FREE ADVICE.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 291, 21 November 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

FREE ADVICE.

AGRICULTURE DEPART- . MENT. Good Work Done By Officers. For many years the New Zealand farmer stniggekl to improve his output, dairy produce, crops, and stock, and alter his struggle lie had to accept the price offered to him. lie has still to accept the price which the buyer is prepared to pay, but he has behind him an advisory bureau which almost guarantees that the quality of his output will be high, both for competition in the world’s markets and lor securing the best

price possible. In its main function of advising the farmer, the Department of I Agriculture is of untold value toj the rural community, for, since( its organisation, it has continually extended to meet all the country s, agricultural needs. To-day its ac-l tivities extend from research into! the greatest problems facing the; agricultural and pastoral indus-1 tries in fully-equipped laboratories | to the simplest explanations to the farmer among his own crops.! Horticulture, fruit-farming, and bee-farming are among the divi-! sions into which the department! has fallen, but most important! are three dvisions which continu-i ally give invaluable advice to those responsible for the success of the Dominion’s primary industries. Instruction in wool-growing, investigation and control of diseases of animals, and the inspection of livestock are among the most valuable of the livestock’s divi- ' sion’s activities, and in the con- ■ trol of the health of the animal’s • and instruction to woolgrowers ! the division is doing its greatest ; work. With so much of the country’s I income depending on dairy pro- | duce and its sale in overseas mar- ' kets, the dairy division has great ' responsibility in instruction in the s manufacture of butter and cheese, | in general dairy instruction, and ' in the testing of dairy herds; but neither this nor the livestock division has anything to do with the success of crops. 1 he complete failure of a crop of potatoes or of any other crop is little more disastrous than the; growing of a crop of very poor, quality, and to avoid such hap- i penings it is essential that the, grower must be safeguarded! against buying seed which is un-| likely to give the best crop. Since | 192 7 the fields division of the 1 department has been doing its greatest work in the certification of seeds of many varieties, and each year sees the number of those varieties extended. L.ast season the division certified seeds: of an estimated value of <154,725. a distance ol 100 miles. Ihe Departmenl, however, reserves the right to decline free railage: ol lime, and it may use that light against a farmer who does not give the tailways his other Ivans- 1 poil work. Ihe Department oi Agi ii ullm e reimburses the Railway Department lor money spent on carrying hme- free.