NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3864, 3 April 1928, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Farm Work for April.

Once the stubbles are cleaned up no time

should be lost before ploughing is started in order to exnose th soil furrows to the beneficial

luyvnp lu VLie UVlltmJill atmospheric conditions usual during the autumn and winter seasons. Liming should now engage attention of farmers who have to contend with sour soils. Once the potato shaws have ceased growth the tubers should be lifted, separating at the time good seed sorts, tables, and small. By “ seed ” sorts I mean those shapely potatoes obtained from prolific sets, and not those other somewhat similar good-looking tubers obtainable here and there. Once the potatoes have been harvested, the land might with advantage be worked up and limed in readiness for, say, the sowing of lucerne in the spring. The salting down of butter for winter is a seasonable job, while all bees should have the attention they need. Sort up all gateways and culverts, and tidy up the holding generally. Burn ajl rubbish, and so probably kill a vast host of insect pests, spores and fungus growths. Overhaul the harvesting machines, and put them away in the shed in good working order for next season. If a few acres of Algerian oats or Cape barley are sown now there is a good chance of some useful feeding off before the winter. If the land will permit of working in order to grow cereals no time should be lost to ensure, say, wheat being sown next month. Limed ground invariably enables a crop to ripen earlier than if sown in cold, sour, unfertilised acres. In fact, unless you are fully satisfied that the soil is in trim to grow a good cereal crop it .-ould be better to wait another year. The spreading of farmyard manure is sometimes adopted at this time of the year, but unless one has ample it is better business to use this valuable fertiliser in early spring on roots or mangels. See to all stock,- and cull freely, wintering only good, sound animals. Supply the mares and foals with something better than weathered grass, as there is not a great deal of nourishment in this stuff. The clipping of team horses trace high is worth considering. The rams, will soon now be turned out, but there is no need to hurry. Allow, say, 2 per cent, .rams to the ewes, and note .whether the rams are working. Crutch all lambs on green feed, having, of course, dip. cd them, and feed nvlki”* cows something green and succulent in order to keep the milk flowing. The agricultural year may be considered as ended on the 31st ult. See, therefore, that valuations are adjusted, and all ingoings and outgoings entered up.

Pickle for Seed Wheat —A Warning.

The copper carbonate method of pickling ■fnllnwitKr nn<-vr>

. loiiowing upon eulogistic comments in the Australian press regarding its efficacy in repressing smut snnrps

, impressing smut spores, has been praised sky high in New Zealand by some enthusiasts, although there are others, no doubt, who pin their faith to copper sulphate or formalin. It comes therefore as somewhat of a shock to read in the Australasian that many Wheat men are giving up using .copper , carbonate for dry pickling and reverting to formalin, because the copper carbonate they have used has not killed the.smut like formalin has done .in the past. The reason for failure has been traced to. the fact that copper carbonate varies so in purity and fineness of grinding, and iher’e ( are so'many different suppliers, many new to the busi-

ness, all competing for the trade, tending to reduce prices below a payable level. There is said to have been as a result a serious reduction in quality of some low-priced, more especially imported, grades. It is unfortunate that an Australian Government standard for copper carbonate has not yet been agreed upon to put a stop to this, but owing to lack of agreement between the States m arriving at a uniform standard, copper carbonate is not generally controlled by fungicides Acts of Parliament as are other chemical products and fertilisers used by farmers and graziers. Even Government agricultural experts are now recommending formalin to be used where the wheat is obviously smutted, for the reason that it is a better destroyer of ®! spores. It is obvious, therefore, that if even good quality copper carbonate is admitted to be slightly inferior to toimalin in its smut or bunt killing power taimers are taking a great risk when using copper carbonate if they do not see that they are purchasing a brand that can be absolutely depended upon.

Sorrel Poisoning Theory of Lamb Mortality.

A.s is generally known, a theory was

recently advanced in Southland to the effect that, the commonly occurring mortality among lilt ifl nnncorl

. . tai iambs is caused by sorrel poisoning. The Department of Agriculture s veterinarians do not hold it, this view, but contend that sorrel itself is not poisonous, but the oxalate contained in it if taken in sufficiently large amounts damages the lining of the stomach and bowel and causes inflammation or the kidneys. Experiments were made with rabbits and lambs bv—(l) injecting doses of oxalate solution into the veins; (2) giving doses of oxalates by the mouth; (3) feeding sorrel. The rabbit experiments showed changes in the kidneys, etc., but the type of change noted was different from that seen in lambs, whose kidneys are “pulpy” In the experiments on lambs, six lambs were used Y lth rri - e > followin K results:—Lamb No. Tins lanib, about seven days old. was given a series of injections of sodium oxalate into the veins. When about 10 grains had been given, at the end of the second day, the lamb died suddenlv. Examination showed the kidneys to be enlarged and pale. Microscopically there were changes like those noted in the rabbit similarly treated, and here again oxalate crystals could be readily seen in the kidney-tubules. Lamb No. 1: This animal, about six weeks old. was fed with doses ot oxalates,and oxalic acid, and allowed to run with its dam. In the course of 10 days it had received 56 grammes of these materials and was markedly ill. It showed none of the symptoms seen in cases of pulpy kidney, however, 'its illness evidently being due to inflammation. of the stomach and intestines. It was then given a single large dose of oxalic acid and died quietly about an hour later. On’ examination the kidneys were found seriously affected. Small haemorrhages had occurred in them, giving a mottled appearance; they were also enlarged, but there was no pulpiness, although the examination was purposely left till four hours after death to give this every chance of occurring. Microscopically it was seen that the kidney-tubules were badly damaged and contained very numerous crystals of oxalate. The haemorrhages had taken place exclusively into these tubules, which is another small point of difference between oxalate poisoning and pulpy kidney. Lamb No. 5: This wa two to three weeks old, and was treated similarly to Lamb No. 1. In five days it received 34 grammes of potassium oxalate and nine grammes of oxalic acid. It was then killed by a large dose of the latter, and examined some four hours later. Hie kidneys were certainly damaged, but, to a far Jess extent than in No. 1. The changes that had occurred were ot a similar nature. Lambs Nos. 2 and 3: These were about five weeks old. and were fed on a diet, entirely limited to sorrel, except for about 10 minutes night and morning, when they were allowed to suck their dams. Feeding was commenced on November 17, and for the first three days sorrel in the flowering stage was given, but from the 20th onwards young leafy sorrel from a field under crop was gathered for them. They were hand-fed three times a day, and ate on the average about 12oz to 16oz each per diem. This was continued for over four weeks (until December 18)/ and during that period neither lamb showed any sign of. illness or distress, save that each had a transits ty attack of diarrhoea lasting two days (No. 2 on sth December and Np. 3 November). The lambs were both' killed a week after sorrel feeding

had been discontinued, and a careful examination was made. Miscroscopically there was evidence that damage to the kidney-tubules had occurred of a similar nature though to a much slighter degree than was seen in Nos. 1 and 5. Moreover, a few oxalate crystals could be detected in No. 3. Lamb No. 6: This was fed sorrel that had been mashed down in boiling water, and afterwards made to drink the water. A double handful of young sorrel leaves -was given in this way twice daily from November 21 to December 18 without any ill effects being noticeable during that period or afterwards. Ihe lamb was two to three weeksold when the experiment commenced. Irobably a perusal of these records will of itself be sufficient to show that oxalate poisoning is not the cause of the lamb mortality in the field, but a few additional comments are made by the investigators in the March issue of the ,-. e ? v -ZealandJournal of Agriculture:— (1) Lambs Nos. 2 and 3 received far more sorrel than they could possiblv lave picked up for themselves when grazdll, ai l ° rdina ry paddock. Further., although the oxalate present in the sorrel ilia suf fle le nt to cause damage to detth^H ll^ 8 ’ eausin l? sudden aeatn it isas not attended by illness of any sort. (2) In none of the lambs exthe 111 !^^” 011 was . t l le . re any “fluid round the heart or staining of the heart’s onn 6 ? b°tb °f which conditions ar e constantly found in eases of pulpy-kidney disease as met with naturally. (3) The changes produced in the kidneys by the oxalate treatments and the disease are somewhat alike, but by no means identicaL ■ ■ , behavi ? lir of a lamb after i'? r?e d ° ses of oxalate 1 mb No. 1) is qmte different from that toA e nn^ eriU s fl °- m Po’Py-kidney disease, (o) samples ot urine from eases of pttlpv Cei l tral Otago were forwarded to the departments chief chemist, who was unable to find any oxalate in them whereas in samples from lambs 1 and 5 nresJnf lld fft? n A I’ar 1 ’ ar^ ti i Vely J ar « e amounts even xriioJ 6 ? e dlf : not that lambs, even when hungry, showed any liking for sorrel, and while odd pieces might be eaten promiscuously with the other herbage, these experiments have shown harinles' SIUa <l uan tities are entirely AGRI COLA.