GRASS GRUB MENACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17844, 29 July 1932, Page 10

GRASS GRUB MENACE

TREATMENT BY ROLLING As suggested by the Department of Agriculture, farmers in the area at Mauawaru, Waikato, affected by grass grub are concentrating! on rolling their farms with specially constructed rollers of considerable proportions. Several of these rollers are the joint property of a group of farmers who assist one another in this work. The results are fairly satisfactory.

The rolling consolidates the crust of the soil, which the grub leaves in a fine pulverised state, and gives what grass there is a chance to grip the soil and come away. Primarily, the roller was suggested as a method of crushing the grub, but this lias proved only partially successful, as investigation lias proveii that, while it destroys the grubs near the surface, the majority n few inches beneath are apparently unharmed. The rolled paddocks certainly have a better appearance than the untouched land. The work of rolling! an entire, farm, however, is a big undertaking, and farmers who have already been heavily handicapped by the ravages of the grub are having a hard battle to carry on.

Another method is to overstock a paddock heavily and crush the grub in that way. This method, however, entails the feeding of the animals with hay or ensilage for an indefinite period, as the grass yield of an infected paddock is practically nil. Should an effective method of dealing with the menace lie discovered, it will take quite two years for the pastures to be re-established.