GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 842, 14 June 1910, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

One or two Wairarapa dairy farmers who not so long ago were to be found declaring that it didn't pay a dairy farmer on high-priced land to raise his own calves, are now moving spirits in tho associations which are being formed, to import Holstein bulls from America. Dairymen are beginning to find that if they want good milkers they will have to breed them from their tested cows, with a bull that has a good milking record in its ancestry. "There are only three things we are anxious to get. We want something done regarding' dagging; we want a price fixed for crutcliing; and we want £1 a hundred."—Mr. M. Laracy, general secretary of the Shearers'. "Union, at Dunedin. The Warea Dairy Factory, Taranaki, has started making butter for the winter months; , The Palmerston North branch of the Farmers' Union will hold its annual dinner on Friday' next. The Minister for Agriculture, Air. C. J. Ecakes, Chief Veterinarian, and Mr. E. C. Bruce are among those likely to be present. The Auckland branch of tho Farmers' Union is urging; the woolbrokers in that city to hold the first wool sale of ihe season at an earlier date than heretofore. In all the country districts of Otago at present ploughing is the farmers' chief occupation, and better, weather conditions could not prevail; although rain would.make..the.work.a little easier in high lea paddocks: - In Greenvale, Wendon Valley, and Chatton large areas have already been turned over, and, according to.the,"Mataura Ensign," more than the usual "quantity of grain will in all'probability be sown this year. ' Writing in the Dannevirke "Evening News," Mr. Eustace Lane, provincial president of the.' Hawke's Bay Farmers' Union,, urges that a, leaseholder., should have as perfect freedom with-his title as a freeholder,, but•. with, thathe is not'allowed a second success at the ballot. 'Transfers, he -urges, should be' absolutely .unrestricted, but if a man is foolish .enough, to sel) his holding the day after' he gets it he should'■ not.- be again spoonfed at the land ballot.

Interesting figures are to hand from, some Hawera cheeso factories. Joll's paid lOldi per pound for butter-fat to December, and llJd. to the end of the season. Kaupokonui and Hawera each have paid 10kl. right through the season. Of course, there will be some further payments from each factory when ' tho season's accounts ard finally wound; up; Tho Auckland A. and P. Association has carried a resolution expressing its appreciation of the woik pi Mr. A. A. Thornton as dairy produce grader at Auckland, and protesting against the action of the Government in transferring him. ' Speaking at the opening of the Ashburton winter show. Mi-. John Lambie fiaid: "Ashburton was bound, by its geographical position and the excellence of its resources, to be one of tho foremost counties in tho Dominion. The new dairy industry would help on to tbiii end. It would take time to change from sheep to cows, tyit the change was coming, and then agricultural land would, accordingly, double its present value. The value of their land was at present regulated by the price of fat sheep on the London market, and shortly, under the new conditions, it would bo regulated by the price of- dairy produce." > At Joll's co-operati"e cheeso factories :his season the average number of pounds of butter-fat required to produce one pound of cheese was 2.60. It cost J;2 2s. per ton to manufacture tho cheese. A cablegram from Mr. E. Short, who is at present in the Argentine, states that he has changed his plans, having cut out his extensive tour of South America. He will now leave Monte Video on July 7, by the Coriuthic, for England. Five of the best of Uie sheep he took to Buenos Ayres will make tho round voyage back to New Zealand on the Corinthic. Several- suppliers of tho Waitara Dairy Company are now running over G points in testing, one, who has a fair amount of milk, going as far as G. 7 for the past month. Needless to say, the herds giving such fine results are of the Jersey breed, either purebred or good grades. The Maketawa Dairy Factory, .Tarannki, last week paid out a penny per pound bonus for butter-fat supplied during the season. In his letter to the Mastorton A. and P. Association last -week, Mr. G. de S. Baylis, fields instructor to the Department of Agriculture, stated: "I am anxious to get . into communication with farmers who are especially interested in variety trials and seed production, as I hold several quite small samples of a few pounds each of cereals, none of which I believe, procurable on the New Zealand market, and one or two of which are as yet not procurable on any market in the world, being now varieties not as yet introduced into commerce. These samples include wheats, oats, barley, clovers, and such like." "Very exceptional cases are seized on by the press to magnify and exaggerate tho increment on leases. A man may treble his money on a city freehold in three years, as 1 have just done, but not a word is said about it by the newspapers, because their bread and butter depends on town patronage. . . . The poor man who has to avail himself of tho lease is bound hand and foot, and then held up as a speculator after perhaps 14 years of toil, when he disposes of his farm for a sum which probably includes not only his improvements, but his stock, and the increment he himself has indirectly created."—Mr. Eustace Lane, president of the Hawke's Bay Farmers' Union,