NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3190, 5 May 1915, Page 10

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

A lot of crop is still uncut in the south, and there is bound to be considerable ind-fferent chaff and oats later on. All straw stacks should be well raked down, unthrashed grain stacks to be thatched or covered with sack-covering, which will bo found quite suitable for one season. Wheat should be sown this month ; one and a-hall bushels of small-berried wheat will prove quite sufficient in good land, if well put in, the seed having been pickled in formalin or bluestono to ward off smut. Autumn sowing is best, if conditions are favourable ; but there is still the spring to fall bac,i upon, although it is a. great satisfaction to know that the seed is in, and be relieved of the uncertainty of spring sowing. Potatolifting should bo completed this month. Ploughing and team work must bo pushed on, and ground turned up, reserving a small area for lucerne, this same area to get a dressing of lime. The land selected for the lucerne patch, perhaps, will be all the better if not straight out of grass, as better results follow from ground that has been some years under cultivation and grown root crops. Corse should be grubbed, hedges cut, and ditches cleaned out. The working horses should be well fed, and may be clipped trace high, frequently with advantage. Weaned foals should have access to plenty of water, and get nutritious food, and hot allowed to got stunted. Keep close Watch on the rams, and see that they are well distributed through the ewe flock. Milking cows should be rugged; cows about to calve to be kept in paddock where feed is not too plentiful. It is imperative that farmers should safeguard all their stock feed. It will be wanted. In June, it is anticipated that the block at the freezing works’ will he relieved, but under the present circumstances values of all stock, fat lambs, particularly, must fall, and the writer is satisfied that it is best to wait until anticipations in regard to ships are realised before parting- with feed of any sort. In order to successfully cope with the attacks of insects upon farm crops it is useful to appreciate certain entomological facts. Certain insects are harmful at one stage of their life, and others at another. In most cases it is the larval stage that is specially destructive, as is the case with wireworms, leather jackets, and surface caterpillars. The turnip fly and various weevils are insects which are most mischievous’ in their matured forms. Aphides and cockchafers in both the larval and the perfect condition. The length of life of a larva depends upon the facility with which it obtains food. The larval life of a bee occupies less than a week, for the grub, from the moment it is hatched, finds around it a profuse store of the richest food, consisting of honey and pollen. Ihc blowfly, hatched out in meat, passes but eight or 10 days as a larva. But the leafeating caterpillars have to work harder for their food, and this is of a less nutritious character, 'so that such larvae often occupy six or eight weeks between egg and pupa. Wireworms and cockchafer grubs, which live in the soil and feed on roots, have a larvai life extending over from one to five years. Scarcely any part of a plant is fiee fiom insect attack. " Some insects confine themselves to special groups of plants, as the turnip fly to cruciferous crops. Others are general feeders, as wireworms and leather jackets. There are two means of checking their ravages —prevention and remedy. Preventive methods involve rendering the surroundings too uninviting, or ■ the crop is maintained in a vigorous condition. Thus it is asserted that turnips just peeping through the ground may bo lightly sprayed with paraffin, the odour keeping off the turnip fly till in the “rough leaf." Rotation of crops affords another” means of anticipating and’ obviating insect attack. Remedial measures involve the application to the infested crop of substances wh'ch kill insects (insecticides), or drive them away (insect!• fuges). Such materials as quicklime, soot, sulphate of copper, paraffin, and such an arsenical poison ns Par s green. Good working of the land is death to insect life in tno soil, as it turns up not only larva?, but pupre as well, all of which arc liable to bo destroyed by the weather, or be eaten by birds. In an experiment with 10 cows at the Kansas Agricultural College it was found that for the first five days after dehorning the cows lost an average of ilb of milk per day. At the end of the fifth day they began to return to their

Work for May.

Insect Attacks.

Effects of Dehorning Milkers.

normal flow, and in a few days eight of them were giving a substantial increase. The .greatest gain was with the cows that had been hooked and driven away from their feed previous to the dehorning. The two that did not increase in production were the ‘‘boss” cows of the herd. Cattle that are dehorned before the coming of warm weather and flies usually heal without any trouble. Much time and trouble are saved by dehorning the ca.ves with caustic potash. This should be done before the calf is a week old, or a c-tumpy horn will develop, which will have to be removed later on with clippers or saw. Scrape the button or young horn with a knife until it is red. Then moisten it and rub it well with a stick of caustic potash, or with household lye, being careful not to get it on the skin y around the horn, as it is very irritating to the calf’s tender skin. This should be repeated in a few days if a deep scab does not form in the centre of the horn. AGRICOLA. ANSWERS TO, CORRESPONDENTS. By Agricola. “Anxious” inquires about lucerne, and asks whether it will grow in the Catlins district. The writer does not know of any growing in the district, but if conditions as indicated are available there seems no reason why this valuable crop should not be raised satisfactorily. Conditions in regard to drainage must be attended to. It does not like wet feet. The permanent waterlevel should be deep; it is injurious if shallow. It may follow with advantage roott, and the cultivation should be thorough. Fertilisers for lucerne are better provided in the preceding crop. The spr ng is the usual time for sowing, after the soil has warmed. The land should be ploughed now, and the soil must have.lime, if not,'lime must be added to it, and cross-ploughed after the weed seeds have germinated in the spring. Lucerne is a perennial, and will be useful if attended to after a duration of 10 years. From 121 bto 151 bof pine seed is sufficient on a well-prepared seedbed'. The seed can bo drilled or broadcasted, the former, perhaps, to be preferred. It can be grazed, but with caution. As . green feed, lucerne is-valuable for all stock. Although -all the elements of fertility _ may be available, and subsoil and drainage favourable, unless lime and nitrogen-gather-ing bacteria are also present, success may be but meagre. It would bo wise to obtain seed that has been saved in a cold climate. I am unable to say where the cabbage “Anxious” writes of is obtainable; possibly kale would answer your purpose equally well. “Inquirer” asks for information in regard to treatment of cows that are not holding to the bull. Careful irrigation of the womb and vagina with an antiseptic wash, and similar treatment of the bull’s organ may prove effective. Unless the cow is newly calved it is not an easy matter to introduce the tubing into the nook of the womb, and great cars and cleanliness is required. The dilation should be done with the fingers, and the tube introduced carefully. Lysol is used sometimes as a preventive measure in 1 in 80 dilution (vide “Abortion,” Otago Witness, February 10).