JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14976, 25 May 1914, Page 5

JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS.

A number of local fruitgrowers and West Coast orchardists met at tho cool stores at-Papanui on Saturday night, and discussed the subject of spraying and the various methods of combating hpests. 3lr W. J. Courtier, the Govern_ent expert, took a leading part in the debate.

"There is considerably less wheat being sown in South Canterbury this season than last," said Mr John Tallest at the Provincial Conference of the Farmers' Union at Timaru on Saturday, and ho added that unless a great deal of wheat was sown in the spring, there would not be sufficient next harvest for the requirements of tho Dominion.

With regard to the circulars about the settlement of the land in Chili, Mr A. Hunter, at a meeting of th© Taranaki Farmers' Union, said he had found little to tempt one to leave the Dominion and proceed to Chili. T_ e dairying and fattening lands of NewZealand as yet undeveloped offered bigger inducements to the man of small capital.

J The rapi<l ad-ranee of the fruit indusI try in says the Picton "Press," may be realised by the fact that a company, the Wairau Fruit Company, has plac'-'d an order for tO.OOO trees. Canterbury men have bought from 20 to 150 acres of a subdivision about seven or eight miles from Blenheim. The land borders on the Wairau river, on the northern sicte °f tbe plain. About 556 acres frill be j Planted in fruit this year, and all in the vicinity of Blenheim.

Oae of "-he settlers who drew a sec- ' tion on +he Hillersdcn Estate arrived in Blenheim last week with a waggon a nd team of . c ix horses with ■which he I had "trekked" from Geraldine, coTer-

ing a distance of over 300 miles. The journey occupied many days, and the gritty traveller had much outspannmi* to do; but he covered the ground without mishap and reached Blenheim lithe best of spirits (says the "Express ). He reported that the oniy difficulty ot any consequence that he experienced was in tho crossing of the Cpnway river.

Mr W. S. Mac William, the King s land steward at Windsor, has accepted, with his Majesty's assent, an invitation to act as judge in tlie fat stocK championship classes at the International Show at Chicago next November. Asked why a British expert had been selected as judge instead of an .American, Mr Mac William said he supposed it was a tribute to the fairness and independence of Englishmen. "A British expert," he t-ai'J. "has no axe to grind and is not prejudiced in favour of any particular breed. Americans accept a British export's judgment as absolutely correct because the}* know he judges entirely on the merits of the animal and -rings all hi.s experience and ability to bear on his decision. A. British expert has gone out to judge the fat stock chnnipionshi-p at this i,how for a number of years past."