GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 779, 31 March 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

The Palmerstou branch of the Farmers' Union and the "Technical School Committee have arranged ;\vifh' Mr. G. de Baylis, tlie Agricultural .Department's supervisor, of experiments, to give a lecture on agricultural experiments in the Technical School qn'-April 1. Mr. M'Naught is also to givo a course of lectures on wool-classing and sheepbreeding, which will Ix> illustrated with lantern slides depicting misroscopic sections of. wool in various stages. ■ Kain. set in. yesterday (writes our Palinerston correspondent), and during last night a'heavy-south-easterly galo sprang up, .with rain, which will probably have the effect of ■ flooding the Manawatu liiv-jr. The high wind, is having a bad eft'«ct on'lato apples, and windfalls will no-,v be. plentiful. ■In addition to-the New Zealand breeders already mentioned as having booked pas-, ssiges ■to tho Argentine • show is Mr. L. Wilson, of Zoudon.TeddJDgton, who purposes going across'shortly. .■','" It is stated ithat it is costing Mf.'J.-B. Davenport.X3o a head ' for' transport charges on each of , the .200 sheep he is taking across to the Argentine. On .this basis the shipping company will receive the tidy sum of .EGOOO on the transaction. -Yields ranging up to 44T"bushels tf solid straw lhiscan . per acre, and 40 bushels, of. pearl,- havo been threshed on Mr. Edwin ' Thomas's farm, Wakanui, Canterbury.' . . ; . Tho threshing mills and' chaff-cutters are now in the Kopuaranga district, and thei stacks-, arc-disappearing rapidly. .As in other parts, the returns, on the who'.p. are not so good as was anticipated. Th>> wheat threshed a little • under thirty bushels to the acre, and the oats about tho same, Gartons giving tho premier return. - The Kopuaranga correspondent of the "Wairarapa Daily Times" says the.potaly crops in his district, are all affected, br blisht-pjome badly and others '.slightli. depending'on the , variety of seed. "Up 'td-dat(!s" . are proving the best blishtresistors. :Mr. J. Robertson, secretary for the Dairy Factory Employees' Union, has jusl completed an organising tour of tho Wairarapa district.. Speaking to a "Daily Times" representative, he-said tho claims

.in..connection with the .new award were meeting with the. general- support, of the workers in tho dairy industry. On the wholohe was well satisfied with his visit, and succeeded in enrolling a large number ofmembers. A meeting, is to be'held'in Palmerstou North tlaiii week to fornially tako the necessary.steps to (mt'tho claims before the Arbitration. Court./ .A South Canterbury farmer, who has lately rctnrnod from a-trip south, tells a "Lyttelton Times", correspondent that ho' is • more, convinced than ever that. South Canterbury is tho garden of New. Zealand, and ho would not leave it to take .up a farm iu any. other part of tho Dominion,for ho did not believe 7 that ho could better himself. ' It is, he .says, a-sdrrv sight to seo the way that splendid land down south has been allowed to become overgrown with the Califofnian thistle, and a, still more, sorry thing to note how .the farmers there have given in-to it. ■In order, to secure a concession in the price- of bpnedust the members of the Auckland branch of the Fanners' Union hav«-decided to club .together and buy 100 tons. The branch is also endeavouring to get produce agents to reduce their commission charges. , Speaking at: a Gore function the other day,: Mr. C. Cooper, a well-known local farmer, said he had como to tho conclusion; that .a littlo farm ' well tilled . was tho best prospect for any man who wished to a livelihood. "But," he continued, ' wo farmers are going the wrong way about it. Wβ are all anxious to get too much land. The majority of us.liavo more land than we can work pfoperh-, and to get the best out of the ground it must be worked." The !export of butter in Queensland for February got close up , to 50,000 .'boxes. Besides butter, Queensland is producing a large quantity of cheese and condensed milk. Both of these lines have made a; wonderful advanced ' . 'I