GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Nelson malsters have this season .been buying Blenheim-barley, as it is lower.in pricey than,-that grown ai f ouiid Nelson.' One firm.-has received"! thousand and nfty sacks and for. another firm there were two thousand sacks in transit. This is a case of carrying coals to Newcastle.

That AVaikato-bred sheep are steadily gaining mpppularity was exemplified the other day when Messrs., Goodwin,Bros., oi -jVlatangi, consigned ■ to a flockowner in Canterbury 25 purebred English Leicester rams, purchased £rom the Buakura iiXperiment Farm. Several of these were bred by Mr. F. Pemberton, of Eureka, and the balance, were carefully selected by - Mr. Dibble, manager of the Experiment -Farm.

There are some long faces amongst farmers as. a result of the turnip crops (says the Stratford correspondent of the • Taranaki Herald"). The warm, moist summer has, it seems, been specially favourable to the organism that • produces blight, and it is feared that the crop will be a failure. This means sale or starvation-of dairy stock 'this comins winter. 0

, Mor.e cheese-was produced by the Wha.i.;,imomona. Factory up to the end of lebruary than; for the whole of last season.

The. glairy factory at Hapuku, Marlborough, is taking shape. Tenders are being called tor carting the plant of the defunct Dairy Company from Cheviot, and those interested are to meet on Friday to select a site.

The price this season for prime lambs sold; in Marlborough for freezing has been 1 up to 10s. 6d., but a considerable number have been shipped on owners' account. .

-At its,annual meeting in Christchurch the Corriedale Sheepbreeders' Association decided that a flock must have been, established for fifteen yeras before being eligible for registration and inspection by representatives of the Corriedale Sheepbreeders' Association.

Information from a reliable source, writes . the 'Winchester correspondent of the "Lyttelton Times," shows that there is a scarcity of oats in South Canterbury this year, and it is said the price is steadily going up.

Tho Kopuaranga correspondent of the "Wairarapa Age" says that dairy farmers in his district who are making their own butter are having a trying time'.with it, through the heat affecting the, cream. One farmer intends selling his cows. , - A Native supplier, Ngehe Tiwai, has topped the test for the last four months at the Heremere Factory, Taranaki.

Mr. T., Lancaster, who was for many years farming at'-Fitaherbert East, but has lately been living in Palmerston, has purchased Mr. Masters's property at Bunnythorpe, and will take possession at an early date.

The average yield of wheat around Otiake, South Canterbury, is now reported not to have exceeded 15 or 16 bushels per acre, although thore was straw enough for 40 bushels.

Tho manager of tho ICaituna Cheese Factory, Mr. P. E. Groube, states that the daily uiilk supply this season is greater than that of any previous season, about 10001b. more milk being delivered than at the same timo last year. Up to tho present tho quantity of cheese manufactured already exceeds that of tho wholo season's output of former years. The averago test at , the factory, runs about 3.9, tho lowest being 3.7, and the highest i.i. So far this year the grade notes have all read first-class.

' Showing tho prolific productiveness of the tomato crop in a favourable season such as tho present one has been, a Canterbury grower estimates his yield at from eighteen to nineteen tons per acre. The plants require a -suitablo soil and much attention before this result is attained, and there is some care to be exercised ill picking and packing; but, taking all in aIL the grower who hits tho right season, and has tomatoes ready early, may make a fair profit by their cultivation.