DOMINION DAIRY SHOW

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 11, 7 July 1911, Page 7

DOMINION DAIRY SHOW

YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. A RECORD GATHERING. Yesterday was People's Day at the Dominion Show, Hawera, and it was a beautiful day. A fine crisp, frosty morning, followed by glorious sunshine sufficient to make glad the heart of everyone, drew a large crowd to Hawera, Every train both from the north and south was packed with eager sightseers, whilst every road leading into the city of the plains w;as thronged with motors and horse-drawn vehicles, all bound to see the second Dominion Winter Show. The building throughout the day was packed, and the attendance was a record one, easily eclipsing the crowd that passed through the doors on the same day last year;'.' The various exhibits were most carefully and attentively studied, and all the'comments expressed by many of the large" gathering show tTiat the efforts of the committee who organised the show are appreciated, as the universal opinion was that the show is a magnificent exhibition, worthy of the district and worthy also of the public support that is now being bestowed upon it, and that is certain to be bestowed on it in the future. AH the exhibitors of dairy machinery and other appliances appeared to be doing satisfactory business, as also did the many interesting and entertaining side-shoiw. MILK-TESTING COMPETITION.

The milk-testing competition, which was open to farmers' sons and public and high school students, was held yesterday morning, and resulted on follows:—Hy. Cressy (Hawera) first; T. ,H. Burton (Hawera) and J. C. R. Cantelin (Okaiawa) tieing for second place.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. A FINE EXHIBIT. The members of the Taranaki Agricultural Society who attended the Dominion Dairy Show at Hawera on W 7 edncsda;' and Thursday, looked longingly but sorrowfully at the very fine court of the Department of Agriculture, who a few weeks ago were unable to agree to send this splendid exhibit to the Taranaki Winter Show at New Plymouth, owing, it was said, to a prior engagement with the Southland A. and P. Association. It can tairly.be assumed that had it been at all possible, the Minister in charge of the Department would have sent this exhibit to New Plymouth, giving a natural preference to a show organised and carried out by our Agricultural Society. But the fact has to be borne in mind that the Taranaki Society put in its ap-. plication about six months ago, and it was not until just before the show that the request was refused. Putting these ' Healings aside, however, one could not help: feeling that the Department had j involuntarily served the Society a good turn, for it would have been quite impossible to have given the requisite space for .the proper staging of the exhibit, and this undoubtedly valuable attraction is still left to be secured for the first show to be held in the perma- . aent winter show building which it is hoped to have erected in New Plymouth i by the Taranaki Agricultural Society in i time for next year's exhibition. |

The Department's exhibit is unquestionably one of the finest features of the allow, and its removal would cause a very big gap. It is arranged in the form of a court, and occupies fully haJf of the main hall, being indicated by a large sign hearing the words, "New Zealand Department of Agriculture." 'Mr. McPherson, field instructor in the South Island, is in charge, and has with him a staff of assistants who are fully qualified to give the enquiring public every information concerning those portions of the display with which they are connected and in which they are experts. The -(products are exhibited and carded so aa to show what can be produced under varying conditions, demonstrating what crops are best adapted to different localities, with due regard to the different soils and climatic influences. The roots exhibited are not the best roots in the show by any means, but they are typical rqots. They were lifted from the ground some weeks ago and were at that time not fully matured, so that the actual yield per acre could not be ascertained. But the development is suck as to enable--farmers to judge, as the result of the experiments carried out, what varieties are likely to suit them on their own farms. They are also able to see winch varieties of turnips best withstand the ravages of the turnip fly, aphis, etc., and the samples of the roots from Moumahaki should act as a very strong deterrent to the use of certain specified varieties. There is also shown the actual result of experiments as to the effect of certain manures, the product of the unmanured land bring contrasted with crops grown from other similar land treated with one or other of several recognised fertilisers, singlv or in conjunction with each other.

Prominence is given to the results of co-operative field experiments, in which the farmer finds the land, does the work, and gets the resultant crop, and the Government supplies the seeds and fertilisers. This exhibit consists of 21 varieties of mangolds from the Sunnvside Mental Hospital. Canterbury; 26 varieties of swede turnips crown by Mr. Joseph Smith, of Stirling."Otago; 28 varieties of yellow and white-fleshed turnips grown by Mr. Houliston. Kakapuaka. Otngo. Besides, Mr. Bavliss has a number of turves of grasses'showing the effect of top-dressing in the North Island; also specimens of roots grown on pumice lands. There is a verv fine exhibit from the Moumahald farm, and this will probably be of more interest to the practical Taranaki farmer because it shows what can be done with the soil anil climate to which he is accustomed. Most important, is the exhibit of lucerne roots that have attained a length of 14 feet, and this does not represent the full distance that lucerne roots will descend into the ground. Shown with the roois is an iron pan through which they have forced their way in their downward course in quest of moisture. A box of lucerne, showin* the growth at the present time of the year is also verv instructive, and altogether the. exhii.it slTould «o much to convince farmers of the value of lucerne far feeding purposes, especially during the dry season. The experiments car" ned out have established bevond all doubt that lucerne can bo grown in the North Island with-the best results. The experimental farms, besides cult* ' voting roots crops and grasses, also produce weeds, of cour.«e, in the ordinary way. but they also grow weeds for exhibition. A study of the specimens of these, grown in pots, will enable farmers ! to identify some of the weeds observed in their pastures, and to ascertain to what extent they are injurious, flrasses are similarly grown for exhibition, and neatly written cards set out their good arid bad qualities. A study of these should prove very interesting'to the men who are desirous of producing those grasses which enable the cow to give the best results in the milk-pail. These come from the Ruakura Experimental | Farm, which also supplies the court with 120 varieties of potatoes, and honey mead and vinegar, and grain in the eaT. '4 *■ ' ■ : 4gtH

The busy little bee, whose industry is now being turned by many up-to-date fanners to very good account, has his utility very forcefully presented by a fine .collection of honey from various parts of New Zealand and from other countries. Those interested in this have another excellent object lesson, by the way, in the good exhibit by the South Taranaki Beekeepers' Association and in the other competitive classes.

Mr. Hyde, whose specialty is apple culture, and who is in charge of the inspection of orchards in South Taranaki, told us that the six varieties of apples arranged at the apex of a fine apple display are the leading; export varieties: Munroe's .Favorite, Jonathan, Cleopatra, iuve-crowned or London Pippins. Sturm-! er Pippin and American Wincsap. All those have cropped well at the Moumahaki State Farm. Other features of this apple display are cases of apples packed for export, about sixty in each case, and a good general collection of other varieties usefuls to the grower, cards giving a description of the quality, its good and bad points being stated in every case. A fact to be emphasised is that the whole of this fruit was In coo] store for ten weeks, and for some weeks past has been travelling from show to show, but still looked sound and fresh. As this fruit nas been grown so well at Moumalraki there seems no reason why it should not "do" equally well in Taranaki orchards, whilst the possibilities of a big export trade look encouraging. Stone fruit, lovely specimens, are shown, in glass jars, preserved in formalin owing to the impossibility of storing it as m the case of the pip fruits. _ J here is a very large exhibit of flax fibre as graded for export, and specimens of -the hemp manufactured into ropes. ; The pathological exhibit deals with diseases to which farm stock is subject, and is well worth a close study by stock-owners. '

These are some of the salient features of the display of products on the stands, but on the walls are set out in tabulated form some figures which indicate the value year by year of various farm products exported from the Dominion A central figure in this portion of the display is a wonderfully painted picture of the Holstein cow Mary, one of the Department's purebreds, and her record For 247 days she yielded 545.01bs of butter-fat,,with a 3.8 test, her producing jalue being .thus- worth £25 Os 2d for the season. Her highest milk yield for one day was 8411, 8 . I„ the herd tests a ,0r h °™ ?r Is shown to have produced o33.2lbsofbutter.fat in 275 days. Her average test was 4.2, her greatest daily output 711bs of milk, and the value of her butter-fat for the season was £24

POULTRY SECTION. There was sot a great deal of competition in this section, but taken on the whole the quality of the exhibits was particularly good. Mr. G. Jackson won the special prize for the best bird in. the show with a Plymouth Rock (barred) hen. Awards:— Game, Old English cock or cockerel.— Campbell Bros. 1 and 3, A. P. Lister 2 Hen or pullet.—Campbell Bros. 1 and 2, A. P. Lister 3.

Indian Game cock.—J. Sutherland 1. Indian Game hen.—J. Sutherland 1. Indian Game cockerel.—ll, Giles 1. Houdan hen.—Don. Stewart 1. Houdan pullet.—D. Stewart 1. Langshan cockerel.—C. Downey 1. Langshan black pullet.—C. Downey 1 Orpington, black s.c. cock.-C. L Bridges 1, W. Scott 2.

Orpington, black hen.—C. L. Bridges 1, W. Scott 2.

Orpington, black cockerel.—J. Rutherford 1, W. Scott 2, N. Paul 3. Orpington pullet.—W. Scott 1, C L Bridges 2, J. Rutherford 3.

Golden Wyandotte cock.—ll. E. Cudbv 1, W. Hall 2.

Golden Wyandotte hen.—W. Hall 1. Golden Wyandotte pullet.—H. E. Cudby 1 und 2. Silver Wyandotte cock.—W. Hall 1 and 2. Silver Wyandotte hen—C. Cummings 1, W. Hall 2. Silver Wyandotte cockerel—C. Cumniings 1 and 2. Silver Wyandotte pullet—C. Cummings 1 and 2, W. Hall 3. White Wyandotte hen.—C. J. Hansard 1 and 2, W. Hall 3. White Wyandotte pullet—F. Hod»son 2, W. Hall 3. Partridge Wyandotte cock—J. H. Dunn 1. Partridge Wyandotte hen—J. H. Dunn 1, W. Hall 2. Partridge Wyandotte cockerel.—J. 11. Dunn 1. Partridge Wyandotte pullet.—J. H. Dunn 1, W. Hall 2. Plymouth ltocks barred eock.—G. Jackson 1. Barred hen— ft H'ckson 1 and ch.' and 2. Barred cockerel.—C. L. Bridges 1 and ' 2. White hen.—C. 11. Pickering 1, 2 and 3. White cockerel.—C. 11. Pickering i and ch., W. Cullcn 2, E. T. B. Worthy 3. White pullet—W. Cullen I, C. 11. Pickering 2 and 3. White Leghorn ooek.—H. R Cudby 1, D. Stewart 2, 11. E. Cudby 3. White hen.—D. Stewart'l and 2. White cockerel—H. E. Cudby 1, 2 and 3. White Pullet.—D. Stewart 1 and 2, J. Sutherland 3. White American cock.—A. W. Irvine 1 and 2, G. Silcock 3. American hen.—A. W. Irvine 1, E. T. B. Worthy 2 and 3. American cockerel—H. Burrell 1, S. A. Daily 2, D. Stewart 3. American pullet,—A. W. Irvine 1 and 2. Brown Leghorn cock—W. J. Mawkes 1, W. J. Arundel 2, C. F. Boulton 3. Brown hen.—W. J. Arundel 1, C. F. Boulton 2. Brown cockerel.—C. F. Boulton 1, W. J. Mawkes 2, R. M. Bowie 3. Brown -pullet.—C. F. Boulton 1, W. J. Mawkes 2, R. M. Bowie 3. Minorca, black cock—C. Downey 1. Cockerel.—J. Millar 1. Pullet.—J. Millar 1 and 2. Andahisian cock.—W. B. Johnstone 2, ,W. Hall 3. Ilen.-W. Hall 1. Cockerel.—W. Hall 1. Cainpine cook or cockerel.— V. Warren 1. Humbunr black cock—YV. Hall 1 Hen.—W. Hall 1. Hamburg, pencilled any color hen.— W. Hall 1 and 2. Hamburg, spangled, any color cock J. Taylor 1, W. Hall 2. Hamburg spangled, any color hen W. Hall 1. Hamburg spangled, any color cockerel. —J. 0. Taylor 1. Hamburg spangled, any color pullet.— J. 0. Taylor 1, W. Hail 2. BANTAMS. A.O.V. 'cock or cockerel.—G. A. Grindrod 1, g. A. Daily 2, J. Sutherland 3. A.O.V. hen or pullet.—-W. A. Spragg 1, G. V A. Grindrod 2 and 3. DUCKS. In Pckin G. Silcock wins all the premier awards, and C. L. Bridges scores a similar success in Indian Runners. TURKEYS. In turkeys W. A. Clover, T. B. Holdaway, C. L. Bridges, and Campbell Bros, were! the wiimera of \ the red,cards.

PIGEONS. A. S. Holloway was the principal exhibitor of working homers, Mr. G. Silcock magpies, and H. F. Holloway and G. H. Esau in tumblers.