Making Rye-Grass Seed A Payable Proposition

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17607, 24 October 1931, Page 14

Making Rye-Grass Seed A Payable Proposition

’ production 6f ryegrass seed remains payable farming pro* g.;^;nyiu,t)er.. of ’•precautions iie *if the growers- are 3jws&U’ from* ,tjjpir ventures., aapeet, rs .ddalt' with in* tbo ' t'olby ( Air. My A. •Styckjg. instructor 'in ' agriculture .at Sfisbornef— ’V ’ * ' " v -*. danger j that .thhtsepd production was in* farming to an abuse oh this siilelind.,All growers should remcm* her .that the price received for .their product depends’ entirely on the quaiitydf• that product. Owing to) the {jKHTffte ’of ‘theso districts, and. the developed because of tliO cbi}iatic,.conditions, Poverty, Bay iStlAHapkbla. Bay .perennial ryegrass ;)a. lil!!?st. enviable fame. r iltfei)baioflt ; important sced-testihg. stiitijJhr A ia : t?he ; -Enipi.ro ,has reported on vtewii ’Zealand rye as follows: “It whins thatr the; best .New Zealand,seed lrilsecorid.tp (honey but the worst seed as can ,be found Alost of ‘the best seed comes from Poverty Bay and Hawke’s Bay, but at fr'eabnUthere is very bad seed in <fth) districts. Paddocks of bad type ■will.hot/.of • doiii's’cj - b'e 'cfettifitfd. 'But StAshobld b'e. yqm.embcrpd that a .very §mailj'percentage of inferior types is allowed. •('These inferior • types seed ihlore," fteply i than the, -true • perennial, since * a- certain ajnohnt- of s6ed'-is always shed, the percentage of poor rye will increase though re-soeding if the paddock is ’hhfyestQd several years in succession. Repeated harvesting Danger.

<4 ln past years, "I believe that the 'with-the.ilbest growers ' was harvest: the same paddock mCtiti than once in' four or live years. ShiSJUI JllWoubtodJy goupd., But under present,conditions, when ryegrass seed the -only-payable proposition fanny it: is hard to hold rigidly Jjpythis principle. The danger of reborne in -mind,. and the pastures should ittbst'. qritically. : Tor practical purposes/ the inferior types pOyercan, 'be.. regarded as annual same .category as gooseburr clover,' arid' any in-gfoasc'-of these weeds may bo regarded ii 'an’iMlcation' that ;,there is an increase bf the 'undesirable . types , of / afyeA”* '< '" *, 1 ‘Much niay 136 done.to lessen,the 'ievtt)"tif.'repeated harvesting by suit* A seed Crop takes out; Of any paddock, mpro ' ..paddock, which yitddlibJhJP.h thbre, heavily than an old jgasjnre. . .By topdressing as soon-as possijblo after the. seed .crop, has been MCidved, 'the ' permanent. grasses,. and icilo'yiffat;stimulated, the turf is dosed, upland'it is harder for the annuaiweeds to re-establish from seed, ft‘seems probablo that ammoniated supetas. the ..most useful ..manure .to lists,, though in paddocks where there is an; excess of clover, leunapbos is trying. Leuriaphos is a combined rrianure, one cwt. being approximately equal to one cwt. of super fildCijM.ewt.' of sulphate of ammonia, •wl.thwit'-the; lime that is' present in super:*** - ' '■ ’ 1 •mwmm *?•*-* v '•» t.• *; ; 1

Parity’ arid Germination. tho‘type of-rye, which is the-concern of the Department of Agiioalturc,: the most important points are the purity and germination fli'Eri.iaxiipid; Modern seed cleaning that, given,, a MrMCmplV'to work on, they can turn out, r a' machine-dressed sample of over )per); C6ntf; pure seed. The worst ■Butyls 'jin this respect are goose-grass aad-*'ri4*gr&Bß. ■ Borne samples, however contain nearly 50 per cent, of goose-grass. It is not possible to clean ’these'thoroughly; because the heavy dressing necessary breaks off the wings and awn of the goose, till it is, about the same size and weight as the rye, and cannot be separated from it. ,In the same way if there is a largo amount of rib-grass in tho sample, it is next to impossible to get rid of it all. Alueh of the rib is the same size as the small shotty ryd; arid cannot be cleaned out without sacrificing a very large percentage beat rye. “From the point of view of making a good machine-dressed sample, burr clover -is unimportant. The bulk of the burr clover is removed by tho ..from a dirty paddock therc inay. be a fair amount Qf jiuVr seeci in Iho sample from the mill, th& seed-cleaning plant has no diffic.gljyjn getting rid of it. Ido not remember ever seeing one single seed of /burr clovfeV in a machine-dressed pfoniplp nf rye. The roal importance clbvcr is" the effect it has on yield)-’’ and harvesting,.cos,ts. In a butr-clover is perfectly Affable’of . smothering a whole paddbefe of rye)’ At the best,.in an it ritenns a great bulk pf.)extfra'-"piatcrial to, handle# and eona g«at increase in harvestin#; costs.'*'

Al Woriderful Record. the-sample is a.matter to which rihbble pay enough attention; If tho 'WBmM r / e is '• *- h t Ban ‘ u ’ an , d tM purity, it is obvious that a semple germination:of 90 per cCnt. is •w’hrth ; rit*'least twice as much As one •Witt*/ a -germination ‘ of ' 45 per. cent. Up till the present, very fittlC ftttenfiop 'lias -bcori paid to tins, but with thePrcscnt relatively * high prico. or to.#!®'*; f 0 rcttl w smf cannht-afford to pay. for fleiUt seeu. Thorcfaro, this factor is increasing in imrioitrinepy and growers should do a 1 ia their power to ensure good gerttiMtiop. . \ V

“Undoubtedly by far the most important factor is the season. Hot, sunny weather, with a fair amount of wind at flowering time, is ideal, These were the conditions last year, with the result, that, gemination . of all certified seed in this district was magnificent. • The worst sample, 1 think, was 92 per- cent., and the best was 99.7 per cent—a really wonderful record. The previous yoai, the average was' somewhere about 60 per cent., a' very different' story; though Oven . then some, good percentages wero recorded. The lesson from this is that in an .ideal season, one can scarcely go wrong, but in a poor season much,can -be done to injprovo matters, ' ' . « “Beyond all question, the most important factor within the control of the grower is the time of cutting the seed. Very many growers cut thenseed far too soon. Alany people will say that a paddock is roady_ to cut if yoti Walk tnrough it sweeping a hat across the seed heads, and batch a few seeds in the hat. That is absolutely wrong. (Jutting Time.

“No matter how carefully a paddock is managed, you cannot get all the seed to ripen at the same time, and the test just mentioned will only tell you when the earliest seed is ready to cut. The only reasonable way is to cut the paddock when the bulk ot the seed is ripe. I know of only one way of testing this; that is to walk through the paddock and chooso several patches that are fairly representative of the whole. Take a handful ot seedheads from these patches, and rub them out between the hands. If any of the seed remains in the seed-heads, t anil some of the seed rubbed out is rather green, the paddock is not ready to cut. .‘if It : .'is infinitely better to cut too late than too soon. Cutting late means that you are shedding some seed on your own paddock, and that will not hurt it. Cutting too soon .means that you are marketing an inferior sample, and that means that you are damaging not only your own reputation, but possibly the reputation of the'whole district. “It is better to stack seed than to thresh it out of the cocks. _ In good weather there is no -objection to threshing out of the cocks, if you can get the mill when you want it. But this*is by no means easy. may have to leave it in the cocks far longer than you like, and will lose a lot of seed through over-prying m carting it to the mill. ' Threshing Methods.

“Stacking tho seed has the following advantages: You can usually put, the stack up in your own time with comparatively few men, whereas, when threshing out of the paddock you must have enough men to feed the mill properly. If the weather at threshing time is showery, one good sliow-cr may stop threshing from the paddock for 2-1 hours. If threshing from a stack, you can put a cover over the stack, and start threshing again _ as soon as the rain stops. I believe that the cost of stacking is paid for. by the extra speed in threshing from the,stack. “On figures obtained during the last two years, seed threshed from the .paddock, averages four sacks per. hour, and seed threshed from the stack averages six sacks per hour. Apart from any other advantages, I consider That this saving in threshing time fully pays for the cost ot stacking; ‘ A further advantage is that stacked seed always germinates better than paddock-threshed seed, and also, through more even feeding oi the mill, it more even sample is obtained. “Owing, to the urgent need for economy, the department is decidedly understaffed for the work cntailed t disced certification, and groweis are as i cd to do all in their power to help >y sending in applications for certihca- ■ tion as early as possible, am-L >y prompt payment of tecs due. >U criticisms of-the scheme, or sugges tions for improvements w' l " be eoi-dirilly-welcomed-”