FARM NOTES.

Otaki Mail, 10 April 1922, Page 1

FARM NOTES.

In some localities in Hawke’s Bay early species of apple trees are in. bloom. , An old resident of Wanganui stated to a Herald reporter that he had been living thore for over 40 years, and he could not recollect a previous occasion when the weather had been so unsettled in the month of March.

"Had lucerne growing been started on a comprehensive scale first at Poverty Bay instead of in Marlborough, it would have been to Poverty Bay that people would have pointed as an example of the success of this kind of fodder,” said Mr Cockayne, Government biologist, at a lecture at the fanners' Union rooms.

The rainfall for March at Cambridge has been most exceptional, and scarcely a whole fine day has been experienced during the last fortnight. As a result there has beon an extraordinary growth of grass, and feed was never more plentiful (says the New Zealand Herald). Tho ftfrmers will face the winter with stock in splendid condition . and an abundant supply of green feed.! The present fine weather has come 1 too late to help the farmer and orchard- f ists. All through what should have I been the summer a succession of showers spoiled much of the district’s pro- • duce, although it gave a wonderful | crop of grass (states the Napier Tele- I graph). This in itself caused a large mortality amongst sheep. All the I fruit was more or less tasteless, and ! now the fine weather has come, too j late to be of any real benefit, although ; it is appreciated by tho populace after | such a unique summer. j Mr Ernest Boynes, one of the best known show judges of horses in Aus- j tralia, intends visiting some of ther. principal agricultural shows .in tho Do- ‘ minion towards tho end of this year.

A land valuer, in conversation with '• a Herald representative, stated that it j was a very difficult matter at the pro- ' sent time to valuo land, but at the . same time he considered the value was down 20 to 25 per cent, in Wanganui, j

Asses and mules are not popular in New Zealand, as figures recently compiled by the Government Statistician go to prove. The total for the Dominion is 245, and they are principally used in the North Auckland and Hawke’s Bay districts, the respective figures being 74 and 73. There are also over 80 in the far south.

A representative of a Taranaki dairy company states that his factory had sold all its surplus butter over what was required for local trade at Is 6£d per lb. in bulk, the contract extending over tho next few months.

Very few growers get the very best results from either the dwarf of climbing varieties of kidney beans, the rule being to allow these to ripen seed for nest season's planting. The folly of this is obvious when we remember fhtrt the cost of seed is but a few pence, while the tax of ripening seed is so great upon the plant, that as soon as it starts production ceases. Gather all the pods as soon as fit, and rely on a good firm for a start nest season. A Paretai correspondent of the Clutha Free Press writes that in a recent issue of the Otago Witness, it was stated that there are now 38 British Friesian 2000-gallon cows. From an Irish paper our correspondent gleams that the Irish cows that only average 400 gallons of milk per annum do not pay to keep, whereas the Danish cows average 620 gallons a year. New Zealand, he adds, has a few 2000-gnlV*n and over cows, but the average of the dairy herds of the Dominion nsed to be daily 375 gallons per annum, and the Australian average was rather less. The moral is that the cow that produces less than 600 gallon; per annum should be culled if New Zealanders wish to reach *2ie Danish standard profitable milk production. Owing to the exceptional weather a third crop of hay has been cut at Beauvais (France), for the first time within living memory. The third crop is awsh superior to the second.