GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 861, 6 July 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

; . The dairy produce which has been, entered in tho Hawera.. Winter Show competitions' is at present in the grading store at.'Patoa. The judging will >be- idfene.' by Messrs. l: 'D. Cuddie, Dairy ■Commissioner,-, and Singleton, and the results should'be available; at the latest, .when the show opens. .-•' : l ■"; It is. reported in an exchange that influenza among horses in the Shannon district'is. so serious, that it has been necessary; to discontinue'working them; ' The large farms, in the Rahgitikei are gradually being . cut up for closer :settlement, three within, a few miles having been subdivided during the last few months, saysa.correspondent'in a Tavanaki' paper.'• The 'introduction, 'of different methods is leaving its'mark ; on many, of the properties. The old-time idea of cropping year after, year .without maaure has had-its day, so also has the ugly habit, "onbo so common, of letting the stubble, get back to grass the best way it could.

'The Hon'. T. Mackenzie, Minister ior Agriculture, who had been asked to open tho Dominion Dairy Show at Ha--wera at noon-on July 13, wrote to the secretary asking for particulars con : cerning what was required of him: It was . explained amongst other things that.the Minister would be expected to declare the show open,' and that afterwards (1 o'clock) he would be entertained at luncheon at the Opera House., Mr. Mackenzie replied:—"l think your arrangements are excellent and • well thought, out, and on such lines as liav© been' found, to make for the' past success •of other shows. Unless something unforeseen of ia serious nature arises,' I' will be with you. Of course, when Parliament is sitting one knows not what a day may bring forth. Again lot me'_wish you ■ unqualified success. When at Palmerston North a number of people spoke to me a;bout the forthcoming- Ha-wera show, and the opinion generally. expressed was that it would be. of educational value. "

Top-dressing experiments with grass lands were carried out at To Puke (Bay of Plenty); a. while ago. Mr. G do >S. Baylis", Fields' Instructor' of the Department of Agriculture,; said in the .course of.a report.thereon:—"l find that.manyfarmers are' not conversant' with experiment work, and that, they are apt to run away with the idea that bccauso.in small-plot, test work largo. dressings of fertilisers are applied, we advocate tho application of very large- 'amounts of manure :to tho land. Speaking for myself, personally,, any farmer who- makes that statement entirely misrepresents my ideas. The explanation is as follows: — In preliminary small, trial plots it is desirable to obtain not only decided, but fairly quick'results. 'If very small applications of fertilisers w;ere made - we might apply to the soil exactly what it needed, but not discover wo had dono so. because the quantity applied had been father too small to show a decided difference. Hence, after discovering the ingredients to which that soil will respond through the application of fairly large quantities to small areas, it remains to combine these in varying proportions, and finally/to ascertain tho smallest quantities in a mixture which will return us a sufficient profit to justify their I. application;"

Tho results of the experiments carried out by the New South Wales Stack Department of the Glen Innos Stalo Farm to demonstrate the efficiency of different methods of dealing with pnrasitic worm disease in sheep,, were satisfactory. The conclusion arrived at was that drenching for the treatment of lung-worm is practically useless, although tho sheep, being relieved from the stomach and intestinal parasites, is better able to resist the lung-worm. Also that any farmer troubled with worms in sheep will find his best remedy in providing feed, tvhicli can bo greatly assisted by subdivision and spelling of paddocks, burning off the grass occasionally, and fencing off swamps. The amnion ot many men that arsenical drenches have a deleterious effect on wool, has had an opportunity of being tested by this series of experiments. It Hvas found throughout that no wool had peeled off any. of the sheep, but that the wool on those sheep reared on cultivated pastures was in better condition than the others,-and the fleeces would probably have weighed heavier, although in length of staple they did not appear to have any advantage.