FARM AND DAIRY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 153, 24 July 1909, Page 1

FARM AND DAIRY

I JOTTINGS FOR FARMERS. According to Mr. R Reynolds, a pro- , minent Waikato farmer, poisoning operations against the rabbits have b4a wonI aerfully successful in some parts of the Auckland district. Speaking at the Wai•j° A ll ? 1 ?' 8 Club meeting recently, ho f lf , the mbbit inspectors had forced him three years ago to poison mMnf a T 5 f ? is laud > '' WOula have meant hundreds of pounds in his pockets. Phosphorus poisoning, however, had proved very effeotive, and where there -were once hundreds of rabI Jlr aS n -° W ™ fficult t0 « et sufficient to make a pie. The poison was supplied Ly the inspectors, all ready for use at alluHM T?!! T'' Mr " Re yolds also loit ta f° l rge l uant % of fodder ost to farmers by the depredations of b™« p n /\ ral^lts P° is °ned the J I P e /s° nal] y had lost many tons of beef as the result. He thought fcettlers were indebted to the Government for supplying an effective poison I at Up ' Remarks as instances of the exceptionally phenomenal season have become one iesita tes to add further to the generous total. An instance of such exceptional occurrence nfTM r, + W 5 s trou ? it un der the notice of a Masterton reporter-as to be worthy of note. An apple tree grown by a farmer of Langdale has yielded two crops of apples, and the fruit of a third cropiis setting, Surely, a local paper remarks, this is the last and most remarkmenVl'leason. eXCe P tionall J P t " S^ P E l® ar] y 1 y ard in length was sent to the office of the Nelson Evening Mail in the early part of i as t week as I sample of Belgrove productiveness. It was grown by the stationmaster at Belgrove, and the excellence of the soil 171 this district is shown by the extreme straightness of the vegetable alone its Whole length. The circumference at the thickest part of the parsnip is about a An interesting experiment in inoculating soil has been carried out bv a well-known Wairarapa farmer, The Masterton Daily Times states that he had a piece_ of land- on which, try how «ow° aV "5. could n °- t « et el °™ t0 grow. At the same time he had another piece of land adjoining a river riT 0 t^. soll . was of a sandy nature, and on this soil the clover grew abundantly. Finally, other measures unavailing, he finally dug some of tile tandy soil and carted it on to that portion of his farm where the clover would ™ g t r °t- V ' TJjo result quite e-^eded expectations, and resulted in a splendid crop of clover being, obtained. , tllat plantations in the Starborough nursery, which was established by the Government near Soddon, but was abandoned as a nurserv tion I ' 6 801 1 m a ruined craJi - J t , P™ perty COTCrs abo «t 120 acres, about 30 acres of which are under plantation, and the whole of it has been \ f ' or gazing purposes. There is a th» t ° a i, the part ° ! se "'ers in the district to have the ex-nursery used for some practical purpose. .It is suir•gested that it should be a nursery for the supply of trees to assist the work of plantation m the Awatere districtan experimental farm to promote the science of growing dry root crops; a public domain; a permanent racecourseor a breeding station to improve the borough? Cattle aDd h ° rse3 in Marl " It U stated (by an exchange that in New Zealand the value of skimmed milk 111 n mg 18 J* 5 "" 11 !' P ut down at /A per gallon, and whey at %d. Even 7 ?° me that the c,,ance of getting this value back through the P"gs (at present meat prices) depends very much on the .kill of the pig-keeper It gives some pleasant encouragement .herefore to find that in Ireland the /alue of skimmed milk fed to pi<r S has been definitely ascertained to be 2d per gallon. Such an estimate will surprise New Zealand dairy farmers, and may stimulate the demand for State experiments m pig-raising. With the progress of pasteurising in relation to the milk and whey foods, the question of he proper methods of pig-feeding is likely to attract increased attention. In the green isle the pigs winch were fed on milk, meal, and potatoes matured m th.ee months, while those from whom the milk was withheld took five month* to reach the same stage. The latter a ' s ° Con e 3U ,- lcd 5201b of food to produce IOO.b of live weight, as against oalv 382!b required where milk was added. * The Queensland Department of Agriculture h as reported that the potato disease ' Phytopkthora infestans," commonly known as 'lrish iblight," lias appeared in the south-eastern corner of, that State, This is a matter of vital importance to the potato-growers of New South Wales (says the Daily Telegraph), more particularly to those 011 the north coast, who should scnipulously avoid importing for the approaching planting season any seed- from Queensland which can possibly have been infected with this dread fungus disease. It has been long known to exist in NewZealand, and has done incalculable damage there to the potato industry, besides blocking Australian ports to any potato seed from the Dominion. It is a matter of congratulation that the Queensland Department has promptly detected this disease, and it may be confidently expected that it will take energetic steps to stamp the disease out entirely, and thereby save the whole of Australia.