On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 5 February 1914, Page 59

On the Land

GENERAL.

The Moumahaki State Farm dairy herd' has just emerged from a very successful tuberculin© test. Out of the,total of 40 only one animal re-acted very slightly, a. very nice cow bought as a heifer at a dispersal sale. When slaughtered she will be put through a very crucial examination for department purposes. A farmer who has recently travelled a considerable -distance in Southland informed a representative of the Southland News that he had never seen the' turnip crops * looking better, nothing approaching a failure having come , under his observation. "Potato disease, however, was, prevalent, and" he anticipated that the supply would be scarce and prices correspondingly high. The oat crops between Mataura and Wyndham do . not appear to be as good this year as usual, and smaller yields are anticipated (says the 'Ensign); In the early spring they got a good start, but the wet weather experienced up to before Christmas gave them a decided set back. In many cases the straw is short and the grain is-not well filled. The crops are now beginning to' change color, and an early harvest will be expert icnced. In the fields by the roadside through Cattle Valley (the Timaru Post reports) the crops have all.been cut and are standing in stock, making a glorious picture. Around Fairlie one or two crops are still standing, and from their appearance will be cut within the next few days. ,In the neighborhood of Sutherlands the machines are busily at work, and large numbers of men are engaged in stocking the golden crops. In one or two cases women were to be seen working in the fields. The insects most destructive to stored grain are the grain weevils and grain moths. Their life history is a very interesting study. Just before the harvest begins the adult insect punctures the miniatured grain while standing in the field and deposits hex’ eggs, which .remain dormant until the grain is cured, harvested, and stored. Soon after storing the eggs hatch into little white legless grubs vor larvae, which feed on, the kernel of the grain. It is at this stage that the insect does its deadly work, becoming full-grown in a few weeks, later changing into a pupa, and finally emerging as an .^dult. £ At . Addington last week there were fairly large entries of stock, yarding of , fat sheep showing an increase. Fat cattle were rather duller of sale, but prices were unchanged. Store,sheep sold quite up to previous week’s 'fates/ the supply not being equal to the demand. Fat lambs showed a slight drop in values, . and the fat .sheep sale opened well, aged and inferior lines 'being the only - class-that was easier. There was no change in prices of pigs. Fat lambs.—-Tegs sold at' 20s to 21s lid ;, average freezing weights, 16s- 6d to 19s 6d : light and ■ unfinished, 15s 3d to 16s. Fat-sheep.-Prime wethers, 21s to 23s lid : others, 15s 6d to 20s 6d ; merino wethers, 15s lid; prime ewes, 19s to 235; others, 14s to 18s 6d. Fat cattle.—Steers, £8 to £ll 10s; extra, to £l4 ss; heifers, £6 to £10.7s 6d ; cows, £6 15s to £lO. Fat pigs. Choppers made 55s to 755; heavy baconers, 58s to 665; extra, to 70s / lighter sorts’ its 6d to 555; these prices representing)] s|d per lb. Heavy porkers made 42s to 455; lighterv sorts, 35s to 40s, equivalent to 6|d per lb. 1 K . | ; At Burnside last week there . were large yardings of ‘ sheep r and v cattle. ! Lambs were in fair supply, and prices were 'firm at late rates. - The supply' of fat pigs was - larger than usual, - and consequently prices were under those ruling of late. Fat cattle.—-There was a Targe, yarding forward, 220 head being penned. There -were a few pens of prime bullocks forward/\but the bulk ,of The yarding consisted •of medium quality cows and -; heifers. Prime cattle' sold well throughout the sale, but medium and inferior lines,;showed a drop of from 10s per head. Quotations : Best bullocks brought

from £ll. 10s to £l2 15s; extra good, to £l6; good, £9 15s to £11; light, £8 10s to £9 10s; best cows and heifers,- £9 10s to £lO 10s; extra good, to £ll ss-. Fatsheep.3Boo were penned, this number being largely m excess of requirements. Ewes were in over supply. . 'PricesT showed a drop of Is to Is 6d per head fop wethers, and fully 2s for ewes. Graziers were operating freely, otherwise the decline would have been greater. A large number of sheep were turned out unsold. Quotations: Best wethers, 23s 6d to 24s 6d; extra, to 275; medium to good, ,2ls 6d to 235; light, 18s 6d to ' 20s ; best ewes, 20s 6d to 22s 6d ; extra, to 28s. Fat lambs. — soo were penned, mostly good quality. Competition was keen, and prices were firm at previous week’s rates. Quotations: Best lambs, 18s to 19s 6d ; extra, to 21s 3d; good, 16s 6d to 17s 6d. Pigs. —72 fat pigs and 54 stores were penned. Prices Held good for suckers and stores, but fat pigs were in over-supply, and prices declined about 5s per head. Quotations ' Suckers, ,14s 6d to 18s; slips, 20s to 24s 6d ; stores, 27s 6d to, 43s 6d ; porkers, 45s to 525; light baconers, 53s to 58s; heavy baconers, 60s to 70s; choppers, to 80s. • 'DESTROYING STUMPS WITH ACIDS. > Owing to a diversity of opinion as to whether dry and green stumps could be destroyed with acids, and with a view to determining the efficacy of this treatment, the Department of -Agriculture, New South Wales, decided to experiment in this direction. These experiments were carried out according to the following design, and included both dry and green stumps: 1, dry, 1 pint sulphuric acid; 2 dry, 1 pint nitric acid; 3, green, h pint nitric acid, A pint sulphuric acid; 4, ( by> d pint nitric acid, £ pint sulphuric acid; 4/- dry, T pint nitric acid, J pint sulphuric acid; 5, green, J pint nitric acid, j pint sulphuric acid ; 6, dry, J ; pint sulphuric acid, •] pint nitric acid ; and, 7, dry, 1. pint nitric acid, 1 pint sulphuric acid. The stumps treated were of the spotted gum, box, and. ironbark variety, and were from 18in to 2ft’ 6in in diameter. Holes “were, bored with a 2in auger in the stumps about 18in from the earthline, at an angle of 45 degrees to a depth of 18in. Each stump was then dosed according to the design, and the holes immediately plugged with green plugs. Periodical notes were taken as to the action of the acids, and as six months have now elapsed, a sufficient time has been given to prove the experiment a success or otherwise. The whole of these stumps were perfectly sound and solid, also two out of three varieties, viz., box and ironbark, are exV tremely hard wood, and if the acid would eat through /these stumps, then the majority of other timbers would be easy victims. ' ■ f.‘ Cf ‘The final examination,’ the report states, ‘showed ■that, in the case of the dry stumps, in every instance the action of the acids had no appreciable effect, and beyond a very slight crumbling of the wood— extent about 1 inch—in, the immediate vicinity of the hole, no other effect was _ noticeable. • As regards the green stumps, in both instances the effect seemed to be slightly ' better, the wood iijf*the immediate vicinity of the holes had,rotted to a depth, of about 2| .inches, but beyond that sound wood was found ; in addition, both stumps had thrown out vigorous suckers. The above result : clearly . proves that sound stumps cannot be destroyed with either sulphuric or nitric acid or both, and these two acids are of the strongest known. The experiment has an additional ' value,' inasmuch as it has provided the actual cost ; per ' stump £ as .against- other methods. The average cost per stump -worked out at Is 9d, which -] includes cost of acids and labor paid at the rate;of 7s per day; and it is an open question whether men could be found to work with two such dangerous acids | at that figure. , In the event of the success of. the acids, the great; drawback to clearing land by this method would be. the vast amount of valuable tfme wasted in waiting for ■ the stumps to rot away, irrespective! of. the danger ; of handling the acids, and when time is taken into considerationand in every instance time is ' money— cheaper and quicker methods may be adopted.* , ' >'