ON THE LAND

New Zealand Tablet, 16 May 1918, Page 43

ON THE LAND

.In travelling through New Zealand during th 6 last forty odd years, I have often been surprised at the callous indifference shown by many of its residents regarding the native forest flora (writes Mr. J. Orchiston in a pamphlet *puWished by the Forestry League). Probably no other country in the world contains such a variety of beautiful shrubs and trees, not to mention the magnificent tree ferfis and nikau palms. In the early days the chief aim of most settlers seemed to be to destroy everything of native origin, both flora and fauna, and to replace the same with exotics. It was considered to be quite the correct thing to cut down beautiful tree ferns and handsome native trees, and plant bluegums, pinus insignis, or macrocarpa in their place. Of course, lam well aware of the difficulty of saving portions of the native forest while the country was being cleared for settlement, still, a great deal more might have been done to preserve some of the bush near homesteads. For instance, there was no justification for the wanton destruction of the native forest on the Town Belt on the Wellington side of the wireless hill. The walnut crop this season has once more been most disappointing (writes an Akaroa correspondent). The blight, that first made its appearance at this end of the Peninsula some six years ago, has increased to such an extent that, in many cases, large trees were scarcely worth, threshing. Indeed, some owners have pruned so vigorously that big branches have been lopped off and all the top foliage cut away in the hope of bringing about an improvement. The extent of the ravages of the blight may be estimated to some degree by the fact that trees which, in a good season ten years ago, produced from five to eight sacks of excellent nuts, have now barely filled two sugar bags. One hears it said that a liberal spraying by strong Bordeaux mixture would be a sure remedy, but apparently the difficulty of so treating the big trees has so far deterred anyone interested from making the experiment. Prices, of course, .have risen high ; a fortnight ago sales at one shilling per lb were reported. This is more than double the price obtained a year or two before the war. The largest tree in Akaroa, in its palmy days, produced as much as .£l4 worth of nuts.

A farmer writes as follows: “I discovered some years ago that wood could be made" to last longer in the ground than iron' but thought the process so simple and inexpensive that it was not worth while making any stir about it. I would as soon have poplar or ash as any other kind of timber for fence-posts. I have taken out these posts after having been set seven years, and they were as sound then as when I first put them in the ground. The posts can be prepared for about one penny each. This is the recipe: Take boiled linseed oil and stir in it pulverised charcoal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the timber—and there is not a man living who will see it rotten.

The efforts being made by the Department of Agriculture to combat fruit diseases were explained by officers of the department at the recent conference of fruit-growers in Auckland. Professor Kirk said that the department had decided to offer a small bonus to growers in whose orchards experiments in connection with brown rot were carried out, this being in addition to the payment of labor, etc. Mr. Campbell, assistant director, said that brown rot was the worst disease affecting fruit. The wet weather of the last three years had assisted development of This disease. The work of the department embraced the pruning of trees and a thorough cleaning up of the whole orchard. Spraying tests had been carried out, principally with recognised fungicides, and the department was prepared to extend its work to other districts if orchards were made available. Black spot had -been proved to be a controllable disease. LUCERNE AT SOMES ISLAND. An area of about half an acre of lucerne has been laid down by the Department of Agriculture during the past season at Somes Island Quarantine Station,

where the clay sou, and .;formation are < fairly typical of the better hills round Wellington. The ground was turned over in the spring of 1916/ from turf containing a fair proportion of clover, and dressed with burned lime at the rate of one ton per acre. . It was under vegetables during that- season, and in April, 1917, was sown with oats. The oats were turned under early in August, an a further dressing given of half a ton of carbonate of lime and 2cwt basic slag per acre-. /The lucerne seed was sown on October 10, in rows 15 inches apart, at the rate of 121 bto the acre. Superphosphate was drilled in with/the seed at the rate of 4cwt to the acre. The ground was well worked before sowing, and was rolled immediately before and after sowing. No inoculated soil was used. The«lucerne came away well, and the crop has already been cut three times, and a fourth cut will be secured this season. The first cut was made on November 24, being six weeks and three days from date of sowing, when the lucerne was Tin to Sin high ; this was left on the ground. The second cut was made during the second week in January, when the crop was 20in high and filled the space between the drills. The third cut was made during the third week in February, when about 16in high and very dense and leafy. The fourth cut will be shorter, but more dense and leafy than any of the- previous' cuts. Half the area was sown in Hunter River and half in Marlborough seed ; so far there is no appreciable difference in growth between the two. How the lucerne holds in this soil and situation is a matter which will be watched, with interest. If it becomes well-established, the lucerne will be very useful and acceptable for feeding to quarantined stock on the island.

WONDERFUL EGG-PRODUCTION. A few years ago the hen that laid 200 eggs in one year was considered a marvel of nature, and many people were incredulous in receiving the information. Recently it has been proved that a hen can lay over 300 e §S s in one year. In the single pen tests, where one hen is given a pen to herself for a year, there is no chance of deception. Recently information was received from Australia that another world s recox’d has been established at Gatton, Queensland, where a black Orpington, owned by Mr. R. Burns, laid 335 eggs in 365 days. The next highest laying was at Bendigo, where a hen, bred by Mr. W. James, laid 332 eggs in 365 days. This was a white Leghorn. At Burnley (Vic.) a black Orpington laid 327 eggs in the year, and a black Orpington at Bendigo laid 326. The next record is by a white Leghorn, a New Zealand bred bird by Messrs. Green Bros., Christchurch, which laid 317 e gg s in the year. At Hawkesbury a black Orpington laid 312 eggs. Some of these birds laid eggs which weighed ten times the weight of the hen herself. • The greatest sequence of laying under official test was at Gatton, where the record hen laid 86 eggs in 86 days. These remarkable performances go to show the wonderful development that is taking place among poultry. The attainment of an egg a day throughout the year seems reasonably assured. "