GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 789, 12 April 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

.;Attention ■' has teen ' attracted hero,' .writes; a : 'London corresporident,' under dote jiarch i, by.'an American' Consular .report'which■ says it. is'fproposed',to start in Australia;-the iin'akuig-..0f .rope from stringy ; bark- fibre-.. from - the eucalyptus tree.:r Capitalists, ■ it;is stated, are ready, with the.Bioncy as aoon as the claimed (merits'of'.tho-new process have been verified. The invention has been., submitted' to -, a ■"highly-qualified expert for hisreport. 'Mpantime f it is .claimed. that, •whilo. rope 'from -the .stringy bark fibre, may not .be so.-valuable, as,-,'that- from or.NeV"Zealand hemp, it will bo j:ai()l*.^p3;conimand;-. l a''.'largo .sale. for. mat-: 'Jißß3 v cJdtli%'s 'lines;'"and other^articles. '•■'.' ~isH Jaire6tors ; .Cb-j)pera-'■•tiVe I ?D&iry7 Comp'aiiy r are;.' seriously cbnsideriiig. the' question of' pasteurising tho ( ;ivhey'. at .tljeir-factory,..and;;i,t'is 'hoped :to make "a start.irith/.tnis "important, work, irbhV the-bsginiiinE'of 'next season.' Dairyfarmers ..throughout the provincial district 'are , nV last' beginning l to show .'signs of becoming alive to the value of pasteurised whey and skim-milk-as a preventive- of .-■ tuberculosis. ':'l Without . pasteurisation it is' possible for' a tuberculous herd under the factory system to spread infection', broadcast in a district.- .... , ~.

'According to Mr.- J. M'Gregor, sen., nothing produces so much, wasto in. the. Wairarapa. as. bad stacking . Ho made a. suggestion to the llasterton A. and P. Association on ■" Saturday afternoon, whereby;.good, stacking' may be learned by a large number of farmers. His idea is., to employ a. professional stacker to teach .others in .the following manner:— All those who wished :to learn to stack, to pay a fee of say 10s." arid'in the early part of the season; the:;;p.iipi]§, would bo required to attend the'exhibition building of. an ideal.stack in a centre, say the Upper Plain, ■ where they could ask questions-and.receive replies. The professionar stacker ..would..then, be required to attend at various ■ places, and "crow" for one stack for each- of tlio pupils. If sucs a - suggestion was acted ''Upon, Mr. M'Gregor said he.' would give ■ a first prize, of .£3' and ■ .£2 as ; a second prize for. students, the. stack which the teacher had assisted, in building not-to. bo entered for/.cbmpetition., Tliq.-associa-tion;'h(ssC-dccided' id':, give ..the".'matter its favourable consideration. Says "the Sydney "Herald" of April 6 :— Messrs. Lowcock and King report haying conducted an, auction sale of horses at Gunnedah on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last,-, 470 being yarded. Draughts .made to £36- 10s", useful farm sorts JJIB to -.£27, . draught growers xU to ; .£2-l, ■ponies to iCIS,-:good .quality light horses Jill-to £Is, ordinary, saddle sorts £i to £&; 3iO"head were! sold,,.'at'an average of ~£14,175. Cd.'- "■- ■ . ■

A very-large quantity 'of 'milk . has been rejected- at-the various factories in the Okaiawa district of Taranaki, ;dnring the-season, ■ and_ it would be interesting .(says the "Daily l News" correspondent) to know the total amount. The loss to individual suppliers has been a severe one, and one.settler,who has been supplying since'.the •■'first' factory, was built at W'aiokura informs me that ho has had more milk.rejected'this season than ia' nil the- other seasons put together. -He attributes, this, not to the weather,' conditions* but to the raising of the. grading points. Ho. arrived at this conclusion because ho had had', sweet milk rejected. : TJpon being. interviewed by this settler the manager at the factory admitted that it had a bad smoll, and ■ this smell developed in the .manufacture of the cheese. Asked if ho would reject this' milk", if-he. were hiakiiig butter, the manager replied in the negative. At the meeting of the Masterton A. i.and'P. Association, on' Saturday last, it I was stated that ■ the overdraft had bacn reduced-to about JE9OO; This was.-.'due to tlio fact that the syndicate, who purchasod the old site, had paid into the bank over It -.- is estimated ,th?.t the snm of JEISOO, which it is proposed to borrow, will cover the cost of the erection of-tlio. sheep peas, cattle yards, hbrsa boxes,. paddocks and all the buildings, witli the exception of the grandstand, and the proposed railway siding. At a meeting "f the Hastings branch of the. Farmers l Union, held on Saturday it was decided to write to tlio Minister 'for Agriculture, drawing attention to the fact that the Califorhiau thistlo is spreadin" in that district, -and asking him' if ho could do something to check it.

The- history of '-.the Havclock Dairy Factory (says tho "Pelorus Guardian") is a history of continual progress, e?.ch season's returns largely exceeding thoso of> Hie preceding-: sca'son. The payments for Mnrch are always an indication of. tho progress -being made, for it is during that, month that the cows generally begin to slacken. The returns for. last month, however, show an increase of about ,U0 over the February figures, and of ov.-:r .ffiiU-as compared with those for March, 1909. Following aro details of the mouth's pavments:-Mill;, .£553 7s; fld; .£36 o*'ad; sundries, -Cl 6 lis. Total, JiWis. 2(1. ... A South Australian recently refused MSOn for a. mob' of 31 heavy hflrsesv and decided'to'auction them. His cheque amounted to The highest price was ,£6l. ' " .