GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 758, 5 March 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Mr. Ernest Short,,of Parorangi, ycsterday shipped .ten Bomncy two-tooth stud ewes, through -Messrs.' -iJalgety aud Co., Ltd., to Jlr.'Erucst Gibson, .of Dingo Crock, Wingham, Manning ltiver, N.S.W. Tho ewes, which . went by the Moeraki yesterday, were n picked lot. .33.7 a printer's error yesterday the Bketahuna Farmers'' Union show was descuibed as' being in its "fiftieth" yeaff. Ekctahuna has been settled twenty odd years now, and' the shop is fifteen, not iifty, years old.

The . New Zealand Dairy Union re'ports having manufactured last month at its two factories at l'almerston North and Eketahuna a total of 75 tons llcwt: of butter. In February last year the outfut was 64 torn, and in 1903 55 tons. The 'cbr'uavy paynfent for butter-fat was 10UL, as against" Jod. in the corresponding months of 19Q9 and l l9oß. The number of,suppliers to--the union has increased . by' 120 since, the last annual meeting, and tho Maiakau creamery has been reopened, after 'being closed down for ton years. , \ :■

. As .in most other. North' Island districts, this year the farmers around Ekctahuna have been blessed with an abundance of feed. At the same time,; the necessary constituents for producing fat lambs and high butter-fat tests have been lacking. The'lambs have, grown, .more, rapidly, than usual, but they have not fattened, and tho dairy, cows have. given large yields of milk, but the tests on . the whole "have been lower than last year.

The recent rains have had a marked effect on the milk supply around-Eketa-huna, and. the. Eongokokako cheese factory, which expected' to be putting a man off .a fortnight.'ago,us still working f.uU-handed.'-;This'.factory.'has never paid its 'suppliers less - than ono. shilling per lb'/during the-.season. "It!has. been six years in operation, and during that time it has,paid off the whole, capital cost of tho factory, amounting to .£IBOO, with the exception of, a sum. of ,£l5O, which .remains on mortgage. About five tons more cheeso has 'been manufactured this season than up to the corresponding date last year. „..

Maxmillers-nre -now- beginning to ask when the hemp''Mrketi is', likely to reach bottom. 'Present-f.o.bv'jin'otations, it is interesting to. no to, i are >.j list twenty shillings better than at 7 .thiS : :'timo last year, running now at" about.'.-£2l'for good fair. Last season the market -improved steadily as the year went on, awl in November merchants were not'-only offering XSS, but were seeking. to make forward contracts, at,this,figure.,for millers' outputs up to June-next.- As-is 'often the case, millers did"! not-.' realise their good fortune,: and.'yery;.few;'sold.their outputs ahead.- Tho'ljireVailinj;. idea was that if such prices . were being ;olforcd for forward delivery, the market would almost certainly.' improve",, still ' further. Now many are recalling the. old proverb that a- bird in -the .hand Vis worth two in the bush. This year's output is expected to be : fully -thirty -per-, cent.- greater than '.that of, last year,: wlicn: nearly 15,000 tons of-hemp -was exported;---It is .not expected, that :any oi'.:.the "mills, despite, -the ■dull- -outlook,- ?will Jj eldso.--down. until, the. 'end .'of the.'seasohr'Whrch"is : 'now well ad-, vanced.". . .. ' .'. . .

New 'Ze'aland''Dairy' Unibn'.suppliers are loud in the .praises, of pasteurised, skimmed milk and whey. The union factorieswere- almost,: the first -to; go in . for pasteurising skimmed ' milk as a';. regular tiling, a few other, factories'having "made temporary,; experiments, , and both from its suppliers -, at Palmerston -North and Eketahnna eoriies the-..same story. The calves-and pigs 'are'thriving .twice as well on the., pasteurised inilk and whey, than ever'flicy" did before. "Why, man," ,said one enthusiastic farmer to the writer, V this .'pasteurised whey I am giving my pigs now is just as.good as milk. 'You, should come..'along<ana j j&> r'tko'waythey are rushing'it". -The-'.'suppliers at the K.ongokokako . Co-operative Chccs6 Company at Eketahuna are equally en; thusiastic in praise -of the pasteurised whey which tlieir factory has been' giv■ing them for kiiuo months. >

Speaking of tho'small showing which New Zealand is making at tho Argentino International .Show, a Manawatu resident said he did not think New Zealand sheepbreeders would make any money out of tho exhibition. As near as been able to figure it out, a man to take five or six sheep across- would want to clear about .£4O a head, before he covered , himself. . Of course, it would ba an advertisement, and' the country .would no doubt get the benefit'.of, it, but tho advantage to the individual exhibitor would be problematical... Anyway, he thought New Zealand, breeders could do much better for' themselves at homo at their own doors. The average'fanner had still to-, bs educated up to tho advantages of getting good rams to breed from.. Some of tho stuff that was being'bought at the ram fairs this ycar by well-to-do farmers was appalling, all sorts of wastrels were being passed about the country. .

"Tho Labour people down town," said a North Wairarapa dairy farmer to.tho writer the. other day,- "have ■ the idea that we farmers are all making money hand over,fist. .They are always wan'j ing to pile everything on to the land. I suppose they read - in the' newspapers about factories paying out big cheques. It looks'very .well, no doubt, but townspeople ' always forget -about tho other side of things that 'keeps taking, the gilt off the gingerbread. For instance, • I lost six'of my best'cows this season from inflammation, ■ three- others catuo in with mauimitis, and a purebred cow in calf to-a pedigree bull slipped her calf at seven months. - Then -'a neighbour 1. mine • runs forty cows, and only twenty of them came in this season. These are all things by. tho' way, and apart from rent, interest, and so.-oh.' A farmer's life is not a bad onei'but it is by no means all beer and skittles, us city-bred Socialists and such peophr imagine with their single-taxes and all the rest of it."

The number of applicants for instruction at Lincoln College is stated this year to havo been much in excess of the accommodation. ■

The Waikato correspondent, of the "Farmer," writing of tho experiments which have been made in the district in ,top-dressing pastures, says that ■ tho manure chiefly used is basic slag, and the classes of' land upon" which it has shown'Jrte 'best; results "are 'strong loams and., clay.-. The slag is found to be comparatively .'cheap, "durable 'in. its effects, and'moro.pf it used probably than of all other manures put together..

• A. heavy 'percentage-. i>£. the Dominion's best light horses, in the view of the "Farluer," are born/with .fualty action, and the trouble is rife through .the w.' lo ' o population of. hacks and light harness horses. As . a bad-actioned horse is not comfortable to. .ride,: and lie, will not stay out a-iong journey,'-too -much attention cannot be given .to. thovpoiut. Threo years, ago there was only ono fruit van supplied by the.'Railway. Department for the. Hawke's-Bay orcliardists.' Now there are five fruit vans at Hastings every morning during the season, and on big picking days- seven, or eight trucks arc used.. . The Motueka Farmers': Co-operatiVe Company is arranging for tho erection of an up-to-date cool store in Motueka for tho storage"of .fruit. .'Accommodation is to. be made for the storage for iOOO cases in the first year. ' Mr. AV. I'. Ilarre, of Rata, Taranaki, lias a dozen cows which last season averag«l i£lß per head, and their butler per 'week ran at lOJlb. per cow. Strong complaints as to butter-fat tests have been coming front "Southland of late, and.it is interesting to'lioto that according, to .one of tho Government dairy inspectors though there-is'a flight improvement in tho manipulation.of the Babcock test owing to tho instruction given there are still-a great"many facfiiry managers who do not give tho .attention, to detail which tho .tests-demand . ]t is stated that nowadays iii the IVaikato even the smallest' liien are manuring with excellent results. A few years ago it was only the' well-to-do farmer who l'elt safe" in going to this expense. A largo number of sales of farming properties have taken place, in the Waikato lately. Up to J530 an acre, has been paid in good districts lor. small farms of tram ;1D ■ to 100 acres.,

l'atea is now claiming tp be the leading cheese-exporting port of tho Dominion, and this season's totals are being awaited with interest in southern Taranaki. Says tho fllanawatu. correspondent of the "Farmer": "There is a feeling among more people than those who aro members of the Dairy Union of Workers that a new award is badly needed. Those who are leaning that way aro inclined to tho belief that tho conditions aro at present unfair." Danthonia is reported to be spreading rapidly in Marlborough, and some stripping for seed was done this season. Tho best results with manures at Lincoln College are stated to havo been obtained from 2c\vt„ of basic slag for the grain crops. .Though tlte season's oat crops around Masterton have hot been conspicuous for their heavy yields, some exceptions have to be recprdcd.' The "Age" reports that a crop of. Algerian oats, grown at Llandan, Upper Plain, was threshed the other day,, aud yielded 880 bushels from an area ot 11 acres, being at the rate of 80 bushels per acre. i Greytown "Stanclard, a correspondent, savs"A decent lamb *111 England is now fetching about 165.,. cljar of skin and offal. In. the ■South Island fat lambs aro fetching up to Ms. 3d:, 4while on this island, owing to a combination, we get the lovely offer ot bs. for a prime fat lamb, about 6s. a head less than the South Island, and tho market value of southern lamb at Home is only about a £d. per lb. more, making a-difference in a lamb of .from 9d. to Is. Gd., not 6s. Here's a subject for the > r armors Union, if they study tho loss to this district." i Rabbit-poisoning operations are re- 1 ported by the "Wairarapa Age" to have 1 been almost completed at Te Wharau, ! farmers are expressing the opinion that the results aro the best ever experienced in tho district. "Australasian," just to hand, reports that Victoria has experienced in tho week ending February 26 a heat wave of greater intensity and duration than anything which had previously occurred during th 9 season. As a consequence the milk yield of the State has been greatly reduced. From July 1 last up to February 26 about 12,230 tons ,of Victorian butter, valued at .£1,406,000, were shipped to ports beyond the Commonwealth, The Inspector of Stock at Tauranga recontly made an investigation conccrnl?s «! lc - loss four Wealthy-looking pigs at Waimana, and found that the anirnals had died from eating hay which had been put into the sty to keep them dry, und which had started to ferment. Tho Gisborne Farmers' Union is to discuss a motion on Saturday advocating the compulsory grading of meat for ex- ? 'xi also l )r °P°scd to ascertain troin the,freezing companies what charge they would make . for storing frozen meat until the "off" season in this Dominion, the charge to be fixed on a monthly basis, subject to, say, a weekly adjustment, in case the meat is shipped when only a part of a month has exPlied; and secondly, whether the coinWines would require a guaranteed quantity ot meat to be stored to warrant tho works continuing freezing after tho ordinary time tor closing down, and, if so, what - quantity would require to be guaranteed? •

A good story is at present going the naiils.mteiiajf a farmer near Timaru, "f J? ii ■ U" 111 ?, correspondent of tho i • l "aes.. The farmer employs tcams > a nd suspecti ° > that they did not always do a full S , wo , I ' lc ., he l sc , t a tra P f °r them. 'Aflei they had started, work ouo morning ho went out to the field and informed them that he was going to town for the day. He started off,- but returned an hour . f to , t° Swathe teams standing idle in the held and the men nowhere to 1m seen, oeemg smoke issuing from a gorsc bush he crept up bomnd. it,. and-found that they had the kettlo boiling for mornin" tea, and were deeply interested in a four" handed game of euchre, so interested that they did- not hear him approach. One apparently had a good harfd, for he declared his intention in loud tones to go alone. This was more than' the emplover could stand, and stepping forward he said, won't go-alonej you caa'al^^go''togGl'ner/ ,; i; ' , " '