“SOW EARLY AND SAVE SEED.”

Otago Witness, Issue 3487, 11 January 1921, Page 8

“SOW EARLY AND SAVE SEED.”

There is something in the touch of Mother Earth that makes for joy and health and life, and as agriculture is the basal and most vital industry of every nation it is well that this is so. O ur caption, “sow early and save seed,” a useful motto, has to do with that important cereal, wheat, well known to the wiseacres of Kent, and practiced by them in times of great need of wheat. They found, inter alia, that over thick seeding tended to weaken the straw just as a very thin crop was likewise easily knocked down. The limit in the case of drilling wheat would seem to be between one and a-half to three bushels par acre. When two bushels are drilled possibly three should be broadcasted, but, of course, much would depend on soil, climate, variety, and time of sowing. There is no need to stress thd* importance of growing sufficient wheat for our own use, particularly as the Old Country seems to be moving a fair number of her people to this part of the world. Our supplies must be kept up, Government guarantee or not. Costs of labour should not frighten holders of wheat lands from persisting in their farming rotations and deciding to cut out wheat. The people have to be fed, and the Commonwealth may prove a broken reed in times of stress. There are two simple ways of augmenting our supplies at hand—(l) By increasing the area under cultivation ; and” (2) by increasing the yield per acre. Whatever may be said in respect to the former, few will deny that the latter presents opportunities perhaps not. always fully realised. Many farmers will admit that adequate cultivation and the use of suitable fertilisers will appreciably affect the yield, but are not so ready to grant that fungoid disease is a factor which mars our supplies in untoward seasons. Yet fungus disease can in a measure be controlled. R.usts and smuts must each year through sheer carelessness be responsible for taking heavy toll on the farmer. Safety lies in taking preventive measures, and it is the wheat grower’s duty to avail himself of such Knowledge as there may be, and, while directly benefiting himself, present an additional contribution to the much-needed general wheat supply. In Bunt or smut the ear of wheat appears normal, but the grains when broken are found to contain merely a mass of black spores. The wheat plants are infected in the seedling stage, but for a long time hold their own and develop normally. Finally, however, the fungus* wins, completely destroying every grain in the ear, and producing a mass of spores wherewith to propagate itself next season. Bunt may be prevented by “pickling” or treating the seed with a fungicide. In districts where pickling is generally practised the crops as a result are clean. Where Bunt is present it is usually found that either no treatment was given, or, if given, ineffective substances were employed. The Ministry’s Plant Disease office (English Journal of Agriculture) recommends one or other of two substances only—viz., copper sulphate (bluestone) and formaldelvde. Other substances are commonly used, but these are for the -most part useless. The secret of success in Bunt control lies in—(1) The use of proper chemicals; (2) care in the method of pickling ; (3) the prevention of subsequent contamination by the admixture of untreated seed. It has been repeatedly proved that if these points are attended to complete elimination of the disease, even under farm conditions, can be obtained. Even if there is no evidence that Bunt is present all doubtful seed should be pickled. For treatment with bluestone the pure copper sulphate should be obtained, and a solution made at the rate of lib of copper sulphate to 10 gal bus of water. This, it will be observed, is a weaker solution than we have been in the habit of advising—viz., a two per cent, solution, but it- has proved quite effective, and, of course, lessens the risk of any harmful results to the grain, and should be generally adopted. The seed may either be thoroughly wetted with the solution on the barn floor or .steeped In a barrel for one nr two hours, and afterwards spread out to dry. The formaldelvde method is, if anything, more simple. With this substance one pint of commercial formalin (equal to 40 per cent, solution of formaldelvde) is diluted with 20 gallons of water. (Smaller quantities may Vic prepared at the rate of two teaspoonfuls of formalin to one pall-, n of water.) The pickling solution should he thoroughly stirred before using, and should be applied to the grain in the same manner ns the copper sulphate. If the steeping method Is employed, 20 minutes is sufficient, and the grain should be spread out, afterwards to dry. The fact which every farmer should realise is that the rust or smut take toil and that this

great annual loss of crop is largely preventable—in fact, it is possible to outwit the fungus and benefit the crop.