Agricultural Notes.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13904, 15 May 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

Agricultural Notes.

(By Koradi.i

POTATO DIGGING

Potato digging is an operation which is just now commanding the attention of most farmers. A good many crops "have already been secured, oin UK-.e yet remain some quite untouched. It jv time, however, that tliey were dug. Thev are all ripe, and uoining can ■■«? gaiue,d hy leaving the tubers m the «roiiud. " They have ripened more evenly this year than last, there being not ninth second growth on them, but the blight is worse in most parts, and it is 'now difficult, it not quite impossible, to get a line which does not contain more or less disease. At the beginning of the digging season it seemed as if the price of potatoes was goin" to be very low. but light crops and disease have "altered the prospects very considerably. Still a good deal ol uncertainty prevails regarding the future. Conflicting reports are rife, one hears on the one band that the crops are good, and on the other that they are bad. These contradictory reports are reflected to a considerable degree in the market reports. For instance last week the Christchnrch market reports stated the price to be from £2 -os to £->l<K while Diinedin quotation ranged from £2 10s to £3 ss. Oamaru potatoes were quoted up to £4 a ton f.ob. It is pretty certain, however, that reallv good clean lines will command a good figure. Anything over £3 is a payable price, if the crop is anything like an average one.

. Considering that there is so much disease about, it is necessary for growtrsto be very careful in pickiug their potatoes. "No doubt those who care tq go to the trouble will-36 ""well by pitting their potatoes for a. time, and ihen sort them over carefully when re-bagging. ,Of .course, if a fair price is available the-best way is to sell off the fork, because it saves labour, loss in freight, • and loss through diseased tubers "going completely rotten. But buyers are very cautious just now, and will not. touch anything that is suspicious looking. * Before digging-is commenced the potatoes should; be thoroughly ripe. The haulms should -be qiiite'dead: the skin on the tubers should be- quite firm, and when digging the roots'should separate themselves from the *tops without any trouble. Ihe fork is stilt the implement principally itsed in digging, and the lots in South Cartterburv are not, generally speaking, lar°e: enough to warrant growers going to-" the expense of procuring mechanical diggers. . "Where potatoes are grown orT"a large scale, these inechauicaj dig.-. «'ers are certainly money saving concerns. In Southland they are used to a certain extent, and they do good work. The cost of putting potatoes into the ba" after a digger is about 4d per sack as against. 9d or Is for hand work. A good machine, it is estimated, will keep 20 pickers going. "Where, the machine is not used, the plough is sometimes brought in requisition, but this, at best, is a roimh and ready way of doing the work. The digging may, however, be made a good deal easier, by. running the horse hoe through the rows, scraping off as much" of the sides of the hills as is possible without hurting the potatoes. In dirty; weedy ground this will be found a great help. If the weather is fine it is a good plan to dig for about the first five hours in the*dav. and pick up during the remaining three. If the crop is a heavy one. the digging will not need to be carried on so long- but in a fair, average crop a smart picker will pick lin in three hours what he' will die; in about five. This enables the sun to dry the potatoes as they lie on the around, and thev will keep all the better for i l -.- Should the weather be c.iMiy. the .picking un must he kept well up after the' digging.

The best time to grade or sort the potatoes is when they are being picked up. As they iie' ou the ground, the eating,, seed, and pig po.tatoes ran easily be distinguished from each other and separated. Diseased potatoes should not on any account he put in with either the eating or the seed potatoes. They may be bagged up with the small pig potatoes, and they should he''used'up as- quickly as possible. Of course -, when the work is being pushed on as rapidly as possible, it is not at 'all likely that all the diseased tubers will be noticed. Sometimes the diseased side will be underneath, while the top of the, potato as it presents itself to the l 'picker up appears to be quite -good and sound. It is not often that diseased potatoes are completely rotten at the time of digging-.- They are usually pitted with brown spots'which do go deeper than the surface. In Derwents and other dark skinned varieties it is somewhat difficult to detect disease in the hurry of bagging up. As much care as; possible should bo exercised especially if they are intended for immediate sale, because buyers will scarcely touch lots showing disease in a marked way.

If it is decided to pit the potatoes they should be left in the bags for a time before they are pitted so that they may sweat, and so that the diseased tubers may be the more easily detected, as they always are a few weeks after they have been dug. The bags should be placed in a shed, and stacked singly, on their ends. Some people keep their potatoes all the winter in this manner, where the frosts are not unduly severe. But with so much disease about it is advisable to overlook them a few weeks after digging, and this can be done while pitting them. They will then come in for another scrutiny when being re-bagged. If a shed is not available, they may he stacked out in the paddock, with bundles of straw placed round the pile of hags and a good covering placed on top. They will keep all winter in this way. if desired, but they must lie well packed up in straw. The potato pit should not be made too high and wide. A low long pit is the best. A good thick "layer of straw must be placed on the potatoes, and about six or eight inches of soil on top of the straw. A sharp hay knife may be used to pare the sides of the pit, rendering it more rain proof and neat looking. Ventilation may be secured by placing the straw on the potatoes in such a manner that it runs up to a long peak. This j>eak is then bent down to one side and allowed to stick out through the side of the covering of soil. If the straw were allowed to protrude through the Top or apex of the pit the rain would run down the straw and the potatoes. By hendins: the straw to one side this is avoided.

CLEAN SEED. In choosing the seed of potatoes the medium sized, well shaped tubers should be selected. It is a huge mistake- to choose and use inferior seed »i any kind, and where diseases are likely to exist, the seed should be dressed with some preparation calculated to kill or weaken the spores attached to seed. Xo doubt seed potatoes would be all the better dipped in Bordeaux mixture before sowing. Something will have to be done to trv and stamp the disease nnt. or it will render potato-grow-ing almost an impossibility.

Tliis.leads me to speak of grain, especially wheat, -large areas of which are now being sown, It is well known that both wheat and oats should be. dressed witll some preparation in order to kill till' smut spores which may exist in the seed. If this precaution is not taken the grower runs a great risk of having ln.-> crop and sample spoiled." Woulu it not be worth trying .something ol the same sort on potatoes?' Of course wheat that has been pickled will sometimes take the smut, but the probability of its doing so is very much lessened'by pickling. A-recent bulletin prepared by .Messrs T. \V. Kirk, aud A. H. Cockayne, the Government biologists, rather upsets one's ideas concerning smut in wheat. It appears that there are two kinds of . w neat smut, viz., loose smut and covered smut. The former cannot always be killed by dressing the seed, while the latter can. With regard to the former the biologists say that Hecke and Brefeld. the most famous of all German mycologists, have shed, by their recent researches, quite a new light on the subject of smut infection, t lias been definitely proved tliat the infection with wheat and barley takes place not in the seedling but in the following stage of the plants - concerned. The smut spores are blown about by the wind or carried by insect agency, and those that happen to lodge on the stigma of the flower germinate immediately and pass down the ovary into the tissues of the developing seed, where a mycelium is formed, which remains in a resting condition until the seed is sown. Then the mycelium commences to redevelop, and keeps pace with the growth of the host until it finally forms the well-known sooty masses of spores which occupy the plaee of the. normally developed seed. Other plants, notably oats, arc. affected only in the seedling stage by these spores adhering to the "surface'-of the .seed, while others can be affected both on the seedling and on the flowering stages of the host. Hecke's experiments conclusively explain the reason for the failure of steeping under certain conditions. Loose' smut becomes fully developed when the plant comes into flower, while covered smut remained enclosed in an envelope until near harvest time when it bursts and the spores are blown on to the healthv grains, as in oat smut. Pickling the seed is a sure preventive. Two similar smuts affect barley. Prevention in the case of one is different, while in the other it is easier to control.

The usual method of pickling is to damp the grains with bhiestone solution.' Where this has to lie done on a large scale the seed in put into half bags and dipped into a tub containing the solution. The bags are then put to drain, the solution running back into the tub in a manner somewha* similar to the dip from a draining pen when dipping sheep. The usual method, however, is not nearly.-so elaborate. The wheat is tipped out on a granary floor, or on a tarpaulin placed on a level spot outside, and the solution is poured.over the seed. The heap is then turned several times with a shovel or a bucket, in order that every pickle- of seed, shall receive some of the bluestone water. The seed, having been thoroughly dampened is |jlaced into bags ready-for taking to the padclock. The bags should not be Idled too full, as they are too heavy to handle smartly when filling the drill with seed. The bluestoning must be done overnight, so that .the seed shall be dry enough to run through the drill next day. Wheat, by the way, will not take any harm if it has to "remain bluestoned for some time before sowing. Sometimes bad weather comes on and the work is stopped, but wheat that has been bluestoned seems to receive very little injury through the delay. Formalin is recommended as a dressing by the Agricultural Department, but farmers have got- into the way of.using bluestone, and it is likely that the majority of them will continue doing so. Uats .should be dressed for smut as well as wheat. Last year some were totally ruined through smut, and the stuff was quite unsaleable. lt c was indeed unfit for use. One often notices heads of another kind of grain in a crop. Barley is often found' in whr it, also oats and vice versa. That is sometimes the result of carelessness at' threshing time. When a hiill leaves a farm it usually runs empty for several minutes, before shifting, iu order to allow any grain that may remain to run into the bags.' But it is impossible to thoroughly clean the mill. As she travels from one place to another the shaking along the road or across the paddocks will dislodge some grains which have got stored away in out of the way corners. The consequence is that when the mill starts again the first bag or two that conies off will contain some grain from the last set or from the last farm. If these bags should be taken for seed there will be a mixed crop if a different kind of crop was threshed last. If there is any danger of this happening these first few bags should be marked.

THE WHEAT MABKET. The break in the American market after the boom of a (e\v weeks ago was the cause of keen disappointment to many of those farmers who had failed to realise when the market was at its height. Generally' speaking, however, the impression was that wheat would rise again, and that those who were holding for 4s Gil a bushel would yet realise their expectations. The recovery came quicker than was expected, and the position seems to bp sounder than ever. Some time ago a cable from Home stated that " Beerbohm" had predicted a shortage in the world's supply, and since that time " Beerbohm " has re-affirmed the estimates given as to the shortage. The American exports have been small, and it is stated that before the end of the season America's surplus, however small it may be, will be badly wanted. ' The Bussian surplus is to a great extent unknown, but its exports continue fairly large, the good price no doubt bringing out the wheat. The Argentine surplus is supposed to be only about 13.1 million quarters as against 171 million quarters last year, and more than half that -surplus has already been shipped. It is also anticipated that there will be no pressure ot wheat from Canada during the coming months, she having already exported largely. " Beerhoiim " goes largely into figures to prove its contentions, and points out that there are no reserves to draw upon, except under stress of price. This is a very strong point in the position. One report- closes thus: —"It would not be surprising if, before the season, there should be quite a scramble for wheat hv Germany, Italy and England. In aiiv case the position warrants or justifies, a high level of prices."

It was Patten who told lis that famine stricken queues would yet be >ct*n in the streets of the chief cities nf Europe fighting for bread. Should this unfortunately happen it will not he as sonic supi>ose, because of the gambling which has been going on in Chicago. That gambling is. Of course, quite indispensable ;.nd should be prevented if [Missible. A professor of political economv says: '-Christendom has .sanctified breach A pious custom considers it a sin to throw it away. Of all the material blessings of this earth, iu-ead for man the most indispensable. Ami this bread in the shape of foodstuffs, has been converted by fictitious dealings in futures, into a gambling counter, and this in

order to establish in .the exchange a .Monte Carlo without, music, at which the great international capitalists sit and Tiold the bank." It is not too much to prophesy that the nations of the world will yet forbid gambling with the daily bread of millions of people. However, at the present time, the true strength ol" the position lies in the fact that "during the past two seasons the world's production of wheat "hah declined, while consumption, owing to the increase in population and the increase in the use of- bread among some of the more backward peoples, has gone on growing. At the present time unfavourable reports respecting the growin < r crops of several countries continue to""come to hand, and there is every chance of wheat keeping, up for some time to come. A lot of wheat is being sown in Canterbury this season, and the chances for a payable price next season are hy no means remote.

Severa! of the Australian States seem to have got into a queer fix. New South Wales has overshipped. and Victoria has already sent away 16 million bushels out of her crop of 24 million bushels. New South Wales may yet have to import from Melbourne and Adelaide, and Queensland will be a big importer till the next harvest comes in. It will be seen from this that the Australian market is largely a local one, and whatever happens in other parts of the world, prices over there will be good. New Zealand is an exporting country this season, and its prices are being ruled by the London market. Space on the Home-go-ing boats is being engaged in advance, and shipping companies are being asked to provide further freights. Millers, are plaving a waiting game at present, they having sufficient wheat to go on with, but they must come into the market eventually. ITEMS. We are very lucky to have escaped with verv little rain during the last ten davs.~ The weather has been very threatening, and the drizzles which have fallen have been very unwelcome. A haw rain -would be very undesirable just now, bcause it would hinder grain sowing materially. The ground is quite wet enough/ as it is, and it would not take much rain to make it unworkable. Moreover a rain would make the ground cold, and briqg on winter weather. The mild days we have had of late have caused quite a fresh appearance on the paddocks, and the pick of grass which was started is most •acceptable. Turnips being in short sup-! ply, w-e want all the gras* that we can get.

Some time ago the cables informed us that Mr Kidman, a South , Australian pastoralist king, had sold some of his vast estates to the Bovril Australian Estates Company,-Limited. One feature in connection with this news is the determination of the Bovril Company to provide floating abattoirs. • It has been necessary'" to travel cattle about 1700 miles to find a n outlet, but now bne will be provided at a .distance ot only 300 miles from the main station. The travelling and floating abattoir will be 420- feet long, with a 54 feet beam, and a resigtered tonnage ot 5628. It will have three decks, and will include, cattle lairs, killing room, oleo and'extract plants, large cold storage, canning conveniences, cooperage and case- - making. This is a capital wav of dealing with fat jitock, and it will'no doubt be extended in other directions in Australia in the future. -