GENERAL FARMING NEWS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1090, 31 March 1911, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS

• New Zealand potato growers'and deal- • ers in the tuber will be interested in the ■: following paragraph-from "The Australa- ' sian":—"At the.recent conference of llin- ! isters of Agriculture.for the'various States > of the Commonwealth,.considerable atteh- -i ■ tion was directed, to the best means of .-: coping with .the spread of Irish Wight dis- ; ease'in potatoes. It -was agreed that :ex■periments should be carried out. in all the States in the spraying of potatoes in infected, districts, with a view subsequently to making the spraying of in- : feeted areas compulsory throughout Aus- < tralia. The evidence before the conference -was held to remove all'doubt, as to ; the. efficacy of spraying in preventing Irish : blight and in-improving-the yields. It -was decided, further, that growers' certi- ; .fieates should be dispensed with, and that '< the only, certificate required should be ! that of the inspector. This means that ' potatoes may, in future, pass freely be- : tween all the States but' Western Aus- ; tralia simply on' the certificate' of the : inspector • that the consignment is clean , and free from,lrish blight." . .- : : .Members of the Finance Ccmmittea of the Pahiatua'A. and I'. Association made , an inspection of the old racecourse ground and portion of the Hall Estate sites, which are under offer to the association •for new showgrounds (says the "Herald"). ' The latter site seemed the most favoured., and the question resolves itself chieiiy into one of finance. Those who made the inspection included Messrs. G. A. i3urgess, K. J. ll'Lennan, A. MTarlane and , : T. A. Walsh (secretary). The Mayor (Mr. W. AV. M'Cardle) and Mr. K B. Hare also accompanied the party. The drying up of dams and water courses this season has had the effect of inducing'farmers to increase the number of their reservoirs, and there are more earth scoops employed in this work just now than ever before known in this district (says the Halcombo correspondent of the "Kaugitikei Advocate"). Some of the old .dams that were never before known to 'dry'up are now being cleaved out and a large number of eels are being turned out of their beds. ~„ On .Ids.,, way to. Auckland,., in with tho Minister for Agriculture: (said Mr. J. Dunlop, the Scotch Commissioner, to a Southland reporter), ho visited the 'four experiment farms in the North Island, .situated at. Mournahaki, AA'ereroa, ■'Euakura, and AVaerenga. ' Two of those, in his opinion, wero doing good .work but the other two were of an antiquated and useless order, and he 'failed to see their worth. '■ The-prospect of the American Mear Trust operating iu Australia has caused a certain amount of discussion in New Zealand. One of the phases most talked of .was that Mr. Kidman was said to favour the trust.'. The ,'Sydnev "Herald" doubts if the view imputed to Mr.-Kid-man will he shared by many pastoralists, and says that the small man who takes that view is remarkably optimistic. During the dry spell the ranger in the Alntio 'county was instructed .llqt to im;pound cattle strnyirigVon-the'ebuntyroad's.