Farming Column

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1932, Page 8

Farming Column

FARMERS’ UNION NOTES. The Farmers’ Union is endeavouring, to get the cliarges of . unsold wool ledueed. . For wool not sold 3/- per bale for the first offering is charged, and 1/6 per bale each subseq.ept .iffer- ng. The wook-brokers jregard re r offered wools as a great hindrance to the economical working of stores, and entail much work in cutting and resowing a IJ d re-stacking. For wool that is sold the commission is 21 per,cent>.on the first £SOO and a.ter that li'fper cent. | j 1 ; * > In, his .Wpoffc to Vttoec Dominion Executive, the'i'Hti'rali.'lrtterjnediate Credit Comirtissi'dflfer following’'('dHAi's“The Board’s borrowers have continued to keep uo their payments of principal and interest) and in comparatively few. cases are borrqweps. i.ft al'rear ..with their, interest payments. At a recent meeting of the Boni'd very favourable comment was made on . the position disclosed by the latest return of arrears, and the Board placed on record its special appreciation of the manner in which the collection of payments has, been attended to by the . Board’s officers. As has beon mentioned, in previous statements the Board has, granted a number of concessions .to its- borrowers, but few. jf any, of these refer to interest and the manner in . which bor-rowers--balm 'met their payments is very gratifying, especially in view of the difficult conditions which are prevailing and hAVO prevailed for some tjme in the farm in? industry. Con-

qcssions continue to he necessary and the Boai’d is assisting its borrowers 4s far os possible consistent with the safecnardin? o’ the funds entrusted to it by debenture-holders. The Rural Intermediate Credit. Act provides that loans granted bv the Board should he fully repaid within five years from the dates of the granting 0 f the original loans, and it is the Board’s duty to ensure that as far as possible loans are so repaid. The Board realises, however, tbait especially at present it will be impossible for some borrowers fully to 'repay-the loans and that to insist on full repnvmeflt would work considerable hardship. The position .of each loan which is not fully repaid«within the period specified will be reviewed in the? light of all the circumstances pertaining thereto, and the Board’s decisions will be given on the merits of each case.”

The Farmers’ Union has made inquiries regarding the cost cf upkeep of a travelling dental clinic in the sparsely settled districts of Queensland. The cost of the motor car and dental fittings was , £694 10s; the number .ot scholars treated for a period of seven months was 635 involving 2,525 operations. In addition 764 operations were performed for adults; . and. for this work £129 9s was collected, in fees. During seven months the clinic,..which is ainder the ~control of a. Dental Inspector accompanied by a motor mechanic for driving the car, travel ed 2.977 miles. Examination of children’s months showed that per centj used ft tooth-brush, 47 f per cent/ occasionally, and 48$ per cent, never.

TOO MANY GRADES. That , too many grades of New Zealand butter were, exported: was the contention of a Taranaki dairyman the oilier day., He said that too many, glides of butter were being sent. Home, just the same as there were too many grades of cream - within ;>the . country. The,. Danes, he said-, sent .only One, grade. of-butfeiv That Was known as Danish, and he thought New Zealand should adopt the policy he advocated, pending Home only one grade, that ■was first.grade. Second-grade and whey butter should be used in New Zealand.

i I lr . j r i-f-■» : 4- 5 jti » ’ THE BUTTER TRADE. DANISH PACKING. An interesting development in the British butter ‘trade is that the Danes contemplate following the' example of Australia and New Zealand in putting butter in packets on to the British market. According to the Copenhagen newspaper Politiken, two representatives of Danish firms have visited London and arranged with a great wholesalp firm whiclr for some time has been packing New Zealand butter in cartons, to 'commence the packing of Danish butter similarly.

'These experiments need the sanction of the Ministry of ' Agriculture' oil, Denmark, comments a London correspondent. When this is given, operations vi’l commence, .possibly, within two month's. Traders here do not regard tHh’ 1 ' etf'hPrimonti as likely to have a sale rF Australian j/lVcF'Now' Zealand butter. They remember that some 40 years liero a. hi" multiple firm started selling Danish butter in cartons butpjowing to the non-s>m-ceHS. abandoned:, the system after only a few months’ trial.. France’s abolition of the quota systonp for butter imports is expected to ]oml to the purchase of good quantities of Australian and New Zealand butter, for a great scarcity of butter in Franco forced tiie retail price there to ns, hi"h ns.43d per lb. So although thq abolition of the mints, system Ims been accomplished by an increased dutv, on Australian and New Zealand fo IPd per lb. French consumers wdl be able to b"v the commodity in the yioirpitv of 2s 6cl per lb. so it. is not ijnreato expect a good demand in the, nespr future.

SUPERPHOSPHATE IN - DBiNKING WATER l-OR CATTLE. A number of inquiries -have been received, ; says Mr ~i>. Cl. Aston, < chief chemist,. Department;., 0f... Agriculture, with reference to the proportions ot superphosphate and .water to be used in giving cattle, phosphate,,in a water soluble form, for' supplementing a deficiency o. phosphate, and perhaps als,c of calcium, in the food supply in cases wliere it is impracticable to use enough super for topdrefusing or even when noi/e’ at all can rbd used. The proportions which, have been found practicable, to. give in this way are 11b of superphosphate in 100 gallons of soft drinking water. Cattle will drink this readjly enough .when no other source of supply is available, hut when puddles aboupd in the paddock no guarantee can be given that they will not forsake the medicated water fop a time. It should he noted that soft .water is specified, as hard water, which contains lime would . tend to>, throw out of solution the valuable soluble phosphate.

150 VARIETIES OF LUCERNE. Some 150 different varieties aiid strains of alfalfa (lucerne) .have been nnder test at the Ontario Agricultural College during the-last 50 years. These • ■varieties and strains have shown a variation in yield from' nothing to almost five tons of hay per acre. Winter hardiness has been one of the most vital factors in producing the largest yields of per acre. J<n eacji of thepast 31 years ■ ooonerative experiments -have been con- ■ dilated in ’testing -different varieties, rf ■alfal a. During this long period seed has been distributed - to a total of 272 l Ontario fanners for co-operative experi- . ments on their .own faring;- ■ ' > 1 A ~ co-operative experiment .was '' started in 1911. in testing the Ontario j Variegated and Grimm, varieties of a'falfat These two varieties-hove now heeu .tested for a period of 20 veers on a total of 2181 farms in the Prov- . iiice of Ontario.; . ' v.-,.- ■•- i \

In 1925 a- blank, form was forwarded to each Experimenter.,asking a num- 1 her of questions regarding their-experi-nient,. .Replies • were received ii'om over 300 from which results were summarised;-. -. ■ ".i. ■" Til answer tQVthe question as, to which of the two varieties gave the best

results in the local tests the results showed that in the 14 years from 1011 to 1924, inclusive, the majority of the exnerimenters .favoured the Ontario Variegated hv'-the ■ veers 1912, 191.3, the majority, the Grimm in each of the other seven years. Of the 188 who answered the* questions 95 preferred the Grimmi .and 93 the . Ontario Variegated.. Summarised'results of co-operative experiments during the last six years have shown: an almost'equal division of opinion among experimenters as to i the relative 'value of these two varieties. The'.summary 0f..31 reports re-' celved in 108 f> ■ show that IGioo-opera-tive experimenters favoured the Grimm variety-and 15 favoured the! Ontario Variegated variety. During the last ten years several severe winters badl v damaged the alfaVa crop, but in most eases the' plots at the college growing the Ontario. Variegated and Grimm varieties suffered less injury from winter hilling than other varieties and strains under test. More farmers are each year x*ealising there is no perennial hay cron equal to alfalfa for growing on very many farms of Ontario

EXPORTS OF BUTTER. ry ’■ SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE' REPORTED. The Department of Commerce report shows i (says the Melbourne Leader), that during the period from July. •1" to September 10, 462,677 boxes of butter • were exported from Australia compared with 397,771 boxes shipped in tl.o corresponding period last year. Of. thei total quantity exported this season 421j389 boxes went to. Great •Britain,'and 41,288 to other countries. Shipments from the various States were as - follows :

New: South Wales: -United Kingdom, 20,156 boxes; other countries, 9085 boxes ; total boxes, 38,241 * Victoria: 186,961, 23.154, 210.115; Queensland: 159,462, 8988', 168,450; SouthAustralia: 41,803, 61, 41,864; 'West Australia. 3725, t —, 37.25;. • Tasmania: 282. _ 282; totals 421,389, 41,288, 462,677-. i It was allied that marked progress in liutter- production had been made iri Victoria and South Australia and a continuance of existing favourable conditions iisljorJ’d ensiure record figures for these .States. In contrast. New South Wa]es and Queensland 'feitals :reflected, utlie degree to which "ftfftdnotion had " suffered in consequence of dry seasons. ,