RYEGRASS CROP

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21508, 22 November 1939, Page 3

RYEGRASS CROP

THE TIME TO CUT IT A problem that crops up every season with Hawke’s Bay ryegrass seed growers relates to the exact stage of progress at which the crop should be cut to provide the greatest yield of seed. There are various simple methods used by growers to estimate this, one of the most popular being the sweeping of a hat along the seed heads and judging by the number of seeds that collect inside the hat whether the crop is ready or not. Tills method was condemned by an authority on seed production. He said that the seed which collected in a hat when the crop was tested out in this way was the light seed that would be blown out and lost when the crop was machine-dressed anyway. “When you see the stalk immediately beneath the seed-head commencing to yellow, then you know that your seed crop is ready to harvest,” he said. “It is heavy seed we want and the grower who follows this method should get heavy seed. Furthermore, if cut at this stage the crop should not be left in the swath for more than a week before it is put through the miU.” STOCK IMPORTS CEASE As th Breitish authorities have closed the London quarantine station, there will probably be only one more shipment of stud sheep from England until after the war, states a Sydney message. Australian breeders will therefore have to depend upon their own resources and obtain their “top” sires locally, and this should greatly stimulate competition. The first test, said the same message, would come at the Royal Show, at which the pick of Australian cattle, horses, sheep and pigs would be shown, and the sales which would be conducted during the show were expected to establish the demand for purebred livestock. AERATING CREAM CANS A northern factory supplier who had been consistently getting “highest” grade for cream was astonished v.hen, on two consecutive days, his cream was quite sour when it arrived at the factory. He made close investigation, which disclosed that the cause arose from a simple error. The cans had been properly scalded at the factory and. after rinsing, the lids had been replaced by an employee who did not understand the harm that this could do. When the proper practice was resumed—that is, that the lids are left off after cleansing so that the inside of the can may aerate as it dries—the supply at the factory was again graded “highest."