ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XVIII, Issue 1, 20 January 1919, Page 55

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

IN order to ensure reply to questions, correspondents must give their name and address, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Letters should be addressed to the Editor.

CONTROL OF PIRIPIRI.

A. C. Wood, Lottin Point, East Coast

I have two paddocks (about 500 acres) which during the late wet seasons have become infested with biddy-biddy. This country is steep, faces due west, is warm, and usually very dry. The country was originally bush and has been felled five years. It was sown to cocksfoot, rye-grass, clover, ,&c. The grass took well, but only the cooksfoot has held. I propose this year, if dry enough, to get a second fire through the logs and then resow cocksfoot and Danthonia pilosa. Do you consider that by doing this the danthonia would smother biddy-biddy ? I should like to know anything there is to be learnt of control of biddy-biddy, as it promises to become a regular curse.

The Fields Division :—

To control piripiri it is essential that cattle-stocking be practised. No matter what grasses are sown, if sheep alone are used the weed is sure to spread. We are, however, confident that on coastal lands such as you describe there is no better grass-mixture than danthonia mixed with cocksfoot and crested dogstail for sowing second burns. About 6 lb. danthonia, 2 lb. dogstail, and from 4 lb. to 8 lb. cocksfoot (depending on the amount of the latter grass that is already established) is recommended. So far as cattle are concerned, we should use at least one cattle beast to four or five sheep. Heavy stocking with cattle both in the autumn and early spring will be found to gradually reduce the amount of piripiri.

LIME-SULPHUR FOR SPRAYING POTATOES. P. V. Longford, Kotinga, Takaka : —

Can you give me any information as to whether lime-sulphur spray has been tried with success for potatoes, and what strength would be necessary ?

The Horticulture Division :—

Lime-sulphur has been used to a limited extent in this country as a spray for potatoes, the strength being 1 in 125. Bordeaux mixture has, however, proved so effective that it seems wisest to continue its use, and particularly so as American authorities who have experimented with lime-sulphur warn potato-growers not to use it. There are practically no reliable data as to the effect of lime-sulphur on potato crops in New Zealand.

CALF WITH LABOURED BREATHING.

“ Subscriber,” Clyde

I have a calf, age about twelve months, which is running in good pasture and doing fairly well, but when feeding it breathes very heavily, almost like a brokenwinded horse. Can you suggest what the trouble may be and a remedy ?

The Live-stock Division :—

There may be nothing seriously wrong with the calf, and we would advise you, so long as the only evidence of abnormal conditions is laboured breathing whilst eating, not to treat with medicines. It would be beneficial, however, to place a lump of rock salt where the calf can lick it freely.

FEATHER-PULLING AMONG FOWLS.

“ Subscriber,” Swanson :—

Would you please tell me the cause of fowls plucking the feathers out of one another, and give a remedy. Mine do not get a great deal of meat, and a neighbour’s get a good deal of cooked meat, and a little raw, and they are worse even than mine.

The Live-stock Division :—

Feather-pulling among fowls is one of the most difficult ill habits to overcome. Usually it is the result of overcrowding and insufficient exercise. Birds that have free range seldom acquire the habit, and birds in full plumage are always the culprits. Sometimes feather-pulling is caused through birds being badly infested with vermin. Should a bird acquire the habit in a run where vermin is bad it will soon find every other bird willing to allow its feathers to be pulled out—this owing to the severe irritation caused by the lice. In watching a pen of feather-pullers it is surprising to see how the hens will invite the culprit to pluck them, and that all the damage is probably being done by one or two birds. Careful observation will locate these, and if they are destroyed and proper dusting-places at once provided for the flock the trouble may be stopped. Prevention is, however, the only real means of dealing with this trouble, a free range being the chief essential. The giving of raw meat to fowls cannot be recommended, especially when birds have once acquired the feather-pulling habit.

PREMATURE FALLING OF FRUIT.

Coleman Phillips, Carterton :—

Would you please explain why it is that apricots and nectarines are withering away this season, and dropping off the trees. I never saw so good a setting of fruit, but the trees are now going bare.

The Horticulture Division :—

The withering-away of the young fruits of apricots and nectarines is probably due to imperfect fertilization, owing to adverse weather at flowering-time. Even in apricot districts there is never a crop when there is much rain at floweringtime. In addition to rain the temperature has averaged far too low this season for such fruits. The apricot in particular requires a fairly high temperature, and if this is accompanied with a dry spring the better are the prospects for a good crop. There is a possibility that brown-rot disease may be in part responsible for the losses, especially in cases where early spraying with a fungicide has been neglected.

DEALING WITH BLACKBERRY.

“ Berry,” Paekakariki

I have some small blackberry-plants on my sandhill section. Please tell me the easiest way of eradicating. Are any of the poisonous sprays effective ?

The Fields Division :—

None of the poisonous sprays have proved really effective in general practice for the destruction of blackberry. The stems and leaves are destroyed, but the mixture does not penetrate to the roots. As you describe the plants as small ones and growing on sandhill, grubbing would prove the most satisfactory way of dealing with them.

PRUNING OF IRISH PEACH APPLE-TREE.

J. Whitehouse, Waihi

Would you please advise regarding the pruning of the Irish Peach appletree—both summer and winter pruning.

The Horticulture Division

The pruning of the Irish Peach apple requires care if a good tree is expected. The natural habit of the tree is to bear fruit on the terminal buds of lateral growths. Fruit-spurs form but slowly, and usually only occur on laterals that have borne fruit on the terminal buds. When fruit-spurs thus form the lateral 1 should be shortened to them at the winter pruning. When laterals are fairly short they should not be cut until they have borne fruit. Very strong laterals may be shortened back to a few inches in winter, and the subsequent growths thinned to one about midsummer, or they may be better cut out altogether, this depending on their number and position. The trees must not be crowded with growth. Laterals may be. cut shorterthat is, to bear fruit nearer the tree—by cutting back such as are palpably too strong to three or four buds about the first week in January or soon after. New laterals are formed that frequently bear fruit the following season. Of course, this would not occur if cutting-back were done at a later period. , ■ .

CONTROL OF PENNYROYAL.

H. Oliver, Onehunga : — Will you kindly tell me how to rid my land of pennyroyal. Last year I grubbed and burned, but it is thicker than ever now. - ■ , The Fields Division :— Drainage, cultivation where practicable, and the free use of lime are the best means of ridding.land of pennyroyal. As the plant does not root deeply, skimploughing and allowing to fallow for a time, especially in hot weather, will also be found a help. An account of experiments in the control of pennyroyal was published in the Journal for January, 1917. ~

SOIL-FERTILITY QUESTIONS.

G. H., Ramarama :—

If you can give me any information on the following- I shall be obliged : Take two farms, with similar soil originally—No. 1 has been well looked after, topdressed, &c., and is in really good heart ; No. 2 has been neglected and is in poor condition. If both get the same good treatment henceforth, how long, approximately would it take No. 2 to overhaul No. 1 ? Or will No. 2 always be the inferior farm unless it gets better treatment than No. 1 ? People speak of a farm as always having been “ done well,” implying that the manure sown nine or ten years ago is giving results even now ; but there must be some limit to the beneficial effects of even bonedust.

The Fields Division :—

The condition of soils known as “ fertility ” is a very complex matter indeed. When a soil is really run down this has generally been brought about by taking off successive white crops or hay, and the reduced fertility may be due to lack of readily available plant-food material in. the surface soil, or to lack of lime, or lack of humus. Probably it is the lack of humus which gives rise to the most pronounced run-down condition of soils, and this is a lack which does not arise under , a grazing system of utilizing land. Comparative unfertility due to reduction of the humus-content of a soil can be restored only by degrees, and with difficulty, whereas a simple lack of mineral ingredients can be rapidly overcome by the application of suitable manures. There is ' another aspect of the matter which must not be lost sight of. . When land remains in pasture for a number of years there is a gradual accumulation of humus on the surface. What is necessary, then, is to get it mixed up with the soil by ploughing and cultivation, converting it from a more or less sour inactive condition to an active agent in promoting fertility. With this very brief explanation as a basis we would say that if farm No. 2 is ploughed and green-cropped, using small dressings of . lime and ordinary dressings of phosphatic fertilizers, and is then laid down, it will within a year or two equal in production farm No. 1. A further question may Le anticipated here--

namely, as to whether the act of top-dressing without renewal by cultivation might not bring farm No. 2 to the condition of farm No. 1. This is more than doubtful. Whereas good-class clovers and grasses may be retained in a pasture by top-dressing, it is practically impossible to bring them back by such means after they have been replaced by couches and weeds.

WOOD-BORER IN FRUIT-TREES.

N. B. Collins, Ohura :—

Please advise me as to the best way to deal with the small wood-borer in fruit-trees. It enters the dry wood and works down the green limb, causing it to die.

The Horticulture Division

If by “ dry- wood ” you mean dead wood, it should have been cut off and burned. When borers are in twigs or small branches these are best cut off low enough to remove the insect, which works downwards. Portions cut off should be burned. On larger limbs benzine injected in the hole by means of a small oil-can will kill them, or a small piece of cyanide may be forced into the hole. In either case the holes should be stopped up with a spill of wood or by plugging them with hard soap.