GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 803, 28 April 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

■ Most of the flaxmills in the Manawatu have, stopped.cutting, .and are now only stripping. Four or live mills will continue on through the winter', but mpst will be closing .down for good about the.end of May. Cable advices yesterday showed a decline'of -about 15s. a ton in quotations-' for hemp, present values being £21 for good fair, and £20 for fair. The late temporary improve- 1 ment is . stated to have been-, due,.to speculative , causes.

An excellent onion return is reported upon by our travelling correspondent. Mr. S. R. Lancaster, the well-known Jersey breeder, farmed an acre! of his Ibid in shaves with a resident.' Mr. Lancaster prepared tho section for sowing purposes, a.nd'the remainder of the work was undertaken by his colleague. The plot was put down in onions, the gross returns of which were £116. Each principal divided £58. It. is understood that Air. Lancaster's colleague worked thirty-two line days on the crop.

', The. Hunterville.. '"Express" states: thatfor several years past' dairyfarmors in the district have been .advocating the acquisition of Mr. Pryce's estate in the Itangitikei Valley for closer settlement. The holding... comprises 1475 acres, aver a thousand of which is comprised of heavy flat land, adjoining the Rangitikei River. Tho reserve placed upon it by the owner, .however, wasra barrier" to any finality, being arrived at-, and the overtures came to nil. The Government's recent legislation in re-' iiard to land settlement, however, revived interest in the proposal-, and a movement is now in progress with the object , of utilising the clauses of the I,and Finance Act in securing-the property..

ThelTe Roti.-branch of the Farmers' IJnibn''has dccided to.go. into, the mat- , ter of. testing. dairy herds,; with a view to arranging a scheme beforo tho beginning of next season. 1

Farmers received tin - rrcleome nc\vt> on Saturday (writes a • correspondent of the Hav/era "St*r") that'.one of the bacon firms was giving, fourpenco pur lb. for baconers. , • I believe, lie adds, the buyers would be quite prepared t» give a bonus on top of this if only all' the pig-raisers would properly top off their pigs, but : a great many send in animals which have never seen a bit of grain. The shrinkage in these is. far greater than in the grain-fed animals.

The killing at. tho Mataura and Ocean Beach freezing works was exceptionally heavy for last week, and tho storago space at the works is 110'w almost .filled (says tho ."Southland Times"). There was considerable %activity. at tho Bluft freezing works on Monday, where 24,000 carcasses are being loaded on tho s.s. Whakurua. Qn May 9 and 10 - two more boats ■ withrefrigerating -space aro expected at Bluff, and theso will assist to relievo tho storago space. Meantime,,however, che recommencement of rabbit freezing' oh May 2 -will tend to add to the difficulty. . . '

Dodder is stated to be spreading! rapidly in the "Upper Plain district (says a Masterton exchange), and is likely to prove a decided menace to tho growing of grass seed, particularly clover..

Tho Masterton. "Times"' states, that Mr. B. Wood, agricultural chemist, has at present .under observation a form of blight that may prove a radical euro for the Californian thistle, which it is supposed to attack. ' Ho proposes to submit it to a full scientific investigation before making any announcement on the subject, or introducing. it_ to the district. The result will be awaited with a considerable degree of interest, as Californian thistle is spreading Co a somewhat alarming extent in some of tho .coast' districts.

Tho Akaroa correspondent of a Christchurch paper_says that all tho dairy factories on the Peninsula .will be closing down very shortly. TJntil quite recently the supply of milk has been well maintained, feed having been plentiful. Indeed, visitors from different parts of the Dominion during ,the Easter holidays said that nowhere was grass growing better. The increased milk supply, together with tho good prices obtained for cheese, will make this season a record one.

.- Those who attend, the local sales (writes the* Okaiawa correspondent, 01, the Hawera "Star"), cannot but bo struck by the largo number of cows Which are yarded. These are solU on account of . not being in calf, a troublo which appears to/grow .worse each year. One settler informs me that last spring he. took every precaution to combat tho evil, .but without success. - I was very much amused the . other day to hear/ that one wise-head attributed the cause to tho. milking machine. Poor milking machine I It comes in for a lot of abuse from those who don't use it.

The market for honey not being so good as usual this season, ah Okaiawa (Taranaki) apiarist, last week shipped two tons to London: Tho honey was jent from Waitara by .the s.s. Otaki.

At a conference of delegates front the local bodies of South Canterbury, held at Timaru the other day, it wa's lesolved that it . be a recommendation from the conference to local bodies that the heads .of ; old " birds (blackbirds; larks,; linnets, .and sparrows) be purchased all the year round at the. rata of Is. per dozen heads, and that young heads and eggs be purchased at the rato of 3d. per dozen; the question of distributing poisoned grain to be left to the discretion of- the various local' bodies.

Spsaking- of the small birds nuisance at the Tiinaru Conference, Mr. John. Talbot said ho had absolutely no sympathy'with those people that- said that the sparrows did 'a certain ainount of gobd; they were absolutely useless.' .It w;as said that they ate the weed'seeds, but it-would be an extravagant' estimate to say that they. ate. one out .of every , million seeds,; and then as likely as not they carried the seed to'thepro- : perty. of the man who had no weeds at all. . / ..

A leading London wool-broker, in- the course of a. private letter to tho head'of one of the local houses, says: "I fancy wo shall' have a firm market now for the remainder of .the year. 'Tho consumption of wool, especially in Yorkshire, is im■niense; but I think America is a bit stuck with dear merinos.-",.: The reference to the" conditions in Yorkshire'will make pleasant reading-for New Zealand woolgrowers.

A paragraph appeared in a recent issue of The Dominion to the effect-that this year's- chioks in tho Auckland , district nad proved a f&iluro because they were now iii'.a second moult, and would be unfit for coming shows, and no reason could |be.assigned for the birds coming into this second moult. A prominent Alanawatu breeder of -prize fowls gives it as his opinion that the birds were bred' too early..'Any chicks hatched before August will ibe almost certain-to have a second: moult before maturity. V

Mr.'-'.S. Standen, of Kuapuha, Peilding, )vho has been making. a ; name for himself in- tho show ring latterly, has just strengthened his Romuey ewo-flock-witii twenty-six high-class stud ewes from the noted flock of Mr. R. Tanner, of Longburn,.who has for many years been .looked upon as one of the' foremost breeders of Romncy's in the Dominion. Mr. Standen, who has. just returned from judging Ayrshires 'at the Sydney Royal Snow, says the Romneys on the other side will, stand', a lot of improvement,

The Pig Schedule Committee of the Manawatu A. and P. ! Association met on Saturday afternoon, Mr. J. Balsillie being in the chair. Last year's prize list was adopted without alteration. An opinion was expressed that tho best time to. hold an exhibition of pigs would be at' the National Dairy Show, but want of suitable pen accommodation near the exhibibition. buildings at present precludes this idea being given effect to.

The annual conference of Farmers 1 Dnionsrin the,-^Wellington'province is to ba held at Marton on May 2i.

. The factory cheques are keeping up well in Te Puke. The money distributed in the district this month by the Bay of Plenty Co-operative '-Dairy Association amounted to .£2006.

- Tho Lepperton Dairy Company secured, tho highest grading i points at Moturoa for the season ended , March 31 last, the average secured being 93.33. Last season the factory was tenth on the list, aud the advance to first place is most creditable to, the manager, Mr. W. Roberts. Mr. Donald Robertson, of Manaia,' litis sent to the Hawera "Star" a photograph of a rery remarkable freak of nature. It is that of a calf, the property of Mr. J'. Jurd, Of Mangawhero Road, Eltham. In a covering, letter, Mr. Robertson explains that the calf, which is quite healthy, has its heart in 1 a small sack in the side of.the neck (as can be seen, by the photograph). The pulsation of the heart can be seen a dozen yards away. . The Askburton Central Dairy Factory Company has decided to procced with the registration of the company, and to allot j shares as soon-as the registration is completed. Dp to-the present 3000 shares have been • applied for, out of a total of. 5000 to be. alloted. 'Creameries are to; be erected at-Lowcliffe, Hinds, and Anama, and probably, at'-Laghmor. The Stratford factory 'pay sheets show that last month was just about the best March for , milk .production that dairy farmers have .enjoyed since factories were started in/the district. The. eheese. factories have: increased their production 71 per cent, over last. year,, and that was a good year.'. 'The average; test of the milk was better, being.. 3.78, against 3.76 last year, but . whether due. to' the season or to gradual-levelling up . of the herds it is ■ difficult to say.. f The Pahiatua, A . and P. Association is considering a'proposal for the holding of a winter show this year.. Tho 'Herald" says that if .Hawera , is; able to hold a winter show' there'should .be plenty ot. ronm.in Pahiatua district for ent.' Many of the swede turnip crops in South Otag» are, according t« a, correspondent •sm'plete failuies owing to blight. A;few. farmers, who hnvekwu luclty eniugh t escape, are experiencing a strong demand for their turnips: from •wners of sheep and cattle, but, in view •1 i, shorty of' f«d in' Central Olagj they are holding off sales for the present. . A Colyton-. dairy farmer, talking to ' a Peilding "Star" rcpresentalire the, other day, said he thought tho Jersey the best dairy cow for the district.. In his opinion the Holstein. was unsuitable for tho country around .Colyton.", "She,. is too heavy for bur soils'and makes bogs where the light Jersey would hardly make any impression. The Jersey will do for me, and I believe most dairy farmers are of the same opinion as I