MANAWATU

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 135, 3 March 1919, Page 8

MANAWATU

An' orange and a persimmon tree are in full bearing on a farm at Weraroa at the present time. lire. E. Proctor, of Bunnyfhorpe, has received advice that her son; Private . Albert Proctor, who went to the front with the \TweJfth Eeiniorceincnts, is returning on MSrch 13. Advice has been received by Mr. \v. Sexton, of Foxton, that his brother, Private 'M. Sexton, died at Codford Hospital, England. Private Sexton, who was a single man, left with the Thirty-third Reinforcement, and was attached to tue Otago Eegiment. That lucerne is a moat prolific grower is testified .to by a Kiritaki settler, who asserts that a patch of four acres put down bv him grew eighteen inches m eight weeks, and ho is now engaged in cutting it for the first time.. So satisfied i 3 he with the experiment that ho intends to increase his four acres to about 20 or 25, aid hopes by so doing to run one cow to the act*." Brown rot has played havoc with peach culture in some portions of the district this season. A Manawatu representative of the Horowhenua ■'Chronicle" had the opportunity of inspecting some of l'h<s trees on Lieutenant J. C. Neil's plantation at Weraroa settlement. Lieutenant Neil has some 15 acres under fruit cultivation, principally peaches, and practically all the trees have'been attacked by the rot, causing a loss of fully 90 per cent, of the crop, which at present prices represents a considerable sum over an area suoh as this farm comprises. Silver blight is another pest that is in evidence. Lieutenant Neil stated that whilst m England ho had the opportunity of visiting some large Government farms where experiments were lieing niado 'with a view to more effectively controlling fruit pests such as those mentioned, and good results were hoped for. The residents of the lhakara-district are interesting themselves in « movement for a new school for that growing locality. Meantime the proposal that;tno pupils should bo conveyed to the Kcpiltaroa' School instead of' continuing to uso the present building at Ihakara is being held in abeyance. Broad beans are gaining in favour with some poultry-owners as fowl feed. Tho beans are dried aud crushed, and fed in that form, giving good results. Several farmers in the Weraroa block cultivated beang for this purpose this year. The Horowhenua Eacing Club has received a reply from the Eacing Confer : once regarding its suggestion that tlio local club hold a race meeting on May 81. ,The conference states that the Tai-a-tahi-Carterton Club object, as they race ' on May 29. The Horowhenua Club has i now nominated May 10. In reply to , this the conference states that this date , is suitable, providing the Manawatu and 1 Marlborough Clubs do not object, as • Manawatu races on May 7 and 8, and Marlborough on May 7.