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TEPj AOUlGjJLTVUAL JOURNAL. 



but this ouly grew a foot in height when 

 it died ofE with rust, whilst the Mapstoue 

 had no sign of rust upon it whatever. He 

 farther adds that he is quite satisfied that 

 the Mapstone is a rust-proof oat. 



Hutchinson Brothers, Balgowan. 



Messrs. Hutchinson Brothers write as 

 follows:-' The 50 lbs. Mapstone seed 

 oats received by us from the Agricultural 

 Department was sown on 1st March, 

 covering half an acre of ground. 



" The land was in good order, having 

 been fertilized for mangels in December, 

 19(J0, with 3 cwt. bone dust, 3 cwt. Thomas 

 Phosphate, and 2 cwt. natural guano per 

 acre. The mangel crop being fa failure, 

 the land was reploughed and sown with 

 the oats. 



" On 25th April, 1901, the oats being 

 a fine heavy crop, we put some sheep on 

 to graze them otf. Unfortunately, being 

 only a small plot, the sheep trod down 

 more than they ate, and did a certain 

 amount of damage to the crop. They 

 were taken off again on Gth May. 



" All through the winter the oats kept 

 growing slowly and came on well in the 

 spring, giving a good crop for either 

 forage or seed. They did not ripen evenly, 

 and had to be cut at intervals, 26th No- 

 vember to Gth December. 



" Total weight of crop from half acre 

 was : — 



Cleaned Seed ... 1,172 lbs. 

 Straw ... 2,296 „ 



Total ... 3,468 lbs. 



" There was no rust at all until just as 

 tlie seetl began to ripen, when a little ap- 

 peared, but only in places, and not enough 

 to do any damage either as seed or forage. 



" There is no douljt we made a mistake 

 in planting the oats so thickly, the 50 lbs. 

 of seed could easily have covered an 

 acre." 



Jambs Gordon, Springfield. 

 Mr. Gordon reports that 25 lbs. of Map- 

 stone oats were planted 22nd March on 

 half an acre of land without manure, as 

 the land had been previously under 

 potatoes manured with stable manure and 

 wood ashes. Owing to the lateness of 

 the sowing, insufficient autumn rains, and 

 a))sence of means to irrigate, the growth 

 was too short to cut and too feebly rooted 



to be fed off in winter. With the spring 

 rains, however, the crop grew fairly well, 

 and matured at a height of 2 ft. 6 in. 

 without a particle of rust being per- 

 ceptible to the naked eye throughout 

 its entire growth. On account of the 

 irregular way the oats ripened the crop 

 was leaped at different times during the 

 fortnight ending 30th November. The 

 yield was 910 lbs. of very plump seed, 

 and approximately 1,000 lbs. of straw. 



Mr. Gordon adds that Winter and other 

 oats planted for winter grazing about the 

 same time as the Mapstone were com- 

 pletely rusted off. 



E. 0. Nuss, Krantzkop. 

 Mr. Nuss writes to the Entomologist 

 stating with regret that during his 

 absence from home his field of oats had 

 been completely destroyed by a troop 

 of cattle. He adds that when he left at 

 the end of August last the oats looked 

 very promising, and he and his neigh- 

 bours agreed upon their superiority to 

 other oats. 



Chas. L. Lund, Maldon. 



Mr. Lund writes, under date 2nd 

 December, as follows : — 



" I received about 50 lbs. of Mapstone 

 oats and sowed them on about an acre of 

 good unmanured land that had been 

 twice ploughed. The oats were sown 

 on 22nd April, immediately after a good 

 rain, and while the land was in very good 

 order. 



" I reaped the forage on 24th October- 

 six full months after sowing it. The 

 intolerable while this oat takes to ripen 

 is a serious thmg against it when grown 

 in the winter under irrigation, as it is not 

 ready to reap until the mealie planting 

 season, when all hands are required for 

 planting, etc. 



" The crop was a heavy one. I estimate 

 that I got about two tons of forage from 

 the 50 lbs. I have not yet had the oats 

 thrashed out, but I do not expect a very 

 heavy yield of seed, as the birds did an 

 enormous amount of damage despite the 

 efforts of two kafirs to keep them off. 



" I am sorry to say that, contrary to 

 the majority, I have to report that the 

 forage rusted rather badly. In fact the 

 Cape oats sown in the same field and at 



