PIGS AND GRASS-GRUB CONTROL.
The dry seasons experienced in many , parts of the Dominion have been very favourable for the increase of the grass-grub, and extensive damage has been done to pasture and grain crops by the pest. Various methods have been suggested to assist in the control of the grub, but they generally involve the cultivation of the infested area. This is expensive and not always satisfactory, and it frequently happens that on small farms (dairy farms in particular) it is not convenient to break .up a field. ~ . - . . . • • .
A South Taranaki . farmer, Mr.. Johns, has to a great extent solved the difficulty, and has successfully . treated i several infested' paddocks. His, method is to ring his store ; pigs, . and then turn them on to the infested field about the month of May. The pigs, being rung, will turn up only the patches of grass that have been cut by .the.grub. As . the pigs. root up the grass numbers of grubs are eaten by them, and they are greatly assisted by large numbers of birds, chiefly starlings and minahs. . After the' pigs and birds have passed to a fresh patch a careful examination of the patch they have just left will reveal scarcely a grub, so well has their work been done; When the pigs have gone thoroughly over a paddock and rooted up all the infested areas Mr. Johns resows the patches, rakes as much as possible of the old pasture back on to them, and gives them a good rolling.
I recently examined a paddock treated in this way last winter, and at the time of my visit (April) the previously infested areas were the bright spots of the pasture, being covered with a splendid sole of rye-grass and clover. Where conditions as to surface-sowing, &c., are suitable, farmers troubled with the grub may be confidently recommended to'give Mr. Johns’s method a trial. Although autumn is probably the best time for the operation, it might also
be carried out in spring.—
-J. W. Deem, Fields Supervisor.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XII, Issue 6, 20 June 1916, Page 466
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338PIGS AND GRASS-GRUB CONTROL. New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XII, Issue 6, 20 June 1916, Page 466
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