MANAWATU NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 62, 6 December 1907, Page 2

MANAWATU NOTES.

j (?RO3i OUB OWN COBEESrbXDEST.) t Tho Rongotea Dairy Company is having ! another successful, year, and is receiving 5 6000 gallons of milk per day. The manager, . however, states that the tests are consideri ably below those of last season, and sonie i are under 3. The milk supply ■ shows a t good increase, and the grading is also highly , [ satisfactory, standing af 92. The pricopaid . 1 for butter-fat last month was od. _'' "■ ''.'. 3 In company with Mr. A. G. Simms, or } tho Horticultural Division, I had the pleas- • 7 ure of visiting several'orchards and - terms'i in the Rongofcea district. Mr. Simms pointed. , 1 out several orchards tbafc a few year's,ago ; wcro neglected, but are now bringing, ni a • r good return to the owners. Like the out- • r look in other districts, tho season for apples - hero will be good, but plums are almost entirely absent. Mr.' Simins states that '.lie ■ has found but little trace of codlin moth at Koiigotea, but' has discovered numerous traces of the black aphis. I Farmers around Rongotea can enjoy the ' , distinction of being able to' cultivate potatoes. Tlie crops in that locality are the best I that 1 have noticed. Although this par. i ticular crop is not numerous, the potatoes I aro well advanced, and show but very ■ hvr sighs of blip-lit. I was.informed by several " farmers that (hey had not attempted Sfl . spray so far, there.being no necessity for it. ; I'as.siiig through the Kairanga., district, ' which at this season .qf the year is a per? feet picture of fertility and prosperity, I Was agreeably surprised to see* one farmer " just finishing his stack .of. hay, which is certainly a record, for the district. In a pass- . e ing word he informed jne* that it.had. always jj been his practice to'"bl6s'o down his fields . early, and the result was that he always came out on top. On this occasion the * woathov has been ideal f<>r hay-making, .but . unfortunately few crops are ready for-.-cut-ting. In Kairanga, some of >; the farmers y are beginning to sharpen... the knives of their. " mowers. \ v ; ; - :..'., '.. ■ i was informed by several.,sheep-farmers tJiat they have experienced, some,* difficulty, _ in getting men for shearing. Therjj,is.apparently a shortage of Iwtli shearers ftWi. " farm labourers. The trouble in the shearing world all'eots the small farmer consider. ably, as thore is a tendency. fji',. nleli to take up machine shearing. ■:>..,,.. Owing to the increase in business 1 ," it- baa . e been found- necessary to enlarge' 3 yarde at Raumai, in the Pohangina digfilict.