RURAL TOPICS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2156, 12 August 1907, Page 4

RURAL TOPICS.

Lust your South Austrnku realised £106,000 for eggs , exported, tti other Stales. Last year In Queensland horses increased by 22,351, cattle by ta'iOi-ihj-l. ’rt'irtl sheep by ; '2,35t,207.

From Ist April last to- tlie present, (late the Asiiburton County Council has paid for no iev.or"than" 68,760 hem's of small birds,, at lho . ratio of one penny p('t' head. Tho results of - the poison inn during' tho past month vva ■ more ed'eetual than for '■several tyeanh paljt'AtWrites the Press correspondent l ) owing >n part to' tho hard frosts and the dryness lot' the 'am! consul ere hi.v .-eu'ey. ihu supply of insects food, for the-sparrow and his follow feathered pests do consume innumerable insects when they can get "them.

Enquiries‘at the Taieri and Peninsula Dairy Factory (writes tho Mr, taura’ Ensign) give an idea of the manner in which the dairy farmer is suffering from the present dry season. For the month of;. May of ,1906 the company received;, 518,132.. gallons of milk from its suppliers, and, for tho same month of this year only 363,480 gallons wore received, showing the heavy shortage of 154,652 gallons in one month. This practically paralyses the company’s export trade, tho whole of its output being required for tho local market.

The German Government lias been instituting an exhaustive research in order to find a remedy for potato rot, which has been serious and increasing for several yoars. The rotting, it seems, is caused by tho pot ato fungus. This 1 fungus, if present on some potatoes in a cellar, spreads to other potatoes and causes rot. A solution of lib of chloride of lime dissolved in 25 gallons of water is used for washing tho potatoes by means of a broom. They are then spread out to dry. Through this procedure the spores of the fungus are killed.

Two thousand seven hundred dozen eggs wore graded at the Government poultry depot, Auckland, for tho week ending July. 27th. Mr. A. Pounsford (chief grader) states that eggs are coming in more freely at present, the number increasing by about 500 dozen eggs per week. Last November 33,000 dozen eggs were graded at tho depot, but it is expected that fully three times that number will be put through during November of'this year. Mr. Pounsford still complains of the dirty state in which many of the settlers send their eggs to tho depot.

The seriousness of the present dry weather to the farmer is becoming more, apparent.'- every day, remarks a Dunedin paper. , A gentleman in .the' grain line stated that from as far north as Christchurch to further south than Clinton the winter wheathad done very poorly, and that the ground .was so. dry that there was little' chance of ploughing it for the sowing of spring wlieat or rye grass. On the other hand, they had had too much rain in tho North Island, while Southland had little to complain of.

The three pedigree stud bulls that the Minister for Lands, the Hon, R. McNab, in his speech to the farmers at Palmerston North during the late "Winter Show,-stated were being imported fyom England, were to arrive in AVelliugton on August stli. These animals, . which are of a guaranteed milking strain, are intended for the purpose of improving the dairy herds of the colony. Some idea of their value may be gained from the fact that they are insured for £556.

A gentleman who has been on a vis-, it to Southland tells the Oamaru Mail that At is quite refreshing to see the country after the drought-afflicted appearance of the Oamaru district. Everywhere' things are looking well, stock of:-all' descriptions—sheep, cattle, and" horses—being in splendid condition. Grass is still good, but the majority of farnfers are now feeding stock' on turnips, which seem to be grown by everyone, and of which there are abundant supplies, i It is, however, only ;in • the' outlying districts, far removed from the railways, that turnips are -avilablo for sale in any quantities, and the cost of cartage would be very' heavy. The informant also states that’ things are also looking well in Southern Otago, where though the season has not been viewed as a' good one, the turnips have done, well, as high as £ls per acre having been reached by some growers.

Sir Harry Rawson (says the Sydney Morning Herald) has of late been insistent on the necessity of stacking surplus fodder in New South Wales during good seasons as a. stand-by for the droughty years, which may be expected to recur. He referred to it again recently at the Sheepbreeders’ Show. In reply to ail address of welcome, he read his suggestion, and said:—“l feel that I cannot too often urgo the vigorous prosecution of water conservation and its sequel irrigation, and that each pastoralist should prepare, by preserving food stuffs in these good seasons, to meet those bad times which, I am afraid, are bound sooner or later to recur.” In a few extempore romai'ks, after reading his formal roply to the address, His Excellency again referred to the subject:, and gave it as bis opinion that though the cost of labor might be pleaded as an excuse for omitting to cut arid’ stack some of the surplus grass, yot the money, if its outlay resulted in saving valuable sheep in bad years, would bo well spent. His Excellency once more referred to the same subject, and again begged the pastoralists to make hay in' good soasons.