Pacific Planters’

Digest

New Threshing Machine

NOW in use in Fiji is a rice thresher which the British National Institute of Agricultural Engineering has developed for about £150.

This little low-cost wonder has many advantages. With it a crop can be immediately threshed after harvesting, whatever the weather conditions. In wet weather, this reduces stack burn and improves the quality of the rice. There is very little wastage or breaking of the rice compared with bullock or tractor threshing and the quantity and quality for milling or for seed are improved. Naturally, also, there is a considerable saving of labour.

One of the big advantages of this machine is that it can be used on a variety of crops, including sorghum, mung, urd and soya bean, although in some cases small adjustments may have to be made.

The thresher is portable, operated by a small built-in engine, but it can easily be adapted to work on the power-take-off of an ordinary tractor. The Fiji Department of Agriculture has further information on the machine for those interested.

Out-Of-Season Pineapples

THAT excellent pineapples can be grown out of season in tropical areas has been proved in Fiji. No startling new fertiliser was used for the process. Outstanding results have been achieved with the combined use of urea, superphosphate and potas sium sulphate.

To treat 1,000 plants the following quantity and mixture of fertilisers was found sufficient: Urea 14 lbs.

Superphosphate 16 lbs.

Potassium sulphate 10 lbs.

Growers who have proved the success of this combination recom mend the application of 1 lb of the mixture to every 25 plants. The mixture is thrown into the basal leaves and on the ground around the plant. The application should commence about six weeks after planting and be continued every four months.

So economical is the mixture that it costs less than £3 to fertilise 1,000 plants for one year.

An even more economical chemical to bring pineapples to bear out of season is ANA (alpha naphthalene acetic acid). ANA can cause well developed plants to flower six weeks after treatment, at any time of the year.

The concentrated solution is mixed with water to give a strength of 10 parts per million. One pint of solution (10 p.p.m.) is used to treat 10 plants.

The solution is poured into the top of well-developed plants. It is inadvisable to make the application on a wet day. Also it is not re commended that small plants be treated.

ANA applied to any plants which fail to flower in-season will result in a late out-of-season crop.

There should be little need to point out that out-of-season fruit brings in better returns than that produced in-season, and in-season fruit so fertilised will be of a better size and quality.

ANA costs about 1/- to treat 1,000 plants,

Using Wetting Agents

THERE is a growing awareness of the necessity for adding wetting agents to most weedicides and in secticides in the tropics.

Wetting agents—also known as detergents, emulsifiers, spreaders and surfactants—make water wetter.

The generally high rainfall and quick evaporation rate in the tropics create the need for a quick pene tration of the used chemical into the plant being treated. The need for quick penetration exists almost

AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS: The public market in Papeete, Tahiti, is an example of good lay-out and tidiness that the Suva Municipal Markets could well follow, according to Fiji PRO photographer Rob Wright who visited Tahiti recently and sent us this picture. "The fruit and vegetables are arranged neatly on tables or benches," he says, "and the fruit, particularly, was most attractive. The mangoes were luscious."

everywhere, though nowhere is it as necessary as in tropical areas.

Wetting agents are chemicals with split personalities. They possess both fairly large oil soluble components, and a water soluble component.

This dual personality factor causes the agent to bring about a better contact between the weed-killing chemical and the plant.

The film formed by the wetting agent penetrates the waxy material which covers the leaves and other plant parts, whereas ordinary water remains largely in dew-like droplets on the plant surface.

From Virgil Freed, agricultural chemist at Oregon State College, comes the following results of ex periments carried out with sodium chlorate and 2,4-d alone and with both chemicals used in conjunction with a wetting agent,

Plant Kill By Sodium

Chlorate.

(96 , . ‘ v ' Percent killed Sodium chlorate alone 10.0 Sodium chlorate plus 1% wetting agent 52.5

Plant Absorption Of 2,4-D. I

(72 hours)

Percent absorbed!

2.4- alone 10.1 2.4- plus 1% wetting agent 36.5 A point to remember: There is aj limit to a wetting agent’s ability to] make water wetter, and only re-1 commended amounts should be used] because more won’t help much.

Read Your Labels!

HOW long does it take to read the average agricultural chemical] label? Whether it be five minutes or 50 the importance of the time spent] cannot be over-emphasised.

As agricultural chemicals are being] more widely used in the Pacific no manufacturer fails to recognise the] importance of having the user] carefully study a product’s label before he opens the can.

Behind every label are thousands] of experiments, field tests and often] years of checking and rechecking for safety and performance.

Each item of information printed on a label has a specific purpose, e.g. the sign “Poison S-5”, which is j shown on many labels, means the product is a domestic poison of ] relatively low toxicity.

When a chemical is classified as a poison, the label will give the antidote if one exists, and outline j emergency treatment.

The complete chemical name and] percentage of active ingredient is] used by customers to calculate ap plication rates, by Government analysts for checking, and by doctors to determine treatment in the! case of accidental poisoning.

Net contents are stated for the] purchaser’s protection and to select! the correct size package.

Complete instructions for use] accompany each product. Instructions] are specific for each crop or pest. I The timing, quantity and method] of use must be carefully noted.

It is essential to follow instructions] given to use a mask, gloves and! protective clothing when applying] some chemicals, such as parathion.

Finally, the full name and address of the manufacturer and distributor are proof of reliability. • Fiji’s Department of Agriculture has published the first issue of a new quarterly magazine entitled the Fiji Farmer, which is aimed at giving advice and information on farm de velopment in Fiji.