NEWS AND NOTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3772, 27 March 1928, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES

Over 200 men are employed at the railway deviation in Palmerston North, working in two shifts, the first starting at 3.30 ’a.in. and the last ceasing at 8.30 p.m. A peculiar pomologieal specimen was discovered by Mr. 11. W. Thompson, of Otoko, near Gisborne, in his orchard a few days ago (says the Auckland Herald). It is half Delicious and half Scarlet Permain apple, apparently due to cross fertilisation. It was grown on a Delicious tree on a small branch hanging by itself and not shaded in any way. The Permain are situated 100 yards from the Delicious trees, with four or five different varieties in between. One half of the apple is deep red, and the other half of the Delicious variegated colouring, the demarcation being very distinct. A Hawke’s Bay farmer tells a story of the maternal instinct and sagacity of his sheep dog in regard to the care of seven puppies, who ■were born in a hole dug under a heap of logs at the bottom of a paddock some distance from the farm buildings. All went well until the country was deluged by rain. On the following morning the farmer was surprised to find that during the night the dog had transported all her family safely across the paddock to the nearest building, a cowshed. That this removal of the litter was (lone at the height of the storm at ; night was shown by the mud-splashed condition of the pups, which must have been carried one by one to a shelter which the mother knew would be high and dry.