ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XIII, Issue 1, 20 July 1916, Page 77

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

IN every instance a question to which an answer is desired in these columns must be accompanied by the full name and the postal address of the inquirer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. , The question should be written on one side of the paper only. ' RED WATER IN COWS. ' " Subscriber/’ Toko :- Would you kindly give me some information as to the cause of red water in cows, also a cure for the same. I lost five cows last September from this complaint, about three weeks after calving. I also know and heard of other farmers who had serious losses from the same cause. . The Live-stock Division : This cattle complaint as met with in New Zealand is due to dietetic trouble, such as giving turnips (especially when frosted) to cows in calf. It is also apparent in certain districts in the spring of the year, when the grass is young and sappy. Treatment consists of a change to pasture containing less succulent herbage, and the animal should be given hay, chaff, &c. Any foods rich in albuminoids, such as eggs, have been proved beneficial. It is advisable to keep a rock-salt lick in the paddocks ; in these cases it is particularly valuable. Although scouring is usually the first symptom noticed, an aperient drench should be given as follows : Mag. sulph. J lb., powdered ginger | oz., mixed in a quart of gruel. . POTATO-SCAB. “ Farmer,” Te Waiwai: — ■ , Please state what would be the best way to treat seed potatoes to prevent scab on the ensuing crop. ‘ ■ The Fields Division :■ — Potato-scab is caused by a fungus known as Oospora scabies. The spores may enter the soil through using for seed potatoes that are affected with scab, also through the manure from stock (particularly pigs) that have been fed with scabby potatoes. The disease spores may be in the soil and, owing to plenty of acidity in the ground, do not make much headway in attacking the tubers; but when lime is applied in quantity it greatly encourages the disease. This is particularly the case on stiffish •clay soils. For this reason we usually recommend not planting potatoes within at least a year after liming. The treatment for potato-scab is as follows: On affected soils (i ) adopt a rotation of crops, varying in length from three to five years ; (2) plant potatoes after clover ; (3) avoid alkali fertilizers, such as lime, woodashes, muriate of potash, &c. (use sulphate of potash in preference to muriate) ; (4) avoid manure from stock fed on scabby 1 potatoes ; (5) disinfect tubers with a solution of formalin, and plant only sound tubers. This may be done by soaking uncut tubers for two hours in formalin solution (1 pint formalin to 30 gallons water). Spread out the potatoes to dry on clean grass. Bags, &c , should also be disinfected. In the case of clean soils plant only sound and disinfect, them with formalin. When feeding scabby potatoes to pigs, boil the potatoes first. • Next year you had better grow your potatoes (treated with formalin) on new ground that has not been limed for some years, and on which farmyard manure from stock fed on scabby potatoes has not been used.

SAVING TOMATO-SEED. A. 8., Waimate : ■ . . Kindly let me know the best way to save and separate tomato-seeds. The Horticulture Division : When a small quantity of. seed is required the best, way is to spread the seeds with a knife on a sheet of newspaper ; sufficient pulp will go with the seed to cause them to stick. Pin the papers to a wall, and when dry they can be rolled up till sowing-time. The seed may then be scraped off, or the papers can be cut to the size of the box and seed sown as it is, in which case the paper should be just covered with soil. When the seeds come up the paper will be found to have disappeared. If larger quantities of seed are required they should be washed through a fine riddle . and dried. - . STARTING A PLANTATION OF EUCALYPTS. H. A. Nevins, Annedale, Tinui: — • .. Will you let me know where I can get gum-seed for sowing ; also how much seed would be required to sow an acre, as I intend to sow on ploughed ground where the trees are to remain ? What is the best time to sow ? We get frost in the winter. The Horticulture Division : ; , Seed of various gums can be procured on application to the Superintending Nurseryman of the State plantations, Whakarewarewa. ’ The seed of the different varieties of eucalypts-varies in weight. You do not state the variety you intend to grow. One ounce of blue-gum seed will produce approximately nine thousand plants. The number of trees required for an acre, at 5 ft. apart, is 1,742. For particulars of how and when to start a plantation see article on eucalypts in the April issue of the Journal, page 275. • ■ FROST-PREVENTION METHODS. ; ’ J. F. Walcott, Clyde : I desire to take frost-preventing methods with a few early tomatoes and potatoes. Are. alarm thermometers reliable, and, if so, where are they to be obtained, and their approximate cost ? I have heard that tomatoes, &c., if watered with a water-ing-can on a frosty morning before the sun strikes them are not likely to be frosted.' Is that correct ? If sb, what is the most suitable temperature for the water ? I intend to use smoke fires, but the watering method, if reliable, would be a further safeguard. , ’ The Horticulture Division : • Alarm thermometers are. in general use and are considered quite reliable. • They were procurable from G. W. Wilton and Co.', Wellington, price 15s. 6d. each ;. but. at the present time there are none in stock, and it is doubtful if any are. procurable in the country.'. Watering potatoes, tomatoes, &c., to prevent frost damage' is. a common practice ; but it is of little value, and applies only in cases of light frost.Water used for this purpose is not heated, and is applied before sunrise. 1 , SAND-CRACK IN HORSES. - • ... . ' E. J. Peach, Port Levy : • Would you kindly tell me the best cure for quarter cracks in horses’ feet. The horse that I am riding has one on each fore foot ; both are on the inside and are very bad. I have been putting mutton-fat on the cracks,' but it is not a success. ■ The Live-stock Division : The following treatment can be adopted : Pressure must be taken off the shoe immediately below the crack by paring away 'the wall of the toe and the hoof. Get your blacksmith to fire the hoof by making an iron the same shape and size as a gouge-chisel, only fairly blunt. After making . red-hot, apply to the hoof. The-

impression should be about in. • deepthat is, not deep 1 enough' to affect the sensitive structures underneath and the tips of- the iron should be J in. from where the hoof starts to form. The hoof should have’- repeated applications of neat’s-foot oil and tar. If the sand-crack is so far back as to allow movement of the. quarter and an opening and closing of the crack,:a clip should be applied, to hold the crack together, and a. bar shoe put on. if necessary.; Should the sandcrack extend to the coronet, an occasional painting of tine, canthaniln to the skin above the crack will help to stimulate the growth of the horn. ... . —— ■ i aj ' . ’. • GROWTH OF FRUIT-TREES...,- . 7 • V." P., Devonport : q .-i ; ; I have a number of peach and apple trees, five years old, that I have plentifully manured with fowl-droppings, hoed in at intervals, during the last twelve months The trees have . grown well with the treatment. ■ Is there any danger that they will grow too much wood and too little fruit ? The ground.is a foot of black loam over yellow clay.. ; . • - . ' " ‘ The Horticulture Division : It is a very desirable thing to have five-year-old apple-trees growing well, as long as they are kept well open and the ■ wood allowed to develop properly; To what extent this should be allowed to continue is difficult to say without seeing the trees ; but it is always advisable to give preference during the first .five or six years to the building of the tree rather,than to fruit-bearing. Peach-trees at five years of age should be fairly large,' and therefore may require steadying up. If so, open up the trees well, but otherwise prune moderately this winter. . It may be found necessary to further check the trees by pruning next summer. . .'i . : ■ . : : ■ I '' '• ■ ■ ' '■ U BROWN-FLECK IN POTATOES. C. E,, New Plymouth : Some of my potatoes have brown glassy lumps in them when cooked, the white part being quite good for eating. Those affected were grown in ratst'ail sod after the second working, and manured with a small quantity of farm manure,'superphosphate, sulphate of potash, and sulphate of ammonia. I thought perhaps the disease was due to the large amount of vegetable matter in the soil.- I should be glad to know if my supposition is correct, or what is the probable cause. The Fields Division :- The name of the disease affecting your potatoes is brown-fleck or internal brownspot, ■ Various causes have been assigned for its appearance, but none of them is sufficient to account for it. The soil and the weather, and even the manure, have all been brought forward as probable causes, but none have been found to hold good in every case, It is certainly most prevalent in light loam or sandy soils, but it is observed here that it usually occurs in that portion of the field where water lodges. Rapid growth is said to favour the disease, since the smaller potatoes or “ seconds ” are seldom affected, such potatoes being produced late in the season when growth is slow. . The disease is also attributed to a want of lime or potash in the soil, but here again it has occurred where these ingredients were not lacking. ,Dry weather, associated with poor growth,- has also been mentioned •; but in Germany , damp weather is said .to favour it, although under such conditions it does not always appear. It has been observed that if stable manure is applied immediately before planting it does not occur, but if applied earlier, in the. previous autumn, it is liable to appear. Some varieties are more liable than others, but, on the whole, it must be regarded as a physiological and not a pathological trouble. It is not a parasitic disease, for no organism of any kind has been found associated with it, and it cannot be transferred to a healthy tuber. Diseased pieces have been inserted into sound potatoes without producing any effect, and diseased tubers have been planted from which healthy ones were produced. As regards preventive measures, it is certainly not advisable to use affected potatoes for seed, since, whether the disease is .transmitted by the seed or not, its'presence indicates that the potato is at least a susceptible variety. The use of a potash manure, such as kainit, has been found in Scotland and elsewhere to have a marked effect in decreasing the disease, and may therefore be recommended.

FALLING-OFF OF YOUNG GOURDS. —CURRANT-BORER. Mrs. F. E. A. Gunn, Takapuna : Would you kindly state (i) the cause of pumpkins and marrows withering and falling off when very small: (2) whether it is the borer that attacks black-currant trees and eats the pith out of the stems ; if so, what remedy would you suggest ? The Horticulture Division :—■ The dropping-off of the fruit of pumpkins and marrows while young is very common. There is nothing wrong necessarily with the plants. When the vines are growing very strong they leave no nourishment for the fruit. The proper course to adopt is to pinch out the tips of the runners. The trouble, is not lack of pollination, as is often stated, but the strength of the plant going to the vine. To control currant-borer cut away all dead stubs, and encourage new wood by causing the bush to stool. Work old affected wood as soon as possible. Many currant-growers hold that spraying once or twice in the early summer with powdered white hellebore will assist in keeping down the borer. TREES FOR GLENHOPE UPLANDS. W. E. Burt, Station Creek, Glenhope I should be glad if you could tell me what shelter and timber trees I could successfully grow here. The altitude is.from 1,400 ft. up to 1,800 ft. The main valley runs practically east and west, with subsidiary valleys at right angles. Rainfall is about 50 in. Frosts commence about the middle of April, and I have seen 4 in. of snow, .traces of which have remained for four days. On my own land I have only manuka and other scrub growing, but birch bush commences on the adjoining hillsides at about 1,600 ft. The land is a yellow clay on shingle. The Horticulture Division : The following list of trees includes those suitable for the conditions mentioned : Pinus insignis, Pinus austriaca, Abies excelsa, Abies Douglasii, larch, Picea Engelmanni, Eucalyptus viminalis, Eucalyptus sieberiana. ■_