GENERAL FARMING NEWS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 816, 13 May 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS

The conference which the Minister foi Agriculture has called to discuss the pas teurisin'g of skim milk at butter factories will meet in Wellington on Wedncsilaj next. Hay 18. Besides the officers of tlu Department, there will bo representative! of some of. the dairy factories present. I' is understood that the conference will bi held privately, and will not be open t( thp press. Despite the rumoured shortage of dnirj cattle in Taranaki, considerable quantities of stock continue to bo exportet from that province. At the last Hut l sale a couple of truck loads of Taranak heifors were offered, a truck load was pul up at the-previous sale, audit is statec that another lot is coming down for thf next sale. A shipment of ■ dairy 6tocl from Taranaki to Canterbury, when numerous new dairy factories are pro jeoted, is also contemplated, and wil probably ta'ko placo shortly. '■• y Discussing the vexed question of home separation of cream with the represents tive of a big dairy factory yesterday, ( representative of The Dominion was in formed that this particular factory _ii now blending home-separated cream-witl its factory output to the extent of abou , 10 per cent. Tho grading results havi shown.no falling away as compared witl years' when no cream was received fron suppliers, and the grade throughout th( season has ranged from 91 to 9iJ. Th< cream was, of course, properly pasteurised. Onr informant stated that othei companies which were .repeivjng home separated cream were finding no'difficultj in•;producing fjrst-grade"butter. The Botorua Co-operative Dairy was registered on April 30 with a capital o: .£4OOO. On May 2. the .Auckland Bacor Company, Ltd., was registered with i capital of ,£20,000. It has taken over th( '-business of Messrs. John Adams and Co. ham and bacon curers. The Te. , Kiut: .Co-operative Dairy Company and the Kanaeranga Valley Dairy have , beer struck off the register and I .dissolved. The annual banquet iii connection witl: the, "Wellington Provincial; Conference ol thei Farmers' > Union will take place ai Marton, on May 25. The Hon.' T. Mackenzie, Minister for Agriculture, Messrs Newman, Guthrie, and Hogan,- M.P.'s, , R C. Bruce, and C. J. Eeakes, M.B.C.V.S. have intimated their intention of beinf present. ' • ...... i During, the month of- April i tho Ballance Dairy Company paid to -supplier* the sum of • .&15S0. "The output of buttei is/ eight tons in excess of tUe quantity made , during April last year. The' price paid for butter-fat was 10id. per lb'. ' Mr/ Eustace Lane has-decided to mov« at' the annual meeting of the Hastings branch.of the Farmers Union: "That in the opinion of this branch tho farmer! ,of,this Dominion have.created the increment,in values of city and suburban property and should ho exempt from the fresh taxation-which the Premier ha; proposed for the furtherance of artificial industrial conditions." ' Cheese factories aro recommended bj the South'lsland Dairy -Association tc put a thidker middle batten, in the cheese crates, and nail the battens to it, In many-cases factories, put only a tliii batten, wliicli does not hold the nails, and,'the-'brate is-very much,-weakened. The /coastalvship'ping companiesr and th< ocean companies, say the directors. in their report, take'very great care of. out cheese, out owing to thewweaknes s ol some of the crates from this cause more are broken, than, would, be: if-the cases were as suggested. The Eayelock Dairy Factory' (Pelorus Sound) paid \£5S7 for April. .The/amount for April- last year-was -,£423. The settlers in the vicinity of Moles.worth are at_..p.resent_having_ji trying time with rabbits. It has~ljeen reported of the: places there aTe simplj SfriifWng' witrfithS despiteahc onslaught made upon the rabbits with traps, dogs, guns, and poisoning, there is no apparent decrease in their numbers. As the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie has exp/essed his desire , of utilising the pool lands.of the Dominion by assisting people to take up small area's of about 25 acres for fruit growing purposes, no better district;,; says j the Nelson • "Mail's" correspondent, . could .be found. than around Wakefield, the-poor-lands of■ this-district being well adapted for the purpose m apple-growing, and many of our people here would-hail the opportunity of such a start. No doubf the Chamber of Commerce will see that Nelson is well treated in any such scheme which may be formulated. ■ ....-,,■., ... . ' The Lincoln College orchards do not seem to he in the best .condition. ■ At the meeting of the college governors this week the chairman mentioned that an expert on apple culture, Mr. Boss, had visited the college at his request and.insp'ected 'the. orchards, to see what could be i done to improve their condition. Mr. Boss; after his inspection, said that, in his opinion,. the old orchard had been too deeply trenched, with the result that all the top fertile soil had been buried out of reach of the tree roots. Also the orchard was too low-lying and very wet," a'state'of tilings detrimental to the health of. the trees..He advised the planting of. from two to four acres of. new orchard on the space'nowoccupied by the kitchen garden. The ground should be well tilled, but. not trenched; it should receive a good dressing of lime, and the trees should not be .planted too deep. There ■ will apparently ■ be. -plenty of work for the bushfeller in the Wairarapa and Forty-mile Bush districts'this winter (says an. exchange). Several 1000-acrc blocks of bush are to be felled, while innumerable areas from fifty acres upwards are to be put to tho axe. ■ The present milking season in Southland has been somewhat disappointing. It has not (the "Times" says) produced the big yields per cow-which-its early start promised. As a ; r'ule'when the milk commences to go off its richness increases, but through the grass not having reached maturity before it:got parched by the sun :and drought tho'milk this year became poorer instead of richer. Consequently for the greater part" of the season butter-fat returns were low and 21b. or 31b. more milk than last year wore required for each pound of'cheosb manufactured. The annual report-of the Ellesmere branch of the Farmers' Union says that three meetings had been held during the year, but these had not been well attended. The committee deplored the apathy of farmers, especially in view- oi the fact that the labour unions were preparing to bring their case forward again.

The winter show of tho Otago Agricultural and Pastoral .Society, •to open on May 31 in tlio now hall, • which' is nearly ' double . the size of tlio Brydono Hall, promises to bo a record one. Tlio committee is negotiating with tho Chamber of Commerce and tho HJmployers' Association for an attractive trades display, while the Department of Agriculture is arranging a display of produco and fruit grown at the various experiment stations.

Machine milking is rapidly increasing iu popularity with farmers in tho Wairarnna (snys tlio "Age")- One agent says ho lias booked moro machines' during tho past month than ho did for the whole of last season.

Efforts arc being made to . establish freezing works at Balclutha. Referring to tli,e scheme some .Wyndham peoplo think that there is also room for a similar ' establishment in their district. Says tho Wyndham "Herald":—Balclutha is agitating for .the establishment of freezing works. Is There any place more favourably situated than Wyndham for freezing works? Tho Wyndham River ..is surely an ideal eite."

In his annual report, the chairman, of the. Hawera branch of the Farmers' Union says;—"l am sorry to say that members generally do not take the interest in the union they should do, either by paying up their subscriptions or attending meetings; consequently it is left to the few willing workers to attend' meetings and transact the business of tho branch." .

In : conversation with an, "Ashburtpn Mail" reporter, a gentleman from a dairying district on Banks' Peninsula, said the best milking, average known to him had been gained by a man and.his wife, who milked sixteen cows, each of which averaged dCU for the season. Headded that they were tested and picked milkers, and were well fed. "All tho milk, you get out of your cows," he continued, "you have to put in through their'mouth. More food, more milk, if you have a good milking strain. The other kind are useless. My boys have' just gone in. for Holsteins. They' think they i will beat the Shorthorns wo have at present. Oh, yes; tho dairying industry has made the people round our Bay, and I think it will be a groat success ill Ashburton." .

iho noxious weeds inspector at Tβ Aroha is ranking earnest efforts to cope irith tho blackberry pest in tho district, but the settlers aro not, the Auckland

"Herald's" correspondent says, perhaps, doing all they ought to do towards assisting the Department. One of the most fruitful causes of trouble lies in the fact that large blocks of Native land aro permitted to bo idle in the valley, and becomo the breeding-ground of all sorts of pests.