Farm and Garden

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 364, 30 April 1903, Page 7

Farm and Garden

OBIGINAL ABTICLES IBBIGA.TION. sjrfSsji?F late years the growing of BtrawSUctR berries in these colonies is rapidly developing, demanding special care in aimiag to produce as fiHe berries as possible; therefore the application of -water by irrigation ia advocated. In some instances strawberry growers have been ÜBing a gasoline engine of fourteen horse-power and a rotary pump with a capacity of three hundred gallons per minute. This was selected because of its economical method of producing power, it costing only about four or five shillings a day to run it. A well was sunk about eighteen feet deep, and ten feet in diameter, from which an iron pipe four inches in diameter ran out one hundred and sixty feet into a lake, the water in the well standing within four or five feet of the pump. In this particular instance the ground to be irrigated, being surveyed with a levelling instrument, showed the average height to which it would Ije necessary to force the water. To distribute the water a thousand feet, a two and a half inch wrought iron pipe was bought and laid on the ground to such places as it was desired to irrigate. That was simply screwed together, and could be changed for different crops as needed. Large valves—opening to full size of the pipe, with hose connections—were attached at such places as to make it most convenient to use a two-inch linen hose. The watering of-the strawberries wos nrostly done with a nozzle which, one thousand feet from the pump, would throw the water in a solid stream nearly a hundred feet, breaking Into a fine SDray like rain before reaching the ground. With one hundred feet of the hose and one attachment, a circle, could be covered of four hundred feet, or something over two acres. This space could be thoroughly wet in two hours, whipli is really more than is necessary at one time for strawberries, unless allowed to become too dry in the beginning. For some kinds of raspberiies flooding the ground gave the best results, a heavy irrigation being given, as the berries were beginning to ripen, and enough to carry the crop. The berries irrigated realised much more money than those not irrigated, COMBATING ONION THBIPS. When thripe attack a field of onions it causes the tops to whiten prematurely and curl in a peculiar way, giving them a crumpled appearance. In some districts this is known as white blast. The insect responsible for.this injury is about one twenty-fifth inch long, very slender and. pale yellow in colour. These inseelß feed also on seme of the grasses, and wheat, cabbages, turnips, melons, and a large number of other field plants. The insect passes the winter in the young stage, and may be found in matted grass on the top of onions left in the field at the time the crop is gathered. In the application of remedies it must be remembered that this pest breedß primarily on plants growing on uncultivated lands in and near onion fieldß. For this reason fields adjoining blocks of onions Bhould be kept cultivated and as free as possible from plants, on which the pest breedß. All culls, tops and other refuse from onion fields should be burnt after the crop is gathered. This matter is too often neglected by some onion growers and bnried in the soil, thus engendering disease and trouble in many ways. Thn young thrips work largely about the bise of the leaves. Owing to the peculiar growth of the plant it is difficult to reach the pesc with ordinary spraying, especially when onions are well developed. Treatment is therefore desirable while the plants are still yeung. From tests made it has been found that a mixture of one pound of whale oil soap, dissolved in eight gallons of water and sprayed on badly infested onicn plants, give very good results, Also kerosene emulsion has been, used with very good results. Whatever spray is used the plant should be thoroughly drenched, as the insects are only killed where the mixture comes in contact with their bodies. Often a heavy drenching rain will materially check them for a short time. Great care should bo exercised in cultural max (da, keeping the ctnditiOis cU! rounding the onion field in govd f jtia so as not to afford a breeding place for insects in the early part of the season; and particular attention is directed to the destruction of all refuse matter resulting from the crop by burning, and not by burying in the soil and engendering disease, as unfortunately many onion growers do in many districts.

PINCH RASPBERRY TOPS SPARINGLY. The pinching back of raspberry cones, in order to force the growth of lateral wood, is frequently practised by berry growers. But it is thought to be an unwise proceeding. Two sets of experiments were therefore tried with blackcaps and red varieties, with the following results : In the pruned row the stumps were more numerous than in the unpruned, and where both tips and laterals had been pinched they were still more numerous. There were fewer berries, or rather a lighter yield, in the pruned than va the unpruned rows. This might have been expected, because the larger the number of canes the poorer the fruit, as a rule. The smallest yield was from plants trimmed in both laterals and stems. The reason for this increased number of stnmps, or canes, is that the raspberry produces its new growth from the bases of the old or the two-year old stems. In this way the new canes resemble the laterals produced higher up on the stem, the difference being that they may not, and normally do not, appear the season the cane fruits, but push into growth the spring following, For these reasons, therefore, pinching induces an increased development of these buds at the bases of the stems, which wait only favorable conditions to develop. From these trials the conclusion was drawn that great care must be exercised to remove as little as possible of the tips by summer pinching, and to depend mainly upon the thinning of the stems after the leaves have fallen, or at least late enough to insure the non-develop-ment of the basal buds. How many stems to leave each plant will depend upon the soil, the variety and ite behaviour in the neighbourhood in which it is cultivated.