TARANAKI FARMERS' TRIP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 161, 29 June 1908, Page 3

TARANAKI FARMERS' TRIP.

A VISIT TO LEVLN STATE I'AKM.

Hie iaranuki Agricultural Society ar- ' , lur » I'a«S of its members to - 1 In 1 Levin State I'arin diirin.r ia.uicrstoH show week, and, as |, r ° »i: H IV agreed upon, about iifty meni- ■ ; ot tin' society ami a few other were 1-unve.yed to the farm on I ) 1 ''"May nioruing at the instance „j 'l'" . mi,,,a S': r . JJ| '- Judaic. The ""' rs president, .Mr. W. Ambury, atlompaiiied I lie pally, and from iiim a , ? lv l H "'ier obtained some particulars | am. impressions 0 1' the visit. The lirst I c»n,',Hal, c item was a capital repast, li. uyl.Uully provided hy the manner. " the party split into smaller -roups and vi-ited the various parts of the lariii. '„-l„e|i comprises sonic SOO acres oi l.inly level land, niiieh of if bciie. In,mi country and in process of "break" mg in —a process not unknown to the ' visitors fiuin these parts. In tlio staiili-s the greatest interest I'l'i.tred in the Shire stallion Hertfordsuiio Boy, presented to the (>'ovornment by Lord Kutlijeliihl. Another nice-look-in;; animal, of lighter type, was the Clydesdale Sir Talbot, and a number of. Ins progeny came in fur some attention. Ihe visitors were much struck with the duality of lb,. i,.,i „.,,-„K,.„,i t-i

Imrn heifers presented tu the (iovernineiit by Mr. McU-an, of llawke's jj a y Tile milking (qualities, of course, remain' to be seen., for the a:i!;:>:ils iU e only t»'(i.yeiir-()]i|s, stinted i !: ,;u iiiipoilcil bull. I here is a nice daily h -rd of forty cows, and at present the milk from these is being railed to Wellington. With the I fall of the milk supply the niilkiii"- | machines have 1 discarded, and lliis j work is now done entirely by women, whom the manager described'as excellent workers, due tiling that struck .Mr. Ambury was tile fact that all the cattle oil the place have been dehorned. The manager is a great believer in this svstern, which he considers ill every wav benelinal to the cattle, which are not

so much given to muting one another about, and conic in without sours and

lip* Hint too "iten spoil (In. appearance ill' honied cattle. The dairy cattle arc mostly grade cows, ami have good itniiviilu.i] performances. as slimvu by the system of testing adopted on the farm. One Ayrshiiv-ilolstein cross has given 4(1711) of butter-fat this season to date, worth anything from -C2O to .t'2s, whiht another roan cow has a record of 5(1(111,, and both are still giving large yields. A couple of Shorthorn bulls were inspected, and the party then saw some of the lioniney sheep. The orchard of about fifty aoros is, of course, not a particularly interesting place at this season of the year. The same thing applies to the experimental grass plots and cultivated areas. The lmildin».s \ were inspected. Then, is a double 24bail cowshed ill use. three different bailing methods being used for the sake of comparison. Not. many of the party had had an intimate acquaintance with bCL-s. but one ot the visiting farmers had. and he soon hail some of the hives opened and the "busy bees" crawling all over him. Several of the Taranaki men, who would probably have known how to subdue an unruly beast, declined to face this danger, and promptly cleared out. The manager stated that bee-keep-ing had been very successful this season, and recommended it as a valuable sideindustry that could easily be carried on by a dairy farmer. At Levin they have a refining and tinning plant, so that they can put lip the honey so as to command the best market price. Some excellent mangolds were shown, of the "I/nig lied." "fioldon Tankard," and ''Sutton's Prizewinner" varieties, the line roots having been obtained by tinuse of.l'/acwt of superphosphate to the acre. After the visitors had done justice to further refreshment, preparations were made for departure. Mr. Ainlmry, on behalf of the Taranaki Agricultural Socictv and visitors, thanked the manager for his many kindnesses in having provided conveyances for tho convenfeuce of the parly, for the hospitality shown, and the trouble taken in show-

the over the farm. Ik- mentioned tln* 1 tin 1 visit had Ween undertaken as an educative measure, to give them an insijxli t into Ilie best met hods and to see the results of Mr. Prvsdalc's system of working. There were, ho said, several young agriculturist* amongst them. and these had ilioir live.s before them. They would do well to follow out the ideas gained here, and not go on experimenting year after year only to arrive at this state of perfection long years after. They shoull adopt the very best methods right at tlie start if they were going to be lip with tlie times and get the best results. Of course, lie recognised that this was not the best- time to visit the experimental station, but it was the time when dairy farmers could most conveniently take time off. At the same time they inu-t have seen something to suggest an improvement at home, and if those improvements were elVer-led the trip would not have been without its benefit.

Mr. R. Fleming, of Pungarehu, spoke a few words in support of Mr. Ambury. and reckoned that that visit wa* the best dav's work he had done for a very long time. He hoped to pay another vi-it soon.

.\fr. dame< Burgee, of Warea. took oera-ioii to remark that the trip had enabled them to *ee the successful and un-neeesvful methods, and showed them lijiw to avoid the latter. lie felt sure , that the visit must prove of value to "those who had gone about with their eyes and minds open. Cheers ware given for the manager, who returned thanks, stating his pleasure in beinir able to show the party the workings of the farm. Their presence. he said, was proof of a growing interest amongst farmers in the more modern methods and the State experiments. He urged them to endeavor to make visits at various seasons, to note methods of cultivation and personally observe the results. He also stated that visitor> should not be afraid to ask i questions, for he was always pleased to | give all the information he could.