Shannon News THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1923.

Shannon News, 29 March 1923, Page 2

Shannon News THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1923.

Mr Val. Atkinson, representing Laurie’s Musical Comedy Co., was a visitor to l Shannon yesterday.

. Theatre-goers will be pleased to hear that arrangements have been made with the management of the Laurie Musical Comedy Co. for a visit to Shannon on Wednesday evening next at. the MaoTiland Theatre. It is a, long time since Shannon was visited by a first-class theatrical company, and it is to be hoped the company will receive a bumper hou&e. The programme and scenery will be exactly the same as presented in the big centres, and a treat should be in store for Shannon, residents. A curious and beautiful stone will be on view at the Labour Party’s dance in the Druids’ Hall on Easter Monday evening. The stone is sea green in colour, with a. bright appearance, and at night time it fairly glistens. It. is about 6 inches square, and weighs 61b. The stone has been in Mrs F. Whibiey’s family for over 200 years, and was taken from a mine in Cornwall. Quite a number of experts have examined it, but so far no person has been able to state to what class it belongs. Alter being closed down for some months, title sawmill belonging to the Tokomaru Valley Sawmilling Co. at McDonald’s bush is to be re-opened, and a gang of men are now busy laying a tramway from the sawmill into the bush and, cutting will be commenced nejft* week. The company has removed, its''office ITohi Levin to Mr Franks’ garage in v.Ballance Street, and the secretary will be in attendance daily to receive and dispatch or- i deVs. In connection wtili the sawmill, ' Mr Franks will stock timber of all J kinds,* at his yard, and will conduct a > retail timber business, where small ■ quantities of timber may be purclias- : ed at retail prices, while the company | will fill local orders of 1250 super j feet and upwards at current mill prices.

A good illustration of the value of spraying is to be seen at the Boys’ Training Farm, Weraroa, in the magnificent crop of pears and apples produced tliis year. Not more than two per cent are infected Avith codlin moth, whilst last year, according to the head gardener, Mr F. Allen, there were not 20 per cent sound. Mr Allen made a determined effort to get rid of thq pest, commencing in July by liming the trunks of the trees to a ! might of two feet from the ground. ! Two sprayings of red oil were then j liven at. intervals of a fortnight, and a ter on when the flowers appeared ' wo sprayings at the same interval vith lime and sulphur. Five sprayngs with arsenate of lead completed ' be treatment, which, although involv- ' lg a considerable amount of labour, i mply demonstrates that even where ' , is worst ihi- ,est can ba eradicated.

The fortnightly meeting of the Druids’ Lodge will be held in the Parish Hall this evening at 8.15.

Messrs. Harcourt and C. 0., ol Wellington, offered by auction at the Century Hall, Levin, yesterday, the well known property of Lake Farm, comprising 80 acres. Bidding opened at £SO per acre, and the price quickly ran up to £7l, when the property was passed in, the upset price being £76.

A remarkably good return has been secured in Christchurch for the oneacre plot of grimm lucerne, a variety that is attracting a good deal of attention amongst growers at present. It was sown on October 21 last year, and the first cut was taken on January 19. A second cut Avas taken on March 3—six weeks later, and this yielded the equivalent of 6.32 tons to the acre, or a total of (18 weeks from the soAving)lo.o2 tons, on the American basis of computation of -one ton of hay to 3 1-3 tons of green matter. The result is 4.2 tons of hay. The average price for pure lucerne hay is £4 per ton, which gives the remarkable return of £l6 odd for an acre for 18 Aveeks.

Sydney is a happy hunting ground for beggars of all kinds, said Mr Sandford, a Feiiding resident, on his return fi'om, Australia. At every corner in every lane, and ; at every vacant space there Avere people of one description or other begging or selling art union tickets. Some were soldiers playing musical instruments and rattling money boxes. He had watched one man Avho was playing : on a onestringed fiddle, and found that he received 16 coins in five minutes. That was not bad going, even if the coins were pennies. A policeman had told him that these beggars received about £7 or £8 per Aveek.

“Unless very drastic steps are taken, dairying will completely disappear from (he King Country within the next ten years,’’ declared a delegate to the conference; of factory managers at Te Kuiti recently. A discussion had developed on the alarmingspread of ragwort throughout the district from Kihikihi downwards, which another manager asserted Avas closing down farms in some instances, and would make dairying impossible in a few years’ time if some effective check was not put on its spread. Mr A. J. Sinclair promised to- communicate with the Department of Agriculture, and suggest a Departmental investigation and speedy remedial measures. The Aveed was apparently a very'serious menace, and the company Avould certainly see what could be done to check its spread. An example of the feeding value of lucerne is to he seen on the Boys’ Training Farm, Weraroa, where the crop has recently been fed off for the eighth time this season, the first feeding being a.t the end of August. The lucerne, five acres in extent, was soAvn five years ago, 281 b of seed to the acre being used. No manure Avas used, but the ground had been previously top-dressed with one ton of lime to the acre. Two further topdressings, each of one ton of lime 1o the acre, have been given. The crop which is grazed, and not cut as is more usual, carried 50 cows for a week between milking times at last feeding-off.

An item which cannot fail to- attract the attention of a visitor to the Boys’ Training Farm, Weraroa, is a

stack 25 yards long, 10 yards wide, I and of a total height of 25 feet, eon- ; taming 80 tons of pressed hay. In conversation with a News representative, Mr M. Spencer, the Farm Overseer, who is a firm believer in pressing, said that there was a considerable saving of labour in pressing, one man at feeding-out time being able to do the work usually done by two, there being no cutting nor building of a load on the waggon. It has the further advantage where large quantities of hay are saved of being put into smaller compass, with a consequent. saving of thatching. The process followed on the Farm is io take the presser into the (hay paddock. The. hay, which is first built into cocks in case of delay through weather, is roped up, and the pressing done on (he spot. The stack, which requires no art in building, is roofed Avith straw to cover the inevitable steps formed by tho bales as it narrows towards the top.