SOWING FERTILISERS. CONDEMNED BONED BEEF.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 323, 9 October 1908, Page 5

SOWING FERTILISERS.

CONDEMNED BONED BEEF.

It is the greatest mistake possible to sow the solublo fertilisers, such as nitrate oi soda,.by applying a little round each plant; they should always be sown. broadcast. Experience has taught" the farmer how wide ■the rows of his crop should be, and. you will'. find that the roots will meet across those rows before tho plants are anything like full grown. Tho roots that are really doing the work of tho plant are not directly underneath it, but aro spread out on all "sides, and that is the place where the f>lant' food ought to be. Let any farmer a ittle, lator on in tho season take , his knife and scratch in the soil between the rows of his roots, and he will find abo.ut l£in. below the surface the tiny white rootlets of his, plants, and will bo surprised to find them running 18in. or 2ft. on every side of a fair-sized .giant. ■. >■ ■ 1 'U- ■ ' j

AN EXPLANATION: REFRICERATINC GEAR BREAKS DOWN. Thero is an interesting story to toll about tho boned beef seizures in Glasgow. In our issue of September 28, and other dates, reference was made to condemnations of New Zealand boned bcof in that city as being unfit for food. Tho wholesale condemnations in question had excited'considerable comment in meat trade circles at Homo, and up t-o August 10, about'll,ooo boxes out of a consignment of 22,000 boxes, which arrived by a particular ship, had been condemned. Nothing was published in Home papers at the timo that oxcused the condition of the meat', and the world was thus left to infer that New Zealanders had been trying on upon the Scotchmen a little dumping of_ unsound meat. Now we have tho explanation. The Scottish correspondent of the -'Meat Trades Journal," reporting on the seizures, remarked that it appeared as if this drastic action was taken to support the Local Government Board in its intention (since carried out) to prohibit the importation of all boned beef. A week later the same journal drew attention to an important fact in connection with the matter, namely, that the damage which had'led to the condemnations had been caused by a breakdown in tho refrigerating machinery of the ship, and that in actual fact the condition of the meat had been brought under the .notice of the authorities by -the consignees themselves. Both these facts were—according to the "Meat Trades Journal "—withheld from the' public. At a meeting of the Glasgow City Council, after the seizures had been reported on by one of the inspectors, a member of tho coun'cil drew attention to the omission of the explanation, and tho unfairness of this omission to the owners of the moat was emphatically oommcnted on : by some of the council members. V This. incident emphasises the need of the New Zealand veterinary inspector at Home, and his. report on it will be awaited with keen -interest. It is satisfactory that th» reproach of shipping unsound meat has been removed from the good name of New Zealand. . .