GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 791, 14 April 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

It; is not often, that, one hears of r landlord leasing laud at half-aKjrowh an acre per annum, and ■ then taking out a sub-lease from his_tenant at 30s. per acre. This, is stated to" be tho condition of things in .at least one N Native reserve in Taranaki,'' ~The Jand;;,™ a;.' good' block of '2000' acresj': and was -leased oh behalf of the.'.Native owners, through, tho Public Trustee at 2s. ud.'per acre;-The. lessee has. sub-let the greater part of-it at 305.-per-acre, and amongst his sub-tenants is one'of the original Native owners, who. is thus putting' 275. 6d. per. acre.per.an-, niim iri anotheriman'spocket/for-the use of his own-land. '.. ..-.',

.:' Mr. D. X Knjght, of. Lowlands, Marohan,' sold to' an Ashburton,;buyer last week a .fine line .;of-- : fat lambs consisting of 1200,- on the place,, at-16s. j ,

The correspondent of the'"Southland :Mr'.yD." M'Gill, ofDipton, ' has- just, finished threshing a. 'splendid ;'cfoi> vol tuscan wheat on his property/the crop 'panning out 60 bushels per aore: . i ; Some; 2157 fnfilk wSdjjreceived a tHhe.Greyto'wnj;caeese'< factory on Monday morning,'being'over. 6(10 gallons more than, for tho'same; date' last season. It" is reported "that Messrs. Gould and Dunnett, owners-of-tho Sherwood Downs Estate, of 10,000 acres, have' offered that property, . which- is -situated near Fairlie, .Canterbury, -to.the. Government 'closer.'&ttlemeii£. purposes. Oil Monday the FeatherstonoCo-opera-,tive".-Dairy. Company paid out. ..£l4Bo' to suppliers'. "The company forwarded 420 icases'-bf .'chEeso' x hy.the..Einiutafca'. There ;iviil jb'e.-.'abbuf'an'otlier 800'-cases to, bo forwarded before"-the end .of tho, • i-The--.growing ofi'cncumbers' and other vegetables for-pickling has been'gone. in for, extensively.. at. -Otaki,;, ; and appears likclyto develop into'.a big business. Mr. Preston. Thomas has. just accepted an order, to supply'a. rjibkl'.rig'factoi'y with 1-1' ton's' of pickling 'cucumbers-.and half-a- , ton'of.garlic next season. Thirty-four farmers attended' the' Pahiatua wool-sorting class on Monday afternoon, and showed keen interest in the work Dealing with: the 'question, of compelling wool-growers to registertheir ivool-balo brands, the instructor, Mr. Wood, said that' a certain dealer, who had bought some wool at a recent sale,, "faked" it, and put it up under another owner's brand, with' the result that the •owner, did not get anything like the full valuo for his'clip, and, besides, the action of the' dealer had .the effect of bringing this brand into disrepute among • the buyers , Summarising tho result of; the pain season in r Otago, the "Daily- Times" says the Wheat yield-is of excellent quality, especially .in Southland,, .where much of the grain is;.quite, phenomenal, but the quantity will be less .than was expected.' Some of tho land that yielded 70 bushels last year has 'this season produced only half' that- quantityi and tho Taieri Plain average is not much above 30 bushels. The farmers' consolation is the superlative quality of tho wheat.' Mr. A. Bennison, a threshing machine proprietor in the Ashburton district, says it pays farmers to stack their grats-secd instead of threshing it from. tho. stook. Recently he threshed a .quantity of -ryegrass which had been stacked for ten weeks, and 71 bushels were easily got into each sack.. "Had the crop been .threshed from the stook," said ' Mr. Bennison, "there would have been a difficulty in getting six bushels in each sack."-. ••..'' The balance-sheet of the Tarauaki Agricultural Society shows. that tho debit' balance of '£144 IBs. lOd.with which- the year opened' ha's been re; duced to £29 ss. sd. The liabilities amount to £35, and- the assets to £1681. - '":':'■'']"." '" ' '-.-'

It may be interesting to" those who tako an interest in slieep work (says the "Hawera Star") to, : know that what may be termed the champion dog: of New Zealand'is Mr. M'iwnzio's "Lad/" This dog'won most of the. large prizes in the Dominion in 190S and- 1909, and also'wont over to Australia and woii. at the Sydney trials, beating all the Australian cracks. About: 70 boxes of butter per week are being manufactured at, the Masterton'butter factory at the present time. The manager states that the supply of cream from the various creameries connected with, tlie, factory is keeping up well, and better than in former seasons for; the corresponding time of the year.. Comnaratively little, grain is.beingstored" at •'.■■Ashburton this year; and; so far,' tho-bulk that ;has been carted, in, has-been'-loaded on to trucks. Threshing;' in the lower districts may be said to be almost on the point of,':completion, but it will tnkc at least four weeks to finish the season in.the upper districts. A Victorian estimato states: The averse vield of oats last season,in Victoria was '20.00 bushels, compared; with- 26.50 lor;the previous season. Rabbits and hares haVo obtained ,a footing on the Weak Waiouru "Plains, and it is stated that their destruction, mainly by ' poisoning, will cost one runholder about £200 .this year. It,.'.will -be very difficult to eradicate 'them,; as they so .easily obtain dry burrows,on the pumice soil of which 'the plains"''-are largely composed. , A • pastoralist at Wallalo'o, Victoria, recently lost a ewe. which had produced a lamb' at.>l6 years' of use.- : Sbe was .17 years old, and carried ""a respectable " jece at the end.