. And it is said to be wonderful the good work that the young fellows do in all these operations. The area of the college estate is 5000 acres, with j what looks like a township attached to it. I Each year, from £OO to 900 acres is put under crop, every furrow of which has been turned by the college boys. The curriculum at Dookie is not confined -solely to agriculture, and its adjuncts, for the students are given an opportunity to acquire a good English education. The instruction at the college is free, while board and residence, medical attention, laundry work, etc., cost only £2B per annum. According tc best authority some of the most successful farmers on the “other side” attribute their advancement in life in a largo measure to the systematic training they received at Dookie Agricultural College. AGRICOLA. | ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, i By Ageicola. I “Enquirer,”—Algerian oats do best on ■ land that is not too heavy. About three bushels to the acre is usually sown, to allow for ravages of small birds when the plants are coming- up. These oats are heavy croppers, and you should get from 50 to 60 bushels to the acre in an average season. “Hammer Springs.”—For reinforcing concrete posts iron standards are often used on stations. You could use two standards overlapping to make the required length; 6in x bin posts lift long would be too heavy. Make the posts 5x5 to the ground, or wall level, and then taper off to •5 x 3 at the top. Your three rails can be bolted on as you say. In making the concrete posts leave about lin for the cement on the outside of the iron rods or standards. For making reinforced posts iron rods about Jin x |in are, as -a ..ule, used when easily obtainable, as one can cut the rods the exact length to suit the poets.