GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1131, 19 May 1911, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Mary, the noted crossbred cow at tho State farm at Wcreroa, has given for four complete seasons, and the present season to end of April (she is still milking), G2,1891b. of milk, from which have been taken 2350.71b. of butter-fat. 1 Australian files just to hand state tho dry spell has ])een broken, and that the rain has "saved the situation." In a recent issuo of The Dominion it was noted that the' farmers were fearing a big drought, but had been advised by a scientist that such misfortune was not imminent.

Accounts in the Melbourne press of a sale of draught horses at Flommington last week show that high prices were realised. Tom Walton, a stallion, by Marheaton- Prize-getter—Red Rose, brought 800?ns,; Bramhops Druid 11, 550 gns.; and Breslow Premier, by Buckingham Premier—Star, 280gns. In reply to an inquiry by the Director of Orchards Division, New Zealand, Mr. John Osborne, jun., Horticultural ■ Instructor for Tasmania, states that 40 per cent, of the' apples exported from Tasmania aro graded by machine, and that the proportion graded by hand .is rapidly decreasing. The executors of tho lato I\ E. Body, of Bundemar, Trangi, report having sold the three-year-old stud ram Sir Charkts to Messrs. E. and AV. Gibb, of Cocketedgong, Jerilderie, for ifilOOO.—Sydney Exchange. A South Island paper states, as an evidence of the mildness of tho season tho fact that there is in a garden at Glentui an applo tree of the Irish Peach variety which has a second crop of apples. Tho first crop was a prolific one, and tho present ono is fair and well distributed. The apples, which are aboilt half the usual size, are ripe and eatable. A peculiarity about them, however, is that they are pipless.

In a note on conditions in the Killinchy districts (Killinchy is about 35 miles south of Cbrstchurch) a southern paper says:—Feed is very short all over the district, and on the lighter lands stock will be hard pushed during the next few month?. , Very little crop has been sown yet, owing to the ravages of the grass grub, which is making great inroads among the oats and young grass. At Ashburton on Monday night 13} degrees of frost were registered. In an interview with a "Lyttelton Times" reporter, Mr. Francis K. Cassels, of Quilmes, Argentina, who is on a visit to New Zealand, expressed much surprise at the amount which could be 1 taken off the land in New Zealand. In the Argentine wheat averaged eleven bushels to the acre. Thirty bushels was considered a phenomenal yield. Dairy farming had been commenced in the Argentine, but it. was. making very slow progress. The immigrants from Italy and Spain did not understand the industry like the nations from the north of Europe, and ho considered it would be a long time before they learnt. Figures if sued by the Victorian Government Statist give the total production of wool in the State for tho past season as 101,803,5111 b., comprising wool clip 80,074,2701b., estimated quantity of wool stripped from. Victorian skins 7.450,1581b.,' and estimated quantity of wool on Victorian skins exported 14,279,2161b. The total was 95,332,8201b. in the previous season. Tbo official estimate of the Victorian wheat crop.for season 1910-11 is 2,398,03!) r.cres, yielding 34,813,019 bushels, an average of 14.52 bushels per acre. All the Moumahaki Farm ewes from the beginning, of tho lambing season havo had a liberal supply of mangels. For such a purpose the value of this fodder cannot well be overestimated. It keeps up tho flow of milk at a critical time, and tho lambs themselves eat the mangels with relish at three weeks.—"Agricultural Journal." Accounts of a potato famine in Western Australia are brought by the njail. Growers, having sold their crops at high prices, are begging the Agricultural Department to help them with feed. The .Minister will not permit tho planting of Victorian potatoes. Ho expects only 80,0 tons, certified by Professor Lowrie, from South Australia. A quantity of 100 tons ordered from England mukli be planted in Federal quarantine. Free railway passes have been promised to Albany and tho south-west districts for growers' delegates to seek seed, which is estimated to cost, over -£20 per ton. The Martou branch of the Farmers' Vnion has made the following remit to the conference: "That the Minister for Agriculture be urged to havp experiments on a practical basis carried out at ono of the experimental farms, to find out if possiblo tho best way of dealing with Californian thistle." ■S. man who formerly lived in the South Island, but is now in Victoria, says of Victoria that it is "a splendid farming country, and 1 think that in the near future New Zealand will have a sood deal to fear from its competition in the frozen meat industry There is every prospect of an early season this year. There havo been bounteous Tains and warm weather, and the grass is as good and plentiful." \ commissioner from Java recently visited South Australia, to buy dairy cows. The difficulty in that country is that tho cows soon become unproductive. An attempt is now being mnde to cross Australian breeds with Hie Java animals in tlin hope of producing a cross which will be ablo to stand tho influence of the climate. A peculiar kind of whito aphis is playing havoc this year with the turnip crops in tho vicinity of tho Old Bar (writes tho Sydney "Herald's" Jones' Island correspondent). Spraying would lw useless to cope with the pest, as the under-portion of every leaf is smothered, and would bo required to l>o burufd up. They arc not only eating the turnip loaves, but also those of the beetroot and radish plants. When the leaves are eaten, and tho stems begin to decay, tho smell of then , , together with that of the insects, is said to be very obnoxious. One vegetable grower of 2j years' experience says he has never known anything like tho pest beforui