MANAWATU NOTES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 72, 18 December 1920, Page 16

MANAWATU NOTES

This week opened with almost perfect summM weather, and the first three days being warm, without- nntch wind, the grass and green crops benefited considerably. On Wednesday, howover, cold, liitina winds set in, with tho result that fnost of the good donei was noutrulised. and tho grass is now wearing a brown and Wasted look, while tho heavy clay lands aro caking ns hard ns bricks. Tins makes agricultural operations very difficult, und prevents anything like a fine tilth being obtained. Some of the earliermwn crops of onls on lands which ««- ••■aped tbi> hoods are looking very well, lint a few of tliem Ale turning yellow lieforo the heads have tilled, and these .will make only very poor chaff. Some «wv tiuo crops of tyegrass liny are now oearly ready to cut, and in a few small ireitj cutting hns already commenced. There are some really' fine henlthy-look-tnjf crops of lucerno on lands which were properly worked before the seed was «own. and where the cultivator has lieon »nn through crops which have boon down fnr a year or two. Soma growers, now•>ror. complain that their lucerne is 'becoming overrun with weeds, and thw cannot be wondered nt, for in many iiittances farmors do not work and clean their ground sufficiently before, inta'oducpig this crop, ji'or the crop to be a success It Is a sine qua non that th,« ground must bo clean and absolutely free from weeds beforn tho crop is sown, while the soil should be reduced to very line tilth by constant nso of the discs before the seed Is] put in. Farmers will find that in the lons run this preliminary work, pays, as if" the lucerne once gets a fair start it' is quite cnpable of holding its own against, most wocds. Quite n number of dairymen are sowing fair patchcs of nniiju this season, ami this always comc«'ln handy,as foddpr in the late autumn.

Shearing is now proceeding apace, and quite a number of really prime wethers can now be neen nut of tho wool. Tho markvts for "both fat and store Bheep last week woro fairly good, but the delay in opening the freezing works line caused a slight decline in prices for fat sheep and lambs, wliiLe stores generally have cased off in sympathy. Store cattle are but littlo sought after, anil prices for cows have aased except for very best dairy sorts. A suggestion lias been mndo that a committee of the Chamber of Commorce should be appointed to co-operate with the Borough. Council an<l the Postal Department m revising tho names of places in and about I'almerston North. It is pointed out that during the past fifteen years the' Postal Department has changed the names of no fewer than 150 oilicos, becauso tho names were either inappropriate or unpronounceable. Tho deputation from Rangiotu which recently waited upon tho Postmaster-Gen-eral anil tho erection of a suitable ijost office ill Rangiotu above flood'level has now received information that Cabinet has approved of tho orection of a building at an estimated cost of .£1275. The same deputation brought under the notice of thfi Hon. ,T. G. Conlcs the unsatisfactory state of tho culvert across tiir Poxton railway line at Rangiotu, and suggested that this slioiild be replaced by a trestle bridge. It also asked that (lie railway line should be fenced 'between Longburn and Poxton. The Minister now advises that these mntters have been referred to tho ?>linister of Railways, who is looking into them with. a view to. having something done m the direction Sl 'X. K dq>utntion of members of tho *fannwatu Egg C.irclo, with members of tho Utility Poultry Club, waited upon Mr. J. A. Nash, M.P., and pointed out the urgent necessity of obtaining soino protection against the importation of rI pulp. Tho doputahon urged that if something wero not done to check the importation of Asiatic, egg pulp tho poultry industry in the Dominion was threatened with extinction, as .£70.000 worth of the pulp came into New Zealand Inst month Mr. Nash promised to do all in his power to prevent tho importation of ww pulp. The Mnnawatu Sub-Provincial IJxecutivo of the Farmers' Union has already npproached the Minister of Industries and Commorce on the matter, and at its next meeting■ delegates from the New Zealand Poultry Association will be present to discuss the matter further. In consequowo of t.lie lower prices i pirn" for cheeso. several dairy factories which havo dual plants have dropped the making of checse and have turned to butter, as a better paying proposition, at any rato in the meantime. A special me'otin" of shareholders and suppliers of the Kaivanca Dairy Company discussed the matter. The opinion was expressed th-it the drop.in choese prices wns only temporary, and that there would proIxibly bo a rocovery when stocks at present on tho Homo markets had boon cleared. As opinions appeared to be fnirh- evenly divided, it was decided to leave the mutter in tJie hands of the directors with power to take what steps they thought advisable.