184 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2-3 EDWARD VII., A. 1933 



much later than that date. Experiment has shown that the weevil at all stages may 

 be killed inside the peas by fumigating the seed with bisulphide of carbon, consequently, 

 if growers will harvest and thresh earlier than usual for a few years and either themselves 

 treat their seed immediately or sell to the grain buyers, who for their own sakes will do so, 

 much good must surely result. When for any reason peas cannot be treated at once or 

 disposed of, they should be bagged up and the sacks tied immediately so as to prevent 

 the escape of any weevils which might emerge in the autumn. When the grain is 

 required for feeding the peas should be ground as soon as they are dry enough, and to 

 prevent the meal from becoming musty the new peas should be mixed with some old 

 peas when grinding. 



Difficulties to be met. — Sometimes peas ripen so unevenly that by reaping early it is 

 feared that the sample will be very uneven when threshed ; but, should this be the case, 

 it simply means that these small and shrivelled peas are blown out of the seed peas when 

 they are cleaned and are not lost but can be used for feed. The greatest difficulty of all 

 is with regard to the peas which are shelled out in the field at the time of harvesting. 

 This however, will be to a large measure obviated by reaping early, as the seed will not 

 shell out nearly so much as when left till the regular time. The cleaning up of pea 

 fields moreover by turning in hogs is a generally recognized practice, and the work is 

 done very thoroughly. Where hogs are not available, poultry will do the same work, 

 and, where neither of these can be used, the land should be ploughed so deeply that the 

 weevils cannot work their way out when they leave the peas. I am aware that it is 

 not the custom to plough up pea fields for fall wheat , but simply to cultivtxte or disc 

 them, because the land is left in such excellent condition ; but it must be remembered 

 that the loss from the Pea Weevil is now excessive, and, if this small change in method 

 can be shown to be of gi'eat advantage, it surely is worth a trial. 



Another difficulty suggested is that it would be hard to get all peas threshed before 

 the autumn emerging weevils escaped, on account of the small number of threshing 

 machines which would be available. In reply to this, experience has shown that demand 

 will always produce supply ; and I feel sure that the implement makers will not lose 

 such an opportunity of pushing their business. The much higher price obtainable for 

 the early threshed peas, to say nothing of the enormous value of future crops due to 

 contx'olling the weevil, will very soon repay to the farmer the initial expense. Where, 

 however, there is no possibility of getting a threshing machine, I would draw the atten- 

 tion of growers to the old-fashioned method of treading out the peas with horses. That 

 this is advantageous is indicated by the fact that some of the seed merchants pay a 

 higher price for peas threshed with horses. 



Mr. W. P. Niles, of Wellington, to whom I am particularly indebted for much 

 useful information connected with this matter, writes me particularly with I'egard to 

 one subject which is much discussed by the Pea Trade, viz., 'oily peas.' Mr. Niles 

 writes : ' My sample No. 4 contains what we designate as " oily " or " glassy peas." 

 Every one, you will notice, has had a weevil in it, and not one of these peas will germinate. 

 Some seedsmen say this is caused by the heat of the sun. in dry weather killing the 

 weevil while in the embryo state, thereby making the pea oily. I contend that this is 

 not the case, being perfectly satisfied that it is done by threshing with an ordinary 

 threshing machine. At that time the weevils are not fully developed and are simply 

 a small ball of fatty matter. The sudden shock in going through the cylinder of the 

 machine kills or bursts this embryo weevil and the fat or oil is absorbed by the pea 

 at once. In order to fully satisfy myself on this point, I have frequently had farmers 

 thresh a part of their peas, the same variety on the same day, with a tlireshing machine, 

 and a part with horses on the barn floor, and I have invaluably found that the machine 

 threshed peas would have a large percentage of oily peas, while the horse threshed 

 ones would not have any. I have tried this repeatedly for the past three years, and have 

 always got the same results.' 



With regard to the above, I may say that some seed merchants do not agree with 

 this theory ; but I received from Mr. Niles a large number of oily peas. These I soak- 

 ed for two or three days and opened them carefully, when I found that the weevils were 



