Farm Notes.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4414, 22 May 1909, Page 4

Farm Notes.

RAT PROBLEM IN CREAMERIES j . ' T >. . # . N the Now York “ Produce Review,” . L Q-. of Pennsylvania, j mswers the question rou rid a creamery of rats ? ” He «id ‘: “ Rats in a creamery are a luisance, not on account of what they sat so much as the damage they do. The best method I know to rid a ireamery of rats is to set traps baited with bacon or cheese. Roasted pumptin seeds are also good for bait. The xaps must be handled as little as possible as the rats are very suspicious. The best traps are the ones known as the dead fall or guillotine traps, preferably all metal, as metal does not absorb genus or odours as readily as wood. “Poison for rats is sometimes resorted to, but is nearly always un« I satisfactory for a creamery. A good way to exclude rats from a creamery is the use of cement. Cement the floors and rfiiis also for a height of two or three feet above the floor. Do not leave any rubbish around the building where they can make a breeding place, and they will soon diminish in numbers, so there will be little damage done. If they do noi ; entirely disappear, the remainder can .usually be exterminated by a giod cat. I think it worth while to allow a good imouser ’ access to all parts of the creamery building.” THE RISING WOOL MARKET. The most welcome news to hand for sometime past is that of the continued rise in wool values, fine wools haring registered an advance of 10 per cent, at the opening sales held in London on Tuesday, while medium crossbreds advanced per cent., and coarse crossbreds 5 per cent, on the closing rates of the March series. Ihese, according to the High Commissioner’s cable message were as follows : Superior merino, 12d to 14d per lb ; medium merino lOdto 12d per lb; inferior merino, 7d to 9£d per lb ; flue crossbreds, 12d to 15d per lb ; medium c 03sbreds, 9i-d lo lHd p)r lb; coarse crossbreds, 6£d to 9,Vd per lb, The tone of the market is very enc uraging, and indi ates that wool is again becoming the best asset of farmers of Australasia, the markets ex* hibiting great strength alike in Lon - don, at Bradford, on the Continent and in the Unite I States. The improvement may be regarded ps due mainly to expanding consumption, and appears to indicate a general recovery in tradeand industries throughout the world.

A farmer in the Winchester district has been experimenting with Californian thistle. To destroy patches of thistle he covered them with straw about three feet deep. This was done in winter. The thistles in the early spring grew up through the straw, which was then turned carefully, so as not to break the thistles, and the thistles were covered again. When the thistles came through again the the straw was once more turned. At each turning the growth of the thistle was weaker, and after a few turnings they died. So far the experiment has been a success, and the farmer is confident that the thistles will not grow again.