GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

A ploughing match and a show of horse trains are to be held at Morton at the end of May or the beginning, of June. The Marton branch of the Farmers' Union is moving in the matter. Sir. A. H. Cockayne, State Biologist, is at present carrying on the work of editing the publications of the Department of Agriculture. A New Plymouth resident has grown banaiias of good flavour this season. At the beginning of this month the contributors to the Farrer Memorial Fund had reached ,£lOll. , Mr. James Grant, Agricultural Instructor for the Wanganui Education Board, this week took the boys attending the Feilding District IIi»h School_Jp llr. E. Short's farm,' near""ChelfenliamjTon'a visit of inspection nnd instruction, "says tho Feilding "Star." At a meeting'of tho Marton branch of the Farmers' Union the chairman briefly outlined the objects of the proposed Partners' Party. Mr. J. W. Marshall proposed, and Mr. B. P. Lethbridge seconded, "That this branch of New Zealand Farmers' Union approves of the proposal of the Auckland executive to form a Farmers' Party; to pledge the support of their members; to vote fon such Parliamentary candidate 'as will unreservedly accept the union's platform in entire disregard of how it affects the Government or Opposition parties or the fate of a Ministry;, but on all other questions to be entirely free."—The motion was carried, and is to be fOrwardedj to the Auckland and Wellington executives. In a bulletin which is being_ specially circulated among farmers the New South AVales Department of Agriculture says that the depredations of the grasshopper pest are often, overlooked simply becausa its visits are" intermittent!' ''Precautions against its reappearance aro neglected, and young hoppers allowed to hatch out without let or hindrance. Warnings seem to lie much in vain. And yet the means of fighting the plague are within tho reach of those most concerned. Spraying with arsenical compounds lias been claimed as the cheapest aud most effective method. Other methods are trapping with screens and burning. Tho Castlepoint County Council has declared foxglove a noxious weed;"', The Waimarino County Council has _ como to the same decision' (now gazetted), in regard to Bathurst burr, broom, burdock, foxglove, giant burdftck, gorse, hakea, hemlock, kangaroo, acacia, lupin, oxeye daisy, pennyroyal, periwinkle, St John's wort, tauhinu (or New Zealand cotton-woon), tutsan, viper's bugloss, wild borage, wild turnip, vringsd thistle. Speaking at the Levin picnic held by the Farmers' Union, the Mayor of Levm (Mr. B. R. Gardener) said that it was only a few years since the butter factory had been started, and year after year practically to ,£30,000 had been paid Out in the one district. Southland farmers are well satisfied with the improved order of things brought' about by last week's rains. Tile prospects of the turnip crops are spoken of hopefully, although pasturage still requires copious moisture. Confidence in a. healthy oat market is indicated by a general reluctance of growers to accept anything under 2s. per bushel on trucks for their grain, says an exchange. The dry weather is playing havoc with farms in the Rakaia district. An Ashburton "Guardian" reporter learned that,, if ,rain did not fall within the nest few days, the water-courses would be practically dry. Feed is absolutely parched up, anil cattle and sheep are beginning to feel the effects of the drought.