TIP FOR FARMERS

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 454, 23 June 1937, Page 5

TIP FOR FARMERS

GROW CANARY SEED N.Z. Demand Increases Press Association —Copyright. Christchurch, , June 22. The Bureau of Industries, does things thoroughly. At the moment its officers have turned their -attention to the matter of canary seed, and the prices are the. subject of investigation. It was stated that the seed was retailing -ait 8d a lb, compared with 3d a lb a few years ago. At the same time Mr P. Dunphy, whose business is binds, explained that American cropg.- had failed last season, while the Con tinenit al demand had increased out of all proportions. The New Zealand demand, too, had increased largely. More people were interested in birds to-day than ever before. I;t would not be too high an estimate, he said, to say that every third or fourth house in the city possessed something feathered. There seemed to be, said Mr Dunphy, an opening for New Zealand farmers in growing the seed. One Canterbury farmer had planted four aches last season, and it was understood that his return was amazingly good. Ho had advanced the proposition before, but the farmer’s invariable reply was that the local birds would have their feast first and leave little for the harvest. That same argument, however, must spply to the countries where the reed was grown; and they still seemed to make a success pf it,