GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 800, 25 April 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Mr. Cahill, instructor in wool-elass-ingj;,in his report ,t6Xtlie;MSJf|amii"Edu : cation Board; says:—"Useful work has been done by farmers in the first yuar of starting tho wool-classing classes, and ; the. ret ams coming to hand are bearing,.the instruction out. I myself saw' a .return of London January sales jrjie.rev.tfei.elip was handled-by students attending the classes. This clip brought in Londoa the- highest price, lfid.,- average 135 : d.; this, clip fetched Bd. last year. Wool did not. rise nearly, dou'olo in price, .so in this instance instruction paid handsomely. I might say that all who-attended the classes were highly pleased at tho instruction received, "ana this year, of course, I will go into it much more fully." '

• A settler.in tho • naw.'sOJipra- County informs' tho Auckland Star- that two years ago there yefe"iH>t'''moro than VOO sheep in the whole county. He confidently asserts that by the end of this year there will be at least 125,000 sheep grazing, on the, rich pastures in this, new country..- .The' Oiigarue-Strat-ford railway line wlie l completed w ill pass through; the centre of the Oliura County. - .'........ -...!

Frozen .''runners," lines of which have ' recently ; appeared in the freight lists (writes the Bluff correspolident of 'the ''Otagb>Tim"es''')v=-represent a new process in the'manufacture of-sausage and other minced-meat- skins. Hitherto .■they have'beeri.'sent away in an unfinished state, : leaving certain operations to be goue through before reaching tho retail dealer. In their frozen state the preparation' is complete, and_ they are ready for the market. 'Bosides other •advantageSj it has the merit of creating additional branches for em'ployme.ut ,'within tho Dominion. •

':"Mr. J. E. Davenport's imported roadster stallion, Skeffling P. 8., which won the .-blue; ribbon and champion awards at the- Sydney Itoyal at Easter, has smcu been sold to Mr. Dowling,. of Mudgcc, New South Wales, for J3tt 10s. -..Air. Davenport says the New South Wales Government, veterinarian who examined the horse said he had never seen a sounder animal. Skeffling is an eleven-yoar-oid horse. ~

A farmer who is settled at Flag Swamp,'; near Palmerston South,, .writes :to. the' "Tcmidta "Leader" v as "-follows:—"This !is the driest season experienced in these parts for forty years. Grain crops have not given more than about one-half the usual yield, and' pastures have been dried up from the Waitaki to Riverton; in fact, practically through all Otrujo and the greater part of Southland. Turnips are a completo Ifor instance, the field turnip. competition in connection, with, the Oiago A., and P. Association used to number from 20 to 50, but there was only one entry this year! This suggests, an altogether blue lookout for winter feed; and yet—paradox!-, oal. though 'it majue—stock has .up. to the present 'done well,- and in this connection the farmers have been making money.'" •

Victoria, as-well »• New South Wales, appears to b«;. apprehensive, of a drought. . The "Australasian" jay*' that the growth of grass which suocoeded the March rains has been sor lously checked in many districts, and, unless a good downpour occurs within 'i week or so it is hard to say whtffc ,the result will be. Young,.grass must, have moisture to keep it going, but for •several weeks past the weather much more closely resembled that of sum mer than of autumn. It is regrettable!, «ur contemporary concludes, that this* check has taken place, for there wa» never a fairor promise of a..good season Held out than that: of' a, few weoks ago.

■ The shortage of pigs and the state of the pig-breeding industry ..genera)]}' in Engand was. tho . subject of a conference of West of England fanners at .Bristol recently. It was resolved that immediate' steps should be taken to promote a co-operative scheme for tho organised, breeding, raising, and sale of pigs, and tho resolution'was referred to a| representative committee. It was' further -resolved to call the attention of the Board of Agriculture to the subject, and to suggest thati State aid should be given to the swi:.<; industry, as' in Ireland aiid other countries.

The Bunnythorpe Dairy Co. is considering the' advisability of enlarging the factory- by building a new butter room in Brick, ' this being, necessary owing to the largo increase of milkreceived, this season. On Saturday tho company; paid • out to suppliers for March milk the. sum of £1941 3s. 2d. — equal to lljd. por lb. for butter-fat.-'

The "Ternuka Loader'.' has heard of an incident which happened near Goraldine recently,'in which a man.voluntarily placed himself up a gum-tree to transact a clever piece of business. . farmer bad sold his-'farm, and was about to place his clearing sale in tho 'hands of two firms, biit tho agent'of one firm wanted to secure the commission for his firm alone. He approached the farmer several times on the mattor, but the latter would not budge an iiicii. On tho last occasion on "which the agents called, the farmer was busy pulling down a gum-tree, . tho rope suddenly gave way.. The thereupon ordered his man to go and fetch a ladder to fix the rope in: position, again', but the agent, seeing';a good sporting chance, stepped forward and said, "What will you give mo. ; if t climb the tree and fix the rope." The farmer, thinking the'agent was incapable of the climb, at once offered 'to place tho whole of his clearing sale in the one firm's .hands if ho could; scale the tree and fix the rope. Tho agent immediately stripped ■ off, and went at the • climb with more energy than dexterity, but' he succeeded. in placing tho rope in position, and came away master of the situation.

In his. report to the fourth annual meeting of the Hawke's/Bay'Farmers' Mutual Firo Insurance Association, the secretary (Mr. J. A. Fraser). states S "In .presenting this the fourth report of tho association to memberg, yo.UT boa-rd have pleasure in stating that the year's work has been satisfactory. No loss has been sustained, and. the expenses of management have been kept at, a. low figure, the actual cost of working being 25.: lOd. per, £100 of insurance. .The total insurances held by the association amount to £51,481, divided into 298, separate, risks. .Menir bers' insurances, £76,781; reinsurance from other mutuals, £4700; total, £81,481. Less . reinsured, £S600; not liability of ' the' association, £72,851. Your board would urgo on members the necessity of upholding the mutual system. ..The low basis rate now, being charged should commend itself to farmers wishing to insure." The revenuo account shows a credit balance of £117. ss. 4d. ■ •

Owing to the expansion of the agricultural industry in Western Australia 'luring the last few years, and despite the fact that the population has been steadily increasing, thero is a greatf, dearth of. .agricultural labour. For tho week ending March 12 there wero 270 men wanted for various situations' iIL !tho countjy,. for., which 0n1y,,89 mere Were available! - The wages ruling at the present time in Western Australia,, for experienced' farm '.'hands arts ■ from SOsY to 355, per wcok with keep, or Bs. i day without keep. Men on contract work can inake from £4 to £5 a week. For tho season 1910, Western Australia stripped £i,000;00() as against 2.461,000 bushels for the previous , season, and thero were 161 J 000\acres more under , wheat t the last season than the _ previous year. This next 'soason it is estimated'that there will bo a further, 200,000 acres under crop for wheat: During the last few months Western Australia has exported over 80,000 tons of wheat. - : ■. ' ' ,

i The "turnip Vblight' - has ..been, -.particularly severed this .year at Jlaketawa,.,Tara--nalci,' several crops being a complete less. In many instances the turnips have recovered to' a certain extent, but it the winter coming is in any way severe things with some farmers mil not be verv - rosy. At Waitni, several farmers havo turned cattle on the turnips already, 'and. are- breaking up the ground again for green oat fepd., Tuberculosis has played havoc with a number of, dairy herds in the Kaikoura district (reports the local Sun ). Mr. Mun.ro stock inspector, who officially visited' Kaikoura last week,; condemned over 30 cows that are suftermg. with this disease One suburban dairy-farmer alono will be a heavy loser, over 20 head of his stock being condemned. The animals are to'be driven through to Belfast, where they will be destroyed.

In the parades of stock at the A. and P. shows in this district (writes our lJalmerston correspondent) it is_ usual for owners to. decorate their animals .with prize cards arid ribbons won,at otlicr shows, and thus it is quite impossible for the ordinary . spectator to knowywhich are the prize animals at the particular show at which the parade is being held; At yc-sterday's meeting of the general clmmitteo of -the Manawatu A. and P. Association it was decided to allow only the ribbons and cards won at the show to bo on the animals during the .parade. This is certainly a .step in the. right direction, and will enable a spectator to see,at a glance which animals are first in their respective divisions. ■- - At the Manawatu- parade it was quite a common sight to see three or four champions in ono breed of cattle, for instance, and this.led to much confusion in the minds of people looking on.

Tho system of Government control in respect,'of stallions. ■ standing; for public service has now been carried through three seasons in Victoria, and a very in-teresting-review of this triennial period is'furnished by the Chief Veterinary Officer, Mr. S. S. Cameron. 'The aggregate 'results tc date show that up to Pecember 31, 1909, 2GG4 stallions had been examined; 1973 having been certificated (7-1.07 per cent.) and 691 rejected /!■">.93 per cent.) Of these 142 (15.83 per cent.) wero rejected on-the ground of hereditary unsoundness, and 2G9 (10.10 .per cent.) were disapproved as being below a reasonable standard of Government certification.

' Of all horses examined for unsoundness in Victoria during the past three year? 15.83 have been refused certificates on tho ground of hereditary unsoundness solely. This percentage, says- Mr. Cameron, is comparatively small when compared with 'the results that have been published .ae regards hereditary unsoundness in, some, 'other countries. But any ground for congratulation in this respect is removed when it is realised that, in respect of draught horses no less than 25.07 pel cent., or practically oiie-fonrth of all horses submitted, have been rejected as being affected with ono or other of til? hereditary unsoundnesses.

The finding of "worm-nests" in tho briskets of the carcasses of Queensland cattlo exported to London in a frozen estate has recently attracted public attention. These nodules containing parasitic worms, which, as far as we are aware, have never been recorded in cattlo in other parts of tho world than Australia, have been known to workers in tho Commonwealth for at least tho last 18 years. "Worm-nests" are of frequent occurrence in Queensland and Western Australian cattle, and are sometimes found in New South: Wales animals. The noduUs are removed by the butchers when dressing the carcass, and many thousands of animals, which in life contained one or more of them, have been eaten by the, inhabitants o' Australian cities without ; any ill-effects.

At tho Colunbian World's Fair dairy test ef seven days in 1893 six Shorthorn heifers under three ycara of iKS were matched with six Jersey heifers of same age, in a milking contost. Tho Shorthorns produced 2,5811b. of milk, which gavo 122.3G11). of butter, at a not profit of .£9 Bs. Tho Jersey heifers yielded ,3,35G.1i1b. of millc, which gave 194.221b. of butter, at a net .profit of JEII.