WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 368, 10 June 1911, Page 5

WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

A MINIATURE KXHIIiITION

The VVaikuto Winter Show opened on Tuesday last when then: was a largo attendance. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr 11. Grecnalade, M.P. Mr W. T. Jennings, M.P., was also present. The officials are to be congratulated on the very fine arrangements made, and a special word of praise is due to Mr S. J. .Bennett, President, Messrs W. F. Mason and J. Parlane, Vice-presidents, and Mr Arthur J. Smith, Secretary. From the opening of the Show a steady stream of visitors has continued up to tho present. The principal attraction -on Wednesday afternoon was the School Cadets' competitions. On Thursday evening, the Frank ton Boy Scouts gave an exhibition in first aid, and bridge-building. This novel work by the bovs elicited much admiration and applause. There were numerous aide shows ami visitors had amusements galore. The Show itself could best be describe d as a "Miniature Exhibition." The general arrangements were splendid. The root exhibition was an excellent one, and would do credit to any of the bigger winter shows in the Dominion. On the whole, the exhibition has a pleasing variety, which makes the Show of interest even to those who understood little about farming, while the air of cleanliness and well-kept appearance was most enticing. I" * ho home inclu3tne3 section, it wa9 quite evident that the ladies were doing their part towards

the success of the exhibition. The bread exhibits were very line, and the judge had a considerable amount of adjudicating on account of the entries being so remarkably close in quality. Tin most striking part of the exhibition was that all available space was used for exhibiting purposes. It was entirely different from the Auckland Winter Show, which mostly comprised trade exhibits. A number of Southern gentlemen who were present, and who have been visiting a number of winter shows lately, had no hesitation in stating that the Waikato exhibition could safely lay claim to being the second winter exhibition in the Dominion.

An interesting exhibit was that of the Department of Agriculture, carried out under the supervision of the Department's ofiicials. The Government Court has come to be looked upon by the visitor from the country as the one exhibit, interesting in itself, to warrant a special visit to the Show. The Department has gone to a tremendous amount of trouble to get the Court together, and so comprehensive is it in every way that there is scarcely a single branch of agriculture and farming that is not represented. The value of such a court is not placed at its highest by the average farmer, but it cannot fail to become appreciated by the thinking man of the future, especially as the whole essence of modern farming is now its scientific application. One side of the court is devoted to specimen roots of the co-operative field experiments. These experiments are carried out under the supervision of an oilicer of the Department, with the co-operation of the farmers. A certain patch of land is taken, which is typical of a large area, and this is put under cultivation and tended by a Govrenment official. The results, of course, prove of extreme interest to the special districts where the experiments are carried out, and they are held with a view of testing the soil for particular producing qualities, the method ...adopted being cheap to the farmer as well as beneficial to the whoie agricultural community. Unfortunately there are none of the North Island experimental results in roots on view, the whole of the ones on exhibition having been grown in the South Island. Twenty-one varieties of mangels are shown from the Sunnyside Mental Hospital, all fine specimens, while 2ti varieties of swedes grown by Mr Joseph Stirling, of Otago, are also shown, the experiments here having been carried out not altogether with the idea of showing which produces the heaviest crop, but rather to learn as to their resistance to disease. There are also yellow and while llesh turnips, 2S varieties, grown by Mr It. Houliston, Kakpuaka, Otago.. The Moumahaki Farm shows a quantity of mangels, swedes, carrots, pumpkins, wheat, barley and potatoes, the Tauranga Farm exhibiting pumpkins, mangels, sugar beet and fruit. The liuakura Farm is showing ll!") different varieties of potatoes, while one huge stand is also devoted to grasses and weeds, tlie results of experiments at the farm. Beneath each variety a card is placed, showing the usefulness or otherwise of the specimen. New grasses are being continually tried, and their values for various purposes tested.

An exhibit of hemp is very interesting, showing the material in every stage of the process of manufacture, right from the raw article to the finished product. There is also a specimen of the best Manila hemp, costing £42 per ton, which has been specially imported for comparative purposes.

The value of producing utility in preference to fancy poultry id amply demonstrated by a number of splendid exhibits, which include Black Orping- j tons, White Leghorns, Silver VVyan- I dottes, White Plymouth Rocks, Min- ! orcas, and Indian Kunner, Pekin, and I Aylesbury ducks. These are all bred from a selection made from year to year in a trap nest. Around the walls of the court are hung charts showing the various exports for a nnmber of years while one large one occupying the whole of the upper portion of one wall gives some very interesting result of milk tests made at the Ruakura farm, which amply demonstrates the advantages to be gained by the dairy farmer by judicious herd selection. The best Holstein milker tested at the farm, accoridng to the chart, gave no less than ii-lfi.Clb of butter fat for the period, and was still milking at the time the chart was made out, giving 221bs of milk per day. Her value in butter fat so far is £25, and she continues to give an average tvst of 3.8. The next best gave 4181b, with an average test of H.(J, and is still giving a yield of lib lb of milk per day. The value of her butter fat up till the time was £11) 4s. The i results of the te3ts in the Shorthorns j shows one animal giving 533.2 lb, | with a test of 4.2, while still milking j 16 lb per day, her butter fat value for j the period being £24 8s 9d. ] A large number of varieties of fruit ) are on exhibition from all parts of the : Dominion, and although these have ! been in cool Store for ten weeks, they I are quite sound and healthy. The specimens are packed for export and demonstrate to the fruit grower how this process should bp carried out with i the various kinds and sizes of fruit. | An exhibit of grain, which is a I duplicate of the one sent to the lmi perial Exhibition, London, and the i one at Roubaix, France, is a very interesting section to the farming community. The grain was grown in the South Island, and similar exhibits to the one at the Waikato Show are being shown at most of the smaller shows in the South Island. The seed exhibit, which also went to the two large exhibitions, is duplicated, and j shows many splendid varieties of I wheat, oats, barley, rye, tares, peas, j beans, clovers, and grasses grown in ' the colony, over 110 varieties being j shown in all.

As demonstrating what Waikato land can produce, the Ruakura farm has forwarded, in addition to the grasses and potatoes, specimens of wheat, oats, linseed, barley, rye,

spelts, and included is.a sheaf of Argentine oats, grown from one seed, the result of a careful selection which in two years' testing, gives every indication of being rust resistent. . The pathological exhibit as shown last year is again on view, showing specimens of disease in troubles to which the animals of the farm are heir.

The court is under the supervision of Mr MacPherson, who is ever ready and willing, wUh his excellent staff, to show visitors round and to explain to them any matters of special interest. The Show concludes to-night.