GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 801, 26 April 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

■ The commerce division of tjie Department' of Agriculture has'- /received from! the ( Department of Agrjqtilttire, Mel- ' bourne,'/a' set of standard samples'of the Victorian 1910 crop of Algerian oats, oaten hay chaff, and wheaten bay chaff. These standards are fixed by a committee of the trade and. Government • officials, and the Government grading fr of grain is based thereon. The samples are stated not to bo clean grain/but the aetual. samples of the produce as dealt with'by the trade at Melbourne. I,'";';' '.

In conversation with a'xepresentative of the "Waikato Argus," Mr." R: Cock, of Taranaki, said he had been talking With a number.of. old friends.who had left Taranaki : to; take up land in; the Waikato. In every instance,' he, v sai'd, 'lie found that they' were- satisfied with "their prospects. He instanced one man who had sold out in Taranaki and taken up "300 acres in Waikato at per acre and had cleared ■£800 in the-year. 'Land-vat;that price, which will do this'is, said," Mr. Cock, cheap compared with the prices ruling in Taranaki; but he know, one farm of 100 acres in Taranaki which'carried SO cows.

The Dannevirke.Technical School, at its meeting last week, resolved that notices be ; sent 'to the different factories announcing that if a sufficient number of students will attend, dairying classes will bo started. / '

Some, correspondence Jias lately taken place in the Hawera,"Star'-''over the rejection of..milk at the dairy.factories this season, and the cause. . Mr. H. Betts, of Okaiawa. in a-; lengthy letter, says that he differs with the - statement that the Government graders' reports have nothing to. do .with the rejections,, and adds:— "I hava watched for years, and as' soon 'as grading points go down he is seized with a panic and : rejects milk wholesale. He never thinks there is anything wrong with the working of. the factory, but that tho cause is-tho bad milk supplied."

Though a falling-off has' been experienced in Jhe supply of milk at the Masterton Co-operative Dairy Factory, the butter-fat test keeps up well and tho returns aro satisfactory.

For the month of March tho Taieri and Peninsula. Milk Supply Company paid to suppliers, as against .£21,000 for the previous month. During February the company. paid lijd. per lb. for butter-fat, whereas for. tho month of March tho price iras increased to Is. per lb. .

-The dry state of the ground in the Masterton district is retarding fallowing operations ' to' a .considerable extent. Nevertheless a number of a-rriciiltuiists "(■pushing on with the work in ordfr to have tho paddocks exposed to the frosts as much as possible. . , .A man in Central Otag-j (Clyde)• made £w per square chain off a big strawberry patch last year. His strawberries came early, and he packed them into glass jars for the Duuedhi markets. Thusi the fruiterer was- able to deliver to customers absolutely u'nbruised fruit. The bottles were returned- to the grower, who aet.ted an average price for his crop of not less than 2s. lid. per lb'.

Arrangements aro now well in hand for the erection of a co-operative butter factory at Waipukurau, Hawke's.Bay.

The Masterton A. and P. Association has everything in readiness for removal from the Dixon Street grounds' to Solway. The sheep and cattle pons have ail been demolished and the work is being pushed on with dispatch.

The En nnati Dairy Company, Danuovirke, paid out .£lB7 for butter-fat supplied .uuriug March;'- 2-19,1b'21b. ol milk were received, containing 10,1881b. butterfat, the avefagi- lest being 4.08. For the month of March last year 191,0721b. of milk wero received, containing 78211b. butter-fat, tho average test being 3.88. - Mr. H. C. Gibbons, of Wellington, has betn appointed judge of the vegetable and potato crops at the Palmerston winter show.

As evideue of the quick way in which money ca a be made out of dairying, a man win went to the- Mataura, district ten years ago wil.li a .£5 note in Ins pjeket is now about to.takd a trip Home. He has a 460-acro farm, on which he runs 100 cows and does a little cropping. He generally . makes .£l3 per tow per annum,, an! altogether last-.year his gross receipts amounted to*,. £1930. Besides making a competency for himself, ho has, during- the ten yours, giien a brother a good start on Uib land,, .paying uown XIOOO for him, . ..'....