GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 833, 3 June 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

The average butter-fat production of the cows in the Daleiield herd test up to the end of May works out at • 2S!!.MIb. This is an excellent average to be maintained through twenty-one herds. The search for possible pork supplies continues unabated in Great Britain, and one of. the local houses received only a tew days ago a cabled inquiry for tfOOO carcasses, which, of cox'se, it had regretfully to advise that it could not supply. The experimental shipments from Wellington have gone to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, and in each case met with a keen'demand. Twenty years ago there were over SOI),000 pigs in New Zealand, but to-day, after various fluctuations down to half that number, there are only 245,000. With pasteurised whey and skim milk available as it soon should be, tlie time seems ripe for a big development in pig farming. In his speech at Dunedin the Minister for Agriculture said that the reorganisation of the Department, and his insistence on such economy as could be carried out without loss of efficiency, had evoked much antagonism, and thai from quarters the public might least expect. Continuing, Mr. Mackenzie said: "That this is so renders an expression of* opinion necessary from farmers in whose interests we are working, because if, on the one handi we receive much antagonism, and on the other those for whose interests wc are striving remain silent, much good work may be prevented. It is needless for me to add that those who are familiar with my public actions know that I will endeavour to secure the very best results from the expenditure of public money." During the month of April last the Thames Valley Co-operative Dairying Company paid to its suppliers for butterfat the sum of i:3657 14s. fid., as against. c£3061 for April of last year. In April the company manufactured 431- tons of butter, as against 351- tons for April of last year. The Levin Dairy Company, says the "Chronicle," is maintaining its reputation for high-class butter. At the Dunedin show, now in progress, it won three prizes in the butter classes—namely, a first, a scc:md, and a third. In one of these classes it secured within a very few points of the maximum number. Mr. W. 11. Field, MJ\, has just disposed of his Reikiorangi farm, of 505 acres to Mr. Timothy Twomey, of the Ixnver Hutt, tvho intends building - and putting some of his sons on the place. The Otaki "Mail" understands that the price realised fop the farm was a most satisfactory one, indicating that there are not only buyers about, but that they are prepared to pay fair values. Mr. Field'still retains his two farms at Waikanae. . The fruit industry number of tlie "New Zealand Farmer/' a copy of which is'just to hand, is a most creditable production. Many pages of magnificent illustrations are given, showing tne development of the industry in different parts of the Dominion, and there are also numbers of special articles of interest to fruitgrowers.