LITTLE RISK OF FROSTING

Southland Times, Issue 25795, 5 October 1945, Page 2

LITTLE RISK OF FROSTING

GROWING OF LINSEED At the present time farmers are giving consideration to the growing of a large area of linseed to be harvested for processing into linseed oil. Apait from considerations of national importance which demand that New Zealand be virtually self-sufficient in linseed oil for the large paint and waterproofing industry, this crop will provide an attractive remuneration to. farmers in a large number of districts in Otago and Southland. The knowledge that good crops have been grown in the immediate and more distant past is tempered by a widespread erroneous belief that linseed is more liable to frost damage than any of the crops which are grown in Otago and Southland. This may be true of the varieties grown in the past and with the methods of husbandry then employed, but is incorrect for the varieties and the husbandry now employed. A thorough investigation of the severity and incidence of frosting of linseed is being carried out at present and results to date indicate that with later than mid-October sowings, and using the high yielding recently-im-ported varieties of linseed, the risk of frosting is as small as that of wheat, dogstail and oats which flower at a similar time.

In the past the practice of sowing oats with linseed has been widely used to provide a protective canopy over the linseed to eliminate frosting. This practice is not recommended, as ihe presence of the oats considerably complicates the harvesting of the crop by means of a header harvester and. largely reduces the yield. Consequent on these investigations those responsible for placing the growing of linseed before the notice of progressive farmers are confident that frost is not a greater risk in linseed than in any other common cereal crop. Farmers are urged to keep this in mind when investigating the growing of linseed in their particulars farms and districts. —P.B.A.