DOMINION SHOW.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 868, 14 July 1910, Page 8

DOMINION SHOW.

OPENED AT HAWERA. FrNE SHOW IN DAIRY PRODUCE. DETAILS OP- COMPETITIONS. (By , Telegraph—Special Reporter.) Hawera, July 13. Hawera, the chief town of South Tara•naki, and tho busy centre of tho greatest butter and cheese-producing district jn the Southern Hemisphere, is, for the week, tho rendezvous of thousands of agriculturist* from all parts of tho island. . The . Dominion Dairy Show, which is being carried out under tho auspices of tho South Taranaki Winter Show Company, was opened at- noon today. It is a very short time since the project was mooted in Hawera, but things have moved rapidly since then. .The promoters are favoured with beautiful weather, and the attendance is satisfactory. The aisles in the halls are very narrow, and, in busy hours, there must be great congestion. There Is a capital display of agricultural machinery, but tho finest feature of the whole exhibition is tho show of dairy produce. Of the seventy entries of cheese and tho forty of butter, nearly the whole were produced in the province, and it is still further to tho credit of the province that every first prize was secured by Taranaki factories. The Moumahaki State Farm has put on the most attractive display which it ihas made this year. The general setting out of the exhibits is very creditable and the roots shown are the iinest collection of the kind which has been seen in the island. This farm produce, exhibited by the State farm, was not specially grown for show purposes, but has been taken from the paddocks. There ore some splendid specimens in quality and size, which form fine examples for growers—particularly those growers who ihave exhibited rough-looking roots, anything but economic in shape. The advantages of manuring are illustrated in several instances.- Pino samples of mangolds, which have cropped 72.58 -tons to an acre, are shown beside weedy specimens of the same crop whioh were not manured, and realised only 1.4 tons per acre. "Superlative" swedes, which, so far, have proved to be club root reeisters, are interesting the keener farmers very much. If the "Superlative" is found to permanently resist club root it will become an immensely popular variety. Those on view were sown as late as January 5. The swedes were sown on December 3 and i on raised ridges and, at the date of the sowing, the' lollowinu fertilisers were supplied:—"Superlative,-' l{owt. per acrej Maiden Island guano, lewt.; steamed, bonediist, |owt.; sulphate of potash, 251b.; gypsum, 251b.; at a cost of .£1 3s. 9d. per acre. A comparatively new thing shown is tho white Silcsian • sugar beet, and the Department is at present experimenting with the beet and mangolds. The not> able thing about the beet is that it contains 12.58 per cent, sugar and .19.49 per cent, dry matter, whereas mangolds only contain 1.60 per cent, sugar and 6.85 per cent, dry matter. However, while the beet yields .35- tons per acre, mangulds crop double that quantity. There is an exhibit of lucerne taken from a crop which lias been growing for five years. Six cuts of the crop were •taken last year, and one of the roots was traced to a depth of sixteen feet. There are 'also instructive exhibits of grasses and corn. The dog and poultry sections are atitractrng the fanciers, uud competition 'in the two sections is keen. The Minister for Agriculture (Hon. Thos. Mackenzie) arrived by train shortly after one o'clock, and officially opened the show .shortly before two o'clock. Af'ter the ceremony a dinner was held in the Opera House, at which lunchon a number of speeches were delivered. An amusing turn was contributed during the opening ceremony. The platform, from which the speakers addressed the people, was erected against some poultry pens; and the Minister had to give in at one portion of his speech, being conquered by the triumphant crowing of a. number of defiant roosters. The incident reminded one of the late Mr. Seddon trying to talk down a hostile audience. The Minister managed at length, to get through with his address, but ho said afterwards that he had never spoken under such difficulties. The Minister stated to-day that, in response to agitation, he was going to appoint another dairy instructor for Taranaki. It is probable that the officer will have his headquarters at-Strat-■ioid.